Tag: New Jersey

Eleven-Years Ago (08-October-2007) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Monarch Butterfly. Eleven-years ago while driving home from work I saw purple wild flowers on the side of the road at an abandoned golf course in Hillsborough. I pulled over to see if there was a picture. The purple wildflowers attracted dozens of Monarch butterflies providing more colors.  I took this image with my favorite 80-400 mm telephoto zoom lens. The hard part was working at the minimum focus distance for the lens (~ 7 feet). I needed to keep stepping back to get the image in focus. One more reason I always have a camera with me.

Every year after that I would check the place at the same time of the year, but never saw as many wildflowers or Monarch Butterflies. The last several years the place became a construction site for a highway bypass and interchange. Now that the construction is complete and the bypass open, it looks like wildflowers may come back. We will see if the Monarch Butterflies come back in the future.

Monarch Butterfly. Late Fall Nature in Central New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly. Late Fall Nature in Central New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)


Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.

Friday (05-October-2018) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

I was working on my computer and noticed something large crawling up a window trying to get in the house. I quickly realized that it was a large green Praying Mantis. It walked right by a Stink Bug — turning up its nose. That’s too bad, as the Stink Bugs are making a major effort to get into the house before it gets much colder outside.

Praying Mantis trying to get in the house. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 800, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Praying Mantis trying to get in the house. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 800, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)


Praying Mantis set free on my Garden Tower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/11, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Praying Mantis set free on my Garden Tower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/11, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (04-October-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Yard Work in New Jersey.

There is a lot of yard work that needs to be completed before winter. I set up the Garmin VIRB-360 camera to record the day on the front of my Lawn Tractor.  I’ve ordered a powered mounting bracket to mount the camera in my car. A lot easier than when I mounted a camera on a tripod sitting in the passenger seat for recording time-lapse videos of cross country road trips.

Six-Years Ago (04-October-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Fungus Among Us!! Since I got back from the Fall Semester at Sea Voyage six years ago, everything had been damp and wet. I’ve never seen a blue mushroom before. This one had a slug feasting it. The images in this post are all from my driveway where mushrooms are abundant.

Blue Mushroom and Slug. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 100, 60 mm, f/16, 1/13 sec) + SB-910 flash. (David J Mathre)
Blue Mushroom and Slug. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 100, 60 mm, f/16, 1/13 sec) + SB-910 flash. (David J Mathre)


Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.

Wednesday (03-October-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

A couple of young bucks (with nubs for antlers) were resting in the grass just beyond my patio. Capture One Pro (v11.3) is able to view and edit images taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera.


Individual image from the slideshow can be viewed here.