Tag: New Jersey

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

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Monarch Butterfly. Five-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.

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)

 

Friday (05-October-2012) — New Jersey

Fall Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.

The sky finally cleared. I was wondering if the rain in Spain (which fell on more than the plains) followed me back home. I went to Sourland Mountain Preserve to see what changed since I left for the voyage in mid-August. September is usually the time to see the Monarch butterflies as they prepare for their trip to Mexico. The first thing I saw when I got out of the car was a Great White Heron working a pond. I watched it for a while, and managed to get some “grab” shots as it captured a frog for breakfast. I hiked up the gas pipeline trail and only saw one thistle plant still in bloom. All of the other thistle plants had already gone to seed. When I returned down the trail, I waited at the thistle in bloom and was rewarded by two late season Monarch butterflies. Then when I was going back to my car, I saw this Green Heron fishing in the pond. All in all a great day at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Natural Selection. This Frog Will Not Be Reproducing. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E 20 III teleconverter. (ISO 280, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)
Natural Selection. This Frog Will Not Be Reproducing. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E 20 III teleconverter. (ISO 280, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)
Late Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle Bloom. Fall Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens. (ISO 110, 300 mm, f.2.8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Late Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle Bloom. Fall Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens. (ISO 110, 300 mm, f.2.8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Green Heron Gone Fishing at a Pond in the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR len + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Green Heron Gone Fishing at a Pond in the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 300 mm f/2.8 VR len + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (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, everything has been damp and wet. The last two mornings there was a thick fog until late morning. Mildew everywhere – including the seat belt straps in my car. I’ve never seen a blue mushroom before. 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)
Autumn Mushrooms. 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)
Autumn Mushrooms. 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)
Autumn Mushrooms. 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)
Autumn Mushrooms. 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)
Autumn Red Mushroom. 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)
Autumn Red Mushroom. 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)
Autumn Mushrooms. 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)
Autumn Mushrooms. 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)
Autumn Blue Mushroom. 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)
Autumn Blue Mushroom. 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)

Tuesday (02-October-2012) — New Jersey

Fall 2012 Semester at Sea Voyage. Day 40: Back Home in New Jersey.

Back Home Blues. One of the great things while on the MV Explorer I didn’t need to deal with mundane things like laundry. On the ship, laundry was done any day we were at sea for $6/bag (more if you wanted anything ironed). Since we had been at port in Cadiz, Spain for the last several days of my trip, I ended up coming home with a large bag of dirty laundry 😉

Laundry Bag. Back in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 400, 4.3 mm, f/3.3, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Dirty Laundry Bag. Back in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 400, 4.3 mm, f/3.3, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)

 

Four-Years Ago (09-September-2008) — New Jersey

Late Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Big Spider at My Front Door. I saw this big spider lurking above my front doorway, and decided to enter via the back door. I then came back around with a camera, macro lens, and flash. This is the biggest spider I have ever seen in New Jersey. I really don’t like spiders, but do like taking their pictures. I don’t know what type of spider it is. If anyone knows, please send me a message.

Big Spider Above My Front Door. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 200 mm f/4 macro lens (ISO 220, 200 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) and SB-900 flash. (David J. Mathre)
Big Spider Above My Front Door. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 200 mm f/4 macro lens (ISO 220, 200 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) and SB-900 flash. (David J. Mathre)