Weekly Photo Challenge: Wildlife

On May 11, 2011May 11, 2011 By AngeliaIn Angelia's Photography, Beautiful Life, Posessed by Nikon36 Comments

I spent Mother’s Day at the Fort Worth Zoo with my daughter.

It……….was………amazing (except for the blistering heat). Actually, the heat made the animal waterfalls very tempting (kidding – um, sorta).

The zoo was perfect for this challenge (and for my wildlife photography class).

I tried to take different angles and views. Truth is? I filled up 4GB memory card.

That was a first for me.

In my defense, I love animals. Growing up, my dad would send me magazines that I would read cover-to-cover about the animals in them. The beautiful pictures and articles let me share a passion with a dad that didn’t live with me (my parents divorced at three).

My biggest regret was not collecting his encyclopedia’s on animals when he passed away. Not for their value, but for the memories of looking at them with my dad.

So Dad, this is for you. You would have loved these animals and probably been able to tell me things about them not even the display would know.

I did sneak in a few pics from my earlier trip to the zoo. They were just too good not to share. The rest were taken on Sunday. I got a Tamron 70-300mm lens for Nikon. I did hand-hold all these shots and truthfully, I’m just not the steadiest of hands (you get the steadier ones). It will take some getting used to, but I was really happy with some of them, especially the Bald Eagle. I am fascinated by the iconic American symbol of strength.

I have another wildlife trip this weekend to Glenrose Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. The animals will be out (basically in a bigger cage) in a more roaming habitat.

I can’t wait!

Happy Wednesday! I hope we all roar into the weekend (heh!).

Winter Garden Wonder

On February 22, 2011 By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life, Posessed by Nikon17 Comments

I have not explored the The Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Not in the blazing heat of I’m-about-to-die summer, not in the tricky flash spring, and not in the mostly 100-degree fall either. I have especially not visited in the stark dead of winter. Why would I? It’s a garden.

Until now that is.

Our photography class field trip ended up here on Sunday. It’s the last class. Our last chance to use our technical learning and get it all right. Or some of it right. Or at least walk around with a camera and hope to get something right.

So, I knew there would be no lush gardens. No roses unfolding. No perennials sprouting. Just harsh branches reaching up leave-less and life-less aching for color. Hints of green would be hard to find, but hint they would, here and there, to take a peek at the landscape happily awaiting spring.

And then……..there is the winter colors. Not forgotten. Not overshadowed by new buds. Here they stick to their grounds solemn and stark saying in their calm way, “See, I’m not so bad.

The garden’s waterfall in winter.

A Zen-like path and bridge.

The soldiers of winter. Flowering cabbages.

The Rose garden trellis path to the fountain.

A secret garden gate.

Spring. The fresh sign of Daffodils blooming.

Hi spring – I see you.

**Photos by Angelia.

Halfway There

On January 25, 2011January 26, 2011 By AngeliaIn Days and Nights, Posessed by Nikon16 Comments

Tonight was my third photography class. A continuing ed photography course taught at the local University in Arlington. This is the same University my husband Jason works at. He is an IT Systems Manager, but their department does not include the continuing ed classes. Still….. I get excited being there. It is where he has worked or gone to classes for over thirteen years (or longer).

I have never gone to college and this is about the closest thing for me. Here I am, a student in Trimble Hall at age 39. Awh! Now if only I could figure out directions, and which way is which, to and from class to the parking lot. I get turned around – every time. Pitiful, I know!

Our lesson was using the camera’s built-in meter. I won’t go much into the light metering lesson (or you’ll be as lost as me-ha!). It’s probably one of the more difficult things to catch on to (or it could be me?), because it relates to exposure and tones. Those things can be interpreted differently by different eyes. You can be mathematically correct, but yet prefer a different tone, and guess what? That’s not wrong. Wrong can be right, and right can be wrong. That sums up light metering. The good news is – after a while – your eye recognizes the exposure and remembers the right meter.

Memorization I can do.

Grey is always mid-tone, a non-reflective grey. We metered the camera on the grey disc (pretty sure it’s not called that-sorry for the non-technical term). Then, shot around the room. It should be the right exposures, but again, based on your preference and as long as it’s not something mainly black or white.

Not a lot of interesting things in a classroom. But here are a few of my practices.

My last photo, because of the white, required an altering from the grey metering, otherwise it looked crappy (too bright). I changed it to get some kind of photo to represent my day. It was a normal busy day. I had a doctor’s appointment, work, and class until 930pm (then cleaning the kitchen, eating, studying my chapters, and feeding the dogs). As you can tell by this schedule, these were the only pictures I had time to do for my 365 Project.

I am as dedicated to that as I am to my Post a Day with fellow WordPress bloggers.

It is a full, full day. I can’t believe there have 25 of them! Time just flies by. Thank-you for sticking with me through this crazy journey of mine.

Digital Destiny

On January 12, 2011January 12, 2011 By AngeliaIn Angels among Us, In my heart forever & ever, Posessed by Nikon15 Comments

Did I ever tell you why I got my camera? It wasn’t just from scouring blogs and seeing Ahh-mazing pictures, wishing I could take photos like those (that was part of it). But it was also because of my Dad.

He always had a camera. He always took pictures. Now, were they good pictures? Eh, not so much, but he loved taking them.

We have pictures of every cat he had, every dog, every weekend visit. When he was stationed in Germany, he took tons of pictures of quaint German towns he visited, and other places in Europe. Plus, every visit as adults with and without grandkids. Every one.

And he didn’t take them just of us, and his pets. He took them of every animal he ever found as well. His hog nose snake, Inky Stinky the skunk, turtles, lizards, and more. Any wild life he found or discovered, he was taking a photo. The last one I remember him showing me, with deep chuckles and grins, were of three baby raccoons trapped in a trash can at the local park. The pictures were found laid out on his desk after he died.

He had discovered the triplets on his daily walk, ran home and got his camera, then tipped the can low enough to take their picture inside. Then he called the park ranger to rescue them and waited until he did. He got the biggest kick out of that. Those baby coons in the trash. Little scavengers with thoughts of sweet nothings in their head having no idea they’d get stuck and be using their big eyes to peer up and spot my Dad.

That was my Dad. He loved wild life. He loved animals. He had a heart for rescue and nature. With all his might, he would try to capture those moments with his little disposable camera.

When he died, I used some funds from his insurance policy to buy my Nikon D3000; my first DSLR. A tribute to him. A camera that does capture what you want it to, in the way you want it to, without ever disappointing. It’s amazing.

It ignited a fire, a desire to learn everything about photography. And now, I have taken the next step in my journey. One year after purchasing my DSLR, and one year after my father’s death, I took my first class to get certified in photography, and not only know my way around the lens creatively, but technically as well.

I met my teacher last night. He is a wild life and landscape photographer. He volunteers at Fossil Rim (an animal wild life park), and at the local animal shelter (plus he teaches photography every night).

Don’t think I didn’t catch the significance in that. Don’t think I didn’t notice his love of animals. And don’t think I didn’t miss his teaching pictures are of meerkats and hawks.

Don’t think I didn’t realize how destined this class was. Oh Dad, my Daddy-O, you are here. In my heart and with me every step. I miss you and I thank you for the love you instilled. I know you would be proud, and just as delighted as I am.

If I did happen to miss all those important things, I certainly would not have missed the picture I took later that night for my 365 project.

I saw the “one” significance to my day. All the ones pointing up towards the heaven. Do you know there is a story that when it’s 11:11 all the Angels point their wings to the sky? I don’t know if this is a true tale, or a child’s tale, but I always think of that when I see 11:11. Yesterday not only was it 11:11, it was 1/11/11.

I saw my digital destiny and I can’t wait.