Cat

DOMESTIC TABBY, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 25, 2009

Pentax K10D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/750 sec. f8
ISO 400

The other day this neighbor cat, the only one I have ever seen that can dominate my big half-Lab, sauntered under my legs and out into the back yard, ignoring my "here kitty kitty" calls except to turn and flash a brief gaze of aloof disdain. The moment made a pretty fair feline portrait. (Nov. 7: I am told the cat is not a tabby, but an American Bicolored Longhair. I guess that means a house cat that has been to college.)

Smuggler

EASTERN CHIPMUNK (TAMIAS STRIATUS), EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 25, 2009

Pentax K10D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/125 sec. f8
ISO 400

Not much goes on in my back yard at this time of year, except for chipmunks cleaning up leftovers under the bird feeder for winter storage. In the space of half an hour this one stuffed his face, scampered away to stash the swag, then returned for more no fewer than eight times. Now that's diligence.

Hogwarts Midwest

CHIMNEY, EVANSTON ART CENTER, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 21, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/750 sec. f8
ISO 400

Looking for all the world like a brooding battlement suitable for a game of quidditch, this ivy-bedecked chimney atop an art center in the American Midwest offered an interesting range of textures for a long lens.

Driving to the lake

CHILD'S PLAYGROUND AUTOMOBILE, LAWSON PARK, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 21, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 50mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott captured this toddler's-eye view from a playground car in a lakefront park. The out-of-focus background and foreground set off the steering wheel and dashboard in striking fashion.

Indian summer on the beach

LIGHTHOUSE BEACH, LAKE MICHIGAN, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 21, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 400

Yesterday, as the afternoon temperature approached 70, these women set up their chairs right at water's edge to capture the season's last warm sunshine and get a bit of reading done as well.

Last touch of summer

MONARCH AMONG WILDFLOWERS, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 4, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 400

Tramping through the meadows with a long telephoto lens and happening upon a scene that demands a short one can be frustrating, but a 300mm still can do double duty as a semi-macro when focused as close as it'll go and with a little cropping of the resultant image afterward. I was happy with this result.

Let there be light

STORMY MIDAFTERNOON ON LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 8, 2008

Pentax K10D
Sigma 135-400 at 135mm
1/750 sec. f8
ISO 400

Searching for overlooked shots from last year's photo archive yielded a brooding photograph that brought to mind two lines from one of the Western world's great early works of literature: "And the earth was without form, and void; darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters./ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Fading in the fall

RUBY BALL CABBAGE, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 18, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Sigma 17-70 at 28mm
1/60 sec. f8
ISO 400

This late in October most of the displays at the Chicago Botanic Garden have been faded by frost, but even in the winter of their lives some of them still look striking. This is a ruby ball cabbage, an edible species planted at the Garden chiefly for decoration, on the roof courtyard atop the Garden's new Science Center. Deborah Abbott took the photograph.

Painted pumpkin

PAINTED PUMPKIN, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 18, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Sigma 17-70 at 70mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 400

On the first sunny day in more than a week, we visited the Chicago Botanic Garden, where the best photographic possibilities this late in October were at the weekly Sunday vegetable sale, where Deborah Abbott photographed this colorful pumpkin -- glazed and painted in childlike fashion rather than carved into a jack o' lantern.

Smithy

BLACKSMITH SHED, HANKA FINNISH HOMESTEAD MUSEUM NEAR BARAGA, MICHIGAN, JULY 21, 2009

Pentax K10D
Sigma 17-70 at 58mm
1/90 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

Conventional wisdom is that it's not good to photograph a house full on, but at an angle instead, the better to get an interplay of light and shadow. Still it seemed worth breaking the rule to capture the astonishing texture of the logs and remnants of cedar-shake siding on this century-old building in Upper Michigan. Click the photo for more detail.

Grosbeak on the roof

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 10, 2009

Pentax K10D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/180 sec. f11
ISO 400

Another shot from the "backyard bird" archives, this one was captured with the then recently acquired 20-year-old 300 mm lens that has turned out to be the sharpest in my kitbag of more than a dozen Pentax-mount lenses, most of them dating back to the 1980s when a ME Super was my workaday 35mm film camera. Being able to use this beautiful old glass on new digital Pentaxes is the reason I stuck with the brand rather than going to the ubiquitous Canons or Nikons.

Gargle

COMMON GRACKLE, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 3, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Sigma 135-400 at 400mm
1/350 sec. f11
ISO 800

I found this one while rummaging through this year's earlier backyard bird shots. Shooting at a high ISO of 800 risked an overly noisy background, but allowed a small aperture and reasonable shutter speed for a hand-held photograph with a long lens. The five-year-old 6-megapixel *ist DS often yields smoother backgrounds at high ISO than its newer 10- and 14.5-megapixel brothers in the Pentax line.

Tongue 'n ears

PUG AND CHIHUAHUA, DOG BEACH, EVANSTON ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 7, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/500 sec. f11
ISO 400

Pugs and chihuahuas are two of the most endearingly comical breeds of dogs, and it was amusing to watch a bluff and stout example of the former and a delicate, radar-eared instance of the latter circle and sniff each other on the beach yesterday. Eventually porky Pugsley made wee Wawa roll over on his back and cry uncle, but no harm was done.

Dog beach

GERMAN SHORT-HAIRED POINTER ON DOG BEACH, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 7, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/750 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

This handsome example of his breed pranced alone along the shore, tug toy in his jaws, haughtily ignoring the crowd yapping, sniffing and chasing each other in gouts of sand. The sights on Evanston's dog beach on the edge of Lake Michigan are always ripe, low-hanging fruit for an ambling photographer.

Joy on the beach

GIRL AND FATHER ON CLARK STREET BEACH, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 7, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/1500 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

On an almost balmy day in October, this young lady dashed gleefully toward her brothers (out of camera range) as her father trudged up the sand, perhaps in Talmudic contemplation. It was my first visit to the Lake Michigan shore with the camera in more than a year, and the sight made me smile.

Hummer No. 3

FEMALE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 21, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/180 sec. f11 with on-board flash
ISO 400

A sweep through the archive of photos taken last summer yielded this hummingbird at the feeder in front of our cabin on Lake Superior. It was shot (at an angle) through freshly polished window glass during the evening and illuminated with the help of the camera's built-in flash.