Junco No. 2

DARK-EYED JUNCO, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 28, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 300mm
1/125 sec. f8
ISO 400

The morning light was better than it was December 25 when our resident junco dropped by three days later, hence this offering. Even clicked on to large size, the bird's plumage is immaculate, as if he had just stepped out of the haberdasher's in black tie and tails.

Wrong turn on the way to Miami

SNOW ON FLAMINGOES, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 28, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax-DA 18-135 at 78mm
1/640 sec. f8
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott captured this scene in the neighbors' backyard during her foray into the new-fallen snow the other day. It's a familiar photographic theme, but the composition is arresting.

Tessellation

CHAIN LINK FENCE AFTER SNOWFALL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 28, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax-DA 18-135mm at 53mm
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott went out to the back yard after yesterday's 5-inch snowfall and captured this geometric beauty.

View from my window, 12-28-2012

AFTER THE SNOW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 28, 2012

Pentax K-5
Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 400

An unexpected, heavy and sticky five-inch snow overnight coated the trees outside our bedroom window with a thick white blanket except for a stubborn maple leaf left over from autumn.

Hydrangea "Peppermint Twist"

HYDRANGEA "PEPPERMINT TWIST," EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 25, 2012

Pentax K-01
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/6 sec. f11 with LED ring light
ISO 100

One of Debby's Christmas gifts was a natural subject for the kit of K-01 camera, Tamron lens, LED ring light and lightweight tripod I've put together for macrophotography. This variety of hydrangea indeed looks as pepperminty as its name. Each bloom is about the size of a quarter.

Dark-eyed Junco

DARK-EYED JUNCO, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 25, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 340mm
1/180 sec. f8 with on-board flash
ISO 400

This little junco always looks as if someone poured dark chocolate syrup over a snowball. This specimen often hangs out with the house sparrows, its cousins, in our back yard, but today braved a Christmas Day snow alone to root through the leftover birdseeed.

White poinsettia

WHITE POINSETTIA, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 24, 2012

Pentax K-01
Tamron 90mm macro with LED ring light
1/100 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Just in time for the holidays, the Botanic Garden put up displays of poinsettias of several kinds, including this curly-leafed white variety, in its tropical greenhouse. A low-powered LED ring light helped the modeling of the white leaves under a dark gray overcast sky.

Backyard cardinal

MALE NORTHERN CARDINAL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 21, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 250mm
1/15 sec. f8
ISO 800

It was getting dark when this specimen came to call on our backyard deck, but the tripod-mounted rig caught him sitting sufficiently still for a decent photograph even at a shutter speed so low.

Yooper meerkat

EASTERN CHIPMUNK, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 12, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 340mm
1/350 sec. f11
ISO 400

Here's an Upper Michigan chipmunk who thinks he's an African meerkat. The photo was found during another sweep of the 2012 picture archives.

Late out of the gate?

AMERICAN ROBIN, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 13, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma 135-400 at 230mm
1/45 sec. f8
ISO 400

It's long past time for robins to head for their winter quarters in Florida, but this one has been hanging around our back yard for several days now. Either his migratory habits have been affected by global warming or he missed his flight out of O'Hare.

Another Bras d'Or eagle

BALD EAGLE, BRAS D'OR LAKE OFF BADDECK, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/1250 sec. f13
ISO 800

Another run at the summer photo archives brought up this almost overlooked shot from a sailboat on Bras d'Or Lake.

House sparrow

HOUSE SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 4, 2012

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5
1/250 sec. f5.6
ISO 400

A sweep through the archives often yields overlooked gems. The original of this one, taken at the beginning of the year, was too dark, the bird overwhelmed by the sun on the backyard deck railing—but a little work in Lightroom opened up the shadows and squelched the intense highlights.

Still another eagle

BALD EAGLE, ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, MAY 18, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5
1/500 sec. f11
ISO 800

I thought I'd found all the good photos from an evening of shooting eagles on the shore of Lake Superior a couple of miles east of Ontonagon, but a review of the summer album yielded one I'd overlooked. It's cropped heavily, but the superb 16.3 megapixel sensor of the K-5 let me get a decent 8 x 10 print even with that.

Lady Redbird

FEMALE NORTHERN CARDINAL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 9, 2012

Pentax K20D
Sigma APO 135-400 at 250mm
1/60 sec. f6.7
ISO 800

No sooner had I set up my photo equipment in Debby's office overlooking the back yard after our return the other day from the Upper Peninsula did this cardinal come calling. I'm going to try to rig a perch a couple of feet away from the deck so that my avian targets will have a better background to pose against.

Red maple

RED MAPLE, PORCUPINE MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS STATE PARK, MICHIGAN, OCTOBER 3, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 18mm
1/2000 sec. f9
ISO 800

All over the Upper Peninsula at this time of year, scarlet slashes of red maple stand out brilliantly against the yellows and dull oranges of other deciduous trees. I caught this one along the Union Bay roadside of M-107 in the Porkies today.

Lake of the Clouds 10/02/12

LAKE OF THE CLOUDS, PORCUPINE MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS STATE PARK, MICHIGAN, OCTOBER 2, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 28mm
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 100

Yesterday the fall colors at this much-loved and much-photographed site in Upper Michigan were close to their peak. It was our last visit to the Porkies for 2012; we're heading for winter quarters Saturday.

Stella in her winter coat

WHITETAIL DEER, GREEN, MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/125 sec. f8
ISO 1600

For three weeks or so we hadn't seen Stella, our summer resident doe, so we were delighted when she came by at noon today for a free meal at the bird feeders, bringing along her two youngsters (dubbed Thunder and Flora by our grandchildren). She had shed her light brown summer coat for darker winter camo and had filled out quite a bit as well. We hope she survives hunting season.

Nutch with lunch

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, GREEN, MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/100 sec. f6.3
ISO 1600

The other day, the local "nutches"—as they are called in these parts—mobbed me while I was refilling the feeders, flashing past my ears as if I were a North Country Tippi Hedren. They and the chickadees showed no patience while stuffing their larders with sunflower seeds, perhaps for a last feast before heading south for the winter.

Debby

DEBORAH ABBOTT KISOR, PEGGYS COVE, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 68mm
1/2000 sec. f9
ISO 800

It's not often that I'm able to take a decent photo of a person—birds, animals and inanimate objects are more my thing—but I can't resist posting this shot of my spouse captured atop a granite outcrop in Peggys Cove on the Atlantic shore of Nova Scotia during a recent tour of the Maritimes.

Ropes and floats

DOCKYARD LINES AND FISHING FLOATS, PEGGYS COVE, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16,2012

Nikon Coolpix S8200
Nikkor 4.5-63 at 24.2mm
1/1000 sec. f4.9
ISO 800

Deborah Abbott, a photographer with an eye for fine detail, took this shot of a pile of ropes and floats on a fishing dock in the harbor of picturesque Peggys Cove, one of the traditional stations of the tourist cross for any visitor to the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia.

Roofs and chimneys

SKYLINE, FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 97.5mm
1/4000 sec. f10
ISO 800

The 18th century French fortress at Louisbourg was destroyed by the British in 1760 after the Seven Years War and partly reconstructed beginning in 1961 and using some of the original stone. The project provided jobs for hundreds of unemployed coal miners, and the place is now a Canadian national living-history site.

Heritage Peas

HERITAGE PEAS, FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Nikon Coolpix S8200
Nikkor 4.5-63 at 7mm
1/320 sec. f3.8
ISO 800

Deborah Abbott captured this lovely basket of freshly picked purple-podded heritage peas at the working farm in the restored Fortress of Louisbourg. We had them for lunch as pea soup with "soldier bread" in the tavern down the street.

Domestic goat

DOMESTIC GOAT, FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 77.5mm
1/4000 f10
ISO 1600

What is there to say about a barnyard goat, anyway? Except that this one was photographed at the lovely restored 18th century fortress of Louisbourg, where it is one of several farm animals tended by historical re-enactors in period dress.

Embden Goose

EMBDEN GOOSE, BADDECK, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 150mm
1/2000 sec. f10
ISO 800

I had hoped to capture some wildfowl on the wing during a visit to the waterfront at Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, but the best I could do was this Embden variety of domestic goose. The breed originally came from Holland and Germany and is common in North America.

Bandstand in Halifax Public Gardens

BANDSTAND, PUBLIC GARDENS, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 31mm
1/320 sec. f16
ISO 800

Deborah Abbott captured this view of the colorful bandstand that anchors the historic Public Gardens in Halifax. Established in 1874, the 16-acre gardens still reflect the rich Victorian vision of its designers. Click on the photo to better view the intricate scrollwork of the bandstand.

Mr. and Mrs. Cormorant

CORMORANTS, NORTHUMBERLAND STRAIT, CANADA, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/1600 sec. f11
ISO 1600

As the Northumberland Ferry chugged out of Caribou, Nova Scotia, bound for Woods Island on Prince Edward Island, it glided past this matched pair of cormorants perching on a buoy. Thousands of these homely seabirds clotted every horizontal surface around the ferry terminal. They may be ugly, but they are graceful and swift on the wing.

Red Fox

RED FOX (VULPES VULPES), PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, CANADA, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/20 sec. f10
ISO 800

It's somewhat lacking in image quality, but this picture was quickly grabbed through the light-darkening window of a stopped tour bus with its engine running near the northern beaches of Prince Edward Island. A little help with Lightroom and Photoshop Elements improved the IQ to "Barely Usable, but Given the Circumstances . . ."

Lighthouse at Peggys Cove

LIGHTHOUSE, PEGGYS COVE, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 18mm
1/8000 sec. f9
ISO 800

This iconic Nova Scotia lighthouse is usually rendered in a long shot with stones and surf, but here's a different view, taken from directly below its rocky base. Built in 1914 and freshly repainted just before our visit, it lies some 30 miles southwest of Halifax and is a longtime favorite of tourists bearing cameras. By the way, Peggys Cove lost its possessive apostrophe about 1976, for obscure reasons.

Eagle off Baddeck

BALD EAGLE, BADDECK, CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/1600 sec. f13
ISO 800

This one was captured from a tourist sailboat in Bras d'Or Lake off the town of Baddeck on Cape Breton Island during a tour of Nova Scotia. The boat's captain obligingly tossed dead mackerel into the water to attract the eagle from its aerie on a nearby island.

And one more for the road

EVENING CLOUDS OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 23, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 24mm
1/1250 sec. f11
ISO 400

Found among the summer's archives: A darkling storm rolling over the lake from the west at about 7:45 p.m. EDT. Click on the photo for a desktop-sized version.

One for the road

SUNSET OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 2, 2012

Penax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/200 sec. f8
ISO 200

Going through the summer's sunset photos on the computer yielded this interesting shot from early August. Click on the photo for a desktop-sized version.

My little chickadee

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 31, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/800 sec. f7.1 ISO 1600

The curious little birds are flocking en masse to our backyard seed-and-suet bell, so rapt in their meals that they let me creep within five feet to snap their portraits.

Red-eared Slider

RED-EARED SLIDER (TRACHEMYS SCRIPTA ELEGANS), GREAT LAKES AQUARIUM, DULUTH, MINNESOTA, JUNE 18, 2012

Pentax K-5
Tamron SP AF 90mm f2.8 DI Macro
1/20 sec. f8
ISO 3200

This popular domestic pet turtle, often mistaken in the wild for a Painted Turtle, has escaped from captivity often enough so that in many places, especially Australia, it is considered a destructive invasive species. It was basking under a dim warming light in the Great Lakes Aquarium when I rested the camera on a railing to capture it.

Three seconds to sundown

SUNSET OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 27, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 200

Sometimes when a wide-angle sunset isn't so spectacular, thanks to lack of billowing clouds, a long lens will still get a good capture. Click on the photo for a desktop-sized version.

Downy woodpecker

DOWNY WOODPECKER (PICOIDES PUBESCENS), GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 22, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/400 sec. f6.3
ISO 3200

It took a big boost of ISO to raise the shutter speed sufficently to avoid a blurry shot of this fast-moving little woodpecker on the suet bell in our back yard.

Floats and net

FLOATS AND NET AT EDISEN FISHERY, ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 14, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 77.5mm
1/50 sec. f7.1
ISO 3200

This photo was taken inside the net house at the restored commercial fishery established in 1895 on Isle Royale and named for Pete Edisen, who ran it from the 1930s until 1978. It is still in operation in a small way; a local fisher who lives there provides lake trout and whitefish to the restaurant at Rock Harbor Lodge.

Tourist at Rock Harbor Light

TOURIST AT ROCK HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE, ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK, AUGUST 14, 2012

Nikon Coolpix S8200
Nikkor 4.5-63 at 4.5mm
1/400 sec. f6.6
ISO 100

This photo was taken with my little Nikon backup point-and-shoot from inside the restored keeper's residence at Rock Harbor Light on Isle Royale. The lighthouse was built in 1855-56 and deactivated for the second time in 1879, after only eight years in service. It's one of the favorite tourist spots on the island.

First light on Isle Royale

FIRST LIGHT AT ROCK HARBOR, ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK, AUGUST 15, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 36mm
1/10 sec. f8
ISO 1600

This was the view from the verandah just outside our room at the Rock Harbor Lodge during our visit to Isle Royale earlier this week. Click on the photo for a desktop-sized version.

Powwow Nos. 3 and 4

POWWOW, LAC VIEUX DESERT BAND OF THE OJIBWA NATION RESERVATION, WATERSMEET, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 12, 2012


Top: Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 138mm
1/350 sec. f9
ISO 400


Bottom: Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 138mm
1/1000 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott took these two photographs of Rosie Sanpaw, a Lac du Flambeau Ojibwa, who was the chief female dancer at the powwow south of Watersmeet, Michigan, yesterday. The seven-year-old 6-megapixel *ist DS and 50-200 kit lens still perform well and give excellent image quality in good lighting.

Powwow No. 2

DANCER, LAC VIEUX DESERT OJIBWA RESERVATION, WATERSMEET, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/1250 sec. f8
ISO 800

In my opinion, this is one of the few shots at the powwow in which the background added to rather than distracted from the subject, partly because both the dancer in the foreground and the one in the background were leaning in the same direction, giving the composition some movement.

Powwow No. 1

DANCER, LAC VIEUX DESERT OJIBWA RESERVATION, WATERSMEET, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 12, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/1250 sec. f5.6
ISO 800

The problem with photographing Indian powwows is that backgrounds tend to be as busy and colorful as foregrounds, requiring tight shots or large apertures to set off the subjects. Fortunately, this dancer briefly crossed a forest background just as the shutter was snapped.

Common Raven

COMMON RAVEN (CORVUS CORVAX), WHITEFISH POINT, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 8, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/800 sec. f10
ISO 1600

This raven was hopping about on the dry grass in front of the lighthouse at Whitefish Point when I captured it. Luckily, the angle of the midmorning light was just right so that it was reflected rather than absorbed, as so often happens with black birds. Click for larger version.

Sunrise 7/30/12

SUNRISE OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 30, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm at 24mm
1/640 sec. f8
ISO 400

"Prepare to die. The Orcs are coming." That was the feeling I had upon stepping out of the cabin that morning, but two hours later the eastern sky was bright and cloudless. Click for a desktop sized version if you're in a blue mood.

Sunset 7/28/12

SUNSET OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 28, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 400

What can I say? These spectacular sunsets are Mother Nature's doing, not a photographer's.

Horse and rider

HORSE AND RIDER, ONTONAGON COUNTY FAIR, GREENLAND, MICHIGAN, JULY 29, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/1600 sec. f9
ISO 1600

This young lady, 17-year-old Darien Steiner, was a contestant at the Ontonagon County Fair yesterday. Of all the photographs I took of the events, this one seems to be the most insteresting, for it captures the horse's dynamic effort at the instant it changes direction, rounding the barrel perfectly and heading for the next—much to the obvious delight of its rider.

Carving a tree

FINNISH WOOD CARVER, ONTONAGON COUNTY FAIR, GREENLAND, MICHIGAN, JULY 28, 2012

Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 50mm
1/15 sec. f9.5
ISO 800

Deborah Abbott captured this artisan of Finnish extraction carving a little wooden tree at the annual Ontonagon County Fair in Greenland.

Weevil Knievel

MOTOCROSS CONTESTANT, ONTONAGON COUNTY FAIR, GREENLAND, MICHIGAN, JULY 28, 2012

Pentax K-5
SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 at 135mm
1/800 sec. f8
ISO 400

This bepadded and behelmeted rider is about six years old. This part of the country goes in for reciprocating engine sports in a big way—motorbikes, cycles and ATVs in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter—and the enthusiasm starts young.

Wild Turkey

FEMALE EASTERN WILD TURKEY (MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO SILVESTRIS), SILVER CITY, MICHIGAN, JUY 25, 2012 

Pentax *ist DS
SMC-DA 50-200 at 200mm
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 800

Keeping an older (circa 2003) 6-megapixel camera with an inexpensive kit zoom lens in the car occasionally pays dividends. The combination can still produce decent photographs even when they are heavily cropped, as this one is.

Stella 7/24/12

WHITETAIL DEER, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 24, 2012

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/45 sec. f11
ISO 800

Stella now emerges from the woods to raid our bird feeders twice and even three times during daylight, then returns in the wee hours to clean up. If we haven't put out enough seed to suit her, she stands and stares until we cave in. We think she may be nursing twin fawns, even though she is fairly small, maybe a yearling or not much more.