Hunt for Spring

Floral, Midday, Macro

Photo hunt time! Karma has challenged us to show her what spring looks like where we live. You can check out her post for the hunt at Signs of Spring Photo Hunt. She included an additional challenge, for those brave enough to partake, of only using a prime lens if you have one (or set your zoom to one focal length). I accept!

The use of the prime lens fits in nicely with my recent love for my 50mm prime. But that is not the lens I chose to use, as my macro lens is also prime (105mm). I needed the macro, as my typical signs of spring are the flowers pushing through the winter blahs.

Although the weather has been crazy this past week, Saturday managed to be sunny and slightly warm. My “go-to” spot for early spring floral images is the rural cemetery. I can usually find daffodils, grape hyacinths, and a crocus or two. Upon arrival, my initial thought was that I would venture out without finding any images to capture. I wandered around, and I was rewarded with quite a few signs of spring…

Beginnings
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/60s, f/3.5, ISO 100

Pushing Through
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/400s, f/5.6, ISO 100

Purple
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/800s, f/5.6, ISO 100

Resilient
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/640s, f/5.6, ISO 100

Daffodils
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/800s, f/5.6, ISO 100

Brightly
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/1000s, f/5.6, ISO 100

And if you managed to make it all the way to the end of this post…

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

–William Wordsworth

Before and After

Photo Hunt/Challenge

This is your assignment, if you choose to accept. Those words and the theme music from Mission: Impossible are what is in my head when my friend Karma posts one of her photo hunts. The mission this time was before and after. My head was swimming with ideas all week. I didn’t get to all of the ideas so I may have to post again later.

My first thought, being primarily a landscape photographer, was before and after sunrise. The light changes drastically when the sun crosses the horizon and changes the mood of the scene. The conditions were not ideal Sunday morning but the temperature was more accommodating than on Saturday (I strongly dislike the cold).

I went to my go to place in Rome, Bellamy Harbor. I had other ideas for additional challenges I wanted to capture but the sunrise was first on my list. I got lucky as the fence preventing me from reaching my favorite spot at one end of the harbor had been rotated again allowing me to walk right in. I probably should have left the camera in one spot and waited but I’m not always good at waiting. These are basically the same view…

Before Sunrise
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1.3s, 35mm, f/11, ISO 100

After Sunrise
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/40s, 39mm, f/11, ISO 100

The two images are only thirty minutes apart. The first image is twenty minutes prior while the second image is ten minutes after the sun woke up for the day. Two different scenes of the harbor. I like the before image best.

My next idea had several opportunities for me. The after image for this scene is the only one that worked out. My thought was to show a winter scene before this weird winter thaw and what it looks like now. As much as I complain about the cold, the snow tends to “pretty up” a scene. I’m borrowing a previously posted image for the first one.

Peer into the Heart
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/60s, 24mm, f/8, ISO 100

Empty Heart
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/160s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 100

There were a few more stops along the Mohawk River Trail that I wanted to capture for the after image party but I miscalculated the view. I know, I should have pulled out my phone and looked up the before images, but it was such a beautiful day I didn’t want to ruin it by having my nose to my phone.

My last set of images for this photo hunt is a concept that showed up in my head this past week. I’m not positive what prompted it or how it appeared, other than I was hungry. I made chili yesterday. I still make enough to feed a family but it works for me as I freeze half and eat half for a few days at work. How does this fit the theme you ask? Well…

What is needed
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/13s, 30mm, f/8, ISO 1600

What you get
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/20s, 37mm, f/4, ISO 800

Other ideas I didn’t pursue; show a clock at 11:55am and 12:05pm, an image out the front window of the car and then the back window (that one required a quiet country road I could stop on), the straight out of camera image and the post-processed image… I could go on.

This was a fun photo hunt. I needed the challenge to wake up my brain. I think I have been sleep walking through my days lately. Thanks Karma! Looking forward to the next one… ;)

Karma’s June Photo Hunt

Yeah! Karma is doing another photo hunt!

My friend Karma over on Karma’s When I Feel Like It Blog is organizing another of her photo hunts. This one is all about Whimsy. You can read more about whimsy and the photo hunt in her In Want of Whimsy post. Now, quit reading this and go check it out… 🙂

Photo Hunt Results

As I had mentioned a few weeks ago my friend Karma over at Karma’s When I Feel Like It Blog is having a photo hunt. For this particular hunt we needed to choose a word and then find images of objects around the house to represent each letter in the word. We can choose to let you know our word and see how well our objects spell out the word or just present the images and let our readers figure out the word. I’ll go one step further and present the letter images in no particular order and let you unscramble them into my word.  Hopefully I wasn’t too obvious…

Nuts

Eggs

Scale & Slippers

Dough

Ice

Yellow Yarn

**EDIT**

I realize now that images can be interpreted in different ways depending on a person’s point of view. Each of these images shouts to me what it is but I created them. A few people have mentioned to me that even though they knew the word I was going for the images didn’t match up with the letters. The two biggest culprits are the third and sixth images. I see what other people see now. lol Check out the comments below for a hint on both of those images.

A Photo Hunt!

My friend Karma just posted a great photo hunt challenge for all you photographers out there in the bloggernet! I’ll let you read about it over on her site but like she said, the more the merrier! Check out the details here A Blogger Contrived Photo Hunt.