A tour boat cruises along the face of Hubbard Glacier in Disenchantment Bay, Alaska:
For a little scale, here’s a closer view of the boat in question: Continue reading
Up against the ice
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A crested pigeon, seen giving me a quizzical look at the Edward Youde Aviary, Hong Kong.
Native to Australia, this specimen appears to be thriving in his Hong Kong home. At the very least, he’s certainly well-fed.
A stroll along the water
A scene from the amazing Keukenhof Park in Lisse, Netherlands:
EXIF:
Olympus OM-1, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 II
ISO 200, 26mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec
Birds of Waterton Canyon
Waterton Canyon is a nearby attraction for me (southwest of Denver, Colorado), and it’s both scenic and peaceful — so it’s just a shame that I don’t get there very often. The canyon was carved by the Platte River, and has an incredibly gentle trail to hike (repurposed from its original genesis as a railroad bed), so I don’t even have difficulty as an excuse.
Regardless, I went on a hike there recently along with other members of a local photography group — we were primarily there to see bighorn sheep, but ran across some interesting birds in the process.
Let’s start with the Spotted Towhee:
Impromptu airshow
It’s been years since I’ve had the opportunity to attend a local airshow. But then a few weeks back I realized that during football season, people in the Denver area are given a free mini airshow before each Broncos (NFL) home game. There’s usually a military aircraft flyover for home game kickoffs and the pilots fly laps for about an hour to get the timing right for their flyover — and best of all for me, I live a short drive from where they circle.
Throw in a bit of help from the ADS-B Exchange, and it’s pretty easy to get lined up for some good shots (weather permitting).
All the photos in this post were taken with an OM-1 II camera and M.Zuiko 150-400mm + TC1.25x lens (at full zoom, so 1000mm in 35mm terms). Unfortunately, I had to crop all these shots due to distance; next time, I’ll remember to bring a teleconverter. And now that I’ve spotted some patterns in their flight path (it’s broadly similar from game to game, but shifts around by a few miles each time), I should be able to start getting closer. FWIW, these two aircraft are U. S. Navy EA-18Gs, the electronic warfare versions of F-18s.
At the northeast corner of the timing loop; a bit over 4 miles from me.
EXIF: ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/640 sec Continue reading
At the altar
The altar of the cathedral in Lima, Peru (officially, Basílica Catedral Metropolitana de Lima y Primada del Perú).
This (third) Cathedral of Lima was built between 1602 and 1797 — the altar was made in 1799 by Matías Maestro. This image is an HDR stack of 3 photos made with an OM System OM-1 camera and M.Zuiko 8-25mm f/4.0 lens.
Unlikely guardians
A pair of Peruvian thick-knees keep an eye on the ruins of Pachacamac (near Lima), Peru.
These little guys normally live in shrubland and grassland, so it’s impressive how prevalent they are in Pachacamac — it’s about as dry a desert area as you’ll find (no shrubs or grass), although it’s relatively close to grassy areas by the Pacific coast.
EXIF:
OM System OM-1 camera, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 lens
40mm, ISO 200, f/11, 1/320 sec
Bright Nights at Four Mile
So filed under the category of “How did I only now hear about this” is an excellent local (Denver, Colorado) event — “Bright Nights at Four Mile.” It’s a collaboration between Denver’s Four Mile Historic Park and Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc., the largest producer of Chinese lantern festivals in North America. The result is a wide array of larger-than-life lit sculptures spread out over 12 acres. Great for photographers, fun for visitors of all ages, I just can’t praise it enough!
Our stolen friend
Unlike most other moai from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Hoa Hakananai’a was carved from basalt (vs. the softer volcanic stone which was generally used).
Cotton Candy Museum
This is the Botanic Museum at the Lund University Botanic Gardens in Lund, Sweden:
Or at least, the above is a view of the museum through a 665 nm infrared filter (with a red / blue color channel swap and other tweaking).
Using less processing on the same photograph results in a view that’s (to my eye at least) a bit more sinister in appearance:
In regular visible light, it looks more like this:
One of the nice things about photographing in infrared is that it works well in bright mid-day sunlight (which tends to be less flattering for other uses). The flip side of this coin is that when you’re visiting places like Scandinavia, you may not get bright mid-day sunlight all that often.