Project: One photo a day (but not necessarily every day)

[rwsaunders]

More boys (and girls) in the boat.

[bironi]

Very nice pic.
I do wish Seattle would get rid of those floating polluting/diseased cruisers.

[rwsaunders]

My vote is still with Pequod's, but I'm not local.

[Marvinlungwitz]

My vote is still with Pequod's, but I'm not local.

I don't understand the popularity of Malnati's.

Crust is really bland & tasteless, imho.

[72gmc]

Very nice pic.
I do wish Seattle would get rid of those floating polluting/diseased cruisers.

On the one hand, it's no immediate inconvenience to me that cruise ships dock here. But on the other hand, I expect cruise lines to be run with a "high seas casino owner" mentality that's not really compatible with waterways like the Sound, so I wonder what long-term effects we'll discover.

[open roader]

Nikon Z7 (mirrorless) with the AF-S 500mm f/5.6 PF lens mounted via the F to X mount coupling.


The Z7's autofocus works well in bright light on high contrast points but hunts way too much in low light / low contrast situations compared to the older autofocus systems I had in the D700, D800 and D810.

I'm saving to upgrade to the newer Z8 model which is manufactured with an autofocus system in a class above this one.

In hindsight I should have remained with D-SLR bodies for another few years but the Z7 is so much more portable aka bike-able.

[open roader]

Gang Gang Cockatoos - two males

[9tubes]

Saw this today in a GCN video on the TdF. Had to pause the vid.

We have Bernard Tapie, owner/founder of La Vie Claire, Bernard Hinault, and an extravaganza of a Flock of Seagulls haircut. Circa 1984.

Screenshot 2023-07-20 at 6.55.00 PM.jpg

[j44ke]

This is Doug who likes to sleep between two of my firewood racks.

[open roader]

Ok, so we fed her half a slice of bread if she comes up to the house..................

Circa July 2020 :- 'Loraine' aged 15 back then (may she rest in peace - our darling Loraine) and her very last joey 'Karen' who now hangs around our garden with her own joeys.........

[j44ke]

Getting ready for a nap




This being a deer stuff is tiring



*violating the daily picture rules but Doug is weird enough to be worth it.

[j44ke]

Ok, so we fed her half a slice of bread if she comes up to the house..................

Circa July 2020 :- 'Loraine' aged 15 back then (may she rest in peace - our darling Loraine) and her very last joey 'Karen' who now hangs around our garden with her own joeys.........

...

Was Loraine a wallaby?

[open roader]

Was Loraine a wallaby?

Yes. Loraine was a Swamp Wallaby.

She stood all of 3'9" tall. We first noticed her as a recently weaned joey. None of our wallabies had the pale face mask before Loraine. Recently weaned joeys hang about for some months then find new territory, never to be seen again.

Loraine stayed - never left and over the 15 years she stayed (we saw her nearly weekly) she became very accustomed to us and actually brought her joeys closer to the house where the shrubberies are more dense / shelter in winter is best. We occasionally tossed her a hunk of bread to keep her occupied whilst I fussed about with photos. The wallabies do remarkably little damage to the garden as they tend to browse very lightly, nibbling not tearing and their numbers are only 4 or 5 at most and usually in spring when there is most to browse on.

[open roader]

Love these Yellow Robins - so accommodating with long held poses.

[j44ke]

Taxonomy is super interesting with Australian birds (or any number of other colonial regions) as many of the popular names are based on first perceptions of European settlers. Now with DNA, science has a better idea of the origins of certain species, so something called a robin might be genetically closer to flycatchers or chats or pitas etc. etc. etc. Or it might be descended from a common ancestor with other robins on other continents. And that explains why some behaviors might cross through groups of birds with different names and emphasizes how similar food-source niches (catching caterpillars on plants for example) might construct a similar successful behavior (sitting still and watching for movement) among genetically dissimilar species.

Love these Yellow Robins - so accommodating with long held poses...

You have me sorting through used Canon L telephotos and telephoto zooms on KEH.com (long time used pro photo equipment dealers in US). I have a Canon 5D that is excellent, but my longest lens is 40mm!

[open roader]

Taxonomy is super interesting with Australian birds (or any number of other colonial regions) as many of the popular names are based on first perceptions of European settlers. Now with DNA, science has a better idea of the origins of certain species, so something called a robin might be genetically closer to flycatchers or chats or pitas etc.

Yes, first impressions can often be misleading and common names from back in the mother country applied to animals/plants etc that upon closer observation and study are actually quite different from the initial perception. Initial British descriptions of Kangaroos was 'sheep like' I guess because of their grazing habits en mass but now a laughable descriptor.

My specialty hobby is plants - again, same thing. So many Australian native plants with loosly fitting European descriptors thrown at them with some common names sticking good and hard....

Lenses :- oh the agony of choice and expenditure. You know the cheapest route is a 300mmf/2.8 or f/4 and a TC.......

[j44ke]

Yes, first impressions can often be misleading and common names from back in the mother country applied to animals/plants etc that upon closer observation and study are actually quite different from the initial perception. Initial British descriptions of Kangaroos was 'sheep like' I guess because of their grazing habits en mass but now a laughable descriptor.

My specialty hobby is plants - again, same thing. So many Australian native plants with loosly fitting European descriptors thrown at them with some common names sticking good and hard....

Lenses :- oh the agony of choice and expenditure. You know the cheapest route is a 300mmf/2.8 or f/4 and a TC.......

Yes, seems there is no shortage of Canon EF 300mm f/4 L IS lenses at good prices currently. With a 1.4x and full-frame sensor cropping, I can make a go of it.

[echappist]

Yes, seems there is no shortage of Canon EF 300mm f/4 L IS lenses at good prices currently. With a 1.4x and full-frame sensor cropping, I can make a go of it.

How much are we looking at for the equipment spec'ed? With a S&S coupled Ti Strada Bianca ordered and a possible double boiler espresso upgrade, I think I blew through a few years' worth of s***s and giggles money.

But otoh, my superzoom often leaves me wanting. For instance, the only images I have of an indigo bunting are blurry blue blobs, as the superzoom doesn't do focus well (manual or auto) under mediocre lighting conditions.

[j44ke]

How much are we looking at for the equipment spec'ed? With a S&S coupled Ti Strada Bianca ordered and a possible double boiler espresso upgrade, I think I blew through a few years' worth of s***s and giggles money.

But otoh, my superzoom often leaves me wanting. For instance, the only images I have of an indigo bunting are blurry blue blobs, as the superzoom doesn't do focus well (manual or auto) under mediocre lighting conditions.

Not too horrible since I already have the 5D mkIII body. If you have a body with an APS-C sensor, you can skip the teleconverter and switch the money saved to a faster or longer lens.

Canon 300mm f4.0 L IS USM EF lens

Canon 1.4x EF Ext III TC L-series

I've only once gotten a bad item from KEH (a Nikon F4 that wouldn't stop down automatically) and they sent the replacement before I had even returned the camera body to them.

Indigo buntings hardly ever sit still.

[echappist]

Thanks for the links.

The one I tried to photograph did (beginner's luck I guess), but it was under dense foliage on a cloudy day (not that sunlight piercing into the foliage would be any better).

As for something that really doesn’t sit still, barn swallows. I don’t get how they can ever eat enough to keep flying like that. Also, there are like 5-6 barn swallow nests on the outside wall of Taliesin. Unfortunately, i didn’t have my superzoom with me to capture one of the few times i’ve seen them sit tight.