Harvest Moon

Tonight's harvest moon at Sandbridge Beach, Virginia. Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 800 converted to black and white in Lightroom 4 using Silver Efex Pro.

Repairing the Web

I've been keeping an eye on this beautiful garden spider I spotted among the daylilies back in June. When I first saw her she was only about a half an inch long now she's easily approaching and inch and half. She was busy rebuilding the "sewing machine" zig-zag part of the web. I had never seen one actually doing this, so I thought I would share. Canon EOS 300D, 1/500 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Half Moon

An interesting half moon from a couple of nights ago. Canon 7D, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 400mm focal length, converted to black & white using Silver Efex Pro in Lightroom.

More Sunflowers

Canon 7D, 1/60 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, two LED Litepanels.

National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day

A fresh baked strawberry rhubarb pie in honor of National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day. Canon 7D, 1/10 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens with an assist from image stabilization.

Tournesol

I can certainly see why Van Gogh was so captivated by the Sunflower that he painted a series of sunflowers (tournesols in French) hoping to welcome and impress his friend and fellow painter Paul Gauguin. You can see a black and white version of this photo at The World in Black and White blog. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Forsythia Visitor

Found this small dragonfly like visitor on one of the forsythia blooms tonight. It is very small about 3/8 of an inch long. Canon 7D, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, LED Litepanel.

Star of Bethlehem

The Star-of-Bethlehem, scientific name - Ornithogalum, has a long stalk bearing clusters of white star-shaped flowers. The five pointed star-shaped flower give the plant its name. Canon 7D, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro with one LED Litepanel.

Watching You, Watching Me

This pelican was busy watching the people who were watching him along the bluf at La Jolla California. Canon EOS 7D, 1/640th sec @ f/10.0, ISO 200, zoom at 400mm focal length.

Starfish

A bright red starfish in a sheltered tidal pool just off the La Jolla Children's Pool. Canon EOS 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/10.0, ISO 200, 400mm focal length.

Morning Nap

Sea Lion's enjoying a sunny morning nap on the rocks at La Jolla Cove. Canon EOS 7D, 1/500 sec @ f/10.0, ISO 200, zoom at 350mm focal lenghth.

Shorebird Sunset

Three shorebirds working the edge of the surf for dinner just after sunset in Encinitas California. Canon EOS 7D, 1/50 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 100, 156mm focal length.

Squirrel!

This is a California ground squirrel and a resident of La Jolla California's coastal buff. Canon 7D, 1/640 sec @ f/10, ISO 200, zoom at 390mm focal length.

My Buddy

My buddy is wearing a little evidence of a pre-Christmas dinner cookie. Canon 7D, 1/60 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400, bounce flash with a little direct flash from a white reflector.

This Year's Memory

The mouse is everywhere even on our Christmas Tree. This was a souvenir from our first ever trip to Disney World back in October. Our Christmas Tree has unique ornaments from the places we've visited over the years. Putting up the tree brings back all of those great memories from past vacations. Canon 7D, 1/13 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Holiday Lights

More of the holiday lights at Norfolk's Botanical Gardens. Canon 7D, 1/20 sec @ f/3.5 ISO 800.

Schlumbergera

Schlumbergera, a.k.a. the Christmas Cactus. These cacti are species found in the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil. Plants grow on trees or rocks in habitats which are generally shady with high humidity and can be quite different in appearance from their desert-dwelling cousins. Hybrids like this one are popular house plants.Canon 7D, 1/80 sec @ f/16.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, two LED Litepanels used for illumination.

Too Much Email

Opened my Gmail account today and what do you know, my unopened email counter was sitting at exactly 10,000. Many of these are email lists, ads, automatic notifications and such. I had this down to zero this past summer. So if I took 5 seconds each to delete these emails it would take 14 hours of continuos deleting to get rid of them all. If I actually took a minute to look at each one, that would take 21 - 8 hour work days or a little more than one man month. And this is just my personal email account, my work account has much more volume. Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/16.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro, photographed directly off my computer screen.

I.T. - Trying To Fix What We Mess Up

Each member of the family has an ornament on our Christmas Tree representing their occupation. This is mine. Canon 7D, 1/30 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, 100 macro lens.

Serious Business

Unpacking and setting up Cindy's Santa's collection is serious business requiring much concentration. Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 800.