20100130-4376 "Maybe if I just freeze in place he won't notice me hanging here, swinging back and forth like a school kid, sucking down seeds one at a time as if they were malted milk balls." Obviously it didn't work. And I didn't get a chance to shoot outside today because I didn't feel like fumbling around in the freezing rain. Funny how it felt much colder outside today, in the rain, than it did a week ago when it was actually a good 15-20 degrees colder with blowing snow. This was shot during that snow, from inside. That OOF white blob in the background is the bud-covered Japanese magnolia. Any day now it is going to burst forth with some spring color. Right? And the apparent statue with the static cling is one of my resident red-bellied woodpeckers. I'm lucky enough to have several visit almost daily, along with several flickers, who have so far evaded my lens. Normally woodpeckers and log cabins aren't a good combination, but fortunately these guys do very little jack-hammering. They mainly pick and probe around crevices without too much commotion or destruction. - James Hill Photography - Efland, NC

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James Hill > 20100209-4570

Fishing lure philosophy: The more elaborate and expensive a lure, the more likely it will attract far more fishermen than fish.

Thanks for the comments on the little mouse from yesterday. He makes a reappearance here for a sense of scale. To answer Dave's question, I have caught many fish with the little mouse. Granted, most were large bluegill (a type of sunfish) which are incredibly easy to catch; known to take just about anything, cheez-wiz, corn, and bare hooks, even. They are not picky eaters.

James Hill > 20100208-4556

Why yes, as a matter of fact, I do have a mouse in my pocket.

A well worn one at that. He's missing a few whiskers, has partially deformed ears, a slightly rusty hook, and his tail is probably going to fall off that next time it encounters water, but sure, I always have a mouse in my pocket. What, doesn't everyone?

Spring will be here soon, time to prep the fishing tackle....

James Hill > 20100207-4538 Stick a fork in it.

Nothing fancy, just a parting shot showing what's left of the snow and my brunch for today. The sun is bright and any snow left in it's path should be gone by evening. The birds have abandoned the feeder, apparently to dine in the less crowded undergrowth. I couldn't even attract one to the windowsill to eat with me. Maybe I should have showered first?

This shot is also a good representation of why I don't like to do food photography. I'm too impatient. Heck, often I'll eat part of my meal over the stove while the remainder finishes cooking. Besides, by the time you get a shot set up, lighted, touched up, and fussed over; your meal is cold. Where's the fun in that? But I do have a new respect for Karina, Christine, and others who can pull off a tempting food shot when they want to.

So what's on the plate?
Organic Belgian waffles (store bought since I no longer own a waffle iron) with homemade blueberry compote. I used maple syrup instead of sugar for the compote.

And on the fork, poor-man's pâté, aka Neese's Liver Pudding. If you're not familiar with it, and I doubt many outside Piedmont NC will be, think very fine sausage made from liver instead of whatever is actually in sausage, and without the grease. It was coated in leftover toasted flax seed from last nights bread, then pan fried in a little coconut oil until golden brown and crispy on the outside, warm and very pâté like on the inside.

James Hill > 20100206-4486 - Baking bread and breaking sauces.

A few of you have wondered where I've been, so here's a clue as to what I've been up to for the last couple months.

On the menu tonight:

Arugula and spinach salad with sliced mushrooms,
red & yellow peppers, walnuts, and poppy seed dressing.

Smoked wild Alaskan salmon with a garlic & cracked pepper crust.

Asparagus sauteed in coconut oil.

A very broken Neufchâtel cream sauce for the fish and asparagus, which looked a mess but tasted wonderful nonetheless. (note: start with room temp cheese and use _LOW_ heat next time)

And, last but not least, two small loaves of whole wheat "steakhouse" bread. Sort of a hearty & sweet wheat that called for honey, coco, coffee, and sugar. I added molasses and cracked flax seed just because I could. Besides, I like my bread to reflect who I am - a little sweet, a little dense, a little nutty, and somewhat crusty. No whitebread 'round here.

James Hill > 20100130-4376

"Maybe if I just freeze in place he won't notice me hanging here, swinging back and forth like a school kid, sucking down seeds one at a time as if they were malted milk balls."

Obviously it didn't work. And I didn't get a chance to shoot outside today because I didn't feel like fumbling around in the freezing rain. Funny how it felt much colder outside today, in the rain, than it did a week ago when it was actually a good 15-20 degrees colder with blowing snow. This was shot during that snow, from inside.

That OOF white blob in the background is the bud-covered Japanese magnolia. Any day now it is going to burst forth with some spring color. Right? And the apparent statue with the static cling is one of my resident red-bellied woodpeckers. I'm lucky enough to have several visit almost daily, along with several flickers, who have so far evaded my lens. Normally woodpeckers and log cabins aren't a good combination, but fortunately these guys do very little jack-hammering. They mainly pick and probe around crevices without too much commotion or destruction.

James Hill > 20100130-4383

Not exactly a great photo but it happens to be the closest shot I have of this type of bird and I haven't been able to ID the thing. Any of you birders know what it is? The true color is flat gray with a white underside. It's being lit by an incandescent spotlight from behind the window, hence the apparent warmness. They usually gather in groups of 6-10 around the feeder but almost always feed on the ground instead of on the feeder itself.

Edit: Jon, on facebook, quickly provided an ID. I just don't trust my hunches. This is a dark-eyed junco, slate colored variety.

James Hill > 20100130-4341

Eye to eye with a curious and very persistent little tufted titmouse. This cross-observation took place through a slightly fogged, and more than slightly dirty window in my living room. A steaming bowl of homemade chili and warm radiant-heated comfort on my side of the glass, while outside the weather was powder-fine blowing snow with temps in the 20-something degree range. There were several of these little guys fluttering around on the porch, insisting rather vocally that more sunflower seed be added to the abundance of mixed seed already on the windowsill feeder. Picky eaters, those titmice.

To be fair, in addition to feeding them and providing temporary shelter from the storm, I did spend about half the day out on the porch with the birds. However, it was much too cold and windy to handle the camera with much finesse, especially given how I was bundled up as if I were making a summit attempt on Everest. Yesterdays sparrow was shot the following day, when the sun reappeared and made being outside rather pleasant (except for the shoveling snow part.)

More birds on the way...

James Hill > 20091020-3835

Oops, I thought I added this to my daily gallery a while back with my other shell shots. Seems it never made it out of hiding. I really liked the way the patterns mimicked the overall shape of this shell.

Been doing more reading/viewing/experimenting than posting or commenting lately, still researching a strategy to improve my flash/lighting work with the limited equipment I have. Thanks to you all who've popped in recently and left some encouraging comments. I will get back to regular activity sooner or later. : )

James Hill > 20091019-3757

Continuing the shell game with a little different look from yesterdays shot. I tried the same lighting as the previous shot and it didn't work for this particular shell. The wrap around cross-lighting killed all the surface detail and made this one seem rather flat. So, instead of using soft light, I hit this one with hard light from above and slightly behind to accentuate all the protrusions and tiny surface ridges. A snoot placed on the flash gave me a nice small oval of light similar to a spotlight.

James Hill > 20091018-3716

Furthering my lighting studies with a weathered and worn shell I picked up from Mom's today. She has plenty of them, and I've been looking for a long-term project, so you'll likely see more.

James Hill > 20091017-3513 - Three of a kind beats two pairs...

and trying to claim three pairs could lead to trouble, or at least that's what I've been told. I don't know for sure because I don't play cards, much less poker. All I know is I had three pears, two reflectors, and one flash. This is what I came up with.

Thanks for all the kind feedback on the deer shot yesterday and the previous edibles. I hope to spend some time viewing and commenting soon. I've been working my way through a really good lighting book, 'Light - Science and Magic', and about the only time I've put it down is to pick up the camera and try an exercise.

James Hill > 20091016-3368 - Face off

Seems the deer are more regular than I am with this daily thing. : )
These two showed up to feed in the yard at the same time last night. They've been spending most of their time alone for the last few weeks and generally appear after it's too dark for photos. When I saw both walk into the yard last night I grabbed my camera and hoped for a little interaction. Of course they insisted on just milling around and eating for a good half hour while the light was continually fading, ugh. Finally they approached one another, and as luck would have it, they met up directly behind the only tree in the yard which would block my view.

They did eventually dance their way across the yard, with antlers gnashing, and I was able to capture a couple dozen shots of the scrimmage. It was a rather low-key event, really more of a friendly shoving match, with both appearing to gain the upper hoof at various times. No blood was drawn and , I suspect, no dominance was established in this little tussle. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a rematch over the next few weeks.

As always, there are more shots in My Daily Visitors gallery. Shot at ISO 1600 and from behind a window, so the quality is rather bleak, but it was fun.

James Hill > 20091008-3095 - Perfect Red Pepper? Not really.

Picked a bunch of peppers last week. (not enough for a peck and they were not pickled, sorry) I planned to do some red/green groups but this tiny red one just jumped out at me. It may have something to do with the worm hole in the back side, hmmm, I didn't notice that when I picked it. Anyway, I figured I'd shoot it solo before adding it to the compost pile.

Just one flash and a few reflectors, very similar to the previous two images. Since a few have asked about how I lit the other two, I took a setup shot of this one and added a few notes. The setup shot can be seen here.

James Hill > 20091006-2995 - Some kind of squash (not a pumpkin.)

Thanks for all the feedback on the pears. (btw, the pears haven't completely dried yet, so they're still a little squishy) This shot is basically the same lighting setup - Flash stuffed into a homemade diffuser, just out of frame on camera left, and a white shirt-box reflector off camera right.

20100130-4376

"Maybe if I just freeze in place he won't notice me hanging here, swinging back and forth like a school kid, sucking down seeds one at a time as if they were malted milk balls."

Obviously it didn't work. And I didn't get a chance to shoot outside today because I didn't feel like fumbling around in the freezing rain. Funny how it felt much colder outside today, in the rain, than it did a week ago when it was actually a good 15-20 degrees colder with blowing snow. This was shot during that snow, from inside.

That OOF white blob in the background is the bud-covered Japanese magnolia. Any day now it is going to burst forth with some spring color. Right? And the apparent statue with the static cling is one of my resident red-bellied woodpeckers. I'm lucky enough to have several visit almost daily, along with several flickers, who have so far evaded my lens. Normally woodpeckers and log cabins aren't a good combination, but fortunately these guys do very little jack-hammering. They mainly pick and probe around crevices without too much commotion or destruction.