James Hill > Des-0253

My energetic niece, taunting me this afternoon at her brother's birthday party.  Normally one to ham it up for the camera, she was being a bit mischievous today and tried to hide behind the door before I could get a shot off.  She almost succeeded but ultimately ended up giving me what easily turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.

Thanks for all the comments on the baseball shot I posted a couple days ago.  I haven't had time to follow up/comment much yet, but I've certainly enjoyed easing back in and seeing/hearing from a lot of familiar folks.
James Hill > It's still hot, and I didn't shoot anything today, so this is another shot from the archives.  And in an ultimate showing of laziness, I'm pulling it straight from one of my first galleries uploaded to Smugmug.  One more day until I'll have lots of new festival and river photos to choose from.
James Hill > Grass-1452

A shot of Dad's lawn from a bug's perspective, looking into the setting sun.  

The soft-focus was achieved by shooting through the grass which was between the lens and the blades I focused on.  

I used the 70-200 2.8 with stacked 20 & 36mm extension tubes, which allowed me to focus at about 6 inches.
James Hill > PollenMaker-3503

Shot this today while on a break from mowing the yard.  I hate mowing so I keep the camera handy as a diversion just in case I run across anything interesting.  And, as luck would have it, I did.  I ran across a really cool looking grasshopper.  Unfortunately, he was a little too disfigured from the mower to be a much of a macro model - poor guy.  : (    

Then I saw this pine flower on a low hanging branch and thought it might be an interesting subject for a closeup.

Shot handheld with the 70-200 and 36mm extension tube.  I'll likely try this again with the tripod, on a day with no wind, for a little more sharpness and DOF.
James Hill > Cherry Blossoms

Had dinner at Mom and Dad's house tonight and as I drove up to the house I was amazed by their flowering cherry trees, which as you can see were in full bloom.  The weather was overcast with a light drizzling rain, and the cherry blossoms were almost glowing.

I was pleased with quite a few exposures, which made it tough to decide which one to use as a daily, so I posted several other shots in my What's New gallery.
James Hill > Cabin-0461

This is what home looked like early Monday morning.  The trees, especially the two corkscrew-willows, were simply amazing with all the wet snow clinging to them.  Since I don't see it very often, one thing I had forgotten about snow is it's tough to shoot!  The light was only favorable for a short time and the wind was enough to ruin a lot of the more graceful scenes early on, but it certainly was a pleasant change from all the dead winter vegetation.  But all that's over now - Bring on Spring!
James Hill > Vertigo, anyone?

Trying to break out of the norm and see things from a new perspective.
This is a relatively new pedestrian bridge that crosses the Eno River and leads into the city park where all of my festival shots have come from.  This was the first time I crossed this bridge so I wanted to capture a few photos to mark the occasion.  Not content with a straight-on approach, I wondered what it would look like if I hung upside down from the top.  It probably goes without saying, but it was much harder to compose a decent shot than I expected. ;-)

Edit: It seems many have missed my little winkie there at the end.  I did NOT actually hang from the top.  I just wondered what it would look like if I had.  The difficulty was in getting the comp I wanted to make the shot look convincing.  This was shot standing on my own two feet, then the image was flipped in post.  While trying to compose this I was wishing for an inverted view, like the old view cameras.
James Hill > Well, are you coming or not?

Stopped by to visit with these neighbors of mine this evening, just as a brief thunderstorm was breaking up.  They were both soaking wet and covered in pollen but they didn't seem to care.  After greeting me at the fence, they wandered off to continue grazing and I caught this one looking back over his shoulder as if to say, "come on in, there's enough for you too."

Several more shots are in my What's New gallery for those interested.  I'd really appreciate any suggestions or critiques from the horse people out there, as I'd like to start shooting at some local stables and I'm sure there are a lot of things about horses that you guys see instantly which I might be overlooking.
James Hill > Hoverfly feeding on pollen which had collected on my lens shade.

I shot this guy during the same outing where I shot the damselfly from two posts back.  Just like the damselfly, I first noticed him when he kept trying to land on my lens shade while I was busy shooting weeds.  I actually tried to capture a shot of him hovering right in front of the lens, but that was truly an exercise in futility.  ( I do have many solid frames of a very pretty pale blue though if anyone needs or wants a few.)  

After giving up on the in-flight shots, I decided to take the lens shade off and hold it in my left hand to try and get his closeup.  He stayed right with me through many shaky attempts.  I found it rather difficult to hold the shade, hold the heavy 70-200, and adjust the zoom all at the same time and with the same hand.  I probably looked like I was "losing it" to anyone watching me.  Of course this shot involved extension tubes, as he's just a few inches from the the end of the lens in this.

I put a few less aesthetically pleasing yet more detailed shots in my Bugs, Insects, and other Tiny Creatures gallery.  They give a better idea of how much pollen was  actually clinging to plastic lens shade.
Des-0253

My energetic niece, taunting me this afternoon at her brother's birthday party. Normally one to ham it up for the camera, she was being a bit mischievous today and tried to hide behind the door before I could get a shot off. She almost succeeded but ultimately ended up giving me what easily turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.

Thanks for all the comments on the baseball shot I posted a couple days ago. I haven't had time to follow up/comment much yet, but I've certainly enjoyed easing back in and seeing/hearing from a lot of familiar folks.
James Hill > Des-0253

My energetic niece, taunting me this afternoon at her brother's birthday party.  Normally one to ham it up for the camera, she was being a bit mischievous today and tried to hide behind the door before I could get a shot off.  She almost succeeded but ultimately ended up giving me what easily turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.

Thanks for all the comments on the baseball shot I posted a couple days ago.  I haven't had time to follow up/comment much yet, but I've certainly enjoyed easing back in and seeing/hearing from a lot of familiar folks.
Des-0253

My energetic niece, taunting me this afternoon at her brother's birthday party. Normally one to ham it up for the camera, she was being a bit mischievous today and tried to hide behind the door before I could get a shot off. She almost succeeded but ultimately ended up giving me what easily turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.

Thanks for all the comments on the baseball shot I posted a couple days ago. I haven't had time to follow up/comment much yet, but I've certainly enjoyed easing back in and seeing/hearing from a lot of familiar folks.
See photo in original gallery.

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