Flutterbye

Visual Prompt Provided by Magpie Tales

Butterfly

She whispered

to the dark shadow

passing.

Flutterby

She spoke

to the sense of doom

looming.

Flutterbye

She said 

to death entering her

thoughts.

I 

am not ready

to die.

J. Binford-Bell

January 2015

Sometimes You Get Lucky - The lucky shots of 2014

Butterfly on Flower

Another photographer friend who does the 365 day challenge with me brought up the concept of doing a few blogs on the best of her photographs. This is not a competition because she is a better photographer. But I welcomed the opportunity to look back at the 365 and see if I could pull out 5 or 6. Would you believe 32?

That is a bit many for one blog so I decided to separate them. These are the lucky shots which stood out during the year. They are not a culmination of my skill but of familiarity where I live and my equipment and plain dumb luck.

I am not a tripod sort of photographer. Not enough patience. But I have learned a lot of yoga like bracing moves, I have a new 55-300mm lens which I love, and together with my 23 megapixel camera I am able to get some nice macros at a distance. On the particular day I captured this butterfly on a flower I was about 15 feet away and leaning against a support of a deck so I could take pictures of flowers in a bit of a breeze. I was totally surprised when I got home to find the details were clear enough to see the center of the butterfly's eye. It is rather like the fish that didn't get away this summer.

Hummer taking a break

This was another of those surprise captures. A bit of a chilly morning on a busy feeder day and this tiny, smaller than the average, hummingbird was all fluffed up taking its time getting in line at one of the feeders outside my studio. I grabbed the camera and braced myself against the door jam and took just a couple shots before he got annoyed.

Two Red Tail Hawks on a power pole

And this lucky capture was at the Maxwell National Wildlife refuge. And the two hawks (mother and offspring?) did not stay on this post for long. I had a tripod in the car I was in, but I ended up bracing the camera across the hood. I think hawks look ever so much better on tree limbs but a photographer never looks a gift shot like this in the f-stop. I can go back and look up the specs on this shot. Nikon keeps them all on the image file but when a friend first asked I said, "whatever the camera was set on when I saw the birds."

Darkeyed Junco on Hollyhock stalk

I was in the studio painting this December when I noticed the Juncos and mountain sparrows were going crazy over the suet cakes hanging where the hummingbird feeders had been this summer. They were all on the other side of double pane windows that had been through several storms without being washed. Who am I kidding? I think I last cleaned outside and inside in June. What the heck, the camera was there and with digital you do not pay for film. I was shocked at the clarity of the photographs I took. Sometimes with digital cameras you reach a sweet spot on the focus where even a dirty lens does not register. I have one long lens with a horrid scratch right off the center and it very rarely registers on an image.

Hollyhock in a morning shower

This was the summer of flowers. Taking flower pictures is my sister's forte and not mine but I decided to practice this year. I will be doing another blog of the flowers of this year. But this one was really special because it was gently raining as the sun broke through the trees one morning. I was standing under the deck trying to keep the camera dry. My long lens captured this distant hollyhock against the dark forest. Because of the light and the focal depth I ended up with a black background and dawn illuminated raindrops. Oh, and again braced against the deck pillars to make the low light exposure work.

These are all favorites of mine from the 365 posted photographs this year. Not necessarily the best technical shots but the luckiest in my opinion.  My favorite photograph this year, however, is the one below. I have photographed the buffalo on the Vermejo Park Ranch which runs along the highway a lot. First you are lucky when they are in the field.

The Crown Prince

But lucky part of this photograph was how close the herd was to the fence given that there were several young calves. The cows were so very intent on the great long grass they forgot about us. The calf was very interested indeed, however. It made for a fantastic composition, and without that buffalo are just big furry beeves. Which, I am reminded, can go through from standing still to 40 mph in a very short distance.

Week 38 - 2014 in Images

Day 260

Between September 13 and 21st I managed to get out and about with my camera a lot. I probably captured more than 600 photographs in that time. That is a lot of post processing on the computer and I am by no means done. A lot of the early returns have been featured on Binford-Bell Studio Facebook page and my timeline there. Let's face it when you take that many photos it is hard to post just one a day. And not all of them are winners either.

Since I started taking my photography seriously I have become a lot more ruthless about deletions. Which is good when you take a lot of photos.

The 13th was Trinidad, Colorado and their Autocade Parade. Do not know if any will make photo of the day from those. More fun than serious. But I love the antique cars from that day and two are in this week's offerings. And then there is my friend Susan's garden. It offered up a great many treasured photos. Saying a lot for someone who didn't do a lot of flowers in years past. Two of those photos are in this week. And, of course, the buffalo. Over 400 photos of buffaloes and the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge. So expect more birds and buffalo in the coming weeks as I get too them.

Day 261

I love hollyhocks. Like that is a surprise. But they are not an easy flower because of their depth. And that they are, because of their height, easy foils of any breeze. Shoot fast and lots and take your pick. And I also like grill work which comes with its own issues. Like what is reflected in a nicely polished grill. Old and rusty wreaks, another favorite, are so much easier in that respect.

Day 262

So back to Susan's garden. And flowers. And butterflies. As I have mentioned before I am not a great lover of the tripod. Seems like much too much time is spent adjusting the equipment while winning photos go slipping by. I would love to do a cartoon of a photographer fiddling with his tripod with mating elephants unseen behind him.

So the photo below was hand held. Mind you I lean against posts and back against walls and squat to create body tripods with elbows and knees. And hold my breath longer than is probably good for me. The photo below took advantage of the post leaning technique. Remember the breeze mentioned in the hollyhock photo above. Butterflies are also rather tossed about by the slightest breeze. And they are not fond of movement of photographers. I used a long lens to stay out of its field of vision.

But you could have blown me away by the clarity and sharpness of this photo. I think I could have lied and said I used a tripod. Just a fast shutter speed and zen breathing techniques and that post I mentioned. Who knew butterfly eyes looked like they have pupils.

Day 263

Zen breathing and butterfly eyes made the following photograph much more appropriate. I am also a worshiper of agave, one of the few non-Euphorbia in my studio though not this one. Wonderful form and texture. But mostly I marvel at how the new leaves are rolled up with the thorns leaving patterns after they are open. Who knew it was a relative of asparagus. 

Day 264

So many other pictures to process of the day in Trinidad that this colorful wall got left neglected. It was a photo I took before the parade started and one of the last to process. Every once in a while when I am culling through photographs I find another photo like this. With contact sheets, strips of negatives, and film it was not as easy to just delete a picture from your files. I sometimes toy with the idea of an external hard drive for the last deleted photos. Those first off the desktop are true losers.

Day 265

First pass through the buffalo photographs were in color. The grass was so beautiful. Then I began looking for photos which would lend themselves to black and white. Supposedly you need noisy sky or no sky. And I like shallow depth of field so the textures of the main subject stand out. Like with flowers I am just a student.

Day 266

Practice, practice, practice.

Week 36 - 365 Day Photography Challenge

Day 246

The one problem with this challenge is that it is impossible not to know how very fast the years is going. Just 110 more days from when this picture was posted and going fast it seems. Already there is a touch of fall color on some of the trees. I do not think it will be a spectacular foliage year like last because there was just too much drought before we began getting rain and dew and fog.  It has been a dry week but we are warned to expect more monsoonal moisture.

Day 247

Another look at my old Mack truck. Considering printing out a series of trucks on canvas for an exhibition at my gallery. Chimping back through photos always causes me to see what I missed on the first pass.

Day 248 - Dean Douglas bird houses at Arts About Town

A lot of this week's photos are Also Tooks -- Those photos you snapped quickly when on assignment to take other photos. When I first did freelance writing and photography it was with a film camera knowing I was going to have to turn over the roll of film sometimes to who I was working for. Digital cameras have freed up photographers to insert the random also took photo here and there.

Day 249 - we got puddles

One evening it just rained. At my house it was more than a half inch in less than an hour and we got puddles. And run off which created patterns in the moisture starved earth. The morning walk was a competition with the fur kids to record the patterns in the mud before they put their stamp (paw) of approval on them. Mars if the rover discovered water.

Day 250

Quick shot of the geraniums on the window shelf. The rain which formed the puddles did not tear them all up because of the eave protected them. But it was a reminder that the blooms would not be around forever. Fall is coming all too fast. A couple of the colors I am raising this year have to come in for the winter so I can enjoy them again next summer. This is one.

Day 251 - Market in Eagle Nest

Was in Eagle Nest, just 17 miles from my house, to cover a fund raiser. The afternoon sun was illuminating the shops on the north side of the main drag as it were. The assignment got me out of the house and to this location. This photo, if it were a film roll, is sandwiched between pictures of a barbeque.

Day 252 - On top of Palo Flechado Pass

I was at the rest area for the Enchanted Circle Century Bike Tour on the top of Palo Flechado Pass and killing time between photos of the set up of the relief station for the tour and the first bikers to make it to our location. Butterflies move slower as the days get shorter or cooler. This one allowed me literally up close and personal to photograph. No way was it leaving a diminishing source of nectar. And the early morning sun was wonderful Sunday morning. If I had not agreed to cover the race I would have been home and missed this.

Or this photo below which proves being up at zero dark thirty and setting off on a 100 mile ride - or photographing those doing it - isn't just about young people.

Inspiration