A collection of images from various times and places. One set is from a hike with the Hearthstone Hikers on the Sopes Creek trail in Marrietta, GA. Good hike and we dodged the rains that day. The others are from around my yard one morning after nighttime rains.
The big event was the Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race in Helen, GA the first week of the month. I also got to the lake for a so-so sunrise Then one of my neighbors put up a bird feeder I could get reasonably close to in my backyard. So I sat and stood several times over several days and shot the birds.
I shot a lot in the last couple of weeks, but few turned out well enough to share here. I tried all sorts of experiments on the flowers in the yard, on the woods at Caney Creek Preserve, along the Ivy Creek Greenway, and places around Lake Lanier, but although I learned a lot, few of the results were really good.
So what you see here is a mix of things I have done all along, sunrises and birds, along with a few other shots I like.
A collection of images from early to late May. A mix of sunrises, flowers, birds and general whatnot. I tried to get out often, tried a lot of experiments (most of which failed), and generally tried to have a good time. The best surprise was the snakes along the greenway. That was completely unexpected.
All in all, I think I am improving both my choice of what to photograph and my mechanics of getting a good exposure without too many errors before I do. I’m mot nearly as far along with the software for processing the images. Still a long, long way to go on that.
The month began with Clara in a horseshow by the Lanier Equestrian Association at Honeysuckle Farms, and then are some of the neighbor’s amaryllis in bloom.
And the latest pictures from various locales. First, my latest sunrise over Lake Lanier, a little different from what I usually see. Then a few wildflowers, some from a hike along the Wildcat Creek Trail with the Sonny Day Hikers. Next, some from a visit by myself to Sosebee Cove near Vogel State Park. The last two bits are of a nice sunrise (again) and the iris blooms in our yard.
Getting things out of order here since the next post shows pictures taken after those in this post. Whatever. These shots are from a variety of times and places. Some are of spring blooms in the yard, one is from a hike up Blue Mountain along the AT, some are from the Mill Creek Nature Center and Ivy Creek Greenway near the Mall of Georgia and lastly, some are from a walk along the Big Creek Greenway, including the native plant garden at the trailhead.
The club went to the Milford family farm in Cumming to photography a set of birds brought to us by the folks at Earthquest, Steve Hoddy in particular. He had an Andean Condor, a Harris Hawk, a hybrid falcon (half peregrine falcon and half gyr falcon) and a Great Horned Owl. The hawk and falcon flew free, the other two were leashed. All bu the condor did well, posing nicely and moving as Steve wanted. The condor just would not perch were Steve wanted, nor would he spread his wings on more than one brief occasion. Overall, it was a great time. We had 20 photographers along with the Milford family observing. We shot in the horse pasture, and there was a dead log to serve as a perch for the birds. That provided all sorts of shooting angles.
Another potpourri of stuff taken in the last couple of weeks. I found wild blooms in the neighborhood common areas, the neighborhood cherry tree bloomed, and my azalea bushes began to bloom. I also found some blooms at one of the county parks where I walk, and, lastly, I tried a sunrise shoot with just my phone and a light tripod.
A group from the North Georgia Photography Club (NGPC), the Atlanta Photo Club and others went to the zoo in Atlanta for an afternoon using cameras to shoot the fauna and flora. I used primarily my 100-400 mm lens, but there were moments I was tempted to change to my short (16-80 mm ) lens due to how close the animals were to the viewers. We had a clear sky, so there were some very harsh lighting situations, and I struggled to find a decent exposure most of the time. But it was a great afternoon.