Birds Galore

~ 90 day blog challenge: day two ~

I don't know if it's because Spring is a late bloomer this year, or I wasn't very observant last year, but I've seen more different types of birds in my backyard this past week than I saw all of last year!

My backyard is DNR land, which includes a pond that connects to a lake.  In the last few days I've seen:  Great Blue Heron, Wood Duck, Yellow Warbler, Cardinal, Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, some others that I'm not quite sure of, and the Great Egret, pictured above.  I love birding.

Dirty Pig

It's Spring once again and I'm really feeling a drive to get back into photography.  But good intentions aren't enough.  I need discipline.  And what better way to tackle discipline than to start a daily blog challenge?  My last challenge was in 2011–30 days/30 blogs.

I can dooooo this!  Time to get down and dirty–just like my flying pig.  90 days.  90 blogs.  Starting....NOW!

I fired up my Nikon today and my flying pig was taunting me to start a challenge, so what could I do?  Start with him, of course!  I was shooting through a screen, which gave a nice soft focus effect.

Day 1 of 90 down.  Woot!

Be an original

As I was getting ready to leave work tonight, I used my phone to take a picture of my ride.

The image was very small on my phone, so I didn't get a really good look at it until I got home.  A friend pointed out that all the cars around my trike were neutral colors except for a couple.  So I cropped them out to show what you see here: an awesome trike in a sea of neutral density boringness.

I thought about cropping down to just vehicles, but I like the Richfield skyline in the background.   I also think it makes the subject a little more subtle.  I see the water tower first, and then my eyes pan down and...wait?  What?

Sunny Sunday

Last Sunday afternoon I went on a photo safari at the Sculpture Garden with friends.  It was a gorgeous day--blue skies, poofy clouds, and plenty of sun. 

But even the bright sun couldn't melt this huge metal snowman.

I also decided to work in a portrait of one of my friends.

The last time I was at the Sculpture Garden on a Sunday afternoon, I had no problems finding a place to park.  But this time it seemed like everyone and their brother was there, so I had to park up in the bluffs.  Which turned out to be a good thing, because I never would have found this lovely little park otherwise.  I stopped to rest on my hike back up to the bluffs to enjoy its beauty.

Spring?

Minnesota has been in Winter's death grip for so long, I was beginning to think Spring would never get here.  The baby goslings in my back yard today dispel all doubt: Spring has finally arrived.

Spring.  New beginnings.  Renewal.  Those thoughts could apply to me this Spring also.  I'm hoping this year will be the best year I've had in a long time.  And what better way to start these new beginnings than to fire up the blog and get it humming again?

I hope to have many new photo ops available to me this year in the comfort of my own back yard.  I've heard rumor of deer, fox, and beaver, oh my!  We shall see what my camera finds.

Techie Corner
These images were shot through a window, hand-held; so they are a little blurry.