Hummers!

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

We made a rest stop at Kings Canyon Lodge on Highway 180 in Kings Canyon National Park on our way home last Tuesday. I shot this series while watching the hummers feeding.

--Warren

Pike Place Market - Seattle

Another trip we took in May to Seattle (I told you I've been busy). I traveled light on that trip and only took the D70 with the kit lens, 18-70mm. I really liked all the colors of the fruits and vegetables at the market.

St. Louis Arch

We took a trip to St. Louis in May to visit some friends. One place I wanted to visit again was the Arch. Very early in this blog I posted a picture of the Arch. Here's the link:
http://fpcf.blogspot.com/search?q=st.+louis+arch

(Below Right) I wanted to repeat the pic with better equipment. This was taken with my D70, 12-24mm f4 Tokina. Notice a lot more detail with a 6MP camera as opposed to the 1.3MP of my old Sony; likely due to a better lens as well, I hope.

I took a group shot trying to take advantage of the superwide 12mm. A little distorted in the corners but I got everything in the shot.

And a final shot of the Arch.

Bear at SF Zoo

Warren's bear picture reminded me of some pictures I took at the new bear exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo a couple of weeks ago. You can really see the bear claws in this pic. Taken with D70 and 80-200mm f2.8 lens.



Which reminded me of a bear encounter we had while camping at Yosemite last year. A car was driving by our camp site and then stopped. Being in the evening, the headlights were quite annoying. The driver rolled down his window and asked us, "Do you know there's a bear behind you?" Just as we turn around, a bunch of other campers are banging pots and pans to scare the bear away. We never saw. Talk about a close encounter.

Sorry I've been absent for so long. Been very busy. We will be going on a cruise to Alaska in a few days so hopefully will have some nice pix to share with everyone.

Morning Bear Encounter

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

This bear was lumbering along minding its own business while hoards of humans were following and watching it (from a distance, of course).

This was in Sequoia National Park. It's the first time that Gail and I have seen a bear in the wild. It was right outside the building where we stayed the night. I woke up and heard a kid yelling, "There's a bear!" outside our window. I looked out and there it was. Gail and I quickly ran outside to see it.

--Warren

Vistor on my Walk

D200

Early morning walk out in the Everglades.

Tiki Face, Big Island,HI

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

--WT

Kilauea Caldera Rim Road

Nikon D100

I was struck by the "emptiness" of this scene.

So, how's everyone doing?

Gail and I are going to visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks over the next few days. Maybe I'll be inspired to take some shots worthy of posting here :).

--Warren

Argentina's Lake District

Hi all. It's been a while. I've posted a photo taken in Argentina's Lake District also known as Bariloche. The lake you see here is Lago Nahuel Haupi, an absolutely beautiful lake. Actually, the whole Lake District is beautiful. Argentina's natural resources are absolutely amazing. I hope they stay amazing.

--Eric

Reflections!

Tree roots look similar to tree branches... but I don't think they're quite THIS similar ;) heheh

side wall of a hardware store

I've been wondering where to get the lawn mower tuned up and sharpened, but it wasn't until I looked at this photo that I realized the local hardware store did this!

Union Street Alley

Sony DSC-P72

I sometimes like to leave my big slr cameras at home, especially after lugging it all over Hawaii on our last trip. This Sony DSC-P72 P&S is very small, but here is where I found out just how very inaccurate the optical viewfinder is. It took me 4 tries to get the framing on this composition the way I wanted it. The first 3 times, I tried to use the optical viewfinder, only to find that the resulting shot was grossly mis-framed. On the 4th shot, I finally gave up and used the LCD on the back of the camera to compose the shot. Oh well, now I know just how "off" the optical finder is, so on shots like this one that require careful framing, I'll just use the LCD. It's not my preferred way, but whatever works is okay by me.

--Warren

Relaxing at the Palace of Fine Arts, SF

Sony DSC-P72

Last weekend we went for a long walk in San Francisco's Marina/Cow Hollow district. We parked at Chrissie Field and tried to walk there first, but it was bitterly cold and windy that day. So we went the other direction and did some city hiking all around the neighborhood.

Our last stop before heading back to the car was here. There was a mix of tourists and locals enjoying the relaxed atmosphere at the Palace of Fine Arts. You can see the fog beginning to creep in but at the time that I took this picture, it was still very pleasant.

While relaxing on the park bench, I was asked by two different couples to take their pictures in front of this scene :). After I did that, I whipped out our handy digital P&S and snapped a few pictures of my own.

--Warren