Mmm - 11/11/19

On November 3rd 2019, I was doing my usual Sunday meal prep for the week. One of the things I was making was a creamy tomato, chicken,spinach and tortellini soup. I did the chicken first in the pressure cooker to be able to shred it into nice and easy pieces. Then added the rest to a slow cooker and let it go all day. Adding in the spinach and the tortellini last.

Point being, I was hungry and thought this would look good. So before I ate I whipped up a bowl and had all my photography stuff ready. I was using two lights and some flooring pieces I picked up from Home Depot. Just 1 foot squares that are less than a dollar a piece, really useful as simple clean backgrounds.

It took me a good few attempts before I figured out the settings and the angle I wanted.

Canon 7D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/200 Sec - F8 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/160 Sec - F8 - ISO 100

I also have put the top two images here unedited. Which is to say unfinished. They aren’t true representations of what it looked like in real life. I think I’ve talked at length about the editing process before, so no need to repeat myself.

Eventually I got the angle I wanted and the light on the right angle. It may not sparkle exactly and be 100% photo perfect like other food photography where they craft it by hand. But to me, looking back at this just makes me want to eat it again. It was damn good.

Canon 7D w/24-105mm - 1/160 Sec - F8 - ISO 100

A chip off the ol' munk - 11/03/19

It was the following weekend, and because of the failure by making a big trip out of the day. I stayed closer to home this time and went to a different nature center.

Now this place was off my map because it was rated so highly online. Meaning it was very popular. And so it was, even on a Sunday. By mid morning I had talked with several people. Now I’m not complaining about this because I knew what I was getting into when I went there. But I had never been and it really was only a few minutes from home. Perfect to spend some of the morning and duck out before any crowds starting coming in.

When I first arrived and started walking along the trail, one of the first things I saw was right in front of me. A deer watching me carefully.

Now it was still very early in the morning, and I was walking through the woods. And I imagine it was cloudy, so the ISO was set incredibly high. Even with this nice newer body that processes low light much better, the grain with 6400 ISO is a bit much to me.

So I just embraced it, made it a bit more like a black and white painting.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 6400

Another subject that would catch my eye is a squirrel, flicking their tail up and down. By this point I was trying out my new Canon 1.4x teleconverter.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 5000

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 3200

I settled in for a while to a bird watching spot. They have little covered shelters made with viewing windows. I sat out there in the cold for a while, until I started walking around to find other spots. By this point the people were out, and I did have two very interesting conversations with the same man. When he was first coming down the trails with his dog, and again when I was heading out and managed to find him again.

He was very nice, very political which I am not. But knowledgeable about photography and full of questions. He had been doing it for many many years longer than I had and I wasn’t bothered to have a conversation for a while. He showed me some great pictures he had taken over the years that were on his phone and we talked about many photography related subjects, and a lot about other stuff as well.

He was a wise old man, immigrated from a European country many years ago. I was fascinated to hear about this, how different things are now. He said a company he worked for years at actually wanted him to succeed and make more money. They entirely paid for the cost of him going to school to get an engineering degree. Which he used for many years with that company before moving on and coming to the US. He probably could have gone on for hours, well for even more hours than we did wind up talking.

Really more than anything, to hear stories like that make me feel like I’m playing it too safe. And over the last few years I’ve been slowly pushing myself. Can I live on a cheaper diet? Maybe I don’t need all these luxuries. Watch some videos about camping in your car for an extended period of time. Thinking about driving way off away from people for a month long wildlife expedition.

Either way, what I’m doing now isn’t working for me. 40 hours of workweek doing something I don’t enjoy is tiring.

But back to November, one last thing I took a picture of before leaving was on the way to the car. I spotted this little guy darting across the trail.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 2500

This was great, even fully cropped in I was getting some nice detail. And he’s a cute little chipmunk that had just stuffed his cheeks before he ran off again, to a much simpler life.

Trip back to the forest - 11/2/19

Early on November 2nd 2019, I made a trip back to the forest I had been going to recently. And I walked far this day, further than I had gone before along this particular trail. I took pictures as I went, but it was very early and quite foggy .

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100

And sometimes you just miss your shot.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 500

This next series of images was me playing with the full speed of the 7D Mark II shutter.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 320

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 320

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 320

I could hear a woodpecker, and finally spotted it. But in the dark shadow of the tree and it was very far away, just not an easy thing to get a shot of.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 500

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

But the whole day wasn’t completely filled with missed opportunities. I eventually came upon a cool looking scene where a tree had fallen across a road no longer in service.

And finally, although I was out looking for wildlife all day, on this day the wildlife found me.

It came leaping and bounding up over a hill and was heading through the woods straight at me. I was walking along a trail and turned when I heard the noise it was making. It stopped when it noticed me, maybe 20 feet away. We stared for a second and I slowly reached for the camera I was wearing on a sling.

I managed to get a few shots off before this young buck turned and left another direction. For just a moment we shared a look, and then as quickly as it appeared. He was gone.

I tried to follow after a minute, not wanting to potentially spook him again. And I never want to disturb the wildlife. But as I made my way up and over the ridge, there was only more trees and forest for as far as I could see. The buck was long gone.