Day 248 – Harvest

The birds appear to have beaten us to most of the pears, but our apple tree and grapevines are going gangbusters.

Day 246 – A little gem near Lake Tahoe

Spooner Lake is one of our favorite places to take the dogs for a hike. Given my heart issues, the trail is reasonably easy for me to handle, and the scenery . . . AWESOME!

The lack of rain is evident in the shoreline.

Given the very dry winter, there were almost no flowers to speak of. Just a few here and there, but again, the view was still lovely.

Another view from the trail – through the trees.

Seriously…isn’t this gorgeous?

Day 243 – Dappled

I took a walk late this afternoon around the grounds and I was fascinated by the dapple of sun and shadow on the pine cones strewn across the ground.

Day 240 – Fun with Photoshop: Colored Pencil

I like the texture on this one.

Same filter in black and white.

Day 236 – Morning Sun and Afternoon Portrait

I usually shoot midday or late afternoon during my work week, but this morning I looked out my office window and saw some awesome morning light. I grabbed my camera and headed out for about five minutes. I love the golden glow.

And late this afternoon I did a little experiment with myself. I’d read this article, The Ultimate Guide to Zone Focusing for Candid Street Photography, at Digital Photography School and wanted to play with it a bit. These were shot at 1600 ISO, f/8, 1/30s. To start, I focused the camera on a spot about five feet away. I then adjusted my camera according to the technique in the article, balanced the camera on my printer and set the timer to release the shutter. Voila! I was in the focal plane!

Day 234 – By the light of the setting sun

I shot these this evening before supper.

Day 227 – Are these butterflies or moths?

I assume they are butterflies, but either way, they were very busy gathering nectar this afternoon. If anyone can identify them, please do so in the comments. Thanks! EDITED: Thanks to Emilio we now know that these are Western Branded Skippers (Hesperia colorado). (Or they are Hesperia nevada – it’s hard to tell)