Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Photography


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Night adventure

I’ve been waiting for a clear night with no moon and Saturday night/Sunday morning was it. It’s early Milky Way season and it would be visible for a couple hours before sunrise.

I just had to find a dark place to wait.

I got up at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning, got to Shiawasee Nature Preserve, about an hour north of me, by 3:30. I thought I was prepared. I knew which direction to look. I had the Skyview app loaded in my phone. I had a compass. I’d been there during the daytime and had scoped out a spot to stand that was very near where my car would be parked.

So it was with high hopes I got out of the car in 32 degree weather (but no wind!) wearing a winter coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. I walked the few feet to my chosen spot, set up the tripod and pointed it to the SE. And saw….nothing. A few stars. Nothing much was visible because the light from Flint, 28 miles away, was overwhelming.

I began to doubt myself. Maybe it wasn’t really in the SE. Maybe it was more South by now. After all it was last week I had the training that said Southeast…maybe it moves faster than I imagined. I couldn’t remember the name of the constelations I was supposed to use to find the Milky Way. I couldn’t figure out how to put Antaras (a star) into the Skyview app on my phone to find it.

I was reduced to randomly pointing the camera at the sky in any location I thought it might be and shooting. I saw a few bright stars I thought might be the ‘teapot’ and concentrated on that section of the sky. But that was due South, and I knew that wasn’t right. Still, looking to the Southeast was just too bright.

As I played with my settings I couldn’t check to see if my images were getting better or worse because the back of my camera went black. Apparently I had touched some random button that disabled the live view. Sigh.

I tried the proven trick of upping my iso to the highest it could go, just so I could see what was there, and it was totally blown out white. I tried lowering it some, still white. My fingers were getting cold. My toes were numb. I’d been out there for an hour getting nothing.

In fact, this is my favorite shot from Sunday morning.

My fingers were numb and I didn’t realize I had hit the remote shutter button when I moved the camera.

When I got home I found this image, as the best of the bunch. The Milky Way is in there, if you squint hard and use your imagination. I’ve tried editing it to bring it out more…but I can’t figure that out either on this one. Trying to bring the Milky Way lights up while dimming the Flint dome light is just so hard.

If you sit in a dark room, blow this up, and squint you should be able to see the MW over on the left.

So I reluctantly posted my image on our group’s Facebook page, explaining my issues (well, the issues revolving photography anyway!) and look below at what someone did for me! They edited it so that you can actually see the Milky Way.

Thank you Geralynn Dykstra for the edit!!!!

I’m not so discouraged now. I DID get the Milky Way in the image! I even got stars reflected in the strip of water! I won’t go out to this location for another attempt, there’s just way too much light. But I’ll keep going to dark sky places and I know that eventually I’ll capture the sky the way I see it in my head.


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Bird saga continues

A couple weeks ago I introduced a friend to the bird magic that is Kensington. You saw the angst with the red headed woodpecker, but there were other bird shenanigans that morning. For instance there was this grackle dad and teenager who seemed not to agree about something very important.

“Hey dad, can I have the keys to the car tonight?“
“No! Your legs aren’t even long enough to reach the pedals!“
“I never get to do ANYTHING!“
“And don’t ask me again!”

Soon dad will be busy with a new brood and teenager will get more freedom. But until then, from the looks of jr’s face, there are more ‘discussions’ in the wind.


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Bird tails

I was at Kensington last week. We were lucky enough to find the red-headed woodpecker and his friends on this walk.

They don’t care about you, dove, they just want to see me!

Hey, settle down woodpecker, they left enough stuff for all of us.

Yea, I guess you’re right. I feel bad about my behavior now.

Sorry, man. Help yourself.

We can still be friends…right?

Hey blackbird, I was just telling the dove that there’s enough for everybody.

I’ll just take mine to go.

Sometimes I forget it’s not all about me.


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Karma’s photo challenge – signs of spring around here

As usual, spring in Michigan is a mixed bag. Since we had 60 (15.5C) degree and sometimes higher temperatures in February we were owed several days or even weeks of temperatures in the 30s, (-1.11 C) sometimes lower, in March. With wind and snow to make everything feel extra special.

Still, signs of spring persist even here.

The first sounds of spring, the thing that solidifies the concept of spring for me every year, are the red-winged blackbirds. They announce their arrival loudly with a very distinctive call.

Feathers puffed up to keep warm in our 30 degree windy spring mornings.

I usually hear them before I see them. But a day or so after I hear them singing over in the swamp they will have found my feeder. They come in mass and gobble up everything, much to the dismay of the smaller birds.

“Hey! Do you have food over there?”

They’ve been around for a few weeks now and are disgusted, just as we all were, with that last snow storm.

And when I see my goldfinches start to turn yellow – well – than spring is well and truly on the way. It seems that one day they are all olive drab, and the next day the males are sprouting gold spots.

Diving for goodies fallen from the feeder

And then suddenly those show-offs are entirely, brilliant, yellow.

Almost in full summer uniform.

In fact yellow seems to be the color of spring. Between the daffodils, which are the only spring flowers we can have due to our hardy deer population…

Evening light warms up a chilly spring day.

…to the forsythia in the back yard…

Ok, the forsythia isn’t in bloom here yet, I forced a few sprigs of it to brighten up my kitchen.

…to the cowslips in the nearby woods…

A definite sign that spring has sprung.

…if you see an abundance of yellow around these parts you can almost guarantee spring has sprung.

No guarantees in March, no siree, not around here!

Almost.

Thanks, Karma, for hosting this photo challenge! I remain hopeful that that last snow was our last snow. If you know what I mean.


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Sunshiny Day!

Hey Peeps! It’s me, Penny!

Come ON! We’re going for a walk in the woods!

Yesterday the sun came out and it was so pretty that I bugged and bugged my mom to take me somewhere fun.

I would just like to point out how beautiful my fur is.

So she did! We went over to a park in Rose Township. Usually we don’t see anyone over there, but since the day was so beautiful we saw quite a few people walking in the woods.

Really mom? You want me to SIT??!

That’s OK, Mom just asked me to sit and watch her while other people and their dogs went by, so I did. Apparently mom and I are very slow walkers.

This is a very scary horse dung bucket. I barked at it a lot.

We went up and down some hills in the woods and I wasn’t scared at all about being under the trees! I guess that’s because it wasn’t windy and nothing weird was blowing around. You know, like leaves and stuff.

Hey Mom! I jumped over the rock, you got that on film, right?

Then we walked beside a couple of pretty ponds. Mom was using a compass on her phone to check out where Southeast is in relation to the bridges we were standing on.

Sure is pretty around here!

Apparently the Milky Way core is visible again and at this time of the year, the SE is where to find it.

Whatever, mom.

On the way back to the car she let me pick which trail to follow. She was sorta glad I picked the shorter one, especially after a fat tire bike went by and I got the zoomies.

This is me being crazy. Mom was not amused.

Mom says zoomies in the woods are not as fun as zoomies in the living room.

I beg to differ.

OK, I’ll be serious if I have to be. For a moment anyway.

Signing off for now,

your zoomie pal, Unstoppable Pretty Penny.


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The best

It seems like it’s been a long time since I promised to show you the best images from my latest walk at Kensington.

Red tailed hawk in the morning light.

While I was walking it didn’t seem like I was taking many photos. But when I go back and look there are way too many ‘best’ images.

Who’s that up there?

So it will be hard to choose just a few. I so much wish you could all walk out there with me.

Enjoying breakfast.

Though I know from experience that I do better photography when I’m walking alone. No one really wants to keep waiting for me to catch up.

Hey! That’s my peanut!

I also don’t want to be those annoying people who talk so loudly while walking in the woods that they broadcast their arrival long before they’re visible.

Yes, I know I’m beautiful.

And I have never understood those people who are racewalking through the trees. I can’t imagine they see much at all.

I’ve been looking for lunch in the mud.

I have a hard enough time spotting wildlife when I’m moving along at my snail photographer pace.

Hey lady! I’m right above your head! Give me a treat and I won’t deposit anything on you!

Anyway, here’s a handful of images that I really enjoyed taking.

Nom, nom, nom.

I hope you enjoy them too!