I took a short stroll around Radnor Lake a few mornings ago. This is a shot of a young fawn, probably only a couple of months old, standing in the middle of the Lake Trail. Don’t worry, his mother was not too far off 🙂
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The half way point!
It’s hard to believe that I’m half way through this project. These weeks have been flying by but I know I’ve got the hardest weeks coming up. I think I’ll be fine into November but then – who knows! I’m not a fan of winter at all and I always have a hard time finding interesting things to shoot in the dead of winter.
This week was great, the weather has turned pretty mild (at least compared to the 100+ degree days).
The shot above was taken early Monday morning
Here are the rest in chronological order:
After getting the lead shot, I noticed this deer all the way across the lake. I applied some textures for a vintage feel.
More texture fun!
The “baby” deer are getting so big! I can’t help but think this is the same deer as seen in Week 19 and Week 15. They were all taken in the same area and I frequently see a doe and a fawn in that area.
A lakescape taken in the middle of the day, this is the same spot as Week 15‘s sunrise
Another from this spot, in black and white
I don’t know who was lucky enough to get to go out on a canoe on Wednesday morning. Typically, canoes are not allowed. One of the canoes had a park ranger in it.
There are 4 really good “lakescape” spots around Radnor Lake. I’ve posted shots from all the other views before but I think this is the first week from this spot. The lead shot is also from this vantage point, just very different days! Also, this shot marks one of the extremely rare instances where I processed the shot in both HDR and Non-HDR and preferred the Non-HDR version! This shot was inspired by this shot by flickr contact abennett23. I’ve been looking for a while now for the best location and timing to get something similar to his.
These little birds have made several appearances through out the weeks. Probably because they will come so close to you if you are quiet and still
Thanks for looking!
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Nothing too exciting this week. I visited Radnor Lake often, and got tons of deer shots this week. I also switched up my path there, making a loop that’s perfect for my lunch break. Starting in the east parking lot, head down Otter Creek Rd. Take the Lake Trail to the right. After a short distance, the lake trail meets the Ganier Ridge trail. Take that trail up the hill for a little while and then take the spur trail to the right, which heads back to the parking lot. It’s a perfect 30-40 minute hike.
I did this hike on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There were lots of deer to see along the trail each day. Here is this weeks take:
I was hiding 🙂
a small woodpecker
A great blue heron by the lake shore
A whole lot of green, and a little bit of red
A bird (green heron?) flies across the lake early in the morning
A crazy looking wildflower
Saw this snake on Friday. I also found some snake skin only a few feet away from where he was sun bathing.
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I’ve got a good variety of shots this week – HDR, black and white, wildlife, flower, textured……. All kinds of good stuff!
Despite extremely hot temperatures (heat index at least at 110 2 days!) I was able able to get to the Radnor Lake 3 times this week.
I went Monday on my lunch break. It was very quiet that day, I didn’t get much other that this:
Still on the shallow depth of focus and the black and white kick!
On Tuesday I went before work and was able to catch this amazing sunrise from the shore of the lake
Yes, the lake really is very green – it’s the duckweed that is growing throughout the lake
After the sunrise died down, I headed out along the lake trail. Here is what I was able to capture:
I followed these two around for a while but could not get any better shots of the fawn. I got really close at one point but it was so dark that my shutter speed was around 1/20. I’m just not steady enough to get a clear shot at 1/20. I may need to invest in a good ball head tripod….
Finally by Friday it cooled down a lot – so I headed out on my lunch break. I didn’t see any wildlife, so I started taken some “random” shots:
Also found some wildflowers along Otter Creek Rd
On the way back to the car I got a shot of this butterfly and I wanted to try textures again (Last week’s lead shot was a textured butterfly photo also)
Also, while I was just about back at the car, this little woodpecker landed very close
Thanks for looking!
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A little something different for my main post for Week 20. The first black and white photo that I’ve chosen to lead off with. I really liked the light and shadows in this – and of course I love that shallow depth of focus (dof). It may not be as popular as some of my others but it really clicked with me for some reason, probably one I will print.
Here are the other shots from Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday:
Monday
Help needed in identifying this bird! Please tell me if you know!
EDIT – Thanks to Matt Hansen for the ID! This is a Yellow Billed Cuckoo
For this one, I was really trying to get a “Deer in the Woods” look, not just a portrait. I think it turned out alright, something I will continue trying to get
Wednesday
Thanks to the nice couple on the bridge who helped my identify this as a Green Heron
Thursday
Friday
Wow, lots of photos this week!
Thanks for looking!
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Hope you like the new look here! I’ve been wanting a wordpress template that would put my photos on an all black background and I’ve finally found it! I think it looks much better now….
Week 19 has come and gone. This week I visited Radnor Lake on Wednesday (noon), Thursday (noon) and Friday (early morning).
Wednesday I used my lunch break from work to go to the lake. Usually when I do this, I have to set an alarm on my phone to tell me when to head back to the car. Well, on Wednesday, I was walking around shooting, finding owls and deer, off in my own little world. I remember thinking to myself “seems like I’ve been here a while but I must have more time – my alarm hasn’t gone off yet!”. Shortly after, I suddenly realize the phone is not in my pocket! I headed for the car as quick as I could. Finally I got to the car, there was my phone buzzing away! I had been there for about an hour and fifteen minutes (would still take almost fifteen minutes to get back to the office)! Yikes! Luckily no one was looking for me and I didn’t really miss anything important, I don’t even think anyone noticed…
The skies were great that day so I wanted to get a good lake-scape
This is the same spot that I got the images from for Week 13 and Week 16
I then headed to where I normally see the owls and sure enough…
(I think he’s trying to hide from me 🙂 )
(These are all the same owl)
Also while standing there (waiting for my alarm to ring!) I saw this fawn and her mother cross the path
On Thursday I headed to the lake despite the HOT temperatures (and made sure I had my phone with me)
It was so hot I decided I was not going to walk far or stay long. I parked at the west entrance this time and headed up the lake trail. I didn’t go very far and I came across another owl – I had never seen one in this part of the park before
On Friday, I was able to go early in the morning – getting there just after 6am. I was walking along the lake trail and had made it quite a ways without getting many pictures. I saw lots of deer but nothing was coming out right for me. It was so dark this morning because of hazy/cloudy skies that almost everything I took was blurry. The shutter speeds were 1/20, 1/40 (even at 800 ISO).
I was walking along the path and I heard a bunch of birds being very noisy. There was a small tree nearby with a canopy of branches right on the side of the trail. I ducked under the branches and looked up – there was a Barred Owl that was no more that 10 feet away! I took a couple shots before he was spooked by some people walking.
This is only at 70mm – quality is not that great because it was very dark under the tree. 1/20 shutter speed at f2.8
He flew to a nearby branch where I got a couple more shots before he left
I then started back towards the car. On the way back I saw another Doe with a Fawn. I did everything I could to get a decent shot of these two but nothing seemed to go right. I followed/stalked for at least a quarter mile.
I then watched them emerge from some brush and there was a second fawn. I don’t think it belonged to this doe because she walked off with the other fawn and this one stayed. He came very close to me at one point.
He then wandered off and I headed to the car.
Thanks for looking!
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Moving right along! Week 18 already….
I visited Radnor Lake on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Monday I was off work, so I took the kids to the zoo, after which we picked my wife up from work and headed to the lake. My son loves riding his bike so we brought it with us:
The kids enjoyed themselves, we were able to find deer, squirrels, birds, turtles and we even saw a couple owls!
On Tuesday I stopped by before heading to work. Along the path I found a fawn with, I presume, her mother
Heading back to the car, I got a flower shot. A Rose of Sharon, growing near the house on the dam walkway
The next day I again got to go before work. Arriving at 6 am I wandered up to the spillway bridge to take in the view of the lake from there. Noticed this Lightning Bug on the bridge railing
That’s some major depth of focus! Achieved by using a long focal length (180mm) and a wide open aperture (f2.8)
Further down the path I got another black and white deer portrait
This deer was walking along the path with everyone else!
Thanks for looking!
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