Still catching up! A Couple weeks ago I met up with Avi and Carrie, who are newly engaged, for some engagement photos. We met at Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro, and then walked along the Murfreesboro Greenway.
Congrats to Avi and Carrie!
Looking for engagement photos in the Middle Tennessee area? Shoot me an email! m_macgregor@comcast.net
Thanks for looking!
I’ve got a lot of catch up posts to put together. If your following me on facebook, you’ll already have seen most of these. If not, enjoy them here!
This is a newborn shoot I did in April.
Meet baby Delia:
Well, here we are. The final installment of this 52 week project. I’m going for a little bit of symbolism in the lead shot as I’m watching the sun set on this project. I also started the project with a sunrise, so I wanted to end with a sunset.
Radnor Lake is actually a pretty tough place to catch a sunset. There really are no good angles. I had three chances to get a shot of one this week, starting on Monday which was a complete rain out. My second chance came on Tuesday, so I parked at the east parking lot ad tried to capture it from Otter Creek Road:
This sunset was really amazing. And while I liked how this shot turns out, it doesn’t show most of the color that was there. The sun is actually setting off camera left, behind the hills. What you see at the end of the lake is actually the edge of it.
So my next opportunity came Thursday evening. I decided this time to shoot from the trail that directly faces the sunset. I wasn’t sure how I was going to compose it with all the trees, path, fence, etc. I decided to use the fence in the composition and to put myself in the photo. The result is the lead shot.
A couple others from the final week:
And that’s it for the week and the year! Thanks to everyone who viewed, commented, liked, or supported this effort. It’s been a lot of fun and I feel like I’ve come a long way as a photographer. Have a look at the first few weeks and see if you think I’ve improved. Constantly shooting will help you do that.
If you are a photographer and are thinking about a year long project, weather a 52 or a 365, I highly recommend it. Don’t make too many rules though! It has to be fun for you, it has to be something you want to do. I had to get up at 4:45 in the morning each time I wanted to get to the lake for a sunrise or for early morning shooting. Because of my wife’s work schedule and my son’s school schedule I was able to do this only about once a week, but I actually looked forward to that day. I never once viewed this project as a chore, or wished I hadn’t committed myself by starting this blog or posting on flickr.
Don’t think for a minute that now that this is over I’ll stop going to the lake! Radnor Lake is an amazing place (really early in the morning when there aren’t too many people there 🙂 ) Abundant wildlife and beautiful views. There is ALWAYS something to shoot at Radnor. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend you check it out.
I have some other ideas in the works for other projects, Subscribe to this blog you will receive an email every time I post something new! Or, become a fan on Facebook.
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
Thanks!
48 Weeks in and I get my first hawk photos of this project (not counting the occasional fly over). I believe this is a juvenile Red Tailed Hawk. I’ve been wanting to get a shot of one of these for so long! It was very cold on Thursday but I decided to visit the lake on my lunch break anyway. My fingers nearly froze while I was watching this guy but I got some shots before having to get back to work. The top photo is in HDR, the others are not.
I thought this one was kind of cool…
And here are a couple shots from Wednesday mornings sunrise:
And that’s it for the week!
Thanks for looking!
Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE
Don’t miss a week! Subscribe to this blog and you will receive an email every time I post something new!
Malcolm MacGregor Photography is on Facebook, check it out and become a fan!
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
More snow in middle Tennessee!? We’ve had quite the winter so far. I haven’t lived in this area for long but even I know that this much snow is pretty unusual. Tuesday night into Wednesday morning we got more snow so I headed out to Radnor Lake. I got the above shot before anyone else messed up the snow on the deck by putting footprints all over it!
Other shots from the snowy morning:
Caught these bucks in a battle to the death! OK, not really. They were more just kind of playing I guess. It never looked real intense and it certainly didn’t last very long!
I really liked the framing of the trees here and cold tones.
More random texture work
I haven’t gotten a shot of this stream at all during this project. This is downstream from the dam.
I went back to the lake on my lunch break to try to get more snowy shots:
Saw this deer about to cross the road as I leaving to go back to work. I got out and ready just in time! (I wish that sign was a “Deer Xing” sign)
I also went on Monday when I got these Deer shots:
And just to say I saw the owl again, here is a shot from Friday:
And that’s it for the week!
Thanks for looking!
Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE
Don’t miss a week! Subscribe to this blog and you will receive an email every time I post something new!
Malcolm MacGregor Photography is on Facebook, check it out and become a fan!
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
One of my favorite weeks of this entire project! I have so many photos to share!
We got some snow in middle Tennessee again this week. Sunday night/Monday morning we had several inches of snow fall. The roads were terrible first thing in the morning but I couldn’t stand to see all the snow falling out the window – I had to go! It took me almost an hour and a half to get to Radnor Lake that morning (usually would take 45 minutes), but it was worth every second. I finally made it and headed out down the lake trail. Unlike the snow pictures from Week 41, there was no sun. The skies were dark and it was still snowing off and on. I first headed to the edge of the lake to get a snowy lake scene:
Then headed back to the trail. I told myself I was going to get more shots of snowy land and lakescapes this time since I didn’t get any last time. Right after crossing the dam, I got this shot:
As soon as I heard there might be snow, I new I wanted to get a shot of an owl in the snow. I’ve gotten shots of the owls at Radnor Lake in all the other seasons, now I needed winter so I was really hoping to see one this morning. Well, it didn’t take long. Right after I took the shot above, I saw a barred owl sitting on a tree limb! I saw he was getting ready to fly, so I got the camera set for some fast shots thinking that may be my only chance! Little did I know that he would put on quite a show for me for the next 60 minutes!
Here he is leaving his original perch:
He quickly landed on another tree branch. I could tell right away that he was actively hunting! I have never seen an owl so active. He flew from branch to branch scanning the ground all around. Then he saw something:
This attempt resulted in no food, but he didn’t give up! Off he goes to find another perch:
This time he dives pretty close to the walking path but he was behind some heavy brush. I actually crouched down and crawled down the path and peeked around a tree looking for a better view. As soon as I peeked around the tree, I saw him toss back and swallow an entire mouse. By the time I raised the camera, the mouse was gone and he turned to look at me:
Back up to a tree:
He then went to a tree that was a little far for my 200mm (remember, at Radnor Lake you are not allowed to leave the path). I was so excited about the shot I just got that I was about to just leave and let him be. I also figured that, since he had caught a mouse, he would find a good resting spot and settle down. I was wrong! As I got up to leave, he flew to another tree that was right on the path and was still looking around for more to eat:
He dives again but comes up empty again. Head to a new spot:
Again he dives. This time in clear view of me. As soon as he dives, I drop straight to the ground to get a ground level shot:
You can see how he flattened out his wings on the ground to try to trap the mouse. It worked, he headed up to a tree with a large mouse in his mouth:
From there I watched him swallow the entire mouse again.
Then he flies right to a tree that I’m standing under!
He dives from that spot and is now on the ground probably only six feet from me! He’s keeping an eye on me this time so I can’t drop to the ground because I’m afraid it will scare him off. So I grabbed these shots from a standing position:
(For you photographers, this was only at 110mm and not cropped – to give you an idea of how close he was)
He ate another large mouse and headed up to a tree. By then, I had been there for an hour and had over 150 photos. I finally decided to head on.
I went ahead and took the lake trail and Otter Creek Rd all the way back around. Grabbing these shots along the way:
All of these shots were from Monday morning. I was able to go again Wednesday morning, and sure enough, in almost the same spot:
But this time it was much earlier in the day. I had to use a tripod to get this shot, so there would be no chasing him around again!
And that’s it for the week!
Thanks for looking!
Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE
Don’t miss a week! Subscribe to this blog and you will receive an email every time I post something new!
Malcolm MacGregor Photography is on Facebook, check it out and become a fan!
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
Say “Cheeeeese”!
It’s definitely deer season at Radnor Lake. There are always lot’s of deer there but there seem to be an extra amount now. Here are a few more deer photos captured this week:
10 pointer!
This buck wasn’t going anywhere, he had is eye on a doe that was laying near the path.
Other shots from the week:
This one was part of an engagement session I did last Saturday at Radnor Lake
And that’s it for the week!
Thanks for looking!
Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE
Don’t miss a week! Subscribe to this blog and you will receive an email every time I post something new!
Malcolm MacGregor Photography is now on Facebook, check it out and become a fan!
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
So here’s a first for my Radnor Lake project! I was at the lake for the sunrise last Saturday and I actually saw 3 beavers swimming around near the shore. I watched one of them eat, then I took this shot of one that swam close to me. I think that’s when they realized I was there because the started swimming in circles and hitting their tails on the water.
I got a few other shots early that morning:
After that, I met up with a few people from the Nashville Photography Meetup Group as well as a few people I met in the Radnor Lake Group on flickr. Half way around the lake, we had a Red Tailed hawk fly right by us! He landed in a tree a ways away. When we caught up to him, he took off chasing a bird:
This is the best I could get this time. Before this project is through I’m going to get a good shot of one of these hawks…
I little while later, we spotted this barred owl:
(Thanks to Scott, aka Mugmar for the extra reach on this shot. He let me borrow his 100-400 for a few minutes)
Other shots from later in the week:
And that’s it for the week!
Thanks for looking!
Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE
Don’t miss a week! Subscribe to this blog and you will receive an email every time I post something new!
Malcolm MacGregor Photography is now on Facebook, check it out and become a fan!
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
This week is all about the fall color at Radnor Lake. I’d say the color has peaked this week. There is mostly yellow, but also some bright reds and deep oranges. It’s a beautiful time to be walking the trails…
A couple more shots I wanted to share that don’t have to do with the fall color:
This is a single exposure (30 sec) with a Graduated neutral density filter. Not something I do often but wanted to try it “non-hdr”.
Also, a couple black and whites that don’t fit with the “Fall Color” theme:
And that’s it for the week!
Thanks for looking!
Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE
Don’t miss a week! Subscribe to this blog and you will receive an email every time I post something new!
Malcolm MacGregor Photography is now on Facebook, check it out and become a fan!
All of the “This Week at the Lake” photos are available for purchase as fine art prints and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Radnor Lake! Send me an email for more info (m_macgregor@comcast.net)
Last Saturday I met up with a few local photographers and headed down to Sewanee, Tennessee and the University of the South.
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sewanee&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.089062,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Sewanee,+Franklin,+Tennessee&ll=35.203137,-85.92109&spn=0.166061,0.494385&z=12&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
We were in search of fall color but came across All Saints’ Chapel. It was an amazing building with beautiful stained glass windows and awesome architecture. The photos don’t even begin to represent just how incredible it was.
(Click HERE for a complete tutorial for this image!)
Here are some others from the Campus of the University of the South:
Here is some fall color I got on the trip as well:
Southern Appalachian Spruce Fir – Roan Highlands, Tennessee/North CarolinaJune 13, 2017 - 8:27 pm
Blue Ridge Parkway Mile Post 19 – 20 Minute CliffJune 3, 2017 - 9:32 am
General Jackson – Charlottesville, VirginiaMay 30, 2017 - 8:40 pm
Frisco Pier – Cape Hatteras, North CarolinaMay 30, 2017 - 8:35 pm
Bodie Island Lighthouse and Milky Way – Nags Head, North CarolinaMay 30, 2017 - 8:30 pm