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This Week at the Lake – 29/52

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Click the panorama above to view the full size!! Maybe not the most exciting pano ever but I spent a lot of time on it. It’s full size is about 8.5 feet long (over 30,000 pixels) and consists of 15 vertical images. The file size for the full size image 1.83 gigs! It was too large for my computer to blend in photoshop, so I had to create two panoramas using photoshops “automerge” and then manually blend those two together. Now, if only I could find someone to print an 8.5′ long photo…..

This was taken Wednesday evening. I had to shake things up a bit and visit at a different time. It’s amazing how different you can see things when the light is different. By stopping by Wednesday evening, I also lucked out and caught the harvest moon:

I feel like I was rushed taking these as it was really getting dark at this point. Radnor Lake closes at “dark” so I wanted to be sure I was back at my car before someone else considered it “dark”. After these shots, I headed quickly back to the parking lot – only to see that there were still probably 20-25 cars there. I guess I could have stayed a little while longer….

Other shots with the Wednesday evening light:

I also visited during my lunch break on Monday and Wednesday, here is the result of those trips:

Not sure what type of bird this is but I sat and watched him catch bugs, he was very fast.

And that’s it for the week!

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This Week at the Lake – 28/52

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A very quiet week at the lake this week. Not much going on…..

A couple weeks ago I tried a lake scape with textures added. The more I looked at it the more I really liked it. So, I thought I’d try it again. The above shot was taken on a beautiful morning when the mist was rising from the lake. I’ve applied 3 textures that I’ve downloaded from various places over the internet (mainly flickr). Unfortunately I can’t remember where I got them as I’ve had them in a folder for over a year now.

Here are the rest of the shots from this week:
The epic battle between hawk and black bird continues! If you saw last week I posted a shot of a hawk chasing a black bird. I saw a similar scene early Monday morning. Again there were several black birds and one hawk and again it was hard to tell who was chasing who! I’m hoping I can get close enough to get a good shot of this happening.

There are 3 deer in this shot – none of them showing their head!

The background is awesome!

And that’s it for the week!

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This Week at the Lake – 27/52

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It was tough getting anything decent this week. It seemed to be cloudy the entire week making it dark along the trails. My camera doesn’t do too well in dark conditions and I ended up with dozens of blurry images this week. It’s also getting too dark for my early morning trips. The sun doesn’t seem to come over the hills until 7:15 or so, by 7:30 I should be back at the car to get ready for work.

Here are this weeks best shots:

I liked the idea for this but I think the deer is too far away

This is heavily cropped but it was so cool to watch I wanted to share it. This hawk and about 5 black birds were going at it for a while. Was the hawk trying to eat a black bird or were the black birds trying to get the hawk to leave? Most of the time, I couldn’t even tell who was chasing who! At the time of this shot, it’s clear that the hawk is chasing the black bird. But shortly after this, the hawk landed on a log and another black bird came down and provoked the hawk. None of the chases ever lasted very long as the hawk gave up the chase quickly and easily. Very fun to watch, wish I could have gotten closer but this was all happening on the other side of the lake!

spotted this owl Friday evening. I set up the tripod without scaring him off, and fired off a few shots. While taking these shots it really started raining. Not much rain was making it to me under the trees but I didn’t want my gear sitting out any longer.

Bad formation! But pretty cool photo with the added textures…

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This Week at the Lake – 26/52

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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

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Burgess Falls

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This past weekend we visited Burgess Falls State Natural Area. Nothing original here, in fact I had to wait 10 minutes or so while other photographers got this same shot. I only took one shot (the one above) and then switched lenses. When the sun came out there was a rainbow across the falls, but of course once I switched lenses, the sun didn’t come back out. It really was an impressive waterfall, the trails are just too crowded for my liking. Plus, the only good shot you could get of these falls is the same one everyone else has. We took this shot then we went back to the park area to cook out for lunch. After lunch, the kids went to the playground and I went back down the trails. By then, there were tons of people swimming in the water so I never hiked to the bottom because I wouldn’t have wanted a waterfall shot with lots of people in it!
Here are a couple others I got along the way:

This was the stairway leading from the top of the falls to the bottom

And of course, a couple of the kids enjoying the playground:

If you are interested in going to Burgess Falls, check out the map
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.071857,-85.581779&spn=0.16428,0.494385&z=12&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
Fairly easy hikes (my kids made it!) and an impressive waterfall.

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This Week at the Lake – 25/52

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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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This Week at the Lake – 24/52

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Lot’s of photos this week! I visited Radnor Lake in Nashville Tennessee on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Wednesday morning was rainy, so I walked down Otter Creek Rd. I headed to one of the best spots at the park to get a lakescape. I’ve got shots from this spot on Week 13, and Week 16, and Week 19. This time it was different with the dark rain clouds:

Heading back to the car, I got this shot right before it really started raining hard:

I went Thursday mid-day. The temperature and humidity have dropped considerably from last week, as you can see from this photo with the nice blue sky and fluffy clouds:

Then I went Friday early morning. I started off heading to the spot that I got shots for Week 15 and Wee 22 and I got this:

While setting up for this shot, I heard a loud crash maybe 10 feet away. I look over and there is a young buck staring at me. Then another comes to the shore and then some does arrive. I snapped this shot and then backed up from the shore and switched lenses. I’ve been looking forward to the fall, hoping I could get some shots of bucks. These may not be very impressive bucks but they are certainly the best I’ve seen so far. I ended up following them along the trail for nearly a mile, grabbing many shots:

This is one of the does

Got the idea for this shot from a Matt Hansen photo. I’m not sure I pulled it off nearly as well as he but I still liked it.

Loved this one too!

Last one!

On the way back to the car I stopped at the dam where I usually see green herons. Sure enough there was one there, I only grabbed a couple shots before he was scared off by other walkers:

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This Week at the Lake – 19/52

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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.

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This Week at the Lake – 16/52

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A similar shot to start this week off as last week – but I really liked it!

My week at the lake started on Tuesday, I set the alarm clock for 4:45 am so I could make it before work. The problem I face with that is that it’s too dark to really get any wildlife photos. I was able to get the sun coming down Otter Creek Rd:

And then I tried to get a shot of the mist/fog rising on the lake with the sunrise:

Also that morning I met big time Ashville, NC wedding photographer Corey McNabb. He was on his way back from a wedding in Memphis and stopped to get some bird photos at Radnor. We looked for the owls but were not able to find them that morning. Check out his site, he’s got some great photos.

Next I went Thursday morning. Thursday was a great day to watch the owls but again, it was so dark because it was early I couldn’t get any good shots. I saw 3 younger owls and one adult. I watched one of the younger owls pretend to hunt in the creek bed, picking up sticks and tossing them aside, fun to watch!
Here is one decent shot of a younger owl:

Thursday is also when I got the top post, with the sun rising just over camera right.
Also got this bird photo that morning:

Since the owls were so active in the morning, I went back at lunch hoping to still see them. I only saw one then but he was too far away.
I’m not sure what type of bird this is but he was very cooperative, posing for me while I was looking for the owls:

I also spotted this doe and fawn:

On the way back to the car, I got this:

This Week at the Lake – 13/52

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I visited Radnor Lake twice this week. Once on Thursday at lunch and once on Friday after work -which is the first time I’ve been there in the evening since Week 4.

The lesson of the week is: CHARGE YOUR BATTERIES!
Thursday at lunch, I got out of the car, turned the camera on and noticed the battery was very low. Since it was already Thursday and I had not gotten any shots yet, I decided to try to find something easy like geese rather than hope to see another owl. So I walked down the road and noticed that they had opened a portion of the road that was closed due to storm damage. I made it to a deck that overlooks the lake and got this:

I took probably 10-15 photos of these geese. I started walking back to where I had seen the owl last week. Forgetting that my battery was low, I took some photos of deer that were practically on the other side of the lake…

Then I made it to the spot- the long bridge on the west end of the Lake Trail. I walked out there and right away I spotted:

I thought it was awesome! Two times in a row at Radnor I saw a Barred Owl. Then I started looking around, I looked up…..

I couldn’t believe it! There were 2 more owls watching me. I walked around to see if I could get a different view of these owls. When I got to the other side of the tree, I looked up and….

A fourth? Are you kidding me? I’ve seen one owl in 12 weeks and now here are 4 in one day!
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw another – a fifth owl that was hunting. He had just flown back to a tree with something in his mouth. Then he flew towards me, and stopped at a tree that was so close to me and was in the perfect light. I raised my camera, pushed the button and…..

Nothing.
I looked down and read “Change The Battery Pack”

Then the owl flew right over top of me. It was my chance to get an awesome Owl-in-Flight shot. He flew to the other owls and gave one of them the food he had (I’m no owl expert but I’m guessing the others in the tree were younger owls). Then he flew from there and into another tree. And I have no shots of that event…. If only I hadn’t taken so many shots of geese. Oh, and before I saw the fifth one, I took this:

So I went home and charged the batteries. I couldn’t make it on my lunch break on Friday so I went after work. I went to the “owl city” and there weren’t any there. After sitting there for 15-20 minutes I headed down the road. I wanted to get a couple HDR’s this week so I stopped and got these:

Also got this along the road:

Then heading back to the car I got this dear in the road:


These people were walking around the corner and this dear didn’t care one bit.

I also snapped this near where I had seen the owls:

And that was my week – 2 days, lots of pictures, and one missed opportunity! Oh well, it’s only week 13…