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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…

This Week at the Lake – 12/52

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This Week at the Lake - 12/52

A Barred Owl! So I finally got to see an owl at Radnor lake.

My first trip to the lake for the week was on Monday morning. The light is so great in the morning – I keep taking these bench shots:

I also got this shot of part of the fence that keeps people on the trail:

All those were take with the 70-200 2.8 L – All at 2.8 and all at long Focal lengths. I love the 2.8 aperture and the depth of focus it gives.

Also that morning I got a couple shots of deer:

I’m not sure why I keep putting the deer shots in black and white! I think they turn out really good though.

On my way back to the car that morning, I started talking with another photographer I met on the trail. I mentioned how I wanted to see an owl and he said he sees an owl almost every time he comes to the lake! He told me where to go sit (the link takes you to a picture of the long bridge at the start of the lake trail when coming from the ease parking lot)

My next chance to get to the lake came on Wednesday. So I went straight to this spot and sat on a bench. I sat for a couple minutes thinking I was wasting my lunch break when I heard the owl. It was coming from the direction of the east parking lot. So, do I get up and head back toward the parking lot or sit here longer? So I decided to sit and a couple minutes later I heard him again. But then nothing, for over 5 minutes I didn’t hear or see him. I was ready to give up (I’m just impatient) so I got up and turned around and noticed this little buck laying down right behind me!

While I was getting shots of this deer, another couple came walking down the bridge. He saw my camera and told me he had just seen an owl! I couldn’t believe it! If I had walked back out to the road I would have seen him. I was kind kind of mad and was going to head back to work. When I was telling the guy that I had been waiting for an owl, the owl swooped in and landed on a tree not far from the bridge!
The shot at the top of this post along with this:

I got several shots of him in the tree and then he flew to the ground looking for something to eat:

He stood in the same spot for a long time waiting for something in the little creek, then he attacked

The rest are too blurry to post as it was rather dark in the woods. I don’t think he got what he was after so he flew back to a tree that was further away. By then I had been gone from work for an hour and still had the 5 minute walk back to the car and the 15 minute drive back to the office! Better get going…..

For links to previous weeks of the 52 week project Click HERE

This Week at the Lake – 7/52

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Technical info:
All shots with the Canon XSi
Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 at 10mm
3 exp (-2, 0, +2)
f10, (1/1000, 1/250, 1/60)
Hand held (only because I left the tripod at home!)
ISO 100

I’m 7 weeks into a 52 week project called “This Week at the Lake”.
“The Lake” is Radnor Lake in Brentwood/Nashville Tennessee
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.045629,-86.786842&spn=0.041292,0.123596&z=14&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

It’s a great place for photography and it’s very close to where I work in Brentwood. I’m able to go on my lunch break and occasionally early in the morning. There’s always plenty of wildlife and beautiful wooded or lake scenes. If you walked all the way around (which I don’t have time for usually) you will hike almost 2.5 miles. 1.8 of it is a wooded hiking trail, the rest follows Otter Creek road, a road that has been closed.

My main goal in visiting there so often is to see an Eagle or an Owl, both of which are definitely there. I’ve already got a shot of a Red Tailed Hawk, Turkey and plenty of Deer.

Every Saturday I’ll post a collection of shots taken that week at Radnor Lake.

This week I was only able to make two short lunch break trips. Along with the benches above, I got these:

70-200 2.8 L at 200mm
f2.8, 1/2000
ISO 100


Canon 70-200 2.8 L at 200mm
f2.8, 1/320
ISO 100


Canon 70-200 2.8 L at 200mm
f2.8, 1/250
ISO 100