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 – 23/52

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I struggled to pick a lead photo this week. I like the photos I got this week but nothing really seemed to pop.

I started the week of at the lake on a Tuesday lunch time visit. It was about 100 degrees though so I did not stay long. I saw an owl on the side of the road on the way in but was unable to get a shot of him. The only thing I got in Tuesday was this:

On Thursday I went before work. Usually I get a lot of photos when I visit in the morning, however, that morning I did not get much. I came across a doe and fawn but it was 6am and dark in the woods. Everything came out blurry. The only shot I liked from that day was this one:

On Friday, I dropped my son off at school. I wanted to be there to pick him up so I took the day off rather than go to work for only a few hours. So, with my son in school and my daughter in daycare, my wife and I headed to the lake. We hiked the lake trail and took the south lake trail back to make a loop. It was the first time I’d hiked the south lake trail.

We saw an owl…

The background in this is awesome!

The fawns are getting big and losing their spots…

In the middle of the woods, there is a bench with a plaque that says “Play Ball”…. I don’t get it. This was on the South Lake Trail

Another week down! I would like for it to cool down some but that gets me thinking about winter – I’m not sure how I’ll make it through winter….

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This Week at the Lake – 22/52

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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

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This Week at the Lake – 21/52

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A very short week for me – I was traveling for work during most of the week. Unfortunately I was only able to visit Radnor Lake for 30-40 minutes on Friday.

I tried some different processing on the shot above, including adding textures. I think it turned out alright but I’m hoping for a much better week next week!

Here are some others I got:
This guy seemed to want his picture taken

A macro lens would be fun to use with these guys! There are tons of them at Radnor

My obsession with shallow DOF continues! I’ve also been converting more to black and white lately

Probably my favorite from this week – I like the simplicity and the light on the leaves.

So that’s all I managed in the short time I was there.

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This Week at the Lake – 20/52

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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!
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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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