Posts about my 52 week project at Radnor Lake

This Week at the Lake – 52/52

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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!

This Week at the Lake – 51/52

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Last Saturday I got my 6 year old son up extra early for a hike around Radnor Lake. We got there just in time for a great sunrise. I let him use my Rebel XSi (now that I’m on the 7D) and he loved it! He loved walking around with the camera strapped around his neck. I think he took more photos that I did! We saw everything I told him we might see: Barred Owl, Deer, Turkey, Ducks, Geese, Birds, Squirrel, and Chipmunks. Fun morning, something we’ll definitely do again soon…

Here he is shooting some deer:
I’ll have to post some of his photos here sometime

Here is another shot of the sunrise:

And the light on the lake:

This shot looks like something from November. The morning light coming from around the bend was great!

Here are a couple large Bucks we saw:

Here is another Buck taken another morning:

And some more Owl photos from the week:

And that’s it for the week! Next week is the finale! The weather forcast looks good, so let’s hope for something great!!

Thanks for looking!

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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 at the Lake – 50/52

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When all else fails, process the heck out of it and maybe it will look cool!

I struggled to pick a “lead” shot this week. I had this shot processed without the textures first. After reviewing all the shots I had for the week, I decided to re-edit this with some textures. I liked how it turned out so here it is! I love seeing and hearing these little birds too. They are so loud! I’ve taken tons of pictures of them through out the project so I was happy to have one as a lead shot.

Another favorite of the week was this one:

But it was way too similar to Week 46‘s lead shot.

Here are some others from the week:

This Red-Tailed Hawk landed pretty close to me. I was trying to hide behind a tree hoping he would come closer but he eventually flew off. All I got of him is from this view with that branch in the way 🙁

Loved the light here…

Another Carolina Wren Singing away!

Wild Turkey

This is a terrible photo but a pretty funny story. The deer was literally running at full speed in circles early one morning. He just kept going and going!

And that’s it for the week!

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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)

This Week at the Lake – 49/52

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Week 49 and again I’ve seen something I’ve never seen before. The sunrise this past Wednesday was pretty amazing. The photo just doesn’t do it justice. I almost missed it too. The sky just exploded with color while I was walking along the trail towards a good sunrise spot. I was practically running trying to get to a spot before it was over. I came to the dam bridge and that’s when I got a clear view of the sunrise. There was a beam or column of light shooting straight up. I set up as quick as I could and grabbed the above shot. The beam of light was so bright it’s getting blown out in the bracketed shot. I then grabbed the gear and quickly headed down to the lake shore. From there, the light was starting to dim so I had to hurry to grab a few more shots before the color was completely gone:

Pretty cool…

Also Wednesday morning I got another shot of a Barred Owl

I went back at lunch and only came away with this shot:

I was able to go again Friday morning when I got this

I also saw an Owl again then:

Later in the day, I got this shot:

And that’s it for the week!

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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 at the Lake – 47/52

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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!

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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)

This Week at the Lake – 46/52

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That’s pretty much how this entire week looked – Dark, cloudy, rainy/snowy, cold….

Because of all the rain, I was only able to visit Radnor Lake twice this week. I went Wednesday morning, and Friday mid-day.

Wednesday morning was very dark and rainy so I was only able to get a couple shots, the one above and this one:

Finally the sun broke out briefly on Friday so I headed to the lake on my lunch break. Of course, I ran into the owl again! I believe this is the same one as last week because they were in the same area. This time, however, he was not very active. It was mid-day and very cold. He found a spot in the sun and was just sitting tight:

While watching this owl, I saw another bird that I’ve only seen one other time at the lake. I have no idea what it is but it looks pretty awesome. This time, I actually got a shot of him:

Anyone know what this is??? He’s fairly large, probably about the size of a blue jay.

Also got a shot of this little snow covered ceder:

Got this on the way back to the car

I’m sure not many people go to Radnor Lake and take a photo of the equipment in the parking lot, but hey, I thought it looked cool!

And that’s it for the week!

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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)

This Week at the Lake – 45/52

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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

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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 at the Lake – 44/52

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One more week at Radnor Lake down, winter is tough! I don’t mind going in the cold, it’s just that there is not much to look at! Even the lakescapes seem to be missing so much color:

Also, your probably tired of that view! I’ve taken lot’s of morning shots from this overlook. It’s getting harder and harder to get something different. You pretty much have to hope for something to happen – like the turkey in the lead shot. This is the third time I’ve led with a turkey, but all of those are very different. The road he is on is Otter Creek Road, it’s closed to vehicle traffic.

Here’s a couple more that I feel like I’ve done before:
I’ve shot this (and processed similarly) in the summer time, but it feels very different in winter.

Here’s one I’ve done a couple times but couldn’t remember one in black and white, I think they look awesome!


Here is one I’ve shot many times so far this winter but have never posted because I never really liked how they turn out. Finally I cropped it and it is much more like I envisioned!

And that’s it for the week!

Thanks for looking!

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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 at the Lake – 43/52

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I can’t believe I haven’t taken a shot of this house yet. This is the original house on the lake property. It sits up on a little hill and overlooks the lake. No one lives there now but it is used by the park rangers.

I rented a Canon 7d for the week from Lensrentals.com, so all shots this week were taken with that camera. It’s really a great camera, I enjoyed using it this week.

I stopped by Radnor Lake on Tuesday, shortly after getting the camera. I had to try out the HDR:

There was still some snow on the ground from middle Tennessee’s Christmas snow.

My next chance to get to the lake came on Thursday morning.

I stood at that spot for 15-20 minutes hoping for some color and light. When I finally decided to go a little further down the trail, I turned around and saw:

He was so close to the path and so close to where I was standing but I never noticed! I was able to get within about 10 feet of him:

Grabbed this one on the way back to the car:

And that’s it for the week!

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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 at the Lake – 42/52

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Merry Christmas everyone!

Only 10 weeks remaining, on the down hill slope now! I was off of work all week this week staying at home with the family. I was, however, able to sneak out one morning and head to the lake. Wednesday I got up early and was on the trails by 6:15 or so. The sunrise wasn’t much because of some heavy clouds so I just headed on down the trail.

I decided to take the Ganier Ridge trail since I had the time and have only been on that trail once.

On the way, I spotted Rudolph!

Because of the overcast conditions, I had to get creative with some processing. I added texture layers and tones to the next couple of photos:

The hike up the Ganier ridge is tougher than the lake trail, but once up there it’s very peaceful.
Part of me wanted to sit and enjoy the quiet, part of me wanted to lay down and take a nap, and part of me wanted to keep on hiking!

Toward the end of the hike, I found a Barred Owl doing his best turkey impression!

It took nearly 15 minutes, but he finally turned around and gave me a look:

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)