Today at http://chuckables.artistwebsites.com/index.html I opened a new gallery titled ‘Convalescent Leave’. This is where between September 2nd and October 14th, 2015, I had taken FLMA from work after a double hernia operation. During the six weeks of taking it easy, I decided as an amateur photographer I would hone my skills a little bit. My Convalescent Leave Gallery displays some of my works while recovering. Enjoy and happy hiking.
It has been an interesting time since last writing and we won’t get into that; instead, I will focus on the most current of events. One the hardest things in my day to day life, is having to work full time, anywhere from 8 to 10 hours a day, in order to make ends meet. And so, any desires to do anything above and beyond being lazy during my time off is placed on the back burner.
Almost six weeks ago, I had surgery for a double hernia. Go figure; I thought I was in pretty decent shape. But evidently, I’m am getting old and falling apart celebrating my 57th birthday September 12th. Having said that, I have been on FLMA and will return back to work this coming Thursday. What have I done with my time of recovery, beyond not lifting heavy objects, my daily naps, excessive snacking, and a couple of short hikes.
Well, I took advantage of the time to learn more about photography. And it is my hope that once I get back into the daily grind I will continue with my treks to show how wonderful nature all around us is. As well as, other interests.
And please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/HikingAbe/videos
Just finished editing the trailer of our epic Grand Canyon adventure. At the time of this writing Sally and Rachel are finishing their river run through the Grand Canyon and I hiked out yesterday morning after a four day journey. As of yet, I have no title for our presentation, nor time frame when I will finish it (I’ve giving myself three to six months), however, I know I cannot wait to see Sally and Rachel’s photos/movies when I upload them on the P.C. So please, enjoy this short trailer, the soundtrack is titled Life on Earth, and is by Heather Fenoughty. And feel free to ask me any questions. Happy hiking.
With our upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon; Sally and Rachel will be river running through the canyon on the Colorado River with Wilderness River Adventures and I will be backpacking down to Bright Angel Campground near Phantom Ranch, it is my hope, plan we will get see each other for a few moments on nearby Boat Beach. Then video them as they resume their journey further into the interior of the inner canyon.
Having said that, I had purchase two new camera’s, as if I needed them right, to record our journey from a river runner’s point of view and a backpacker’s point of view. So for Sally’s trek I had purchased a FUJiFILM FINEPIX XP60 camera. A nice little waterproof/shockproof camera I hope endures the six day journey. And I had purchased a Sony HandyCam HDR-CX330 to record my journey. Of course, I will be using my GoPro Hero 2, as well as, my Canon DSLR T3i.
I can imagine now folks are beginning to see the jest in all this. I plan, it is my hope, goal, desire, to create an epic video of our adventure, with two differing points of view exploring the wonders of the canyon.
So the video you are about to watch is a test of our new cameras when we walked around Lynx Lake recently. I wanted Sally to familiarize herself with the XP60 and become comfortable with all it’s features. Not only that, we just wanted to get out of the house and do a short little walk enjoying our time with Dori and Barney.
Last Saturday, May 31st, Sally and I took a little walk on the Peavine Trail with Barney our dog. On the other side of the trail system, in Prescott Valley on the Iron King Trail, Rachel her daughter rode her bike where we all met on the trail. We didn’t meet half way; however, I’ll just say Rachel left us in the wake of her dust as she did her round trip bike ride.
Having said that, the slide show presentation is our portion of the walk where I used my Canon T3i camera with a 55-250 mm lens. I wanted to experiment and see if I could snap-off some nice shots. Definitely a pleasant seven mile round trip walk where we seen quite a few birds and wildlife during our trek. Next to the trail at the start, Granite Creek and Watson Lake provides the essential ingredient for there comfort and survival; as well as, a photographic backdrop.
Enjoy.
I believe it is a Lesser Goldfinch that fascinates me as I watch it jump around flighty like in the peach tree of our back yard. And I resolve to take a picture of it, hopefully. Thus far, it started yesterday just before sunrise when I set up my camera to take some shots of our beautiful roses in the front yard. I wanted to give the the sun a chance to pop over the horizon and light up the peach tree in pleasant early morning glow. It was beautiful.
And the Lesser Goldfinch showed up as I hoped, flighty, jumpy, and singing as he hopped from tree limb to tree limb, and then fly off. I could not get the little bugger locked on in my 55-250 zoom lens. So a failure. For now.
Coming home from work yesterday morning late, I had spied a yellow rose appearing somewhat hidden in the bush behind a few leaves. I loved how it looked and decided later after sunset I would bring out my camera, tripod, shutter release cable and take a few pictures of it and see how it would turn out. It did not! I had hoped working with the bush and shutter speed, the sun had set behind the horizon almost straight in line with my lenses, and using a UV filter, I'd squeeze off at least one good shot of many.
I did not see an eye catcher when reviewing the photo's this morning. Frustrated I turned to look out the office/studio window and noticed it was coming sunrise, with very light moisture or fog in the air to slightly defuse the sun light and the rose bush bright.
Well, you can imagine what I did. Grabbed my camera and tripod. Ran down the stairs, carefully, I am to damn old to trip and fall. Cinched my robe tightly so as not to embarrass myself and snapped off a couple of shots focusing on using my f-stop.
And I was quite happy with the outcome when looking at the pictures. And critically thinking I could have done better. Nonetheless, enjoy.
