Hello everyone,
I’ve been both busy and sick lately, so I haven’t had much of a chance for photo adventures. But I could not fail to miss the slow but steady approach of Spring (thank God). It has been a long winter up here in High Level, Alberta, with plenty of snow since October. It has finally melted, the sun is out, the birds are singing, and slowly, spots of green are returning to the landscape.
So this post is all about two harbingers of Spring: birds and flowers. Well, to be fair, the “flower” is actually a colourful cactus, but there really aren’t any flowers here yet. Thought we needed some colour so here you go.
Bought this cactus at a trade show in town. It is so cute and colourful, just needed to get it! Makes for an interesting subject as well. Has kind of a bacterial feel.
These little guys are tweeting all around. They are a pain to get in the frame, but with a trusty telephoto lens, a fast shutter speed and a warm day, I got a few decent shots. But, no matter how long I waited, I just couldn’t get a shot of one of these guys flying. (Also, let me just say it is wonderful to finally use the word “tweeting” in reference to birds again).
Though this little plant has some big colour, experimenting with no colour really made for a great photo. Because the colours are so vibrant, they can sometimes eclipse the shadows, ruining the 3D feel of the photo. But by getting rid of the colour, you can really see the shadows play along the curves of the cactus.
I’ve found that patience is really the name of the game when shooting wildlife, and especially birds. Took forever for a bird to get near enough to me for a decent close up, but it seemed like after ten minutes, they seemed to realize I wasn’t too dangerous, and ventured a little closer.
With bird photos, I find deciding how to crop the foliage around the main subject is often really hard. With this shot, though, I really thought the branches lent a nice curly-cue type feel to the picture, and also a little bit more colour with their red tinge.
And there you have my harbingers of Spring. Here is hoping there are many more to come. Though I am told it can snow in May up here, and even in June! So who knows, but I will keep you posted with some fun photos.
Thanks for checking out my shots:)
