Pine Siskins
There is a poem:
10/24
Late in the afternoon, cloudy
day light already failing fast,
I had just finished cleaning up
from making oat milk, and,
while I was at it in the sink,
getting the french press ready
for tomorrow, and emptying
the sink drain strainer outside
among the plants (they love
the mix of coffee grounds and
oat mash) when I glanced,
in passing, out the deck doors
at the feeders. I suppose some
flurry of activity caught the
corner of my eye. The feeders
and all the perches we have
provided, were covered with
small birds…Pine Siskins as
I looked closer. I counted as
they flew off…20 at least…
a veritable hoard of siskins…
or since they are allied with
the finches, perhaps a “charm”
or a “company” or a “trembling”
(all collective nouns for finches)
of fine featured Pine Siskins.
Three hung around at the
thistle feeder long enough
for me to get a photo or two,
despite the light. The photos
will be nothing much to boast
of but enough to seal the
memory of the afternoon we
were invaded by a trembling
of the Pine Siskins, 20 strong.
Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
path in the fall forest…
What makes fall fall is not only the color of the maple and oak leaves, it is the feel and texture of them underfoot…the carpet. Not so good when it covers your lawn, but it certainly gives the fall forest its character. Sony a6500 with 18mm equivalent ultra wide combo lens set. Program mode with auto HDR. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine.
Fall forest wall
It takes a while for fall to work its way through a forest, and it always starts at the outside edge, where colder air reaches ground level. That produces some beautiful tapestries of color. This shot is on Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge land along Route 9 near the Mousam River bridge in Kennebunk Maine. Sony Rx10iv sweep panorama in portrait mode at 24mm equivalent. +1 EV (necessary on this camera in panorama mode.) Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Nominal exposure ISO 100 @ f6.3 @ 1/250th.
More fall woods…
Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA. I try to remember to do at a least a few vertical framings on every outing, just for the difference in perspective. This is a shot with the Sony a6500 and the 18mm equivalent ultra-wide combo lens (16mm f2.8 plus Ultra Wide converter). Program mode with HDR. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Autumn River
The lower Mousam River in Kennebunk, Maine, about a mile inland near the Rt. 9 bridge. Sony Rx10iv at 24mm equivalent. Program mode with HDR. (Nominal exposure: ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/1000) Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
I don’t know where to look…
Fall is passing rapidly in Maine…I think the last of the maple leaves came off the trees in our yard during the storm on Friday, but we are still at the point where there the forests and wooded neighborhoods are alive with color. So much beauty. I don’t know where to look. 🙂 That might be the theme of this photo as well. I am sometimes accused of taking photos of nothing…or photos with no “center of interest”…but the truth is, I like photos where the photo itself is the center of interest…not photos of some “thing” but photos that attempt present the scene as it is seen…with all the clutter, color, texture, detail that fascinate the eye…or at least my eyes. This is a scene from the woods at Laudholm Farms, in Wells, Maine, along the trail at the south edge of the property. Sony a6500 with the 18mm equivalent ultra-wide lens combo. Program mode with HDR. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Autumn Triptych
Three vertical fall frames to make an Autumn triptych. The Baston River at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport, the forest along Brown Street and a pond along Rt. 9 in Kennebunk. All subjects I have photographed and posted in more conventional landscape mode, but this provides a different view. Far left and right, Sony a6500 with the ultra-wide combo, 18mm equivalent. Center Sony Rx10iv at 24mm equivalent. Program mode with HDR. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic.
More of Maine Autumn
We are into our second day of pretty constant rain here in southern Maine…and we certainly need the rain. I went to Emmon’s Preserve on the Baston river in Kennebunkport, Maine, to see about some fall foliage shots with running water…but there was, for the first time in my memory, no water running down the ledges between the pools on the river. That is low water! You can see the standing water mark on the bolder, and the high water mark. Way low. Still, the pools were beautiful with the fall leaves. Sony a6500 with the 18mm equivalent ultra-wide combo. Program mode with HDR. Nominal exposure: ISO 100 @ f7.1 @ 1/100th. -1EV in an attempt to hold some detail in the overcast sky, and Program Shift for depth of field. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Celebrating the season
Another landscape to celebrate the season of fall foliage. This one is the Kennebunk River at the Walsh Preserve (Arundel Land Conservancy) off river road in Kennebunk (or Arundel perhaps 🙂 The preserve is just a narrow strip between residential properties on the road and on the river, but provides rare access to the river and a couple of restful benches for contemplation. Sony a6500 with the ultra wide lens combo (16mm f2.8 plus ultra wide converter for an equivalent focal length of 18mm). Program mode with HDR. Nominal exposure: ISO 100 @ f8 @ 1/250th. -1EV to hold the sky, program shift for greater depth of field. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
A little fall pond action…
I don’t often feature a landscape for my Pic of the day, but if I am going to, it is most likely in the fall. Autumn in Maine is always (almost) an amazing show of defiance to the coming winter, or homage to the passing summer…and always worth celebrating. This is a favorite spot for fall photos (any season actually)…a little pond along Rt. 9 just north of the Wells Town border, caught here just pack peek color and under an interesting sky. Sony a6500 with the 18mm ultra-wide combo lens set. Program with auto HDR. Nominal exposure: ISO 100 @ f13 @ 1/60th. -1EV to hold the sky. Program shift for depth of field. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.