Posts in Category: sunset
Cranes and sun dog…
On my one fly-in at the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (Socorro, New Mexico, USA) this year, we were graced by a sun dog in the sunset. It was subtle, but there. I waited patiently for at least a few Sandhill Cranes to fly by it on their way into the shallow pond for the night. It was low on the horizon and most of the cranes came in too high or too low. Patience was eventually rewarded. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 475mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Cranes against the sunset
I have to get out for the sunset at least once during any trip to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (Socorro, New Mexico, USA) during the Festival of the Cranes. This year it was not the best sunset ever, but the Sandhill Cranes performed up to their usual excellent standard. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Sandhill Cranes at Sunset…
Every sundown, at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, beginning in November, the Sandhill Cranes gather in shallow pools of water to roost for the night…at least a little safer from predators who don’t like wet feet. As they gather, and before they settle for the night, there is always a lot of territorial conflict and mating display going on…often it can be framed agains the sunset reflections on the water. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Anti-motion Blur Mode. Processed in Polarr. (Anti-motion Blur mode takes 3-4 exposures at a faster shutter speed and lower ISO than a normal single frame exposure and “adds” them together, while processing out motion artifacts. It is brilliant in low light.)
Hippo in the sunset. Happy Sunday!
Hippopotamus, Tshukudu Game Reserve, South Africa
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” Jesus
I am more or less back from nearly a month of intensive travel, with spotty to non-existent wifi, and very little unscheduled time. I am actually in Columbus Ohio for the Great American Birding Expo, but that is relatively close to home, with excellent hotel wifi, and some time this morning to properly reflect on the Sunday. I am thankful for the time this morning, but I am also thankful for the travel. I spent a week in Panama, and 11 days in South Africa, and my head and my heart is full of new and memorable sights and experiences. This shot is from a sunset drive at a private, fenced, Game Reserve in South Africa. Tshakudu Game Reserve specializes in Rhinoceros, but they have all of the “big five” game animals on their extensive property. The small herd of Hippos was basking in one of few ponds that still have water at the height of the severe drought that has the Greater Kruger region in its grip. The water is actually shallow enough so the Hippos are kneeling on the bottom of the pond. This is a classic Africa shot, with the Hippo roaring in the sunset.
I feel incredibly blessed to have stood on the dam in Tshakudu to witness this. And incredibly is just the right word. I am very close to not being able to believe it. Africa has been a dream of mine since childhood, and, now, just after my 69th birthday, it has come true…and it was everything I had dreamed it would be. I went into the trip determined to be as generous as I possibly could be…open-hearted and open eyed as the blessing deserves. I failed, of course, but each day I woke with thanksgiving and did my best to enjoy what might well be a once in a lifetime experience. Just to be there…just to see…just to record…just to share. Overwhelming! God, please grant me generosity of spirit to match the gift. Happy Sunday!
Desert Sunset
Tucson Mountain Park, Tucson AZ
An early post for 8/11’s Pic for Today. First night in Tucson. Sunset form Grant’s Pass in Tucson Mountain Park.
Sony RX10iii at 24mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode with six stop in-camera HDR. – 1 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom on an Android tablet.
Skimmers in the sunset
Black Skimmers. Merritt Island, Titusville FL
There is a small flock of Black Skimmers that hang out at the fishing area just over the bridge on your way to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. They are generally there, huddled in a group, all facing the same way. Occasionally they must get up and go find food. Stands to reason. This year, however, I never saw them fishing. They did rise, just at sunset, to find a better roost for the night. I was there to see it. 🙂 And to catch some of the action.
Nikon P900 in my custom Birds in Flight mode. 200mm equivalent field of view. 1/1250th @ ISO 280 @ f4.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Sunset through Beach Rose. Happy Sunday!
Sunset through beach rose, Kennebunk ME
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
The Beach Rose, in December, going on for Christmas, looks brittle and broken…a tangled mass of hairy, thorny stems without much redeeming beauty…but put it in front of the setting sun, and suddenly it is alive again, and full of light. It is all a matter of perspective…of attitude. I find it interesting that these two words, which name the physical relationships between objects, have come to also mean our mental, or even spiritual relationship to the world around us. Perspective names the effect of distance on the apparent relative size of objects between us and the visual horizon…and attitude, in its physical sense, names the angle of incline of objects relative to a plane (a ship on the sea has an attitude measured in degrees, relative to the sea). In the mental/spiritual sense, when we say we have perspective on something…we mean we are viewing it in right relationship to the really important things in our life. If someone says you need an attitude adjustment, they mean that that you need to change your “slant” toward the world. Instead of measuring it in degrees, we say there are bad attitudes and good attitudes…cheerful attitudes and sour attitudes. It is a matter of how you are holding yourself in relation to the world.
The generous eye, the eye that both open to let in the beauty and wonder of the world around us, and open wide enough to let the light within illuminate the beauty and wonder without…which is really saying the same thing twice…determines both our perspective and our attitude.
You can choose how you see the tangled mass of Beach Rose stems. At least at sunset, when the light is shinning in your eyes.
Happy Sunday! And a blessed season, as we approach the celebration of the rising, the birth, of Jesus, son of God and son of man…who taught us to look with generous eyes, and whose light fills our whole beings.
Fisherman in the Sunset
Fisherman at Back Creek at sunset
I went looking for the sunset last night…both because I like sunsets, and because I have a new camera to try out. Sunset is always a reminder, in the summer, that we live in the NORTH: 8:24PM. It was worth it though. I found a fisherman on Back Creek, behind the dunes at our local beach. Back Creek is one of the few places where you can get the sun reflected in the water along our section of east facing coast. Add a little in-camera HDR, and some processing in Lightroom, and here you have it. Fisherman in the Sunset.
Sony HX90V at 81mm equivalent field of view. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/25th @ ISO 80 @ f5.
Titusville Sunset
From Parrish Park looking back over Titusville FL
I woke this morning thinking it is time for something besides birds and critters. It seems Pic 4 Today has had a pretty steady diet of bird shots from my recent stay at the Space Coast Birding Festival…Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. So just to prove I did take my eye off the birds for a least an occasional moment…here is a sunset from the drive home from Merritt Island. I pulled over among the gull feeders at Parrish Park just before the bridge to catch the last rays. Of course I could not completely avoid birds…this is Florida after all…but the small flock of Skimmers and the two gulls are just grace notes to the sunset. 🙂
Sony HX400V in camera HDR. 130mm equivalent field of view. Three ISO 80 exposures. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
By the way: I am leaving on the first leg of a trip to Pico Bonito Lodge in Honduras today. The Pic 4 Today post may be irregular over the next week. Daily post to Facebook and Google+ are more likely. We shall see.
First Everglades Sunset
Everglades National Park Sunset
I did not get to Homestead until 4 pm, and I considered just resting after a long day of travel, but by 5:30 I had caught up with the day and decided at least to go find a sunset over the Everglades. I barely made it at that. The sun sinks fast here in the tropics (all things being relative, South Florida is our tropics 🙂 It was worth the effort, I think. This is just barely into the Everglades National Park, just past the entrance station…but it is as far as I got.
Sony HX400V. In-camera HDR. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.