Earlier this month Jan and I dog-, cat-, llama-, plant-, and
house-sat for good friends of ours. It was an opportunity to spend a week in the
country quite literally surrounded by nature on their acreage. Trees abound on
the property—the house sits among them and paths are mowed regularly through
the grassy undergrowth enabling nature walks. Most of the paths lead down to
the Red Deer River which we welcomed on the days the heatwave struck. By the
time we reached the river, the dog was already lying down in the water cooling
off! The shriek of the resident red-tailed hawk greeted us every time we
reached a certain spot, as it has done for years.
So what does one do for a week when there is nothing much to
do other than feed the animals and water the plants and go for walks? We sat on
the covered deck a lot, first very still and whispering to each other, but we
soon realized the wildlife around there felt very safe around humans. As long
as we were just going about our business, so were they. When we heard the
tap-tap-tap in the tree just off the deck we knew the downy woodpecker had
stopped by for insects to feed its young. The hum of wings signalled the
arrival of the ruby-throated hummingbird to the red flower feeder hanging from
the deck post. Chickadees and pine siskins ate upside down at the cylindrical
birdfeeder hanging from a nearby tree branch. Squirrels chased each other and made such a
racket sometimes even the dog took notice. A five-point mule deer buck strolled
through the trees and down the driveway on the other side of the house one
morning.
Sitting on the deck was the perfect opportunity for me to
study my camera manual a little more in depth. As I read about settings and
styles and effects, I tried them out, some with more success than others. I found out my camera is a very powerful tool and can do a lot of things—I just have to
tell it to do them! That last part is something I have to practice over and
over until it becomes second nature at some point in time. I remember my mother being impatient with
my father when he took “forever” to get all the settings just right on his
camera before he took the picture (and in those days everything was manual). More than once I thought of my dad when I
was poking around on the display screen of my digital camera, and I sent him a
silent “I totally understand!” Sometimes, though, being in the right place at
the right time means you don’t have time to fiddle with settings. You just
shoot and fix the image later on the computer as a friend of mine did when a grizzly bear crossed the road while she was in her parked car.
When we got home after our week in the country, I had taken
134 pictures sitting on the deck and walking various pathways—and that’s not
including all those I deleted off the camera right away! Most of them are not
keepers and will be deleted, but a few I’m quite pleased with:
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| Grainy B&W creative filter setting on the camera Other creative filters are fish-eye, water painting, soft focus, and a couple more I doubt I'll ever use |
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| Ruby-throated hummingbird I like the position of the bird and its blurred wings... I can almost hear the hum |
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| The same ruby-throated hummingbird, but shutter speed set very high (1/4000) to capture "a moment in time" which is the only way to see a hummingbird's wings clearly in flight The image was a little dark, and I lightened it slightly in Photoshop Elements |
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| The soft morning light on the young mule deer and the blurred background makes this one of my favourite pictures of the week. |
