My first post.....i could have spent this first one telling you all about me, but those of you reading this most likely know me already. Anyone who may have popped by who doesn't, well i'll let the blog and the photography tell you everything you need to know. You'll just have to keep coming by and reading i guess.(i'm sneaky like that;P)
So lately its birds...that have me running out of the house all day these days. Warmer weather, the trees getting ready to bloom, and birds everywhere! I've always loved birdies, they're just so damn cute! And i'll tell ya, as a photographer, they're a real challenge. And i love me a challenge! I love me something i gotta chase around, makes for a more satisfying YES! moment when you get that one(out of hundreds) great shot. Take the Black Capped Chickadee(at right), they are tiny little dudes, and they don't stay anywhere real long. My longest lens is a 70-200mm (3.9) 19-seventies thing. She's old, but she works. For the most part anyway. I could use an upgrade for sure, however for now, it's old susie and me(yes i name my lenses, shut up). And just to get it over with, because somewhere along the way people always ask, "what you shooting with??". I am currently using my Pentax K20D, and old susie. At least for these Bird shots anyway. But make no mistake, i am a PENTAX shooter. My first was a pentax K1000, still have it too. I love what canon is doing, nikon's got some good stuff going on too. I would have no disrespect for anyone who chooses to use them. And while Pentax is taking it sweet time catching up to those guys, they always provide me with that one most important thing, I CAN USE ALL MY OLD LENSES. Sweeeeeettttt. Plus I've used Pentax a long time, its a love thing.
ANYWAY, now that thats over with.
I had some sunflower seeds(unsalted, no worries) i wasn't going to eat, so i made a make shift bird feeder. These Black Capped Chickadees loved em! They came by a lot. A lot of time spent crouched in my back porch just to get these few good shots. They'd pop in and get a sunflower seed so fast i took hundreds that were ultimately deleted due to blur.
I ventured off the porch, and wandered around the complex. I spent several days checking out where the birds where coming from, what time of day they hung out where, or when they'd come to eat. I'm lucky that there are three trees in my side yard area off my porch. Chickadees and several other small birds fluter about in these trees several time periods of the day, the best being between five and seven, when the suns going down. And it seemed the more i was there the less they noticed me, and i could get somewhat close. I know what you're thinking, with a 200mm lens, do you need to get that close? Yeah, 200mm isn't near a large enough lens really for trying to be hunfdreds of yards away from something so small and still get crisp sharp images of them. So i have to get as close as i can. and this Blackcapped Chickadee rested just long enough for me to get this beauty.
And thats about ten feet away from him zoomed to 200mm. I need a longer lens(birthday's coming ya know, hint hint,LOL) I'm sadly still on the quest for the Northern Cardinal. There are several males and females in the area, but those buggers won't let me get close at all. They may force me to get up really early one day and stalk them some. The Robins have trickled back into town this week too.
This guy(pictured left) was awesome in that he DID NOT MOVE for like a half hour. i
CLIMBED THE TREE, to get closer to him and he didn't budge. Sad part was, he just wasn't in a good spot at all for me to get to him. He was blocked by tons of branches no matter what i did. I had to shoot through whatever little spaces would give me enough of a shot. After almost twenty minutes of being wedged up in the tree, i let him be, climbed down on my wobbly legs, & wouldn't ya know just then another Robin flew over and to the tree across the way, and off went my Robin. Must have been waiting on a date! LOL
I've been having a fun time, doesn't even matter how long it takes to get a good shot. I'm just enjoying the spring weather and my new little friends....who i hear calling now....now, wheres my camera? ; P
Lately i've been trying to look at things differently, gain new perspective. So i think thats what drove me to pop on my wide angle lens and distort the world for a little while. To see things i see everyday in another way. How often do we lean in close and really look at how the light falls on the small details of the forgotten pieces of life, things we pay no mind to, because they are always in our view. Thats also why i chose black and white. I wanted to focus on the light and shadow,the angles of view, shapes and contours. 
Its that simplistic stuff they made you shoot in high school or college to force you to see the light, and what it does to your subject. I always hated those projects in college, the still-life of it anyway. I always felt i struggled with it because it bored me a little. There's no emotion in a coffee pot, or bowl of apples. I always preferred people or animals better, there's a life there, with feelings and emotions and they show them all to you if you can get that right moment. But still-life always felt like a whore of a subject to me back then, just sitting there while you do your thing, not really involved or adding anything of its own to the activity(in this case being photographed, didn't want you perverts getting too off track now). 
Maybe i wasn't as enlightened then as i am now. I had more fun with it today than i ever really remember i ever did in college. Maybe thats because i wasn't trying to be artsy, like i felt i needed to in college, but just enjoying shooting just to shoot. Enjoying playing with the light or funny shapes, different perspectives, just an opportunity to get lost in that little rectangle.
I wandered the house, looking for light and shape and texture. Looking for the simple, sometimes even static compositions. Breaking rules just to break them, to see outside the boundaries in a way. 
I still got kinda bored in the end. Its just not as high paced as i like. Still life is too slow,so to speak, for me. However i enjoyed slowing down for a small time, and i guess i got some fun shots out of it after all. The doorknob shot is one of my favs. probably cause i'm in it, ;P Well, I must be making dinner now...i wonder if meat-loaf is photogenic ....
