Osprey April 8, 2024

After photographing the eclipse, I decided to photograph the neighbor's osprey since I had the longest lens handy and I didn't have to carry it very far .  This year our nest is occupied by a pair of geese.  I prefer the osprey, but unless they object to the geese, there isn't much we can do, but watch the geese.  No little ones yet on either nest.

Solar Eclipse of April 8th, 2024 from Southern Maryland

At the last minute, we found our solar filter which fit perfectly on my Tamron 150-600mm lens, and shot it with my Nikon D850 until 3:45 PM when it was obscured by clouds.  I had difficulty tracking the motion of the Sun across the sky and Jim had to do some difficult adjusting in Photoshop.  It's not perfect, and too few shots, but it's interesting anyway.

I'm also adding some composites I made, with clouds.

Spring Cherry Blossoms Part 2

Here are more cherry blossoms to enjoy.  I get a second chance at photographing them because the weeping cherry trees in my own yard bloom a lot later than the trees in Lexington Park and elsewhere.  The first photo is a stacked photo to improve the sharpness of the image, taken in a Lexington Park parking lot.  Notice how much more impact the photo with just a blue sky makes than the others with blurred backgrounds.

Photographic Society of America Contest Third Prize

 Just for fun, I entered an International photo contest with the Photographic Society of America.  I am a member and decided Just for fun, I entered an International photo contest with the Photographic Society of America.  I am a member and decided to try photojournalism, a category I practice when I photograph the River Concert Series.  I rarely sell any of them, because it would be hard to get written permission, even though the photos are technically at a public event.  I entered 4 photos and most of them were accepted, but one actually won 2 prizes.  The photos were sent to 4 different regional PSA organizations.  This one won in a multiple tie for third place in the Mid-Atlantic region and honorable mention in the Florida Chapters.  Three out of 4 of my photos were accepted into the competition. They claimed about 30% of the entries would be accepted into the competition, so I figured the odds were fairly good to at least be in the competition.  I liked the photo because it implied a sweet story.  The dancers were from Ballet Caliente.

Spring Camelias to Enjoy

I wish I could grow camelias in my yard.  Unfortunately, our land was a garbage dump for Native Americans a long time ago and is high pH (lime soil).  I couldn't grow azaleas here, even with extra stuff added to the soil.

Fortunately, there are some camelias not to far away that I love to photograph.