Magnificent Moss
I love macro shots because they help me to capture such great detail of something that we commonly overlook. It’s so easy to see a forest floor and recognize that it’s green in color, and might be soft to step on, but how often do you lean in close to see the individual ‘blades’ of the moss and how they catch light during a sunset?
For me? This was a first.
Moonlight Bright
In mid-February, I heard that the Aurora’s were firing up again with another 4/10 rating, so I decided to head out to do some Northern Light hunting. It also happened to be a full moon. As I drove around Juneau, I eventually made it out to Aurora Harbor and, while I never found any Northern Lights, I did capture a few frames of the bright moonlight and the deep blue of the night. In this frame, we see the Shrine of St. Therese illuminated warmly in contrast of the frozen evening:
Heading Off
During the last PhotoWalk that I coordinated, I spent lots of time looking, but very few minutes clicking. Part of the fun for me is to see others having a good time with a camera, observing the world. I did my own observing of course… I came away with maybe 5 “keepers”. Click on my favorite below to visit the gallery with the rest:
Old Man’s Beard
It’s actually a lichen, but if I ever needed to disguise myself as an old gentleman, it seems this might do the trick. This is again with my macro lens. It’s great to be able to capture the detail of such a thing that I never thought to observe at these ranges before. I’m sure I look strange standing in the parking lot, intensely focused on a piece of moss or lichen just a few inches away from my lens. I’m glad I’m just now looking.
Waiting for Summer
It’s mid-March and while we’ve reached Daylights Savings, we still have yet to get enough heat to coax our flora into coming out of their long nap. Today I took a walk along Auke Lake and took a few images with the macro lens. Enjoy.
Daffodil
Over this last Christmas I invested in a Nikkor 200mm Micro lens. The term “micro” really means “macro”, but I guess they wanted to be special. I don’t know why because the lens is special enough without any fancy naming. I’ve been enjoying capturing images that I never thought of before, and being drawn to notice details on walks that previously I couldn’t have cared less. At any rate, I’ve enjoyed it. I hope you do too.
Auroras
On Heather’s Birthday, the UAF Aurora Forecast showed to hit a 4/10. It doesn’t sound like much, but for those living in Juneau, it means that it’s very likely that the Northern Lights will be visible provided the sky is clear. Lately we’ve had a cold snap and with the skies clear, I was excited to get out to see some Aurora. As it turns out, I’ve seen other postings (through facebook) suggesting that my late-night session in the cold wasn’t nearly as spectacular as earlier in the night, but when your wife wants to head to bed… Well, who am I to argue? I wound up getting out of bed at around 2:45am and headed light hunting. Here’s my favorite shot from the evening:
