Cathy’s Camera

intoxicated by the light playing on and through the petals of a wonderful sunflower in the back I run in the house and grab a camera. I go to start taking photos of this beautiful sight only to find it marred. I look closer and what I see is not some errant debris from the breeze, but an inhabitant of the flower. Yes, once again my attempts to take photos of flowers are foiled by bugs. No matter how hard I try the animals in one form or another steal the show.

D700, 70-200 f2.8 + Canon close up lens

The pizza is really good. And Nikon is hoping for a “pizza bone” aka crust. How can you deny a face like this ……(iPhone photo)

…ah yes, finally the Photo Walk Day! First many thanks go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to rolling out the red carpet for my hardy band of Photo Walkers! They let us in an hour before opening and brought out two wonderful critters especially for us. Our special treat in the conifer forest of Kupanda Fall was meeting a Three Banded Armadillo who got to scurry around in the pine needles – what fun! And a marvelous and majestic Great Horned Owl who watched over us and posed for every camera there. In addition to getting to photograph these wonderful critters we got to learn about them as well.

Thank you one and all to my great group of Photo Walkers. Personally, I think we had the best Photo Walk in the world yesterday! And certainly the most unique!

OK – I admit – I’m probably biased!  

…..sorting sheep. Nikon brings the sheep through the gate to ne sorted into four pens behind me. She’s one awesome working dog, couldn’t do it without her.

Photo and post done from my iPhone

something new to me. As I walked into the Heart of Africa exhibit I saw one of the keepers feeding the hornbills. She was tossing meat and mice (hmmm a new M&M designation!). So I watched for awhile and chatted with the keeper who was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about her charges. This particular pair of horn bills have a baby hornbill that hatched in the cave last month. So – they were taking the M&Ms up to the baby. What a cool thing to see. I’ve been to the park 3 morning in a row now trying out different walking routes for the Photo Walk, and each morning there is something new and different. This morning was a great treat to see the hornbill parents feed their young. This will definitely be a stop on the Photo Walk.

Nikon D700 70-200mm w/1.7 TCEII

Once again the I found myself at the San Diego Wild Animal Park planning and refining the route I will use for Saturday’s   photowalk that I am leading. Everytime I’m there it’s a litte different. Some animals are out some are not, others are hiding or snoozing. This morning’s catch – burrowing owls..

Nikon D700 70-200mm and 1.7TCE II

This morning I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to work on the route that I will take when I lead a photo walk there on Saturday. The photo walk is park of the World Wide Photo Walk sponsored by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. As I worked out the route and the timing of it (need to get to a certain part of the park at a specified time for a special encounter) I of course had to take a few photos as well.

All are taken with  then Nikon D700, 70-200mm f2.8 & TC –17E

We’ve got, or now rather had, a kestrel nest box. About a month or so ago someone else moved in. Bees. We called someone to come and get them – but he never showed up, so someone who has some bee hives in their orchard said they’d come and get them. We gave the nest box too – it’s probably trashed inside for it’s original purpose.

But – last night when they came to take the bees away I managed to get stung twice. Owwie. So – for all you bee keepers out there – more power to you. Me – I’m sticking with chickens – I can deal with feathers and eggs!

Nikon D700 70-200mm f2.8

…dogs must play — in the sprinkler of course!

Look Halo – this is how you do it, grab for the water.

Really Nikon, I think I can do it without your help!

Nikon D700 24-70mm

Just a typical everyday sight/occurance for me. Time to sort the sheep.

Post and photo from my iPhone.