Old Home captured by Z 8 / Z24-120
While it didn’t have a rental sign in the window, that’s where my imagination went. That angry cloud overheard set the tone for the story going through my head. I put the Z 8 in Dark Tone Monochrome, set the lens to 24mm and arranged the elements moving my feet to tell the story. The rest meant to set your mind down the same path of basically saying, you might check in …
Dexter Church captured by Z 8 / Z26f2.8
This gorgeous church, wow! Heading down Hwy 15 it was glowing causing me to instantly hit the brakes and park. Because of the God skrim, the whites weren’t blown out and that little glow in the cloud behind the steeple, all I had to do was put the Z 8 in Dark Tone and go click. This was my first time to shoot with the Z26f2.8 which did a marvelous job with the straight lines. I just love this shot and so happy in seeing the light!
Totem Pole captured by Z 8 / Z24-120
On the back loop of the Monument Valley, the Totem has been a special assignment I gave myself the first time I saw it. I have photographed it from every angle except on top, I’ll leave that to Clint. While I treasure all those views, they weren’t what I had in mind. Totem is Totem to me not because of the detail of all the rock but rather, the simple outline as you see here. If you’ve enjoyed Navajo artwork, you know how they incorporate the simple yet gorgeous sky. It’s a palette of colors without anything other than the dust in the air and the sun. That simplicity had long eluded my camera all these years until this trip. Then, there it was and to be honest, I was dumbstruck, in awe to the point I almost did what I typically do, just stare! The earth was spinning, the light was changing fast with the bald skies. I had to walk to get the shot I desired, the one you see, all in a daze. Then the moment came and the haze still seemed to fog my mind. Luckily I went on autopilot, the Z 8 doing its job so darn well when I went click. And with that click in the camera, a calm came over me and I put the camera down. For the next minutes, I just soaked it up. The print is not made, the wall space cleared, and after a long-awaited wait, the moment arrived.
Evening Grosbeak captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC
Their bright yellows are not so bright, their song not as frequent and they spend time feeding the kids, yeppers, spring has faded to fall. We’ve been very fortunate to observe Evening Grosbeaks for a few decades being our forecasters of the season. They returned to The Ranch a while back in huge flocks but now just a couple remain. They greet us in the morning as we make the rounds filling feeders, their fledglings in tow begging. I’m sure it’s just my mind, but the adults seem to move a little slower right now and there’s no doubt they are not as brilliant, but we still love them. Most likely within a week they will be gone completely, the trees vacant of their calls. On the bright side, we know they will be back but for now, they are southbound.
Monument Valley Time Lapse captured by Z 9 / Z24-70f2.8
The Z 9 / Z24-70f2.8 never left the tripod and in fact, wasn’t off the entire time except for a few seconds while I was at Monument Valley last week. It was doing just one thing, making time-lapse of the view from our balcony 24/7. The Z 9 ran for five days busily taking 1 photo every ten seconds using my basic settings for Time Lapse at ISO1600, f2.8, Aperture Priority. The Z 9 is plugged into the AC via the EP-6a adapter. Other than stopping the Time Lapse every so often to “save” a few hours at a time and to wipe the rain off the front filter, the Z 9 just kept running capturing time passing in a timeless landscape.
4×4 Monument Valley captured by Z 8 / Z24-120
In case you can’t see it, I zoomed in on it in the top photo.
4×4 Monument Valley captured by Z 8 / Z24-120