This and That

Hi, my name is Lita, and I’m a photograph-aholic. I woke up at 5 am today and couldn’t go back to sleep because I was excited and wanted to leave early enough to get to the Wetlands again since early mornings are when the birds are most active.

This time, I saw a couple of people from the Sanibel trip. We were talking about our Flickr accounts, and I was told to post 1 or 2 pics max per day to give our contacts a chance to see them and comment. They’ll only see the last few pics uploaded at a time.

I’m torn though, because I just want to get them all uploaded so I don’t have to keep track of what still needs to be posted. I think I’ll just go on what I feel, and what I feel is to just start uploading. Ultimately, I’m doing this for my personal enjoyment. When I first uploaded pics to the Flickr account, I knew nothing of contacts or the ability to comment. I just knew it was a great place to upload my pics on the net so I could slideshow them at work. So if I get comments great; if not, well that’s ok too.

It was especially fun today because I actually interacted with fellow photographers. There was instant camaraderie among the photographers, and there were a lot. Everyone is courteous and smart … and they so know their wildlife.

When one would spot an unusual bird that came around only a few days out of the year, that person would excitedly point it out so we could all have our “shot” at it. Gotta’ appreciate that.

One accomplished photographer who’s been photographing for 40 years kept trying to talk me into making photography a profession since it’s evident I love it so much. He even encouraged me to become part of National Geographic “while you’re still young.” It made me feel like he had been lacking in his life and that someone should go for it since he couldn’t anymore, being that he was handicapped. He wore a mask over his face to keep germs away since he had a lung transplant. He talked of how so many people who have digital cameras think they’re pictures are good, when they’re not. I thought that was a rather bold statement, and he shared why. When he opened my eyes about some of the reasons, it underscored that I have a lot to learn. I applied one thing he taught me to some of my shots today, and I’m impressed and happy about it.

Pictures are the only way of stopping time – that’s the only control of time we have.

We are so at the mercy of Mother Nature when it comes to wildlife shots. The rule is you’ll never be prepared enough, and that the moment you walk away, you will likely miss a winning shot. Plus, anything can happen within a blink of an eye. God, so so true. I missed so many good shots just for blinking. I saw another Red-Shouldered Hawk today, and *yes* I got a clear picture today (yay!). But I wanted an action shot, so I stood there with my eye through the viewfinder. I got distracted for a moment, and it was at that moment he took off … naturally.

My head is so full of bird names for all the birds I shot only today – and there were a lot. Especially of the really tiny ones, including the Warbler’s … There’s such a wide array of small birds to watch and look for – just like dragonflies … and most tend to overlook both.

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the results from my camera (and for some shots, from PSP editing). One of the Flickr pals was so impressed with the quality of the photos I shared, she had to know what type of camera I had. Although I’d love to claim a Nikon D300, it’s a D80, with a Nikor 70-300 mm VR lens. I got a Nikon over a Canon because I was already familiar with some of the dials from my Nikon point-and-shoot.

I will discuss my goals here, because I have been negligent in doing so:

• I’ve been eating nothing but raw food these last few days.
• I have been exercising and have been especially active the last few days.
• Unless it has to do with photography, I have not been reading ... or writing.
• I have developed great communication skills … with other photographers.

Since I awoke so early and have been out in the sun a great part of the day, I’m extremely tired. Hopefully, most of what I wrote made sense. I guess I’ll know when I revisit this later.

Okey dokey, I’m gonna’ upload more pics now, and will continue doing so throughout the week since I have so many pics to still go through.

G’night, sweet blog.