4 posts tagged “outdoors”
This evening we went to Precious Princess's graduation-from-preschool picnic. As usual, it was held at Hudson Mills Metropark, about 45 minutes or so out of town.
About 50 yards from the picnic pavilion was a nice playstructure area, and after eating, my kids hightailed it over there and proceeded to get dirty. (That's what they do; I'm used to it.) I wandered over to keep half an eye on them, and after a bit I noticed that about 50 yards further still, there were some gigantormous birds pecking away near the edge of a meadow. Then I noticed what looked like maybe a chicken scampering along near their feet.
And then I realized they were a pair of sandhill cranes, with a baby! They must have had their nest nearby. I had never seen a baby one before, so I whipped out my camera and used the zoom feature to get a closer look.
Right about then I could hear my father's voice in my head, saying, "Where's your monopod?" But, since I don't have one, I just had to make do with holding the camera as steadily as I could by hand. That was a challenge, believe me, with the zoom feature.
But anyway, here are my favorite shots of the sandhill crane family.
Just got back from two weeks at the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Aaahhh...
Well, we actually arrived home on on Monday, but we've been busy since then. Unpacking, first day of first grade, unpacking, first day of preschool, unpacking... Still have a lot to unpack.
Finally got my pictures downloaded from my camera -- all 579 of them -- no, I'm not kidding. Gotta love digital!! Just snap away with wild abandon; I always do.
Herewith, my favorite beach shots:
Okay, now I grant you, these last two could have been better executed. But, considering that I didn't have a tripod (!), nor have I yet figured out how to do the manual-focus capability on my new camera, all in all I'm pretty happy with them. Anyway, for me, it just serves as a memory jogger for the real thing.
Kid pix to follow, over the next few days.
But my camera didn't do it justice. The sparkles don't dance, and glow white-bright, and then glance off into a million-colored prismatic splendor.
Clearly, I need a tripod. But I'm not sure any camera really could capture the glory.
