green

Photos of Forest and Flora of San Antonio Campground Jemez New Mexico True

Photos of Forest and Flora of San Antonio Campground Jemez New Mexico True

Photographing secrets and textures of the forest

Wanting to escape the heat of the city yet again, going to over 7,200 feet in elevation to the forest surrounding the San Antonio Campground in the Jemez Valley area of New Mexico, brief relief was found walking among the tall trees and the moss covered rocks. Naturally I had my camera with me, and wanted to look for secrets and textures of the forest. I recently learned a new term for fallen trees, dead fall. How the tree in the above photo came to rest like that in a dead fall of horizontal symmetry is such a secret I was looking for. Large rocks sat in isolation with moss growing on them, and being mostly in desert areas of New Mexico, these were not often seen textures with life clinging and growing to the rocks. I imagine to the moss and such on these rocks, each rock feels like its own planet in a galaxy of trees.

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Last Green Leaves Before Autumn 2019

Last Green Leaves Before Autumn 2019

Wandering makes photos

If anyone asks me how did I learn photography, I tell them, by walking the streets of Tokyo for hundreds of hours with my very first DSLR camera, a Nikon D80. What is great about living in a city with wide spread public transportation is you can take a train to one area, walk randomly to where your eyes take you, then just hop on another train and get back home without having to worry about returning to where your car is parked. This is how I went about finding one of my more famous photos, at least in Japan, which I titled, “Last Green Leaves Before Autumn.” I submitted it to Metropolis Magazine (the largest weekly English magazine in Japan) and they featured it in the Photo of the Week section. Picking up a copy of the magazine the Friday afternoon it came out and seeing my photo featured inside, I was stunned and even stopped strangers passing by to say (in English), “that’s my photo!” It was a moment of exhileration I have rarely ever felt again.

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Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Macro Photography St. Petersburg Florida

Something small will emerge in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/11 ISO 200 1/40th tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/16th power handheld to frame left-frontBoyd Hill Nature Preserve is less than twenty minutes from my front door, but in nearly three years I have never visited it.  This is mostly due to the fact the park does not allow dogs and I prefer to visit such places with beloved puppy, Kiki.  However, I was feeling restless today and could not concentrate well so thought this was a chance to go out and just make some photographs for my own personal enjoyment wiht just me and my tripod.

Small green leaf in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/16th power handheld to frame left-frontI decided before I stepped out the door to only bring my trusty macro lens, the Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G.  I also decided to work the entire time from on my Induro CT214 tripod.  I highly recommend approaching personal photography projects in this way.  For the first ten minutes walking in the forest I just observed, camera and tripod still in their bags.  I did not want to spend the entire time behind the lens.

Lady bug in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1/60th tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/16th power handheld to frame left-frontI came across some flowering plants which were a busy intersection for a variety of insects.  There was one lady bug tucked away in some leaves perhaps napping.  The challenge with macro photography in the field is that things move.  As you can see I used f/22 and still was working with a crazy shallow DoF due to the properties of the macro lens.  Therefore, even a 1 millimeter sway in the wind by the plant can throw off a carefully calculated manual focus on a subject.  I recommend picking a day with no wind for macro photography.

A small relative of Mothra's perhaps in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1/60th tripod mounted with cable releaseThere was a monarch butterfly proudly fluttering about, as well as a gulf fritillary butterfly, but only the above moth was willing to stay put long enough to be photographed.  

It was a pleasant time in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve.  Admission is $3 and you are not allowed to bring any food or drink on the trails.  Visit their official website for more details.


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St Petersburg Florida Commercial Photography - Suncoast Electric Vehicles Richard Nimphie

Suncoast Electric Vehicles Personal EV electric car - St. Petersburg Florida commercial photographyI was excited this week to get a commercial photography job photographing Suncoast Electric Vehicles and its personal EV car and green van, as well as to meet the dealership owner, Richard Nimphie.  My supercar passion is well known, but for my about town car I would definitely also have an EV car of some kind.  I am surprised with all the people of means that live in my neighborhood, I have only seen one Chevy Volt driving around and no totally EVs at all.  I guess EVs are still pretty rare and hard to get no matter what car budget one has.

Richard Nimphie of Suncoast Electric Vehicles St. Petersburg Florida inside the Personal EVI have unknowingly driven by the Suncoast Electric Dealership on 4th Street North I estimate at least 180 times since it opened earlier this year and never noticed it, and I am a very observant person, especially for cars!  The signage is small and low and the building is surrounded by trees.  I might suggest to them to somehow making the dealership much more visible to passing cars.

Personal EV plug with body graphic leaving no doubt where to put it!Mr. Nimphie and his staff were very friendly answering my questions about their EVs and helping me setup photographs highlighting the features of EV cars, which of course are their lack of a need for gas and electrical outlet for a gas cap.  Thinking now I guess in the future there will be something like sold laptop docking station built into the walls of garages that everyone will just connect to when they return home in order to recharge.  Maybe that will not even be necessary as some sudden, burst recharging technology could be invented along just a few seconds of plugin time to be back on the road.

The GREENVAN EVC1000 at Suncoast Electric Vehicles at 2401 4th Street North St. Petersburg FloridaIf you drive less than 40 miles a day and stay on roads with speed limits 40mph and under, which would be nearly all roads in St. Petersburg, then the Personal EV would make a great way to start the future in your garage today.

SUNCOAST ELECTRIC VEHICLES official site

2401 4th Street North St. Petersburg, FL 33704