August 17, 2023 - Common loon on a still Pawtuckaway Lake, Nottingham, New Hampshire, USA.
[Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450mm; f5.6, 450mm, 1/3200s, ISO 25600 - Enhanced noise reduction in Adobe Lightroom]
After being harassed by several ravens, a Cooper's hawk goes on the offensive. Pawtuckaway Lake, Nottingham, New Hampshire, USA
[Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450 mm; f5.6, 450mm, 1/2500s, ISO 1600]
Thanks! It was just one shot (out of MANY I took that afternoon) where the finch and the sunflower were in the same focal plane relative to the camera. So even though it was f5.6, both were in focus. Lately I've been shooting in TAv mode on my Pentax K-1 - fixing the shutter speed and aperture, letting the ISO vary. Modern digital cameras already have pretty low noise at ISO's I used to think of as "high" on film. (I'm old enough to have "pushed" ISO 1000 film a couple additional stops in the darkroom.) Lightroom's new Noise Reduction function is another game changer.
Two pair of goldfinches spent the afternoon eating sunflower and cosmos seeds in our front yard today.
[Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450 mm; f5.6, 410 mm, 1/3200, ISO 3200, Adobe Lightroom noise reduction]
Sunlight streaming through the lens of an old lighthouse lamp at the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts USA
!sunlight creating rainbows within an old lighthouse lamp and lens
This red-tailed hawk in our neighbor's tree was being harassed by a herring gull and finally vacated the tree. Melrose, Massachusetts, USA Photo is a compilation of 12 individual shots assembled in Photoshop.
[Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450 mm; settings vary]
Red-winged blackbird on an iron fence enjoying a lovely sunset across Ell Pond, Melrose, Massachusetts, USA
[Pentax K-3, PENTAX-DA 55-300mm; ƒ/7.1, 300.0 mm, 1/1000, ISO 1600]
Wow! I just saw one of these for the first time in our local market today. My first thought was somewhere between, "that's something Fed Flintstone would eat!" and "that's too much!". I fell better seeing it sliced and divided up... A meal for 4?
Great preparation, including the roasted asparagus!
Well I WAS going for pretentious, but I agree "recomposée" may work better... but it doesn't SOUND better, I love the sound of "amélioré" (a lovely French word that even my grating Boston accent can't mess up...too badly...)
All true! - I can't/won't defend myself! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
But by way of further explanation, the faux French and intentional pretentiousness was in the context of yet another boring and unimaginative office party centered around bad take-out Chinese food and pizza. Walking around cubicle-land wearing a chef's jacket, wielding a blowtorch and formally serving these - whatever they should be called - was just part of the fun. 🙂
I was attempting to develop a variation on poutine that I'm calling "Poutine Amélioré".
Here they are out-of-the-oven, baked and cheesed. I packed them in Tupperware and brought them to the office party the next day, where I will finished them off:
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cut gelatinized chicken reduction into small cubes and placed one in each potato cube.
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fired up a blow torch (OK, a small culinary blow torch, but a blow torch nonetheless) and melted the reduction while warming the potato/cheese.
Served.
July 5, 2023 - Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, Topsfield, Massachusetts, USA
[Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450 mm; f/6.3, 450 mm, 1/2500, ISO 2500]
A window in the Shaker House at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts, USA. Fruitlands was a short-lived Utopian Community founded by Louisa May Alcott's father and she lived there for about 6 months. The Shaker House was later moved there from a nearby community, as part of a preservation project. This house was used in the filming of the 2019 version of "Little Women."
Looking South towards Boston, here's a composite of several photos with lightning from last night's storm. I think I missed the better/earlier weather cell that blew through.
For our upcoming high school graduations, my mother took my brother and I on a Caribbean cruise in February 1978. This was early in the morning as the ship was arriving in port - I remember it being Port au Prince? The photo was taken with a cheap Kodak camera but I was really happy with the way it came out. I consider this my first "good" photograph.
Skating rink at the Frog Pond on Boston Common, Boston, Massachusetts
[Google Pixel 6; f/1.9. 6.8 mm, 1/25, ISO 608]
July 12, 2023 - female Ruby-throated hummingbird in our garden, visiting the crocosmia.
[Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450mm; f/6.3, 450mm, 1/4000, ISO 12,800; enhanced noise reduction in Lightroom]
July 14, 2023 - mid-day outing to Revere Beach (Revere, Massachusetts) for a stroll and lunch at Bianchi's. - Piping plover mom and chicks [Pentax K-1, Pentax-D FA 150-450 mm; f/6.3, 450 mm, 1/600, ISO 500]
Morning view of lower Washington Street, including the Paramount Theater, in Boston, Massachusetts. Overnight rain and melting snow make for wet, slippery sidewalks and street. [Google Pixel 6; f/1.9, 6.8 mm, 1/898, ISO 38]