Watersmeet Woods

This morning I felt like photographing a forest I hadn't been to before, 

and so I tried biking far away westward but I was sick so while biking

 down Winnetka Avenue I decided to stop at an alternative trail into

 Watersmeet Woods, which I think is essentially the Northfield 

extension of Erickson Woods. It rained earlier so there was a mild fog 

and and the dirt path turned into mud and there were spiders 

everywhere and the small streams branching throughout the 

woods had flooded a bit (which is probably why I found some crayfish

 in the middle of the forest).

The hike was very uncomfortable because of the mud path and 

wooden bridges that were made out of logs which sunk into the 

mud when I stepped onto them. The light was pretty awful for

 taking pictures, but I managed to get some interesting shots. I'm sure

 the woods are fine when it hasn't rained; there was a nice 

isolated camp site near the end of the trail. 

Northfield

Taken in March 2012

White Tailed Deer eating

I've started biking again to take advantage of the nice weather,

 and I've fallen into the habit of usually taking some sort of fancy camera

 gear to play with. A few days ago I went around the Lagoon with a

 telephoto lens and happened upon a deer which at first ignored me

 and continued on with it's daily routine.  

It was sunset, and the deer was in front of grass which compliments

 its color, and I was able to keep the lens steady enough so that in the

 photo you can see the detail of the fur. And the deer was doing 

something unusual. Awesome shot.

Glencoe

Taken in March 2012

Water over Pebbles on Lake Michigan 2

I woke up extra early on Sunday so that I could try out my new camera

 equipment on Lake Michigan at sunrise. It was cloudy so I wasn't able

 to capture any magnificent landscapes, and so I decided to twist off the wide

 angle lens and put on a macro filter to see how macro photography looked

 with the colorful pebbles along the shore of Tower Beach.

The short depth of field and the closer perspective certainly work well

 with the minuscule size of the pebbles, and having slower (top) and 

faster (bottom) shutter speeds produce some interesting effects with the water.

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Blue Bells

I recently read something on color theory about a contrasting

 subject and background and when to use bright colors, and 

although I meant to apply that to glass art I decided to try it

 out with the blue bells yesterday (which were in my 

backyard and along Willow Road). 

I really like the sense of isolation and a sort of warping of perspective

 that macro photography can give, specifically I really like how 

these two photos turned out because of how the leaves direct the 

viewer's attention around the flowers and the light source makes 

the photos seem as though they're their own little world. 

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Blue Bells in Bell Woods

Blue bells are small brightly colored flowers which are pretty

 much synonymous with spring, and they've started blooming ever

 since a week ago when the weather began warming up. I biked

 around Winnetka looking for wild flowers to try out macro

 photography and passed by Bell Woods; a small plot of forest on 

Tower Road that's full of blue bells. 

I got a bunch of camera equipment for my birthday on Tuesday, 

which included several different macro lens extensions. 

 I used two extensions that were screwed onto my standard 

18-55mm lens which allowed me to take closer than usual pictures

 of the flowers: a "super macro lens" and a 4x macro magnifier. After trying 

out macro photography, I have to say that it's pretty fun and the

 results look great (although a bit blurry at times and if used 

with a wide angle can create a black barrel around the photo).

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Red-Winged Blackbird

Since it was the first day of spring I decided to take a tour of the 

new fauna and wildlife. Red-winged blackbirds are everywhere

 and goldeneyes-- the winter ducks-- are nowhere to be seen, 

which is pretty surprising seeing as a week ago there would 

be a few goldeneyes floating around at every part of the Lagoon

 and no trace of any blackbirds. Spring came pretty abruptly.

I've had past experiences of fleeing from attacking red-winged

 blackbirds, but they're not too aggressive as long as you keep a distance.

Glencoe

Taken in March 2012

A Singing Cardinal

The weather is warming up, and thus birds are out and about.

 I took my telephoto lens onto the roof of our house to see if I could 

get any shots of birds hanging out in the canopy.

I'm really satisfied with the colors of these photos. It was almost

 sunset so the cardinal's feathers were brightened a bit.

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Lake Michigan at Sunset

When I went to Tower Beach at sunset yesterday, I took a lot of 
photos of the water-- which had almost begun to glow.

Sunset can make a landscape look almost like a painting.

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Water over Pebbles on Lake Michigan

I usually embark on my weekend nature photography 

expeditions at the hour in between sunset and dusk (4-5pm):

 known to photographers as "the golden hour" because the 

orange light of the sunset shines a golden hue onto everything. 

Instead of biking to the Skokie Lagoons, which is where I

 usually go, I decided to go to Tower Beach and see what the Lake

 would look like.

The sunset made the water glow, and with the elements permitting

 I was able to get close to the water and take some close-ups of the

 water rolling over the pebbles. I've always found these nature

 action shots to be a challenge to get, although the results are 

almost always interesting. It's difficult to find a subject and compose

 the frame when what you're photographing is so unpredictable. Still,

 the low perspective and stagnate water of the photos were worth 

getting my jeans wet from sitting in the sand.

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

The Moon during a Solar Storm

According to somebody on facebook, there was supposed to be an 

aurora borealis last night. I researched it, and supposedly because of

 solar flare caused by solar storms there should've be some minor light 

show. Too impatient for then, I went to a local field and tried 

to see if I could get a shot of any kind of astronomical activity. Since 

I live near Chicago, the city lights blot out anything beyond planes 

and stars and the moon, and so I gave up and began photographing

 the moon, which was unusually large and bright.

This was my first time photographing anything astronomical. At first 

I used a 30 second shutter speed with f/45 on my telephoto lens. The

 bottom photo is the result. I then figured out that when photographing

 the moon, you're photographing a light source, and so I switched

 to f/5.6 and 1/500 shutter speed and I was able to get a detailed picture

 of the moon. You can even see a face on it.

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Pine Trees in Crow Island Woods 3

The only trees not to lose their leaves during the winter are pine trees. 

In Winnetka they're pretty much everywhere. 

I tried having a low/wide angled perspective of the tree to give the

 photo some sort of a unique viewpoint; to make the trees look separate

 and isolated from anything else and yet still have the feel of 

walking in a forest and looking up.

Winnetka

Taken in February 2012

Prairie in the Botanic Gardens

I recently biked to the Botanic Gardens and visited a small 

peninsula where a prairie restoration site is located. There weren't 

any plants, but during autumn the prairie is full of life and robust 

color with blooming flowers, berries, honeybees, and a variety of small

 birds. It's a very peaceful scene that looks almost exotic during 

sunset as the orange light brings out all the colors in the botany.

I took these photos around the time when I got my 50mm lens.

 I wanted to see what sort of results shooting at f/1.8 could give and 

so I biked to the Botanic Gardens to practice photographing 

flowers and the prairie. 

Glencoe

Taken in October 2011

Pine Trees in Crow Island Woods 2

Another shot of a branch from a pine tree in Crow Island Park.

I think the monochrome color makes it look a bit like tinsel. The wide

 aperture and he shadows the needles create make it look almost metallic.

Winnetka

Taken in February 2012

Pine Trees in Crow Island Woods

I went to the Crow Island Woods a week 

ago to photograph tree branches with snow on them,

 and ended up taking a bunch of shots of pine needles.

Pine needles are great for b&w photography

 because of of the shadows they produce.

Winnetka

Taken in February 2012