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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Ballet in the Sky

Yeah ... I'm relaxing today.  Taking lots of photos.  Not doing much of anything. 

Kirk called me earlier.  He was headed out to go pick Janie up in Oregon.  Said the sheep were out and were all hanging out by the haystack and asked if I would come round them up.  So Echo and I headed over there.  I bought my camera because I figured I'd drive by the lake and see if I could find any hawks to take photos of. 

Two houses down the road.


As I approach the Naf's, I can see things don't look right.


There shouldn't be sheep on the left side of the hangar beyond that fence line.

The guy in front of me probably thought I was nuts -- taking photos while I was driving down the road.

Yep, sure makes for a pretty (although out of focus) photo when there's no fences involved, eh?

Busted!  (Quality of these photos suck because I was still bouncing around in the truck through the moon surface that the Naf's driveway is.)

And you're busted too!

I really wanted a photo of some nice weeds, and look at the awesome bokeh I got!  I am such a good photographer, aren't I?  I really should raise the price of my lessons.

On a more serious note, I love this photo.  There was a day when I never thought I would be able to do this with Echo, and I just love everything she has turned into.  Grace, beauty, maturity, and style all wrapped in one.  She was being very patient with this little lamb while keeping her eye on the entire flock behind me.  I am bummed the photo is slightly out of focus.  I might blow it up anyway.

We gathered the sheep from the other side of the hangar, joined them up with the ones on the haystack, and are now bringing them up the driveway to put them in through the large gate instead of trying to put everyone back in through the manger.

They need to be behind the fence on the right side.

I let her leave behind that one injured ewe.  I'll take her around the other, shorter way.

So precious...

I messed with the lighting on this photo a little bit so I could pull the detail out.


Twins.

Butt Bokeh.

More Butt Bokeh.  Quite talented, aren't I?





Bored yet?

You know those really cool action shots people get where ... as the dog is running away across the grass, like chasing a ball or a frisbee or something  ... the photographer focuses on their back foot and they get a really cute shot of nice pink paw pads?  Yeah?  Well, ummm ...it doesn't work quite the same way with working stock.

Bokeh!

You, too, can be this talented ... for a small fee.

Ok ... on to the ballet.  Remember I said it's windy today?  Well, it's gorgeous out (despite what I said earlier).  The sun is shining, temperature is about 50, and the wind is blowing at a bit better than a "breeze."  The hawks are loving it.  They jump up from a tree branch, just stick their wings out, and start dancing.  It is so awesome!  They're everywhere.  Here are various photos I took on my way back from the Naf's via a short stop in Marsing for soda.  Colleen (or whoever), please feel free to identify these.  I'll number them.  The first one is at the beginning of this post.  (And it's the photos that are numbered, not the birds.  There is more than one photo of the same bird in most cases.)

#2


#3

#4

#5 (obviously, 3, 4 and 5 are the same bird ... looks like he's missing a few feathers on his left paw.)

#6

#7

#9

#10 (different set)

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

I wish I had a big honkin' lens for this camera.  Oh to be independently wealthy ...

More later,
J

3 comments:

  1. Looks like you have a couple of red-tailed hawks...with paws :) Echo looks real good. Working so calm and easy even in close spaces.

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