Exploring the wonders of creation through a 50mm lens...and other lenses too.

The 50mm lens is great at many things, but wildlife photography is not one of them*. Still, there can be times when it can capture a nice shot if you’ve got your eyes open and your camera handy. The other day we were in my backyard and this little fellow was scampering across the fence, just a few feet from my camera. I think he was trying to make a clean getaway with a berry from one of our bushes, but looks like I caught him in the act.

 *unless you happen to be in a zoo, where you can get right up close and personal with said wildlife because they’re stuck in a cage. Or if your wildlife consists of something like a turtle that can’t exactly scamper off quickly when you approach. But if you’re going on a safari, better leave that 50mm lens at home.

Each year in February we chop these giant tufts of grass in our yard down after they turn brown, and each year we get the distinct irrational impression that they’re gone for good. I received confirmation this week that we were, yet again, pleasantly mistaken.

 

A pair of boots outside the Conoco Philips Alumni Center on the Oklahoma State University campus. I  wish I could have adjusted my perspective a bit and got the bricks on the right to be uniformly horizontal, but such is life. I may go back and re-shoot it sometime, but for now I’m relatively satisfied.

A 30-second exposure of a crepe myrtle in our back yard, ISO 100.  I was experimenting with different long exposures this morning, and in the end I’m not particularly happy with how this turned out since the long exposure adds virtually nothing to the photograph. Might as well have just taken it in regular daylight. Still, it was fun to try out a few things and play with my new tripod ball head a bit too.

A mockingbird resting outside the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University.

 

Skyline in Kansas.