Paterson Photography Photo Shoots

Winter Morning

February 16, 2019February 16, 2019 by Mike

“Morning. It snowed………. AGAIN”!!!

Each morning I always look out to see who is at our feeders. Yes FEEDERS plural, more than I want to admit to. Lately the bird mix has changed big time. Not just for the morning birds but for the entire day. Our usual mix for years has been the regulars: Sparrow, House Finch, Blue Jay & Flicker and the less regular: Downy Woodpecker, Junko, Nut Hatch & Chickadee. Lately the Sparrows have must have found a better place to go as we have few Sparrows coming to visit since this cold snap.

The one bird that is taking advantage of the feeders is the Junko. There are about 20 of them that have moved in and taken over. They are the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. When the Blue Jays are sitting in the trees screaming to have their food cleared of snow the Junkos are happily eating away. When a Flicker swoops in to claim the peanut/sunflower tray they move to another feeder making the best of the situation.

Early bird gets the feeder

This guy was the first one this morning. Digging through the snow to find his breakfast while the other feeders were still abandoned. He flew away once when I walked past the window but not more than 5 feet from the feeder and as soon as I walked away he was back. He had the look on his face that said he was not impressed with the snow but was fine with having the feeders to himself.

If it was not so cold I would put fresh water in the bird baths for them today. But with it being so cold by the time I add the water and get back to the house it is already freezing over. Oh well, they have lots of snow to eat for moisture and next week it is suppose to warm up so I will make sure they have water once the weather gets closer to freezing.

The good part of all the feeders is that I can take pictures without leaving the warm house. Shooting through the window may not give the best images but when it is -20C outside, snowing and blowing I don’t mind the windows. Well time to see who is outside now and take a few more pictures.

Cold Day Project

February 15, 2019February 12, 2019 by Mike

Cleaning the house and found some money that I thought I had lost. Seeing it was so cold outside I figured that a shoot inside was in order. I have been playing with shallow depth of field lately but even with that if I put the bills on the floor or table the background was in focus as the bills are so thin. I did not want to damage the bills with tape, glue or a clip but I did want to have the bill in focus and a out of focus background. So I suspended the bills away from a background to throw the background out of focus by holding them in my fingers.

With cold weather you look for something to do inside!

Groundhog day!

February 15, 2019February 2, 2019 by Mike

So I tried doing a test for groundhog day and that did not work. I tried convincing my Gopher and Marmot subjects to come out for a picture this morning and they turned me down. So to make the prediction for southern Alberta I went outside to see if I could see my shadow. The result is that I did not see my shadow! I did get snowed on and I did get frost bite, but no shadow.

So seeing that I could not get a picture of anything close to a groundhog on this cold snowy morning here are a couple pictures from past years when it was warmer.

This gopher had built it’s home in a huge pile of dirt. One of the exits was about 8′ off the ground giving it a view that the other gophers envied.

Not official groundhog day prediction — Look no shadow.