Jackdaw

Being on a family vacation in Europe I didn't invest too much time into bird photography. Though I must say that luck was with my when a Jackdaw landed on a post right in front of me when we were visiting Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark. We saw Jackdaws everywhere we went in Europe. They are quite the intelligent and opportunistic bird. I was quite fascinated with them. They are known as the Western Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) and also known as the Eurasian Jackdaw and European Jackdaw. Most people just seemed to call them simply jackdaw. Jackdaws are a corvid passerine bird member of the crow family. They are found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa. They can be quite boisterous and noisy. Particularly when they would gather in large roosts in late evening before going to sleep. May you have a blessed week, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Tamron 18-200 mm lens at 112mm. the camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 200, F 6.3 at 1/80th of a sec. handheld. #TeamCanon

We Saw a Tesla X or They are Getting Closer

While we were in Copenhagen, Denmark on vacation we walked past the Tesla showroom. At first I wanted to keep on walking. But my curiosity got the better of me. We turned around and walked back in. It's fun playing tourist. Also we live in the sticks and rarely see Teslas. The Tesla X was a pretty cool looking vehicle. I really liked the way it looked. I asked the sales person if I could photograph the car. They were like, "Sure click away!" I zoomed my lens back to as wide as it would go and bent down to click and image. Nothing. The batteries to my camera were dead. Luckily I always carry spare batteries. Batteries changed I clicked off an image. I went to make another one and the card on the camera was full! Thankfully I carry spare CF cards. Now back to the car and my thoughts on it. I really loved the clean looks and styling. There was plenty of room for passengers and a nicely laid out interior. I wasn't sold on the gull wing doors for parking lots.It looks like you can't open the doors in narrow spaces. The big question is, "Does the new Tesla had enough range for me to drive to San Francisco Airport and back without being recharged?" I found out that it has a range of 237-289 miles. I live 163 miles from the airport so a round trip is 326 miles. Not good enough yet but they are getting closer! Thanks for the look at your car Tesla. God's blessings on everyone's weekends, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Tamron 18-200mm lens at 18mm. Handheld, ISO 200 AV mode, 1/100th of a sec at F 6.3.#TeamCanon, #TakenWithMyTamron

Gritty City

First off Copenhagen, Denmark is a beautiful city with its harbor, parks and beautiful architecture. One night I decided to photograph a more gritty side of the city by photographing one of the rail yards. I love doing night photography! In processing the image this morning I used a bleaching filter to help emphasize the gritty feel. Thank God it's Friday. I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend., chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII camera with a Tamron 18-200mm lens at 38mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 100, F 8.0 for 30 Sec. The camera was supported with a MeFoto A1350 RoadTrip tripod. I really like this tripod because it fits perfectly in my carryon for travel. #TeamCanon, #takenwithmytamron

Bicycles!

In my travels the most bike friendly I've yet to visit has to be Copenhagen, Denmark. They have have bike paths and lanes everywhere. The image below is in the central part of the city near the indoor/outdoor market. I sometimes forget where I've parked my car at the mall. How hard would it be for me to find my bicycle? I love the chaos of this image. I used a high f stop to get the depth of field I needed to get as many of the bikes in focus as possible. It was created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Tamron 18-200mm lens at 63 mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 200, F 18.0 at 1/40th of a sec. God's blessings upon your week, chris

Quick Visit to the Kastellet

Landing early in the afternoon in Copenhagen Lenore and I went for a quick walk to the Kastellet a couple of blocks from our hotel. The Kastellet is a star shaped earthen walled fortress surrounded by a moat. The walls were constructed in the form of a star shaped pentagram. There are walking trails all around the top of the fortress walls. The military still uses it as base which strangely enough is open to the public with the limitation that most of the interior of the buildings are off limits. We were surprised to see that there was a concert being performed on the parade ground by a drum and fife corp. We sat and watched them for close to an hour. Their finale was amazing and totally unexpected as it was a techno fusion number that was distinctly non military. We had a great time and it was a nice way to decompress from being stuck in a plane for ten hours. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D mkII. #TeamCanon

Just a Little Lack of Sleep or Downtown Gdansk, Poland

We got back from a trip to Europe the day before yesterday. We had little to no sleep for over 30 hours on the return trip home. Traveling home was pretty tiring. On the train and the plane I caught snatches of sleep here and there but I was always awoken by someone bumping me or the airline crew announcing something on the intercom. Overall we had a really nice trip with only a few small accidents. Lenore crashed her bike in Poland with minor scratches. She is quite athletic and knows how to fall gracefully! On the last day in the airport a lady tripped me with her bag and I slammed down pretty hard on the thin carpet with concrete underneath. My right knee caught the brunt of it and it is pretty swollen and sore. Trip wise we visited, Copenhagen Denmark, Växjö Sweden, Gdansk Poland and Torrevieja Spain. We spent close to a week in each spot. My favorite place had to be Gdansk, Poland on the Baltic Sea. I really loved the mix of forests, beaches and the old historic city. This morning I spent some time uploading images to my computer. This image from downtown Gdansk really caught my eye. I really like the leading lines and the composition. There will be more to follow in the coming weeks.

This image was created with a handheld and braced Canon 7D mkII camera and a Tamron 18-200mm lens.The settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F11.0 @ .6sec. #TeamCanon, #takenwithmytamron