Continuing with my Thursday blog theme of trying out the Fuji XT-1, I took these flowers with the same lens (23mm). I didn’t really think to use a wide angle lens on flowers but I tried it and was quite pleased with the results. I’ve only ever worked with one camera at a time, a DSLR but with a Fuji in my future that’s going to change!
I’m thinking of buying a walkaround camera for street photography and landscapes. I want something lightweight and relatively easy to use and borrowed my spouse’s Fuji XT-1 with 23mm lens. We headed towards a commercial street full of small shops and restaurants. Waiting for the light to change I looked up and saw this spectacular example of wall art.
The camera is tempting – it’s lightweight, handles well and the viewfinder is terrific with excellent magnification. And with interesting subjects for the taking a good pairing.
This female merganser stood out among the other ducks on the lake. She seemed to be the lone merganser swimming alongside the mallards and wood ducks. She didn’t display her crest and with no mate nearby I thought she looked like a young one. Hooded Mergansers are small ducks and are divers not dabblers. Although we didn’t see her catch anything while we watched her, she certainly was trying.
These two don’t have much in common except for their challenging looks. They see me and hold their ground. The cardinal was at quite a distance so I had to crop the photo more than I like but with that expression and amazing crest I just had to feature him.
We missed all the hatchlings this year but still see some young birds once in a while. We came across this scene recently. The adults were off to the side and the goslings were snuggled together, some asleep, a few looking dozy. We took a few photos and let them settle down.
These photos were taken in early spring. You can still see a few snow patches on the ground in the first one. An empty playground on the weekend, always feels a bit off, eerily quiet. Closer to the market district I found a series of these painted cubes in the centre median of a roadway. They were an interesting counterpoint to the old buildings surrounding them.
In the first photo, the play of light and angle of the flower made me take notice. The hedge bindweed, a member of the morning glory family, doesn’t usually catch my eye. The bright yellow salsify is one of my favourites though and I thought the tall reed growing beside it was as perfect a natural arrangement as one could get.
