Lens and Life

Northern Cardinal

2012-02-01T16:53:00.003-05:00

Morning at Huntley Meadows

2012-01-31T16:47:00.001-05:00

Black-capped Chickadee

2012-01-30T16:46:00.002-05:00

Half Branches

2012-01-29T21:23:00.001-05:00

Early Snow at Huntley Meadows

2012-01-12T22:07:00.000-05:00

Temporary, the Dragon

2011-12-18T21:02:00.000-05:00

Model: Nikon P7000

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/30 sec.

ISO: 400

Exposure bias: 0 step

Daytime Hunt at Sully Woodlands

2011-12-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

Purify with Fire

2011-12-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Room before:

Room after:

But they that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart...

Nighttime Deer Management Hunt

2011-12-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

Frozen Mosquito

2011-11-05T09:31:00.003-04:00

This may be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in nature that is covered in water droplets.

Frost had formed on this mosquito the morning before, as it had landed on nearly-freezing, standing water. The next morning, I went back looking for it and realized that water droplets were now forming on the dying insect.

Scenes from Guatemala - Part VI

2011-11-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

Scenes from Guatemala - Part V

2011-11-03T22:07:00.000-04:00

Scenes from Guatemala - Part IV

2011-11-02T19:27:00.000-04:00

Scenes from Guatemala - Part III

2011-11-01T18:00:00.003-04:00

Scenes from Guatemala - Part II

2011-10-31T18:28:00.000-04:00

Scenes from Guatemala - Part I

2011-10-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

Fungi Organized Neatly

2011-09-28T21:27:00.000-04:00

Chinese Mantis

2011-09-02T20:37:00.000-04:00

Sibine stimulea

2011-08-27T14:57:00.000-04:00

I found this Sibine stimulea on one of the mosquito traps I was picking up at work last week. It is commonly referred to as a saddleback caterpillar.

After bagging it, I brought it back to the office where I was told not to touch it because it could secrete a stinging venom.

Despite its potential, minimal harm, the caterpillar showed up well in the photos due to its bright and saturated natural colors.

Oh! The Lengths! IV

2011-08-12T19:27:00.000-04:00

It was in February of 2009 that I posted on Lens and Life about how much I wanted to photograph a hawk.

Fast-forward nearly two and a half years later and I'm still pulling over on highways when I see a hawk. A couple weeks ago, however, there was no need to pull over. I was doing a tick route near Clifton, (one of the counties tick sites), when we noticed a hawk laying low on the grass. It was a young hawk who had just hunted his meal.

I slowly walked up to the hawk to take the photos, and the hawk stood its ground. (Raw footage can be seen here). It was an awesome experience, but when I walked away I realized my hands had been shaking the entire time. I kept thinking about all these horror stories I've heard of hawks attacking people.

Meanwhile, Sonya did an absolutely wonderful job of photo-documenting the entire event. Below are some of the photos she provided of the incident.

After we had finished setting up the tick traps, Sonya and I returned to the site where the hawk was and decided to shoot a little improv, mini-documentary. Below is the video.

It was definitely a memorable experience and one of the highlights of my summer. Special thanks to Sonya for shooting and providing these awesome photos and the video!

Face-to-Face with the Arrowhead Spider

2011-08-11T20:13:00.000-04:00

These photos were captured with Nikkor's 85mm micro lens at approximately 8"-10" shutter speeds.

Special thanks to Matt Sese for bring this Verrucosa arenata back from the traps. It made for an interesting photo subject.

Busy Street in NYC

2011-07-31T20:29:00.000-04:00

Out With the Old

2011-07-23T11:48:00.002-04:00

Independence Day in DC

2011-07-04T23:59:00.004-04:00

Happy Fourth of July, everybody!

Southern Leopard Frog

2011-07-03T20:15:00.000-04:00

I found this frog late last week as I was setting tick traps in Huntley Meadows. Highlight of my day! (Well, either this frog, or the fast snake I'd run into in the morning. I'll spare you readers the snake video.)

Witness the Mobbing

2011-06-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

Mob: verb / mäb /
(of a group of birds or mammals) Surround and attack (a predator or other source of threat) in order to drive it off.

Below are photos of a Northern Mockingbird mobbing a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Eventually the hawk fled.

Free Flight in the City

2011-06-14T06:02:00.001-04:00

Canada Goose Taking Off

2011-06-13T06:15:00.001-04:00

Avian Variety

2011-06-12T09:31:00.001-04:00

Up to No Good

2011-06-11T09:31:00.000-04:00

Update

2011-05-13T13:28:00.001-04:00

Several things have been going on in the past few months that I have not posted yet. So we’ll begin in chronological order:

· Since last summer, I had been working on a photo book for the biology department at Marymount University. After several months it has been completed and the books have been ordered in large and medium sizes. The book features over 30 full-color pages of my photography from the study abroad trip last summer and has been presented to the Center for Global Education at Marymount. You can click the photo below to see a preview of the book.

· Throughout my four years in college I was often asked why I was studying biology and not photography or graphic design. It wasn’t until my last semester during senior year that I decided to take an independent graphic design course. My professor saw some of my photography and decided he wanted to display it in the school’s art gallery. My NatGeo, orange photo was displayed as well as the featured photo from “Project Shattered Glasses”.

· In an effort to create an “online business card,” I have set up a page that features my other web pages. It’s simple and there is nothing to click on, except links that lead to my other pages.

· And last, but certainly not least, is the biggest project I have been working on since January. After four months of picture-taking and science research, I have completed “Bio Lab Stills.” There were two purposes to the beginning of this site. One was to produce photographically supported resources for biology labs, and the second was for me to combine photography and biology in a more scientific approach. The result, so far, is this website which addresses high school-level experiments. I have also provided downloadable, instructional PDFs on how to recreate the science experiments along with tips for better results written into the procedures. Bio Lab Stills is now available to the public. Click and take a look!

Thanks for keeping up with Lens & Life!

Fiery Lake

2011-04-25T11:15:00.000-04:00

Hello, Sunrise

2011-04-20T07:11:00.001-04:00

Spring Pollination

2011-04-06T13:03:00.000-04:00

MLB - Today is Opening Day!

2011-03-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

Below is a panoramic photo of Nationals Park and the Curly W Clock. Here's to another season of baseball!

After the Storm

2011-03-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/320 sec.

ISO: 400

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 300 mm

Neon Tree Dragon (Japalura splendida)

2011-02-16T20:15:00.000-05:00

Introducing Lens and Belize

2011-01-06T11:45:00.005-05:00

Dear followers,

2010 was filled with lots of unexpected surprises for my photography. I earned two National Geographic recognitions, won the International Study Abroad photo contest, photographed science procedures in my advanced research lab, was featured in my school magazine, was invited to guest speak in a photography class, presented for DISCOVER... it's a long list.

But perhaps the biggest event of them all was being able to travel to Belize on a grant I received for my photography. Because of this site's format I have gone ahead and created a stand-alone page to feature only photos I took in Belize during the few weeks I was there.

"Lens and Belize" launched just a few days ago. It contains most of my best photography from the trip, and includes photos which were never featured here on L&L.

Please enjoy the photos and Happy 2011 to all.

-Pablo Quinonez

________________________________________

Plant Cells and Chloroplasts: Another National Geographic Photo

2010-12-01T15:06:00.002-05:00

Last night another one of my photos was selected into National Geographic's website. This happens almost exactly 9 months after my "Citric Plunge" photo was featured in National Geographic's website as well.

This photo of plant cells was taken through a microscope in Dr Kreutzer's advanced research lab class last semester. It also was featured on my presentation poster that was funded by DISCOVER in April.

You can go to National Geographic's Daily Dozen site and select "December - Week 1" from the drop-down menu. If you use the arrows to navigate all the way to the right, it will be the last one that appears.

(If you'd like to see my first National Geographic photo, visit the Daily Dozen site and select March - Week 1 to find it.)

To vote for the plant cell photo, you can vote here and rate the photos there as well. If you'd vote for my photo I'd appreciate it very much.

Thanks so much! And special thanks to my biology professors Dr Rimkus and Dr Kreutzer for helping me advance my photography at a more biological level.

Study Abroad Photo Contest Winner

2010-11-19T09:36:00.004-05:00

Each year, Marymount University's Study Abroad department holds an international photo contest for students who have studied overseas.

The categories are people, places, culture, and an open category. The categories are then judged together to determine the top three places.

I entered the contest a month ago, but did not attend the Thanksgiving banquet last night where the winners were announced.

A friend messaged me, however: "...you won 1st place!!! CONGRATS!"

So here you have it; another completely unexpected surprise.

The year's International Study Abroad winning photo: Belizean Sunset.

MU Today Article

2010-10-13T17:45:00.003-04:00

And I'm back.

It's been a while since I last blogged, but a lot has been going on-- both with photography and school. There's a lot to catch up on, which I will, but for now we'll begin with a Marymount University article.

My photography work with the orange, advanced research lab, turtles, and Belize was feauterd in Marymonut University's magazine MU Today. You can see a fragment of the orange photo in the table of contents below.

The orange photo was blown up to fill up one page and the other page was an article of the work I've been doing at school.

The article can also be read here online, accompanied by a few photos I have taken throughout as well.

Project Shattered Glasses

2010-08-19T12:03:00.001-04:00

For 8 months or more I'd been planning on taking these photos, but for multiple reasons it never happened.
Finally though I was able to gather everything I needed for the shoot. After talking with several people, (including two national park authorities for permission to use their field) I realized that I wasn't going to legally be able to do this project anywhere public.

Needless to say I was very annoyed that nobody was willing to give it a chance, and finally decided that it would just have to happen in the comfort of my own room.

The top photo is definitely my favorite, but below are some other ones I liked.

Rendezvous Caye and Coral Reef

2010-08-08T23:25:00.008-04:00

Marine biologists must have one of the most awesome jobs ever. We arrived at Rendezvous Caye, put on our snorkeling gear and began exploring.

I had never experienced anything similar to this. It was like observing a completely different city and understanding its way of life. There is so much under water. Different plants, organisms and systems. It was completely and marvelously unreal.

We observed all sorts of different sponges and underwater plants. It was a perfectly wonderful experience. A few minutes later my leg was beginning to burn and sting underwater. When I explained the feeling to my professor he told me I had probably brushed up against fire coral. Needless to say I was more careful for the next few hours we were underwater.

We found this sea star at the floor underwater. It immediately became an attraction and several of us students kept swimming out back to the point where it was. We were all very excited with it.

After snorkeling in Belize, there is no way blue can't be a favorite color.

There were so many different kinds of fish all mixed and mingled.

One of the most interesting things I saw at the reef was the photo below. On the left is a fish and on the right is an eel. The eel would slide out of its crevice and scare away any other fish that happened to swim close by. I spent more time filming this event than photographing it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this photo I took in my reef picture file folder.

The picture below is another perfect example of how much fish variety exists in coral reefs. And all these different types of species don't seem to have much of a problem living with each other. I took the picture below, trying to capture the stoplight parrot fish which is the one that stands out the most. But when I observed again I realized that there are a total of five fish in this photo, including the blue-headed wrasse. Can you spot all five?

Before leaving for the day, I made sure to get a picture with the sea star which you saw above. It was a great day snorkeling. I learned so much.

...And those are my posts from Belize!

Thanks for following everybody. I have many more photos from the trip that I did not post, but I've posted all my "must-post"s. Perhaps in the future I'll share some more, but for now you've seen the best of my Belize photography.

And now that all these photos are done, and now that I've seen all these animals, and all these plants and all these systems... all I can say is how absolutely amazing God's creation is!

"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Genesis 1:31 (KJV)

Caribbean Island

2010-08-07T19:30:00.002-04:00

The photo below of the group in the boat was taken by my professor. It's not from one of the days we went to the island. In fact we had just returned from manatee watching in this photo. But this was the good ol' boat that we went everywhere with. From mangrove tours to long, long rides to the Caribbean, this was the boat that took us to and from.

And here finally is the island. The perfection of blue.

Pelicans around us just dove into the waters, catching small fish in the water by the thousands upon thousands. It was unreal.

And then, at the top of a palm tree... an osprey. I moved up and settled below the tree and waited for him to take off.

Some parts of the sky were completely blue that day. It was the perfect backdrop.

In Ruins

2010-08-06T22:18:00.006-04:00

After we left Gales Point, we had the opportunity of visiting Xunantunich. When we arrived at these Mayan ruins we were the only group there and that allowed for photos without tourists in the way. It was perfect. The weather was terribly hot though. I was literally dripping sweat. And with limited water I was trying to make my water bottle last as much as it could. We hadn't even started climbing though.

When we finally got to the top of the temple I pulled my water bottle one last time and finished my last drops. We weren't even halfway done at the site, and I was out of water. But a friend took this photo of me at the top of the building.

This building was the tallest and about 130 feet in height. From here we could overlook the other buildings which were much smaller, but it allowed for a good aerial view.

Even though we were looking at archaeological monuments, I didn't think we would encounter all sorts of wildlife there. From brilliant red centipedes, to large-sized iguanas.......

From howler monkeys....

To hiding tarantulas.....

Our guide was kind enough to tease a few tarantulas out of their homes. I quietly waited with the camera and macro lens to capture this. The lens was only about 5 inches away from the tarantula when I took this shot. You can see the two large fangs in the photo below.

Later on in San Ignacio I met Eddie, an acrylic artist who offered to paint something for us if we'd like. I figured it would be appropriate to ask him for my orange photo since it was part of the reason I was in Belize in the first place. Two days later he brought me back the acrylic painting.

Next up: Island photos!

Ben Lomond Cave, Belize

2010-07-24T11:04:00.000-04:00

Jungle Walk

2010-07-23T11:07:00.000-04:00

We went for a jungle hike at Jaguar Paw. We didn't see any jaguars out in the loose, but the walk was awesome.

One of my favorite things about Belize was the lizards. They're just everywhere, and are of all sorts of species. Seeing a young lizard is as easy as seeing an adult lizard.

*Poke* I pretended to tickle this one:

Salvia microphylla's fruit was as bright as the flower:

And I've never seen fungi as bright as this. The lens even captured the rows of hairlike structures around the cup. Gotta love the details...

Towards the end of our walk I saw something move along the jungle grass. I assumed it was a cricket. But our guide told me it might be a very young basilisk and to catch it. I caught it, picked it up, and she started explaining to me how basilisks manage to run on water. Their hind leg joints act as 360° rotators allowing them to spin their legs so fast they hardly break the water's surface. It was amazing, and this guy was so tiny!

We talked a little more about basilisks, played with the young one for a while, and then I took this picture of him on my fingertip and let him go.

The Land Before Time

2010-07-22T10:31:00.000-04:00

Not quite. But this iguana was huge. We were driving down the road when somebody spotted this iguana. He must have been 6 feet long. Our ride had to stop anyway to cross a river so my professor told me to go photograph the iguana meanwhile. I jumped out of the car and started moving in closer. Then I realized I had my macro lens and not the telephoto lens....

But I was able to move in just a couple feet from the iguana that the macro lens paid off. Now I've ended up with pretty detailed photos of the iguana's scales.

...so then I jumped back in the car, and crossed the river. Fun times.

Morning Snake

2010-07-21T22:20:00.001-04:00

Awesome the things you find in Belize when you're just on your way to breakfast.

I'd just woken up and was going to breakfast, but it turned out this snake was outside the lodge. He wasn't happy, but he did pose for good pictures. The photos were all taken with a fixed 60mm Nikkor macro lens. I've never seen a brighter snake. The colors in the photos are all natural.

Flood Flies

2010-07-19T22:21:00.003-04:00

Hurricane Alex was all up and ready to come visit us while we were in Belize. A tropical storm hit and there was lots and lots of rain. I left my room and headed over to the common room where I saw this:

Flood flies. They swarmed around the light bulb and just kept coming and coming. There was a group of them at each light bulb above our heads. I stepped out of the common room and walked over to the balcony where the balcony floor was littered with dead flies that had stuck to the ground with all the rain. Just then somebody spotted a large toad and it was brought up to the balcony. We all had fun taking pictures and laughing at it when the toad decided it was time for a feast. And so he had dinner off of dead flood flies until he was full.

Eating Cashew Nuts

2010-07-17T10:36:00.000-04:00

One of the plants we saw in Belize is the cashew plant. I was surprised to see that the seeds themselves grow outside the fruits. You learn something new everyday. Except when you're in Belize... then you learn a million new things every day.

For us to eat the seeds, they had to go through fire for several minutes until they were ready to be broken open.

Below is the freshly broken open cashew seed with the burned debris we broke off.

And then we all had cashews for snack.

The Beauty of Belize

2010-07-15T11:27:00.000-04:00

At 5 AM the sun would rise over the lagoon...

A large wishwilly was only a common site and they'd run across your path and stop and pose:

Going down to the village gave many opportunities to make young friends:

The lagoon had a wide variety of fish including this young puffer fish....

...and this pipe fish:

During the middle of the day-- even without a beautiful sunrise-- the lagoon was still picture perfect:

We discovered several sundews during a savannah walk:

During one of our boat rides we saw this distant storm:

Brilliant red crabs crawled through the mangroves' complex root system:

The small waterfalls....

...and the big ones, were magnificent views:

And the shutter just kept shooting...

Having arrived back at the lodge, we'd see a sunset and realize that the lagoon was simply always a perfect view:

Choppy wi-fi was a reminder we were in Belize.... but Google reminded us too:

And when it was dinner time, we'd eat with geckos directly above our heads on the ceiling:

And after dinner, it was time for the moon to shine over the lagoon. "Goodnight Gales Point."

(....and there are still plenty more pictures to come.)

The Magnificent Frigate

2010-07-14T21:25:00.001-04:00

Belize was amazing...

I took thousands of pictures and I'm nowhere near going through all of them. Many of you have asked me to upload photos soon so I've decided to post one of the first pictures I took in Belize: this frigate flying low over the lagoon. Note the water droplets trailing off the bird's beak. It was just rising in flight again after having briefly touched the lagoon's surface.

Many, many more photos to come soon!

Back to Film

2010-06-13T10:40:00.000-04:00

There has always been so much debate over film vs digital photography. There are pros and cons for both, but I wanted to see for myself and experiment with film on the way. For digital photography to match 35mm film quality, one would need to have a 25MP camera which..... does exist actually, but really, who has $8,000 to spend on the Nikon D3X? I read a lot on film vs digital photography and realized that I wanted to try it out for myself. After doing a bit of research and contacting a few sellers I found one that I felt would be perfect for the use.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My latest camera:

The Nikon FM10 is a fully manual 35mm camera. It uses batteries only for the built-in light meter, but other than that this camera does not need batteries to operate. It's preset shutter speeds range from 1 to 1/2000 and also features bulb.

I think after this, though, I'm about to get into infrared photography. It would be interesting to learn it from both the digital and film perspectives. Can't wait to see where this leads!

YES, I DID!

2010-05-27T11:39:00.043-04:00

(The picture below has been cropped to 1280x800 for wallpaper)

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter speed: Bulb

ISO: L 1.0

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 18mm

It's been a LONG time coming. I am thrilled to finally be able to post this picture up.

I have been wanting to post this picture up for months now. But I couldn't because... I hadn't taken it yet. Oh believe me, I'd tried. But now finally a lightning picture to be shared.

Tonight a heavy storm swept across and over the city. But the lightning was on the wrong side for me. That is, until the storm finished sweeping overhead. I was about to go to bed for the night when it occurred to me that the storm must be on the right side for me now. Sure enough, the storm had moved East and just perfectly set up for me.

I snatched the camera-- no time to set up the tripod here-- and adjust every main setting to what I felt appropriate.... f-stop... shutter speed.... ISO.... exposure...

A few quick trials and everything seemed right. With my shutter set to bulb everything was relative to my shooting finger's depression time. I picked my spot and and pressed the shutter, only to have it met by a glorious lightning bolt...

I hit the review button to check the composition.

Then I went crazy.

I've finally taken one of my dream pictures.

Goodnight everybody.

The Scarlet Macaw

2010-05-25T13:49:00.001-04:00

Seen in the Pacific

2010-05-12T15:45:00.000-04:00

Mojave Desert

2010-05-11T16:58:00.000-04:00

Ontario, CA

2010-05-10T12:44:00.001-04:00

A Drive Through LA

2010-05-09T19:35:00.007-04:00

Black-chinned Hummingbird

2010-05-08T13:31:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite photos from the trip:

F-stop: f/4.8

Shutter: 1/1000 sec

ISO: 200

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 185 mm

Long Beach

2010-05-07T14:48:00.004-04:00

F-stop: f/16

Shutter: 1/1000 sec

ISO: 1600

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 28 mm

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/500 sec

ISO: 180

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 70 mm

F-stop: f/6.3

Shutter: 1/500 sec

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 70 mm

Pacific Sunsets

2010-05-06T22:34:00.010-04:00

I've got a ton of photos to share, but for tonight we'll keep the theme with Pacific sunsets.

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter: 1/4 sec.

ISO: 800

Exposure bias: +3.3 step

Focal length: 28 mm

F-stop: f/4.8

Shutter: 1/640 sec

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 52 mm

F-stop: f/4

Shutter: 1/500 sec

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 40 mm

Dear Followers

2010-05-03T23:51:00.001-04:00

Greetings from the other side of the continent!

I know it's been a couple weeks since my last post, but gimme a couple days and I'll get some pictures uploaded again. Just today I took over 700 pictures and tomorrow I'll only keep taking more. I've got all kinds of them now. Can't wait to share them!

-Pablo

Siamese Fighter

2010-04-19T21:36:00.016-04:00

I have been wanting to take these pictures for the past few months but I never quite got around to it.

I had neither the glass nor the fish to take the picture. You could say that slowed things down a bit. But on Friday after my advanced research biology lab I dropped by the pet store and found the brightest blue Betta I could. He still needs a name, but for now I think he's just happy and settling for being famous. Below are my favorite pictures from the shoot.

F-stop: f/4.5

Shutter: 1/60 sec.

ISO: 800

Exposure bias: +1.3 step
Focal length: 135 mm

F-stop: f/4

Shutter: 1/60 sec.

ISO: 800

Exposure bias: +5 step

Focal length: 70 mm

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/60 sec.

ISO: 800

Exposure bias: +3.3 step

Focal length: 300 mm

Student Research Conference

2010-04-14T17:09:00.010-04:00

It all started with three years of biology labs where I'd take pictures just for the sake of preserving the memory of experiments and procedures I had done. Three years later, I find myself in Marymount University's DISCOVER student research conference sharing my photography.

One day in my advanced research lab methods class I pulled out my camera as I normally do in labs to get a few pictures of the experiment. My professor noticed it and asked me if I'd be interested in taking pictures of key steps in the procedure as I went along. Nobody had ever given me "permission" to take lab photos before and I got so excited that I started a flickr for the class. With my professor's permission I am allowed to upload photos of our procedures and photodocument the results. These photos will stay online for future BIO-368 students to look at.

Several weeks later, one of my pictures from early March-- the "Citric Plunge" post-- was featured on National Geographic's website. (You can view the photo among the selection here and looking under "March - Week 1".) When my professor found out about this, she posted up my picture on the science bulletin board Marymount University has outside one of its labs.

A couple of days after this, a classmate came up to me and said, "Hey what's your last name?" When I told him he said, "So you really did take that picture!" We both laughed over that one.

My professor continued looking for ways to expose my science photography, and a couple of weeks ago she spoke with the director of DISCOVER at Marymount. They were willing to accept me as a late submission if I wanted to present my work at their annual Student Research Conference. My professor informed me of this and I was thrilled! We worked together to write up the abstract, introduction and follow-up. I assembeled the photography and designed my poster to present soon after that.

And finally the day came. I was scheduled to present for DISCOVER on behalf of the biology department.

I've never gotten around to making business cards and I really regretted that now. But at my presentations I was able to hand out a page per person viewing my poster that had my NGM-featured photo as well as links to this website, MU advanced lab's flickr and my imagekind page.

After this was all done, the physical therapy graduate students at Marymount were going to get their group photo taken. I offered to take the photo for them and they let me tag along outside to do it for them.

Presenting was so much fun. It was a great opportunity to speak combining both biology and photography. I presented to former professors and supervisors and of course classmates as well. One of the professors liked what I was doing and suggested me working on a project for her in the future, or even presenting my current project at another conference.

So much happened in what turned out to be just a few hours, but it was an absolutely wonderful experience!

Up and Close with a Mockingbird

2010-03-21T10:17:00.002-04:00

Here's one of the most intriguing birds of them all: the mockingbird.

F-stop: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/1600 sec.
ISO: 500
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 300 mm

F-stop: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/1250 sec
ISO: 500
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 300 mm

Calling in the Spring

2010-03-20T12:44:00.003-04:00

F-stop: f/4.8

Shutter: 1/320 sec.

ISO: 1250

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 185

F-stop: f/7.1
Shutter: 1/800 sec.
ISO: 1250
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 70mm

Lumbering Gummies

2010-03-18T12:41:00.001-04:00

F-stop: f/5.3

Shutter: 1/200 sec.

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: -5 step

Focal length: 68mm

Winter's Last Stand

2010-03-15T12:35:00.002-04:00

F-stop: f/8

Shutter: 1/1000 sec.

ISO: 500

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 70mm

Long Exposure

2010-03-07T16:20:00.003-05:00

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter: 30 sec.

ISO: 1250

Exposure bias: +2.3 step

Focal length: 28mm

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter: 30 sec.

ISO: 1250

Exposure bias: +2.3 step

Focal length: 28mm

Oh! The Lengths! III

2010-03-03T12:13:00.005-05:00

The making of "Citric Plunge":

For a long time now I've wanted to create pictures like those you have seen on my recent post, "Citric Plunge." Part of the reason I hadn't taken such pictures was because I'd just never gotten around to it. But perhaps a bigger reason was that I wasn't quite sure how.

A few days ago I found myself looking through pictures and that's when I decided it'd been too long and that I wanted to get these pictures done... really badly.

So I set to work. First things first I needed fruit. The selection? I was hoping to use a brightly colored fruit for my pictures because the water won't show up and saturated colors would look nice.

Fruit Selection:
I looked around the kitchen and fruit plate and decided that limes and oranges would look good. (I briefly considered garlic cloves, but they're not exactly "brightly colored" so I'll save that for another time.)

Photoshoot location:
My room. I cleared my desk and made space for the setup. Then I set up a tripod about ten feet away from the desk and set my camera up. Then I set my speedlight flash individually on the desk.

Water container:
Oh boyyyy...... this was the hard part. So those of you who met Cronk know that he's buried out somewhere in Reston and hence his home has been empty for that past year or so. I looked way up and back in my closet and found the old aquarium tank that I'd used for him and also a few pet fiddler crabs in the past. I carried the tank out of my room and filled it up with as much water as I thought necessary. Then..... there was a slight problem....

Moving the tank:
...it was too heavy. There was no way I could carry all that weight back to my room. I had to empty out some of the water to reduce the weight. (By "some" I mean "a lot"). Finally it was a bit lighter for me to carry. I picked it up as best I could and lugged it into my room. The small distance I carried it was sure enough to break a sweat! (Perhaps I should mention that it's now three days later and my back still hurts from this.) At some point I pinned my coat to the wall behind the tank....

Dropping the fruit:
Now this part was tricky. I turned off all the lights in my room so I was in the dark. To capture the fruit dropping in though, I had to used my remote to trigger the shot. It took several practice shots but eventually I learned to calculate the time so that I knew how close to press the remote in terms of the loud splashes in my room. (Oh there was water ALL over the place. The cleanup was epic). Also, as I mentioned, I was in the dark so my poor pupils were going crazy coping with instant darkness and then instant double-flash and then instant darkness again.

Experimenting drop distances:
Do they float? Do they not float? Well that was all beside the point. I found that my best dropping distances were between six nches and a little under three feet.

Ending the shoot:
And finally, the shoot was over. One last effort and I carried the tank back out of my room and dumped the water out. Then it was time to upload pictures!

Lesson learned?:
Yes. Next time I'll set up the empty tank on my desk first and carry the water gallon by gallon instead and fill it up there. It'll take longer, but it'll be easier on my back. Owww.....

Yeah, so... let's just say this wasn't a snapshot.

Town Center at Moonlight

2010-03-02T11:33:00.000-05:00

F-stop: f/3.5
Shutter: 1.1 sec
ISO: 400
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 28mm

(And six labels in one picture! This must be a blog record.)

Reflected Stairs

2010-02-28T11:10:00.001-05:00

Perhaps I should start paying more attention to buildings. I have always been one to photograph nature. The bird I see... the moss on the tree... the butterflies... the mushrooms... (the pseudoscropion in my room).... all this to say, I should really begin to observe buildings more.

This picture was taken at the March for Life as I stood around waiting for movement again. I am not exactly sure what building it is, but it caught my attention because the stairs on the inside were reflected on the outside glass of the same building. Then I had to hold my camera high above everybody's heads because we were all so crowded. This is the result:

F-stop: f/4
Shutter: 1/200 sec.
ISO: 100
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 70mm

Citric Plunge

2010-02-27T20:34:00.010-05:00

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/200 sec.

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: +2 step

Focal length: 70mm

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/200 sec.

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: +2 step

Focal length: 70mm

F-stop: f/32
Shutter: 1/200 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure bias: +5 step
Focal length: 70mm

Snowman Photographer

2010-02-11T16:10:00.002-05:00

Well.... my real camera was around the snowman, so this picture was taken with my phone, hence the low quality. Still thought you followers would enjoy!

Inspired by MC Escher

2010-01-30T18:38:00.009-05:00

M.C. Escher has some fascinating works. But it wasn't until a few months ago that I found out I'd been playing a game that was based on his works.

Just recently I sat at my desk and realized I had the figurine model across from me. It reminded me of Echochrome (the game I've been playing) and that's when I decided to try to do something fun with the figure.

The setup was simple. Just my flash unit set off to the side, detached from my camera.

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/25 sec

ISO: 500

Exposure bias: +5 step

Focal length: 84 mm

Nighttime Torches

2010-01-27T17:07:00.003-05:00

The following pictures are actually ones I took last month. I didn't get around to uploading them to the site until right now.

It was December, freezing, and there wonderful opportunities for torch pictures at night.

Below are my two favorite fire pictures of the night.

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter: 2 seconds

ISO: 200

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 42 mm

F-stop: f/7.1

Shutter: 1/200 sec

ISO: 1600

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 78 mm

Saints Basketball

2010-01-20T14:09:00.014-05:00

Monday marked a double-header for both the women (15-1) and men's (10-7) basketball team. Earlier in the week, ESPN ranked the Saints women's basketball team at #5. Woohoo!

I went to the game with the intentions of taking pictures mostly. I got a few good ones of at-the-buzzer shots and blocked attempts. My personal favorite though was watching the little kids take over the court for halftime. Both events were a lot of fun.

I found a decent spot in the top bleachers where I could get a good general view of the court. Before the men's team began to play, the president of Marymount University came over and sat up top in the bleachers so I made sure to get a picture with him.

You can see more here.

Below is one of the pictures I took of the mens team. Saints on 3!

F-stop: f/4.5

Shutter: 1/50 sec

ISO: 1250

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 225

Additional Hawk Pictures

2010-01-13T13:11:00.004-05:00

And I found him again.

I was driving back home from school about an hour ago. My camera was in the passenger seat next to me as it oftentimes is while driving. It occurred to me that perhaps I should drive on an outermost lane today, just in case I saw a hawk.

A few miles later I looked up from the highway and saw it. The only problem was I was on the opposite outermost lane. For a brief second I considered giving up on it, but I checked my mirrors and the roads were clear. After switching over all the way to the left I managed to pull off on the shoulder just right beneath the hawk.

And here you have them: more pictures. I particularly like the one below. It's been so windy this winter and the hawk's feathers are all ruffled, being blown by the wind.

F-stop: f/5

Shutter: 1/1250 sec

ISO: 61

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 247 mm

Hawk Mission Accomplished

2010-01-10T17:55:00.006-05:00

Those of you who've followed for a while now may remember my hunt for a good hawk picture. Last February was as close as I'd gotten... until today.

Just this afternoon I sat in a restaurant waiting for my food, when through the window I saw a hawk perch on a tree outside. (And this is the part where I'm proud of myself for taking my camera even inside the restaurant.) I grabbed my camera and ran outside just in time to capture the hawk flying away.

Hawk Mission Accomplished.

F-stop: f/6.3

Shutter: 1/2500 sec.

ISO: 500

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 280mm

F-stop: f/7.1

Shutter: 1/3200

ISO: 500

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 280 mm

Downy Woodpecker

2009-12-31T08:08:00.001-05:00

I took these pictures two mornings ago in Great Falls. It was freezing but completely worth it. I saw three types of woodpeckers. The one pictured in this post is a Downy Woodpecker.

Have a happy new year everybody and thanks for following!

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/640 sec.

ISO: 400

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 300 mm

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/500 sec.

ISO: 400

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 300 mm

Cassiopeia

2009-11-30T22:07:00.002-05:00

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter speed: 25 sec

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: -5 step

Focal length: 28 mm

Down, Set...

2009-11-25T07:45:00.000-05:00

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/800 sec.

ISO: 200

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 300 mm

Setting Flight

2009-11-22T07:36:00.002-05:00

F-stop: f/5

Shutter: 1/640 sec

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 210 mm

Stacking Matches

2009-11-19T07:04:00.000-05:00

F-stop: f/3.2

Exposure: 1/400 sec.

ISO: 61

Exposure: 0 step

Focal length: 16 mm

Perching Pretty

2009-11-15T18:58:00.003-05:00

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/500 sec.

ISO: 400

Exposure: 0 step

Focal length: 300 mm

Breaking Off

2009-11-11T18:53:00.000-05:00

F-stop: f/13

Shutter: 1/800 sec.

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 240 mm

The Common Mallard

2009-11-06T06:49:00.001-05:00

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter: 1/125 sec.

ISO: 400
Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 300 mm

Mischievous Personality

2009-11-03T06:47:00.000-05:00

F-stop: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec.

ISO: 100

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 300

Golden Worker

2009-10-31T18:44:00.001-04:00

F-stop: f/4.8

Shutter: 1/250 sec

ISO: 400

Exposure bias: 0 step

Focal length: 185 mm

The beauty of fall

2009-10-26T08:43:00.004-04:00

Birds living life

2009-09-29T11:08:00.005-04:00

Magnification Levels

2009-09-19T10:38:00.008-04:00

Introducing my new pet. Thanks to a friend I now have a frog again!

One frog, one camera, three pictures, three very different results.

F-stop: f/3.2
Shutter: 1/20 sec
ISO: 64
Exposure Bias: 0 step
Focal Length: 19mm (through 10x Macro lens)

F-stop: f/4.5
Shutter: 1/250 sec
ISO: 61
Exposure bias: 0 step

F-stop: f/3.2
Shutter: 1/400 sec
ISO: 61
Exposure bias: 0 step

Roasting Mini Marshmallows

2009-09-07T20:07:00.002-04:00

Ever roasted mini marshmallows over a candle?

F-stop: f/3.2
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec.
ISO: ISO-61
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 21 mm

Tower at Sunset

2009-08-29T23:00:00.001-04:00

F-stop: f/3.6
Shutter: 1/50 sec.
ISO: ISO-200
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 32 mm

Worn Mural

2009-08-11T16:09:00.002-04:00

F-stop: f/4
Shutter speed: 1/50 sec.
ISO: 200
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 31mm

Barn Swallow

2009-08-01T16:26:00.002-04:00

F-stop: f/3.7
Shutter: 1/350 sec.
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 380

Melodious Vignette

2009-07-25T16:08:00.002-04:00

F-stop: f/2.8
Shutter: 1/30 sec.
ISO: ISO-105
Exposure Bias: 0 step
Focal length: 6mm

"There's a Bear in the Woods"

2009-07-23T21:11:00.001-04:00

F-stop: f/4.8
Exposure: 1/60 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-315
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 70mm