Digital Photography Without Optical Zoom? Unimaginable!

The Fujifilm FinePix S9000 bridge camera (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Isn’t it amazing how digital cameras have made such amazing technological leaps and bounds in the last fifteen years?

It seems like we’ve gone from 3MP to 28MP in the proverbial blink of an eye. ‘Megapixel’, ‘image stabilization’, ‘digital single lens reflex’, ‘super macro mode’ and ‘mirrorless cameras’ weren’t in my vocabulary when I first made my acquaintance with black-and-white photography via 35mm film cameras, darkrooms, and the intoxicating scents of chemical baths in senior high. 

Intergrade Northern Flicker in a Pear Tree

A welcome sight–other than the sunny skies–in the wee hours of this morning (10:00am, actually) was this male Intergrade Northern Flicker, who was spotted on the suet feeder before he heard the digital camera and flew over to this pear tree. This Intergrade Northern Flicker has yellow shaft feathers, red nape, and a port wine mustache.

Macro Monday: Cup Fungi

This gallery contains 3 photos. It’s a regular science field trip in my backyard! At least I can put a name to these backyard oddities: cup fungi (which lack a stalk)! Did you know that they are shaped like cups so that drops of water can splash out the spores?

Five Peach Blossoms

Five peach blossoms on the taller peach tree in various stages of opening. Pretty to look at, but wait until the April showers start in earnest; we may have to put little mojito umbrellas over you. Taken yesterday in the unexpected and brief sunny respites between showers.

Who Put the Octopus in the Garden?

Just call this mysterious shrub Tentacles. At least, that’s what the white, squid-like flowers growing in the low growing, laurel-like bush look like. In the upper right corner are the unopened yellow buds.

You’re Still a Wonder, Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Next year will represent the fourth decade since Wonder Woman premiered and became as one of 70s TV’s most popular programs–and the most successful incarnation of the iconic Amazon beauty’s adventures.

Wonder Woman the TV series preceded Netflix, and capture via the recording mediums of PVR, DVR, DVD and VHS. There were no rewind, play, or pause buttons to help relive a favourite episode, although reruns and syndication in later years on various networks helped.

A Departed Haiku

Cherub by Hank Word (CC-BY-NC-2.0)

When the heavens weep,
An angel is newly born,
Freed of mortal coil.

Daily Prompt: Singing the Blues

Blue flower by @Doug88888 (CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0)

We all feel down from time to time. How do you combat the blues? What’s one tip you can share with others that always helps to lift your spirits?

I think that feeling blue comes from my being such an introspective individual and a daydreamer who attributes meaning and time, and imbues emotion and expectation (sometimes of a lofty magnitude) to everything I see and do.

Mine is the wandering mind: I walk through every minute of the day with one part of my brain

A Bushtit Says Good Morning

I went out to get a closeup of the pear tree buds yesterday, and two talkative Bushtits swooped in to perch on limbs over my head. The more curious one (a male, of course), stayed behind just long to get its photo snapped. These are the second smallest birds to visit our backyard — the smallest being the unphotographed Anna’s Hummingbird.