Saturday, July 26, 2014:
Like all things technically related - I’ll be updating ‘what’s new’ from my newly created blog which is much easier for me to update and organize allowing visitors the ease to read and navigate - that’s all folks from this page - it sure was fun sharing my thoughts and experience for all these years - enjoy the new blog.
Friday, July 11, 2014:
Bobcat - tracking a predator - from fresh scat to paw prints (I spent the early morning doing just that) along with photos from a fellow photographer’s sharing his capture of this elusive hunter in the wilds of the Southwest - coming soon.
Also wanted to share that our friend Andrew is now in Iceland for two weeks - I wish him best of luck in capturing some of the iconic images from there (Good Luck there buddy and share some of your images here).
Tuesday, July 8, 2014:
Speaking of Bobcat - seems it’s good eating according to some right here in the US of A while I was searching the web on their habitat and came upon this article - very well written but can’t help feeling primal in the end - read more here.
Sunday, July 6, 2014:
Didn’t get cat (Bobcat) - but got dog (Coyote) today after a two day hiatus from field trips for wildlife but instead tuned in to the World Cup soccer matches in the morning and afternoon - and today (Sunday) - there were no Soccer - what better reason then to head out early to see about a Bobcat reported in one of my weekend spot - and of course - she was a no show but did get this juvenile coyote foraging (yeah - they’re omnivores) in the forested area in and out between shade and sun - tough to exposure but Nikon spot metering comes in handy under conditions like these where matrix metering might fail- so here it is - another week - another wonderful capture - and one of these week - I’ll get ‘cat’ ......!!!
Wednesday, July 2, 2014:
Eh - what's up doc? - that’s a Desert Hare (Jack Rabbit) on the front page or Bugs Bunny if you like - size of a gray fox or small coyote and stands 2 feet tall - this one weight about 8 lbs but read they can go up to 10 ;-).
They’re tough to photograph (low angle view) - by the time you see him in the brush - he’d heard you and as fast as you can say - ‘beep beep’ - he’s gone (hence the name Jack Rabbit) - unlike their cousin the cotton tailed which are everywhere and not afraid of people - this was a lucky catch as I was laying low/still for the owls and he didn’t notice me and came right into my FOV last weekend - yeah - I’ll shoot it ‘photography speaking’ - he’s not going into the stew pot this time :-).
***** Now that the Nikon Expeed 4 is out from the D810 to the Nikon 1 V3 - I’ll start this rumor hoping this will become reality and that is having this processor on the next Nikon D7100 upgrade (Nikon can call it whatever) - the power to counteract the buffer issue - simple and easy to do - come one Nikon - what are you waiting for?
Tuesday, July 1, 2014:
Interesting now that I’m into movie making and this D810 is very capable in that dept. comparing to the best DSLR with video capabilities - its from Youtube and I suggest set to 1080p and see for yourself here.
Finished watching that? now another 1080p of the Burrowing Owl calling in the wind.
Thursday, June 26, 2014:
Nikon D810 announced and ready for pre-order - news and image examples are available here.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014:
Finally - “Perseverance” and “Persistent” pays off - here are two of the owlets almost fully fledged helping me to understand their behavior from how parents behave when there are fledglings in the burrow to how owlets behave when their parents flies closely by to ‘encourage’ them to seek independence - this full experience (or persistence if you will) of going back week after week not simply to take some shots or video - but also to study and learn and I think this is the most important take away - nothing in watching NatGeo can compare to being actually there - seeing - hearing - smelling the air - the feeling of the early calm cool breeze in some weekends to scourging afternoon heat in other - in the end - it’s all worth it - after all - for me - it’s not only about the shot - but expressing my craft - (I think this is mentioned here) - video to follow - stay tune.
*** Note: fledglings at this stage of their life cycle are especially cautious - any movement brings them quickly back to their burrows - at least these ones - not sure about the ones in Florida where some lived in peoples yard so those might be less cautious of people or movements - and speaking of which - I’ve known people who goes to Florida reporting getting flights shots of them are difficult - perhaps one day I’ll check that out - but for now - I’m more then good/happy having these guys here to observe and to learn - I thank the good Mother Nature for providing me these very special moments - the saying of one day at a time doesn’t applied - for me - it’s one week at a time on an working man/weekend warrior schedule.
Speaking of scrounging heat - the shots of the owlets shows heat shimmers blurring the contrast/sharpness which can be fixed by another early morning visit.
Monday, June 23, 2014:
“Perseverance” and “Persistent” - two words meaning the same and having this trait in my view defines the difference between a ‘snap shooter’ and a photographer - why speak in ‘tongue’ and mumble jumble?
Well - let me tell ya - without this ‘trait’ - most people would’ve given up and headed to the shades when temps hovering triple digits and staying in the shade makes the most logical sense and the ‘normal’ reaction of most people.
But wait - what happens when someone having this trait with hopes of capturing Burrowing Owlets - will this individual bear the heat and the burning sun in the barren desert staying perfectly still hoping the little ones comes out of their burrows nut then - which one? - stay tune.
Saturday, June 21, 2014:
Sometimes - life is indeed strange enough that the end results does justifies the means (words of Chinese dude from the 5th century BC named Mozi) and that how this flight shot of the Burrowing Owl came about - all without the need for post processing - everything came together perfectly - as I went through my routine workflow adjusting exposure/etc - it just didn’t look as good as straight from raw-jpeg.
It wasn’t my intent to capture flight shots - but when the shit happens - the long years of fast action reflexes kick in and ‘snap’ - ‘there it is’ :-)
So no - on this early day - my mind was set on movie making with hopes of capturing Burrowing Owlets which was a no show - but nature once again have shown me her great graces and replenish me with her good luck and that’s my 6:00 AM PST report out in the field - now back home for the 9 AM PST world cup soccer match - stay tune.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014:
“Always find time to do something more/extra on top of what you already done” - hmm - where did that come from you say?
Answer - check out the latest 1080p video in movie theater quality with editing/cuts from shots made from my yard - big deal you might say but if the stuff is good from the yard - imagine what it look like from some exotic once in a lifetime places - folks visiting my site regularly with a keen eye might see a patten where I’m taking my photography to the next level hence the opening sentence ;-)
Note: with 1080p - it’s obviously NOT optimized for smartphones and/or some tablets - need to mess around in that area when time permits but for now - best view from a fast connection/machine.
Friday, June 13, 2014:
The weekend is finally here after busting my chops all week and with that - it’s my time now and guess what?
As mentioned previously - I get to edit/publish my little hummers that came to save my days leaving with me with smiles no matter how tough the days are going - so with that said - it’s on the front page - there are many more but I like this one - for now.
Oh - with World Cup hitting strong - there might be less upload and just as well - chilling out is cool too :-)
Tuesday, June 10, 2014:
Just like the lizard on the front page - I’ve been lounging around not doing much lately - only update is another hummingbird video captured from my yard whom has grown from small hummers buzzing around to now with the first sign of maturity color showing on his throat - I enjoyed their many visits and speaking of which - if he didn’t show and tease me ever so closely - I would’ve and just chill from the heat so thank you ‘little hummer’ for bringing me back from the abyss of not much interest in photography lately :-)
Speaking of lack of interest - with the D800s coming around the corner - normally I would be wetting my pants but not this time - why?
Let me see what’s in my camera bag and justify - ok all checked - and nah - I’ll continue to use what I have - creating great images just need good focus and no - I’m not talking from the camera - only from your mind of what you wanted to captured :-) - the D300s is getting lonely and I’ll take it out for a spin or two - the D7100 is doing it’s job and if needed - the D700 with it’s 12 mp is more then adequate for the job and in my view are ‘the’ combo out there for Nikon shooters historically speaking - the current D800/D4 just don’t do it for me.
And speaking of the D700 - I’ll share a little bit of history/story when I toke it to Arizona for the Grand Canyon (HSB) shot - first - the Tammy 17-35 failed leaving me with not only worst then manual focus only but the exposure as well - it’s demised started back when I was still in Boston of leaving it out in the cold/winter - ever since - when pressed - it would not AF and expose - my only workaround was switch to manual - set f stop - turn the exposure ring to f/22 - this allows me only shot - talking about a royal pain but this did not stop me from taking what I considered mine best landscape shot thus far - this continue with the Antelope Canyon shots as well - luckily I brought a back up P/S shooter (Nikon s5300) which most of those shots you see are taken with - now - the D700 with it’s 12 mp allows me view the Grand Canyon images across my 27’ Mac full screen and it’s still sharp across the edges - one day when time allows - I’ll print this and perhaps finally hang one of my own - cheers.
Sunday, June 1, 2014:
Finally had time cutting the Rufus Hummer video sitting on her nest here.
Saturday, May 31, 2014:
Sometimes - what looks good to your eyes does not look good after you shoot the shot on the screen - that’s when you’ve to pull out all your tricks from your hat (example is this shot on the front-page - compositionally speaking - it’s all wrong with no anchor for a wide angle shot - cut through in the middle/etc) so why does it still catch your eyes when viewing it?
Hint: if you read the about me page - you’ll noticed one of the thing is color - when everything else is wrong - you can still ‘make’ the shot with great colors.
OK - enough professor talk - folks come here to see what I got (photographically speaking) and without ado is what I believed might be the Rufus female sitting on nest due to rusty copper underside which is much better then getting the Yellow Breasted Chat we saw Monday when I toke the family to check out the owls (LEO) which incidentally was an no show - video to follow.
Oh - and what’s a desert story if there are no desert lizards (what ???? - there are 20 species of Lizards in Nevada and I’ve to learn them all (this one appears be the Desert Spiny Lizard).
Friday, May 30, 2014:
Note the front-page of shorebirds in flight was taken with the D300 and 400mm F/2.8 - clean ->checked - sharp ->checked - great action (fps) - checked - not bad considered the age of this camera (we’re taken digital age here).
While I’m currently using the D7100 for it’s weight (getting older - every bit of weight saving is a big plus) and not for the mp - in terms of AF - D7100 is better as well - but for real action - it comes up short against the D300/s series which offer the confidence and backs that up nailing the shots while the D7100 just don’t have - great for video and perched work - but not action inspired (from mine personal observation/experience) - ditto for the D700.
Monday, May 26, 2014:
Headed out @ 6 AM to the ‘ole’ hangout (locals call it the ‘wash) to see what’s new after a month hiatus of going up north for owls and warblers - turns out slow with stilts and avocets still foraging on mud flats - the purpose of this local trip was to captured something for my front-page which I did - there are technical details being iron-out now but should be on display soon - this would be a test of what’s to come.
Sunday, May 25, 2014:
As promised - a family of five LEO and one Burrowing Owl totaling six captured on video here.
Saturday, May 24, 2014:
6 owls total in the morning with my boy Nate who counted - yeah - his first real trip with daddy in the field - he awoke @ 5 am bright eyes and bushy tail wolfing down his two eggs (over easy) with 3 sausages with pancakes while daddy had coffee with sausages and pancakes - not much time to edit all - sharing just a few shots now - will upload video later today after another tour of ‘duty’ - daddy duty that is :-)
Wednesday, May 21, 2014:
What’s the deal with another hummingbird video - ‘well - let me tell ya’ - when they almost hit me in the face from their antics of chasing each other while I take a breather from my hectic day from work - well then - with camera and tripod handy - it just a matter of capturing them in video in my yard.
OK - most ‘are’ from the yard while one clip is from a short trip up north from the weekend where the wind was gusting and I captured just a small clip and left - I’ll treat you to a Car’s Jr BBQ’s Best Pair if you guess right :-)
Tuesday, May 20, 2014:
‘Scratching my head’ - do I really need another camera in my bag? - let see - the D800 (s) is on it’s way with better AF and just a tiny bit faster FPS from the Expeed 4 ala D4s.
Interestingly - it claim to have sRaw (like Canon) - and more interestingly from the new lens offering tells me Nikon is doing what Canon been doing to Nikon for years - and what’s that you asked? - well from mine personal observation - Canon will let Nikon release something new - studied it and make it just a little bit better.
Now it seems the table has turned - the latest Nikon lens offerings mentioned below offer just a bit better then Canon’s recently released telephoto lenses (lighter - faster - focus closer/etc) for the same dinero as Canon - they must be ‘brothers in arms’ somehow.
Friday, May 16, 2014:
Well - for those of you that have time on your hands - great - warbler migrations fall-out reported everywhere - but as a working man with mouths to feed - I can only do what flies into my yard and that’s this young costa’s hummer captured on video.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014:
Latest 400mm F/2.8 comparison
Brand: Nikon | Canon
Weight: 3800g | 3850g
MFD: 2.6m | 2.7m (MFD = minimum focus distance in case you forgotten)
Looks like nikon is just a little bit lighter - focuses just a little bit closer and probably both are just as sharp - the new nikon 800mm technology is quickly rolling down into their other lenses in a big way where the 800mm MTF chart is near perfect even @ f/5.6 wide open - sharp doesn’t even fully describe that beast - it’s silent focus is amazing - some of you might be asking how do i know - well - that’s another story for another time - for now - nikon and i is firmly back in the saddle :-)
Tuesday, May 13, 2014:
Well - finally - the new Nikon TC III 1.4 is announced - as mentioned previously on my page
it’s priced @ $600 USD not 700 USD along with the new 400 f/2.8 - man - I almost gave up on Nikon with their current camera offerings but this announcement shows me they’re still in the game (big time) read and see it here and dream on :-)
AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8EFL ED VR
New 1.4 TC III sample images here.
New 400mm f/2.8 FL ED VR lens sample images here.
Along with this announcement - an new 500/600mm f/4 is just around the corner - ~smiles~ come on Nikon - make me a believer again as the D300 upgrade is getting old and so am I - ‘git’ that Pro DX body out there - why? your lunch is being taken away by the likes of Pentax and Sony just to name two and once they have lenses to match their bodies - then it’s ‘wild wild west’ - ‘shoot em up ’ and ‘let’s ride - any ‘horse for any course’ from Sony - Canon - Nikon - Pentax - Samsung/etc to any smart devices - they all capture great images.
Saturday, May 10, 2014:
6:00 AM - arrived at the gate of Spring Mt. Range to see about all the report of fruit trees filled with migrating warblers varying from flocks of W. Tanager to Cedar Waxwings only to found it locked and closed - snap an early light documentary shot and headed north to desert national rather then wait for them to open - with wind gust up to 40 - I only snap a few before heading back to have lunch (dim sum) with family - seeing another life bird (BHG) was pretty cool.
Friday, May 9, 2014:
Well - it’s Friday evening 10 PST and tomorrow is warbler’s heaven so I’ve been informed by the locals where Western Tanagers are buzzing in flocks along with many other warblers - and as luck would have it - wind gust of 40 mph is not conductive to photographing or video recording so I sat here and created my Signature Chop to protect my images as once again - tineye crawled the web and located images of mine being used without acknowledgement/credit from me - and fighting these cases is not worth it in the end nor do I currently have the time to do so - trust me - I’ve tried in the past - so if someone notice the chop dead center of the front page (1920x1280) - the above mention is the reason - there - now you know ...
Quick update: WOW - 1920x1280 looks great on mine 27’ Mac - but on Windows 7 pro /IE 9 - that didn’t scale well with1920x1280 and a quick search of the web shows the most common resolution is 1366x768 so this is where it’s set for now - while Safari and Chrome handles it correctly - IE/FF is little flaky so - as both the webmaster and designer as well as the publisher and producer of this site - these minute details becomes paramount for viewer’s experience - knowing the trend of current popular browsers as well as the resolution help me design it ‘just’ a little better - and when retirement comes - I’ll be one busy boy.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014:
Time flies they say - and technology flies even faster so I toke this opportunity to update this site with some really cool stuff - from the front page (Mt. Charleston) taken in 4/26/14 up 8500 feet after it snowed (snapshot from the 50 bucks P/S Nikon) where I toke the family for a day trip (my boy missed the snow from back east) - we threw snowballs and had lots of laughs to the movies page where I’m exploring film making and the technology behind Web 2.0 - stay tuned as creative juices are overflowing.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014:
It simply works and it’s totally awesome - what is that you ask? well - I brush up my web technique/skills and decided to publish my new movie making page into cross platform usability (meaning any OS or browsers just works) on HTML5.
One nice feature of HTML5 is allowing videos and movies to play on any devices - any OS (operating systems) without the need to download crappy players with their security/version updates/etc which truly is the freedom of the world wide web - and not being locked down by proprietary codes - and for those of you that wonder - yes - i’m a geek as well as a photographer :-).
Sunday, April 27, 2014:
Spring warbler migration here in the SW is simply superb from Western Kingbirds to Tanagers - from Bullock’s Oriole to flycatchers that I’ll need to read up on with many species I’ve not seen back east - there were Nashville and Tennessee Warbler - Rufus - Anna’s and Costa’s Hummingbirds and many others.
From Burrowing to Long-eared Owls to Lewis Woodpeckers (didn’t have time to get any shots of the woodpeckers but might try next week and that’s a mighty ‘but’ since the Long-eared hatchlings should fledge soon - not to mentioned the Burrowing Owl should have their hatchlings.
And last - both Lazuli and Indigo Buntings were spotted but only managed to shot the Indigo as the Lazuli is an annual while the Indigo is much rarer in these parts - both the Yellow and Wilson’s warbler were busy chasing bugs - as it were - when spring migration happens - you can’t aim your camera and lens at all directions so I had select what looks good as well as what interest me at the moment.
Note - due to the large collections of images and video lately - I created yet another ‘latest images and ‘archived’ previous with the years they were shot.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014:
Sharp eye visitors will notice there a new ‘movie’ page added - and yes - as mentioned previously - ‘toying’ with video now become ‘experimental’ - don’t knows where this will lead but I’m delving in with the available tools at my disposal - namely my Mac - so ‘expect more - be more’ has always been my motto and I’m adding ‘give more’ for good measure - so going forward - expect more video captures of nature (my part about give more) - and ‘if’ there is more then 24 hours to a day - I can get this done (dreaming).
Flash back to reality - with a family to feed - work that needs to get done - bills needs to be paid on-time/etc - time is truly my luxury which is very limited but I’ll do my very best to give more.
Note: previous HD video are removed from dowload/lens test as there’s a dedicated page for movie/video and for now - this works on iPad or Mac devices - Android and Windows required an plugins - QT plugin download for Windows here.
Monday, April 21, 2014:
Not much to share other then pics taken from my family trip to Arizona and Utah (great places to explore) - speaking of which - for those that comes to my little site to see what’s new - new landscape pics are located in the ‘landscape’ section as they should be :-) - I’m also toying around with video capturing the burrowing owls - added them to different areas from download to lens test - since these are in HD and are large files - they might not appear to load or even crash your system if you’re still monkeying around with an old machine (warning).
Sunday, April 6, 2014:
The stilts finally arrived feeding along the Avocets - do you ever wonder when you know something is behind you and you get that ‘feeling’? - while shooting the stilts with my eyes glue to the 600mm - something made me turn and behold - a young female Coyote stirring me in the eyes from the banks - no time to do anything but to grab the 600mm off the big gitzo and shot her handheld - yeah - having stabilization on this big lens would’ve been nice especially with the gusting winds we have for the whole week and note the sand/dust flying in the front of the coyote - everything and everywhere here is rough and tough for the hardy to survive - no Prima Dona in the desert where two things will kill you - thirst and downing.
Well - it’s Sunday and some much needed R/R awaits before the hectic work week ahead - another week - another adventure in the ‘wild - wild - west’ - more to come.
Saturday, April 5, 2014:
Waited three freaking hours for the owl to come out of her burrow - she never did - ha - nothing like looking at a ‘hole’ all day without anything - the only thing in the area was her food source - desert ground squirrel - the saving grace? he stood and pose for me - another wasted day of leaving the family behind for this crazy wildlife venture - kind of like a hunter coming home empty without food to feed the family.
Friday, April 4, 2014:
Burrowing Owl - yes - finally located it and the Long-eared Owl was more active today due to the windy conditions - and learning the behavior of the Vermillion Flycatcher allow me closer shots - enjoy.
Sunday, March 30, 2014:
Let me count the ways - early Warblers arrived here in the SW - from Bewick Wren to Lesser Goldfinch - Cactus Wren to finally the Male Vermillion Flycatcher along with the Gray Flycatcher to the Wilson Warbler - Common Yellow-throat and hundreds of Ruby Crown Kinglets - with the Life Bird (Vermillion Flycatcher) skipping in-out - the kinglet can wait.
Oh - did I mentioned the winds were howling gusting up to 30 + mph and the temps drops 20 degrees in matter of seconds with the western sky turning dark? - yes - it’s nature at it’s finest where all-wheel drive is the call of the day and only hardy individuals dear to thread - hey - did I also mention there was one other nut out there today beside myself and he stay in the car drinking coffee?
And the icing on this cake? - I went back for seconds after the desert rain ended from home after lunch with netflix - ha - insanity require no excuses ....!!!
Friday, March 28, 2014:
Toke a day off to see about a life bird (Vermillion Flycatchers) male and female - but only the female shown herself today along with other cast of characters including a nesting Long-eared Owl (wow) - Phainopepla - Coopers Hawk - here are few from today’s outing - after a good morning like this - I hear El Pollo Loco calling for lunch - for those of you who have not try this - it kicks all other chicken places out of this planet - google it.
Monday, March 24, 2014:
Avocet does their little dance after they sealed the deal ...... all from Sunday on the local haunts where Osprey were hunting and coming up empty to the usual suspect of shorebirds - but I’m here specifically for the Avocets in Spring where each week the numbers are increasing - soon the Black-necked Stilts would arrive and then the real fun begins along with the Grebes and Warblers.
What? - a orange-yellow variant House Finch from my yard as well as the Orange-crowned Warbler - something not normally seen in the East Coast.
Thursday, March 20, 2014:
What’s happening with the old gear collecting dust? - well - the trusty D300/s won many local and international awards in the past and there’s no reason it can’t take a great image today which is why it was pulled from it’s grave and placed on the mighty Gitzo 5 and out comes these shots - with the D4s/etc out - you would think this would be the body used - nope - Nikon will not be getting any hard-earned money from me - the D300s 12mp sensor/body still perform excellent after 6-7 years - it was good shooting with this body/friend - feels like a old friend and the Nikon 400 F/2.8 is a great piece of ‘glass’ :-)
Monday, March 17, 2014:
The more I looked at the Harris - the more I’m thinking this is might not be one but instead it’s another dark morph desert red-tailed - jury is still out there and I’m doing my best CSI to track this down and doing a little ‘reflections’ on what it is :-)
Sunday, March 16, 2014:
Toke the family to Hoover Dam and snap a shot from a cheapie $49.00 Nikon Coolpix S3300 when it went on sale awhile back.
Saturday, March 15, 2014:
Harris Hawks and Avocets - yeah it was a great day until a very nice couple stop and asked me what I was shooting and if it’s a telescope or a camera I was using - out of curtesy I turn my head and said both and smile - it was my 600mm lens - just then the wind pick up (gusting winds today) and off my camo hat and when I try to reach for it - I fell on rocks and cut my legs and in the desert - everything is tough and rugged - from plants to rocks - ouch - the price to pay for finally getting the Harris and another donation of blood/sweat/tears to get a shot but I’ll take it even with the cut flesh.
Having said that - it still was a very good day - with the arrival of the Avocet - spring migration started and I can’t wait to see what this year will bring now that my full metal armor (gear) is with me - and getting a shot of the Harris snatching a rabbit would be the highlight - stay tune for the next report :-).
Wednesday, March 12, 2014:
Ruby Crown Kinglet shown up on the neigbor’s tree - spring is here? why it seems spring never left after the hot two months of summer where temps were between 40 nights - 70’s days thus far - the hummer likes his new home in my yard and will be part of the Lee family (adopted son) - guess have to think of the name for him - he’s quite territorial chasing off even the female - but there is this one other male who sneaks around (wondering if he’s after the female or the nectar (both perhaps) - he would dart down for a drink when the resident is off doing something else - here are just a few of him settling in on his favorite perch readied for the night - and here is Nate getting in on the action - noticed he learn from his dad - laying down low for the eye level shot :-)
Thursday, March 6, 2014:
What’s new with Ken Lee you wanted to know - another day - another image of mine will be feature on a national wildlife magazine 2015 Calendar - it was submitted a few years back when I was more active in entering national contest just to see if what I like are share by others - yes - one more for future generations to appreciate what we have now and hopefully what’s left will be around for them to enjoy.
Friday, February 28, 2014:
After working two straight weeks without a day off - it’s Friday and it’s raining (we need the rain) - outside of my patio came this full breeding male Costa shaking water drops off him.
Saturday, February 22, 2014:
On-call this weekend with IBM Pulse next week so I’ll stay close to home - which is cool and I get to read some emails/etc - and while reading about sea hawks came this article from the National Wildlife Federation Magazine with one of my photos - it’s good to know I’ll leave behind some legacy for future generations who might not be able to see this while both population and pollution grows destroying what’s left.
Thursday, February 20, 2014:
Cold/Flu almost gone as this West Coast Lady perched on this Cherry Blossom Tree outside my yard - here are some meaningful and appropriate thoughts:
In Chinese culture, the cherry blossom symbolizes power and love. It is representative of female beauty, sexuality, and dominance. In Japanese culture, the cherry represents the transitions of life.
Sunday, February 16, 2014:
Not much happening with Nate bringing home the flu and I’ve been toughen it out - but as things also happen sometimes - while still weak - I managed and located this Anna’s nest deep and I mean deep in the thickets of this desert tree on the local reserve - and flowering trees are in bloom - how cool is that?
Tuesday, February 11, 2014:
Know what I love about publishing my own site - <control> - ability to edit and make it mobile friendly now and if anyone with a sharp eye might notice - jkwebzone.com gets redirected to www.jkwebzone.com
With 3w rewrite comes the great gray owl icon bookmark (which was taken with my first real exotic glass - namely the Nikon 400mm F/2.8 on the 5 series Gitzo deep in the forrest of NH where the f/2.8 pays off.
With this new world of tech/web which started as a hobby during my late 20s (gosh - that was a long long time ago) to now where I’m able to ‘play’ around on this site to both explore and express this freedom of creativity once again - my feelings is - photography is art - not just taken a shot - sharpen it and call it a day - it needs to be created and expressed to your audience and hopefully they can ‘see’ through your eyes - everything else is just another ‘snapshot’ and I seen/met lots of these folks in the field - that’s all for now - peace and as the saying/song and this time of the year goes: click below.
“if you can’t be with the one you love - love the one you’re with”.
Monday, February 10, 2014:
Outside of my yard shooting with my D700 in jpeg are these costa hummer and common grackle - not bad from an 6 yr camera and it’s one camera I’m happy with since the D300/s series.
Saturday, February 8, 2014:
I drove/walked through God’s creation today from a beautiful warm spring (yeah) it’s bathwater warm to an wildlife management area where hunting season was still open - saw raptors from kestrels to red-tail and harrier galore - all too distance to get a good shot - two great-horned owls appears to be a mated pair low but thick in brushes - yeah - strange to the NE crowd where they perched high.
Thursday, February 6, 2014:
Tamron 150-600mm Lens and Nikon D4s and many more toys coming down the pike - will Ken Lee get any of these - wait and see.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014:
Hint - Safari browser has an ‘Reader ‘ located on the right hand side of the url bar where if you click on it - this page turns into a letter format making reading much easier on the eyes ;-)
Of course if you’re on an Mac - you already knows this since Safari comes pre-install - but if you’re using Windows and wanted to check out this cool feature - have no fear - Apple made one here.
Monday, February 3, 2014:
Staying true to my conviction of unabated freedom of the web - I’ve decided to keep this site ‘as is’ but now hosted by an green hosting center (they use wind farms to power their servers instead of my home server powered by me :-) - so no Smugmug and soon no Flickr where while cool at first - it’s becoming lots of work to keep reading emails from folks whom I never met or hope to are instantly ‘following’ me - sounds creepy and while some might think they’re ‘popular’ being ‘follow’ but to me - this is unwarranted - Flickr ‘used’ to ask me first before someone can add me - now it seems Yahoo/Flickr just ‘assumed’ I wanted/needed this - no thinks Flickr/Yahoo.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014:
My good friend Steve sent me some snowy shots from NE where there are 16 or more reported this year thus far here.
Thursday, January 9, 2014:
It’s a new year and and a new page - what was new a few years back becomes old news today and here is where the saga continues until this page fills up - so here it goes ...
Yesterday was a day off to take care of personal business and managed half a hour to snap a few of this Harrier cruising for a snack which was what I was doing at the time - having a nice juicy ‘philly steak burger’ with sweet potato fries from Carl’s jr .... it washed down well with a nice cold orange soda.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014:
Hey - it’s winter and what better time to take an ‘outback’ to the ‘outback’ of Australia - enjoy this video.
Note: a few years back when the D4 was announced and out in the wild - I mentioned to my fellow photographers that I’ll wait for the D4s ala D3/D3s where the D3s blows away the D3 - looks like that’s coming - Nikon announced the development of the D4s with better AF and new processing engine/etc - here are some sneak shots on flickr and here - and the official AUS/Nikon site here - enjoy for the things to come - as always - there are good to go along with the bad (FYI).
Monday, January 6, 2014:
Ducky day (Sunday 1/5/14) with high winds - red shoulders along with red-tailed hawks are seen in the distance here in downloads - peregrine aka (duck hawk) were nowhere in sight - what was in sight is truly what should be called (duck hawk) which is what this distance shot of the red-tailed hawk caught to offer to his mate - these western species of red-tailed hawks have renew the spirit that was lost.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014:
Another happy new year and another fun filled day out shooting with the peregrine on the hunt while my lens was trained on the Sora - the Flicker here are red shafted which are much more colorful then their northern cousins.
