The Circle of Life…

I am posting from an RV resort on Hilton Head Island as Eddie and I make our way back to New York. Before heading home from Florida, we spent a few days camping at Disney World. The annual Flower & Garden Festival is being held at EPCOT, and I took my camera to the park to take pictures the flowers and topiary. In a pond at the China pavilion a bird was perched on a rock (I don't yet know what type of bird, because I haven't had a chance for online research) looking so still that at first I though it was a statue. It appeared to be stalking something, and after about ten minutes of staring, it dove into the water and came back to the rock with a prize. From my vantage point it looked like it had snagged a piece of water plant, which hardly seemed worth the effort. I snapped one last photo of the bird, and we went on our way. It wasn't until that night when I was downloading my photos into Lightroom, that I saw what the bird had really snagged.




Expand the post for camera and setting information.

Camera: Nikon D90 DSLR
Lens: Nikon 70-300mm VR
Focal length: 270mm
Shooting aperture priority at f/11 with the ISO was set to 200.

A new family at Easter…

A pair of Sandhill Cranes are nesting at Lake Margaret here at our RV resort. The gestation period is 55 to 60 days, so I doubt if they will hatch before we leave at the end of the week, but they are wonderful to look at — and photograph from afar.

More photos, and some information, in the expanded post.


Sandhill Cranes mate for life…

…and both the male and female share in parenting.

The sexes look alike, and I have no idea which is the male and which is the female.

I found a blind to stand in while I took my photos. They were taken with my Nikon 70–300mm VR (vibration reduction) lens. Rather than drag a tripod into the blind, I hand-held the camera. Without a VR lens, the photos would not have been as clear.

My camera is a Nikon D90 DSLR. The ISO was set to 200, and I shot aperture priority at f/8 and f/10.

In case you were wondering, still no sign of blooms from the every growing Century Plant. Wishing everyone a Happy Easter and a Good Passover.

When will it bloom?

I've been so involved in other projects for the past few weeks, that I haven't taken the time to do what I love — wander around and take pictures. Today I went for a walk with my camera, and over the next few days I hope to be sharing some of the photos on my blog. I'll begin with two photos of a Century Plant Agave that is growing in our RV resort.



I took this first photo on March 18, when I first heard about the impending bloom.



Everyday I ride my bike by the plant to monitor its progress, and it just keeps getting taller. The second photo was taken this afternoon. The property owner said she thinks she is growing Jack's beanstalk! No one seems to have any idea when the plant will bloom. I just hope it is before the 19th, when we leave for the season.

Expand the post for more…

While called the Century Plant, it actually lives from ten to twenty-five years, blooming only once and then dying. During out last two trips to Arizona and western Texas we saw many blooming Century Plants. The ones we observed in 2007 were of a smaller variety of the plant, but last March, in Texas, I took photos of a large, dying specimen after the bloom.

The Good Mother…

It has been another long stretch between posts, but I do have two cute photos to share.

A few weeks ago one of the Colobus Monkeys at Disney's Animal Kingdom had a baby. According to what I read in the newspaper, the keepers don't yet know if it is male or female, or even how much it weighs, because the mother is keeping it close. When we saw the monkeys this past weekend, mother and baby were very shy, but I did get a few shots. Right now the baby's fur is white and it looks like a little snowball. Over the next few months the fur will gradually turn almost completely black.

I haven't posted any photos in the past two weeks. After our van fire, Eddie & I were pretty busy working on our insurance claims. Last week we drove up to New Bern, North Carolina, to see my mother. On Thursday, driving back to my mother's house from downtown New Bern, I took a double take when I saw what looked like a statue of Marilyn Monroe in my peripheral vision. I have been collecting photographs of statues for the past few years, always planning to make them into a book. This was one statue I just had to have for my collection. I returned later in the afternoon with my camera — this has got to make me get moving on a statue book.

Blistering Paint…

If you don't already know by now, our big, blue GMC van caught fire and incinerated on Friday. It was a surreal experience, one that I do not want to repeat. Yesterday, Eddie & I drove to the location where the van had been towed so we could take photos for insurance purposes. While I was taking the pictures I couldn't resist taking a few "artsy" photos — two of which are pictured above. If you haven't already seen pictures of the fire, take a look in the expanded post.


Before & After

More Disney…

In January, Eddie and I celebrated my birthday with a Saturday night stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. On Sunday morning I was taking some photos of the hotel lobby, when two staff members stopped to ask if I would like to take some special photos. I said yes, and they escorted us to the roof for a spectacular view of the surrounding Disney World.

Wilderness Lodge's "Old Faithful"

After transferring the photos to my computer, I decided that the late morning light made the colors look flat, so I added a more monochromatic look in Adobe Lightroom.

Expand the post for a look at a few more photos, and a link to my 2009 Disney Gallery.

Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

Looking from the Wilderness Lodge to the Fort Wilderness Campground

Two monorail trains pass at the Contemporary Hotel

Eddie with our new Disney friends, Kerrie & George

A shot of the Wilderness Lodge lobby from the 7th floor balcony

To see my 2009 Disney Photo Gallery, visit www.digitalquinn.com/disney.