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John Hadden Photography

Photography of the Natural World

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photography

The first to arrive…

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A group of robins makes an appearance. Harbingers of things to come…

I was standing at the back door overlooking Fargo Brook when I heard the unmistakeable call of robins. Grabbing my camera and long lens, I headed outside and found them over by the winterberry bush munching on a few remaining berries. They took to the willow over the pond as I approached and were nice enough to pose for a few shots.

Panasonic GX8, Lumix 100-300mm lens @ 300mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/500″ exposure.

Cleft

cleft
Broken 6″ thick ice slabs along the Huntington River

The recent heavy rains kicked up many big blocks of ice along the Huntington River. I took a walk along the banks at the Audubon Nature Center here in Huntington yesterday. This is a close-up of a broken 6″ thick slab. I like the air bubbles trapped in the ice.

Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 55mm, ISO 200, f/13, 1/320″ exposure.

In the woods

A little experimentation with motion blur in the Audubon Nature Center woods this morning…

Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ various lengths, ISO 100, f/22, 0.2″ exposures.

Glacé

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Iced magnolia buds yesterday morning

The season of wacky winter weather continues. Yesterday morning’s icing event coated our backyard magnolia (and everything else) in a good layer of ice before the south winds drove the temperature up to 51 by mid afternoon.

Panasonic GM5, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 88mm, ISO 800, f/10, 1/60″ exposure.

Winter Abstract

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Afternoon shadow lines across a beaver pond

Now that there’s finally some snow on the ground, the opportunities for a little abstraction are more abundant. We walked up to a nearby beaver pond yesterday afternoon. The shadows of the surrounding forest fell across the flat, snow covered  ice creating an abstract field of line and light.

Panasonic GM5, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 77mm, ISO 400, f/13, 1/500″ exposure.

Puffy Purple Finch

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Chilly morning temperatures make for puffy purple finches…

We started the day with 2 degrees above zero and it’s been dropping since. This male purple finch was all puffed up keeping warm near the feeders.

Panasonic Lumix GM5, Lumix 100-300mm lens @ 300mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/320″ exposure.

Sharp-Shinned Breakfast

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A sharp-shinned hawk makes a morning meal of bluejay

My breakfast this morning was disturbed by the sound of bluejays screaming outside the windows by the feeders. Looking out, I saw them scatter as a fast moving shape slammed one of them to the ground. A sharp-shinned hawk had found its breakfast!

The hawk flew the still struggling jay over to underneath the apple trees near the brook to finish its prey off. I was able to get a few shots from the living room window before it flew off into the woods to finish its meal.

Panasonic Lumix GM5, Lumix 100-300mm lens @ 300mm, ISO 3200, f/5.6, 1/250″ exposure.

Afternoon snow

afternoon-snow
Late afternoon sunlight on fresh snow

Going kind of minimalist on you all today. The late afternoon sunlight yesterday created subtle shadows and colors on the fresh snowfall in our front field. This about catches the mood.

Panasonic Lumix GM5, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 37mm, ISO 800, f/9, 1/500″ exposure.

Open Water

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Calm, open water at Shelburne beach

We went down to Shelburne yesterday to check out an interesting exhibit of rug-hooked renderings of Tarot cards at the All Souls Interfaith center (highly recommended!) Afterwards we drove down to the Shelburne town beach to catch the view. As one might expect from this winter, the lake was wide open. I liked the way the slips of ice had covered the rocks in the foreground.

Panasonic Lumix GM5, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 14mm, ISO 400, f/14, 1/100″ exposure.

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