On the brink of friendship; "A man and a Cardinal".
Until he returned. This time he was sitting in one of the trees that are near my front porch. Further away, but still glaring at me intently. I looked his way, and again he fluttered away. I thought, "ok... this is kind of fun." Admittedly, I was super bored, and the thought of being attractive to a wild Cardinal was intriguing. But he left again, and that should have been the end of it. It wasn't.
I have been stuck at home (as most of us are) for over a month now. No in-person interaction, just the blank walls, and stillness of the nothingness that surrounds me. I think of stories to write and situations to talk about. I learn new facts that have no real-world application but are interesting nonetheless. I get excited about topics but have no one to share them with. The only respite I have is the occasional conversation with my spouse. Still, those are brief and generally about housekeeping and such. Since she is working twelve-hour shifts, six days a week, there is little time. So after my workday is over, I watch Netflix or Amazon Prime, Hulu, or our stash of films still regulated to Blu-Ray. It has become what I imagine a white-collar prison would be. But worse. At least in prison, there are guards to talk to and other inmates. Here, at home, there isn't even that luxury.
As I sat outside this week, something interesting happened. The sun was pretty warm, and the neighborhood birds began to make themselves heard. Not just like "hey, I am here," more like "HEY! YOU SITTING THERE! PAY ATTENTION!" It got loud. I suppose spring has finally riled them up, and for once, I am around to hear the community of feathered rabble-rousers.
While not strange, what was weird is that I noticed this little male Cardinal watching me. I said, hello. He stared at me. Then he really stared at me. I could tell he was concentrating hard. He didn't look at me like a dog, cat, or a human, he used just one eye as birds do. But for some reason, I knew he was studying me more than any other native Arkansas bird had ever before. I am sure that you have been stared at by the exotic birds. They lock on you and track your movements. That was this Cardinal, but for some reason, I could feel the intensity of his stare. I looked at him in return with what I felt was the same intensity, and he bounced off into the trees. While interesting, it seemed to be a "one-off," and I moved about my day.
The Flying Stalker
My iPhone at maximum zoom got me close, but I knew I had to get my real camera.
Until he returned. This time he was sitting in one of the trees that are near my front porch. Further away, but still glaring at me intently. I looked his way, and again he fluttered away. I thought, "ok... this is kind of fun." Admittedly, I was super bored, and the thought of being attractive to a wild Cardinal was intriguing. But he left again, and that should have been the end of it. It wasn't.
I went inside for a while. I did some research into cameras, gear, and filmmaking but became restless once again. So I returned to the sunlight. After just a few moments outside, I realized that my crimson friend had returned. Not just hanging around a few feet out of arm's length, but almost sitting on my foot! This courageous little bird and his exuberant curiosity have landed him at my feet. We stare at each other for a moment, his demeanor seems calm.
I speak to him and smile. "Hello, my little friend." His little head snaps up, then down, then back up again. There is a small moment where I think he is deciding if we are to be friends. Then he flies away, back into the trees and shrubs that he calls home.
I immediately called my wife. I had to tell someone about this little encounter. She is amused but not overly so. After all, her life has not gotten quieter; it is exponentially louder with the long days and tighter security where she works. To her, this thing that is happening is only mildly entertaining. To me, it's like the circus came to town and set up in my front yard. I guess it is all about perception, now isn't it.
I now have to document what's happening. I am a photographer, after all. I run into the house and get my camera and tripod. I get the longest lens I own, and I set up in the driveway, pointing my camera towards the front porch, and I wait. And wait. And wait. It seems that my friendly Crimson wrapped feathered friend has decided we aren't really made to be friends after all. It wasn't meant to be, I suppose, for the lives of humans and that of wild songbirds are much too distant to for a connection any deeper than observing one another.
Believing that I just wasted precious energy setting up my camera for breathtaking pictures of man and Cardinal forming a mind-blowing friendship perfect for Instagram or a Twitter firestorm, I do what I always do. I made the best of it. You see, I have this furry wanderer that lives in my yard. He didn't ask permission to live here, but here he lives, nonetheless. We call him Freddie, and he likes to do what cats are want to do.
So I turned my camera on him. Because I was bored, I made this little film that I call "The Cat." Please watch and enjoy.
Sony A7III and Lots and Lots of birds.
One other thing that really makes me happy about the a7III is the amount of detail the stills retain when under exposed. Sony always does a good job at keeping detail in the blacks. Just like a RED camera, the Sony holds up when underexposed but really can’t deal effectively with over-exposure when compared to their counterparts. But really, I shoot dark all the time, it’s my style, so this camera makes my life so much easier in post.
This weekend was busy! My wife wanted to go to the Harry Potter convention here in town, so we had to go to bed early and get up like any other weekday without sleeping in. I know, such a rough life. It was pretty cool, the convention. I like the movies, but I’m not as big into HP as a lot of the folks there. One thing I found really interesting was the Raptors.
Wait, what? It’s a Harry Potter convention…
No! Not those kind of Raptors!
The Raptor Rescue from Conway brought them up because, you know, Hedwig.
Owls are part of the Raptor family of birds, and they are cool. They started off by sitting outside the Town Center, and everyone got a close look at them. My favorite? The Owls, of course.
As a photographer, I am happy with these pictures, but I am even more impressed with the quality of the camera I have. I have a new Sony a7III, and it really makes me not miss my “crop” sensor a77 that I’ve been shooting on for years. I shot all these photos with my Sony 50mm off the shelf Prime lens. Nothing special to it, just a run of the mill lens. But the quality is so good, way better than what I am used to. The Sony a7III is a full frame camera with about 20 stops of exposure built in.
Almost all of these shots on this page are cropped. Not just cropped in, but SUPER cropped. Here is the full photo of the Horned Owl.
Now, Here is just cropping in on the eyes.
It’s not precisely Pixel Peeping, but I am really stoked about the resolution of this camera.
One other thing that really makes me happy about the a7III is the amount of detail the stills retain when underexposed. Sony always does an excellent job of keeping detail in the blacks. Just like a RED camera, the Sony holds up when underexposed but really can’t deal effectively with over-exposure when compared to their counterparts. But really, I shoot dark all the time, it’s my style, so this camera makes my life so much easier in post.
These shots were mostly outside with the bright sky behind the subject. The photos were able to expose well and with very little noise. I was just running and gunning with these shots so let's not judge the shooter, ok?
As shot with no adjustments.
Fully exposed and adjusted. I even brought up the exposure more than I usually would.
In Lightroom, you can get even closer with the RAW photo, and I looked really hard and could not find any noise what-so-ever. Ok, maybe a keener eye might find defects, but they would be hard pressed.
Then we were off to see my father. It was his birthday on Saturday, and they had a little wine.
I noticed a cool looking thing in front of me on the counter. Since I had my camera with me, I couldn’t help myself.
I think this might be a shot I set up later for a product type shot. Better lighting, cleaner glasses, and probably not a wine stain, leaking down the label. But you know, it kinda works.
So, we all went out to eat for his birthday to an ok restaurant in Springdale that is kinda famous. It has been host to three Presidents and the latest season of “True Detective” on HBO, the AQ Chicken House.
Al and Vivian (Mom and Dad)
Kelli in all her Harry Potter stuff
CRAZY Chicken statue in the lobby of AQ Chicken House.
Still using the 50mm for all these shots, I was able to pull the detail out of them without sacrificing image quality even under some of the worst photographic conditions you can think of. Not too shabby.
The next day, it was finally sunny, but it was Sunday and Screenwriting day. Donald and I spent almost ten hours talking over just the opening image of our latest screenplay. UG!
He was running behind so that morning I went out and shot with my Tamron 70-300 zoom I bought for my a77. Fortunately, I thought far enough ahead to purchase the full frame version of the lens, so It works perfectly. The only problem I do have with it is that the lens information doesn’t pass through to the camera. Oh well. I can see the aperture but nothing else.
Since I couldn’t really go for a photo walk or leave the driveway (remember, I was waiting for Donald to show up), I decided to get some photos of the Cardinals and Robins that live in my yard, and of course, they weren’t around, so I had to wait on them too. With my patience rewarded I did get a few shots.
It was such a busy weekend that I had to include everything that went on in one post, I guess. Maybe I am just being a little lazy and not separating it all out into a daily thing, but as you can tell, I am really more interested in the photography of the weekend than I am Harry Potter stuff, but whatever.