A red-shouldered hawk on a lamp post on Seminole Road near the ocean in Atlantic Beach, Fla. Here we have reinforced the lesson that your camera should always be right next to you in the car. In this case, it was in my 98-year-old mother’s lap when suddenly I veered off the roadway an into somebody’s driveway so I could get this hawk. Mother was amused, not impressed but at least amused, at my doggedness. Thanks to fraternity brother and amateur ornithologist Tom Driscoll for the ID, because I’m terrible at raptors. But they are beautiful. Sleek hunter-killers. Nikon D5200, Tamron 150-600mm f/5.0-6.3 lens with VR on, ƒ/19, 600mm (DX 900mm), 1/60th second, ISO 400.
Matanzas Bay on a January Night After a Storm: St. Augustine’s Matanzas Bay in northeast Florida on a foggy January night. Made without a tripod by holding the tripod against a bridge railing. A copy of the image with the system-required crop is serving as the blog’s header image. Nikon D500, Sigma Art 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM (no VR onboard), manual focus, ƒ/1.8
Lunar eclipse: This is the full moon in full eclipse just after midnight Eastern Standard (GMT -5) on Jan. 21, 2019 — the so-called Full Super Wolf Blood Moon, or whatever. Outside temperature 10F, with Nikon D500 and Tamron 150-600mm G1 lens — ISO 3200, f6,3, 600mm (DX 900mm), 0.3 sec., -2EV — set on a Benro heavy-duty tripod and Movo gimbal head, using a wired remote button. Tough shot with moon at nearly zenith; after rotating camera 85 degrees, I manually focused in 10F weather using the live-view articulated screen. Brrrrrr.
“Hands off my juice!” Scan of a photo of my son, then aged 2-1/2, on Sept, 15, 1992. Jack’s not going to let anyone near his apple juice. Here are the exposure data that I can remember: Nikon N8008-AF. 35mm, f2.8 lens. Tri-X film exposed at ASA 400.
I used the pano mode on the iPhone to shoot this little band of fog in a meadow along Airport Road in Roanoke at dusk. It was a grab, but I still like it. August 30, 2017. iPhone 6+, 1/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 500, 4.2 mm (29mm in 35). ©2017
I’ve never been a more monochromatic environment; I couldn’t have pulled a drop of color out of this scene if I’d tried. This photograph, made May 2, 2016, was shot in color and is reproduced here in color with minimal processing. These are oyster beds in Chincoteague Bay off the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Nikon D5200, Nikkor 18-200mm lens, RAW, aperture mode, EV 0, VR on, ISO 800, 1/3000th sec., f/9.5, 24mm (36mm DX).
It was Dec. 17, the 3rd Sunday of Advent, 2017, and the tree was trimmed and the time had arrived for this year’s tree photo. Christmas tree photos are always dicey, lightingwise, so I determined long ago that details are best. Nikon D500 in aperture mode, Nikkor 18-200mm lens, VR on, ISO 1600, RAW, EV -1, f5.6, 1/30th sec., 200mm (300mm DX)
A Tanzanian woman of Bashay village near Karatu with two of her three daughters. June 21, 2017. iPhone 6+, no VR, EV 0, f/2.2, 32 ISO, 1/114th sec., 4.15mm. ©2017 John M. Hudson
It’s late summer and at Gross’ Orchard they’re waiting for the year’s apple crop to come in. August 2, 2014. Nikon D5200, Rokinon 8mm, no VR, EV 0, f/3.5, 800 ISO, 1/125th sec., 8mm (12mm DX). ©2014 John M. Hudson
Vilano Beach near St. Augustine, Fla., just after sunrise, April 25, 2015. Nikon D7100, Sigma 70-210mm lens. No VR, EV 0, f/11, 400 ISO, 1/200th sec, 210mm (315mm DX). ©2015 John M. Hudson
My Sight 