Focus Photography
Mourning Dove
©Bert Gildart: Let’s call this posting “Focus Photography,” as that was the intention Rich and I had the other night when I joined him for one last climb to all those spectacular boulders located no more than ten minutes from Point of Rocks Campground. It’s the place where Rich Charpentier now hangs his hat.
It was irresistible: the evening was warm and the skies perfectly clear. Now all we had to do was find appropriate subjects. That was our focus.
I think we found them just as the sun was beginning to set. First we found a dove, and when Janie looked at the image she wondered if it had been banded around the neck, but that, in fact, was not the case. That’s the way the species comes.
I photographed the bird with a 400mm lens, hand holding it, relying on image stabilization to help prevent blur from camera shake. It’s a method I’ve been using for years, and it generally seems to work.
Because the lens was not quite long enough to fill the frame with the dove, I included a little of its habitat, which actually seemed to add to the image.
FINAL IMAGE
Finally, as we wandered around, we found rocks, and of course, more rocks, not surprising I suppose just above this particular campground. I made this image just a few minutes before the sun dipped below the horizon.
The lens was opened as wide as I could, but the light was so diminished that the shutter speed dropped to about 1/20 of a second. Because I didn’t have a tripod with me, I found a rock that served as support.
For me, the evening’s outing with photography as our focus was a delightful way to end a week in Prescott–and once again, I have to say that leaving when you still want to explore may, in fact, be a good time to leave. It means you have not worn out your welcome, and that you want to return, for you realize there is still so much more to see.
Endless Rocks
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That’s the way it always seems to be–and we’ll certainly return to Prescott to enjoy the area and see Rich and Sadira.
NEXT DAY
This morning as I conclude this post, I’m doing so from Dead Horse State Park, located a few miles from Sedona. It’s also in the shadow of Jerome , and last night as we stepped out from our trailer we could see the night lights iminating from the old mining settlement.
The lights set a nice stage for more explorations of this beautiful section of Arizona, which will include the exploration of ancient Indian ruins, and the beautiful red rocks for which Sedona and the area in general is so well known. We’ll be here for about a week.
(Note: Last year about this time I was reliving one of the many trips we have made to Alaska. Read post .)
