I love photographing the creeks at Umstead State Park. I wanted to do some longer exposures with my friend Vivek, so we began hiking down. We got about halfway to the river when dark clouds began rolling in. It was quickly as dark as late evening, and it began pouring rain. After sprinting back to a shelter to wait for it to let up, I saw this on a fence at the edge of the shelter. I captured this with a tripod, Canon T5i, and a 60mm macro lens.
I took this on my trusty 75-300mm lens. I love small birds, and I especially love blue jays and cardinals. I've never gotten a picture of a blue jay, though. I have plenty of slightly-not-publishable pictures of cardinals. This is one of my favorites, for a couple reasons. One, it had better have been worth lying in the ice for an hour and a half. All of my joints hurt. Two, it captures tons of detail, and also that adorable moment when a small bird is shaped like a tennis ball in hopes of keeping warm in the winter. I have a huge issue with my 75-300mm lens not capturing shots as sharply as I'd like. So many come out slightly soft, and unusable, but I can't afford to replace it. So I was VERY happy this one came out.
Until this year, I've never taken the time to explore the trails behind the North Carolina Museum of Art. I found this beautiful tree next to a pond. The tree is green, but in infrared light, looks like it is glowing with light. Leaves and plants tend to reflect a lot of infrared light, giving them the appearance of being made of snow or ice.
