• she/her

Principal engineer at Mercury. I've authored the Dhall configuration language, the Haskell for all blog, and countless packages and keynote presentations.

I'm a midwife to the hidden beauty in everything.

💖 @wiredaemon


discord
Gabriella439
discord server
discord.gg/XS5ZDZ8nnp
location
bay area
private page
cohost.org/newmoon

backseatpilot
@backseatpilot

I try to carry my camera whenever we're doing something outdoors-y, and it's really been interesting to learn all about the local wildlife. I had been under the assumption for quite a long time that the Northeast was someone bereft of "interesting" fauna (whatever that means), but more time in the woods has shown me otherwise.

I also think wildlife photography can be done with a "reasonable" budget (whatever that means) if you know how to work within your limitations. I'm not using six thousand dollar super telephotos - I don't think there even is one available for Fuji - but I think I can still get good results that are artistically interesting.

A few of my favorites:

A painted turtle facing the camera

Red Eft

Buck eastern whitetail deer peeking through the woods

Insects can be easy to photograph, as many stay very still, especially in hot weather:

Dragonfly perched on a twig

Rosy maple moth on a log

Birds are not impossible! I don't think I'll ever get a lot of close-up, frame-filling images of birds, but they can still be presented artistically:

Pileated Woodpecker

Barred Owl

Chipping Sparrow with a mouth full of grubs

Opportunities I've missed because I didn't bring my camera that day - river otters, foxes, an osprey(this far north!), herons, lots of interesting stuff. There's a lot of nature out there!


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in reply to @backseatpilot's post:

What lens(es) are you using? I’m still on a 55-200 I got during the pandemic shortages, but I just don’t get the reach I want. Curious if you’re using the 70-300, 100-400, or 150-600 (since you mention Fuji).

I've got the 70-300 which is most of the bird pictures. I recently picked up the newish 33(?)mm macro which I like quite a lot for a hiking macro lens.

Edit- don't sleep on the 23mm f2 also! Very economical and surprisingly good minimum focus distance.

It's funny you mention osprey as far north as Mass, I lived in Vermont for most of my childhood, and we had osprey that far up (or at least, that's what we were told they were)! They mostly nested in wetlands near Lake Champlain on power lines, which later got converted to nest platforms. It was like a seasonal marker to see them building nests, and see their chicks. Blue herons were also fun to spot in the mornings driving to school! Like you said, there's a lot of nature out there!