Anne-Christine tells me that “backlighting is a great way to create stunning, eye-catching effects. Here are a handful of specific images you can make with backlighting: Street and portrait silhouettes, bird-in-flight silhouettes, portraits, and macros with beautiful background bokeh, landscape silhouettes, and sunset/sunrise landscapes.”

Glass

I always enjoy looking at glass objects. I found some of these images in stores, in windows, and in displays.

I first saw an example of Chihuly glass at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. The first and third photographs are examples displayed at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.

The next two stain glass signs are located on my sister-in-law’s property in Indianapolis, Indianna. They are created from images of the property.

Animals

A spider has cast its web at the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve

Great White Egret found at UC Davis Arboretum

The Oakland Zoo features some interesting exhibits like fruit bats and primates.

Flora

Pets

Here my grandson is holding his pet Love Bird Peaches.

I can’t believe my grandson will be 26 years old this week.

Canine Companions starts training early.

Fun watching dock diving at Petapalooza years ago

Black puppies are particularly hard to photograph. Lighting is key. Libby was an English Black Labrador Retriever and my very first dog. I waited 40 years for her! It has been 4 years ago this month that we parted.

Lots of images benefit from backlit lighting. I hope that you may be inspired to look at the world from a new perspective. Positive, beautiful and peaceful.

John states, “Given that change is inevitable, for this week’s challenge consider change as it applies to you. Maybe it’s the changes in your family over the years, the change of seasons in your favorite park, or even the change in the technology of your camera equipment. In short, what does “change” mean to you?” Photography and camera equipment have been bouncing around in my thoughts, so here goes my journey through camera changes.

Last year I bought myself a Nixplay digital frame.

It has brought me, and my husband a lot of pleasure. I receive photos from people I love who are far away. I upload favorite flora and fauna photographs. My dogs make an appearance. I turn the frame on in the morning and with my coffee it brings back memories of the past. Seeing my grandchildren grow. Watching as my puppy changes. Noticing the changing seasons.

My cameras have evolved over the years. For my nineth birthday I got my box camera.

I saw my box camera, Imperial Debonair at a Swap Meet and had to have this reminder. The models with the fold out lens is like the German camera I had. Interestingly, my Uncle Mark still had the same one the last time I saw him. Wish I could have it. The Nikon is my first SLR.

Then as my father got a new camera I inherited a rather complicated, 35mm German camera. I had to manually set the f stop and shutter speed. For this I used a light meter. The shutter needed to be screwed in each time. I mastered this and captured many family moments in my teens. My father moved up to a Canon slr and I moved up to a Yashica rangefinder camera. I used this camera through college, and until my son was born. My next rangefinder camera had two distance settings. I was simplifying, but understanding the limitations of my tool.

When I went back to teaching, I liked to use my camera as a tool in my classroom. All my photos were printed, and I found places that printed duplicates. On the first day of school I would take a photo of each student as I got to know them, and then on Back to School Day the parents could find their student’s desk. Activities in class were documented, and placed in a photo album. Field trip volunteers got a photo taken with their student. And the last day of school students could take any of the duplicates as a reminder.

There is something about having the printed photo in an album. I just invited my first cousin from Israel to lunch. We really did not know each other. After lunch I brought out my parent’s albums, and we found common ground in looking at pictures sent from over 70 years ago. So special.

I dabbled in video for a while, but I didn’t want to learn how to edit properly. So my next step was to a SLR. In the last years of my teaching profession I was pulled back into the artistry of photography by the high school students photo work displayed outside my library. I purchased a Nikon N80 and began my lens collection. My photo were still printed, but I moved into slides for a while.

My first connection with digital came with my Sony CD Mavica, 3.3 mega pixel camera. Cute, compact and it wrote the files to a cd, but oh so slowly. I took a photo of my toddler granddaughter and she was in the next room by the time the file had recorded.

The idea was good, but technology kept innovating.

Then came the Digital slr. Now I was intrigued. My first serious look at digital was with my Nikon D70.

Taken at the Sacramento Zoo with my Nikon D70

I could still use all the lenses I was purchasing for my N80 slr and I saved images on my compact flash card. As the technology improved I graduated to a D200

Taken at the Oakland Zoo with my Nikon D200

Nikon D7000 upgrade

Libby has an eye on the prize with my Olympus

The Mirrorless Digital cameras came on the scene and the smaller size, and quality appealed to me. I moved to the Olympus line, but I never felt like I was having any fun. I loved the size, quality of photographs, but I never got the hang of the menu system. So I switched to Fuji. I first tried the Fuji 100f. This is a great camera for street shooting. I have had great luck taking pictures, but I am mindful of the single focal distance available. Once that menu system was understood I sold my Olympus system and purchased the Fuji xt2.

Changing over to my Fuji xt2 I capture wild horses in Nevada

My Fuji 100f captures there 2 Lagatto Romagnolo at a dog show

My Nikon system sat for a while and finally I sold my workhorse Nikon D7100 to a friend. Sold all my lenses and purchased a Fuji xt4 at the start of the pandemic.