Harley

Been busy the past few days and haven't even thought about making a post, but only because I've had my hands full.  Got a new family member last Friday and it's almost like having a newborn in the house.  I now have a Hemingway Polydactl...yes, a cat for those of you who may not know.  Polydactl simply meaning he was born with an extra toe on both his front feet.  His name is Harley and he's right around 6 months old according to the vet.  He's a rescue kitty, though much is not known about the how and why, but the important thing is now that he has a new home with me.  I wonder if he realizes that I needed him in my life as much as he needed me.  I simply love him to bits and he's a joy to have around.  Posting a pic for now and will share more later. :-)

Hummingbirds

I've never been much of a bird person, but after spending some time around some local Hummingbirds, I've got a new found love for these amazing little birds.  They are amazing to watch...and after they earn your trust, they've even been known to eat right from your hand. I believe it's about time for them to be leaving soon, but what time I have been able to spend with them has been great.  I even managed to get a few images of them feeding or just hanging out. 

Getting clear and sharp images of these guys can be tough, but can be accomplished with a lot of patience...lol.

I really like the image above as it captured one Hummingbird on the feeder, one in hover mode, and the shadow just under him/her.  Funny I didn't notice the shadow while I was taking the picture.

And finally, a somewhat clear shot of one that was just hanging out watching me, while I was watching him/her.  I'll miss them when they're gone, and look forward to their return next Spring. :-)

Horses

I've had a passion for horses since I was a small girl.  I spent summers up at Grandmother's house in the mountains and a beautiful horse named Ajax.  I'll never foget him.  Someday I still hope to have my own...one, maybe, two, or even three.  They are such beautiful creatures and I could spend hours on end with them.  Today I spent some time with a few that I often go and visit.

“The sight of him did something to me I've never quite been able to explain. He was more than tremendous strength and speed and beauty of motion. He set me dreaming.” - Walt Morey

Give a horse what he needs and he will give you his heart in return. 

Water

Sorry for missing a day here, but it's been a busy week.  Lots of new ideas and I'm starting to put them in motion.  Today my subject is simply 'water', and I chose this for a reason.  I got together for awhile with a friend of mine from junior high, that I've only recently came back into contact with.  We had some errands to run and then somehow we got on the subject of the lake...and she just happened to mention that it really wasn't that far from her house.  Well, me being the "shooter" that I am, asked if she cared if we took a short drive down there to see the dam.  I hadn't been on this part of the lake in a really long time.  So off we went, and it was amazing.  The sky was blue, the water was blue, and when we got there we were also lucky enough to see water spewing off into the lake...Amazing sight. 

Wow!  Yeah, I know...you're probably thinking "It's only water", right?   Still amazing...the look, the sound, the smell(that's another story!), and you could almost feel a mist from the water.  To me it was beautiful.

And though I was actually trying to catch the mist on my camera, after I got home and started editing pics, I noticed the Great Blue Heron sitting on the top of the gate.  I didn't even notice him when I took the picture...I was too excited about all the water.  Turned out to be a pretty decent shot though.  Now all this was on one side of the dam, and on the other side, it's a totally different view as you'll see below.

Beautiful and clear day, and really not that hot..Well, it was hot, but down on the lake front it actually felt really nice.  All this has me wondering what the sunsets look like here, and I definitely am going to go back sometime in the evening to check it out...I'm sure they are amazing.  All in all a beautiful day, and to top it off, we also got to watch some vultures, obviously a male and female the way they were going on.  Not the best looking creatures, but very interesting looking and kind of cool to watch.  Until the next time, I'll leave you with just one of several shots I got of them on top of a lamp post.  :-)

Monday Already

The weekends just seem to fly by...even the year has passed quickly.  It's so hard to believe that it's almost September...already!  Today, I didn't get out and shoot, but I spent most of my morning working on images and I also set aside several hours a week to just study...to learn...and to practice what I'm learning.  In the photography world there is almost something new to learn, especially in my case being so new to the dslr world.
Below is a image I captured one day while walking through the zoo and it just hit me, well, I almost walked smack into it, but it was a beautiful and quite large spider web.  There's so much more to shoot at the zoo besides the animals.

Luckily I had lots of green trees in the background which helped with the field depth here and really added to the shot.  After the shot, I stood there for a few minutes basically in awe, and thought about the work that must've went into creating such a masterpiece.  Sad to say, I'm sure it didn't last long after I moved on as it was almost in the middle of the main walking path.

Also including one of my recent and favorite shots of the Ring-Tailed lemur.  These guys are awesome to watch and such beautiful animals.  No guys...they are NOT monkeys.  I have to say this at least 4 or 5 times whenever I'm working the exhibit as a Docent.  I know this one turned out a bit on the dark side, and yes, I could've lightened it up a bit, but I chose not too.  All I did was resize for posting...no other editing was done.
That's it for now!  Hope to get some shooting in this week and will have more coming up.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a great week! :-)

Flamingo Friday at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere

I'm a day late with this one, sorry...I had a busy, yet productive day yesterday.  I'll do my best to get two posts in today, the first one being from yesterday.  Some of you know, I also volunteer as a docent here at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, and yesterday morning we had the opening of our brand new Flamingo Lagoon.  Now normally I'm not much of a bird person, but have been getting into bird watching and bird photography here lately, so I couldn't pass up the chance to photograph some Carribean Flamingo's, up close and personal...well, maybe not that close at first as the crowd was a large one...Everyone was so stoked to finally get to see these beautiful creatures.  For those of you who may not be familiar with Flamingos, the Caribbean Flamingo is one of the larger Flamingos and most vivid in color, ranging from pink to a orange-pink.  They have one of the longest life spans of all the birds and can live up to 40 yrs.  The males are about 20% bigger than the females, so they can usually be picked out among the flock.  The Caribbean Flamingo, is also known as the American Flamingo, and they are closely related to the Greater Chilean Flamingo. 

More on their facts later, but for now will leave you with some images from yesterday, and you can always see more on my pbase page at www.pbase.com/pamelaparton .   For now, enjoy the pics and I'll try and be back later today with today's actual post. ;^)

Blessed With A Beautiful Day

Today was absolutely gorgeous and a great day to be outside with nature.  Here in Middle TN, we've experienced one of the hottest summers we've had, and the month of July and first two weeks in August, it was very little rain, with temps in the mid to upper 90's, with really high humidity.  Today it was around 85 with little to NO humidity....Awesome.  Not posting much today as I'm getting ready for a busy morning on Friday.  I'm also a Docent at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere and our Brand new Flamingo Lagoon is opening up tomorrow.  A lot of people are really excited!  I'll be on hand for a bit and hopefully to get some great pictures of the opening ceremony, so stay tuned for that.  Until then, I leave you with a few shots over the past couple of days.  I hope everyone has a great Friday! ;^)