Red Top Mountain...

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing some pictures from this weekend's trip to Red Top Mountain. It is GORGEOUS up there! It's the closest thing we have to a beach around here. We were there for the annual picnic of the Georgia Caged Bird Society. So obviously I had to take a few birdie pictures! LOL! There were lots of parrots around including Macaws, African Greys, Conures, Cockatoos and an Eclectus. We left our birds at home as they are all fully flighted and we did not want to take the chance of losing them.

These first couple of pictures are of a Hyacinth Macaw. He is 4 years old and his name escapes me. These birds are very rare and as such extremely expensive! Their cost range in price from $8,000 to $12,000. He was such a sweetie.

I believe that is Henry, the Blue & Gold Macaw, up front in the picture below.

A beautiful Cockatoo. These large birds are great but the screams are deafening!

And here is an African Grey.


We also wanted to take in some of the scenery. So we left the picnic and went down to the lake. I slapped on a wide angle conversion lens for the picture below.

These are of my husband enjoying the view and realizing that being outside in the fresh air is so much better sometimes that being stuck indoors all weekend. Even though I was trying to capture the moment, I was still paying attention to composition and creating a picture that was visually appealing.



It was also fun to photograph all the activity on the lake. Most of this was going on in the distance so I used a telephoto lens to bring me closer to the action and a monopod to minimize camera shake.

Scenes like the ones below just appeal to me for some reason.

Here, I decided to look up at the sky and the vision was beautiful! At least it was to me. Hope you like it too! LOL!

Well that's it for today. I'll be back next time with another photo adventure. Until then, keep on snappin'!

Field Trip...

I had my Field Trip on Saturday and have included some pictures below. I am really trying to take pictures and not just snapshots. But I guess that takes practice. I think I am getting there slowly.

First and foremost I am attracted to the figurines so I found myself taking a lot of pictures of those.

This statue is one of my favorites! There is just something about her that I relate to.

This is an interesting shot of the statue against the Atlanta skyline. It was early in the morning and still foggy.

This couple is so beautiful. I imagine this was done in their likeness.

I tried to take this one from a different angle.

I also found myself chasing critters...


This mocking bird was terrorizing all the squirrels. I later found out she was defending her nest.

And the interesting tombstones...

I am not familiar with this figure but was told that he was a famous golfer.

I was trying to do something creative with these. Not so sure it worked out. LOL!

And people...

My classmates...

And finally some flowers...


I am amazed I got this shot as my hand was shaking like crazy.


I thought these two looked interesting lying on the floor.

Well that's it for today! Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Until next time, keep on snappin'!

A Visit to Historic Oakland Cemetery...

I used to have a phobia about going to a cemetery, but I took a photography class a couple of years ago and we visited Oakland cemetery to take pictures. The goal was to be creative with the camera and take unusual and artistic pictures of what we saw. It was a real eye opener and quite a fun challenge. It's hard to take the ordinary and make it look extra-ordinary, especially when you are hot and sweaty and ready to pass out. LOL!

A couple of weeks ago I visited Oakland cemetery again and took a few shots. This was before I started my recent photography class so I was not shooting in manual yet. I took these in aperture priority mode (AV). This cemetery in particular has a lot of statues and figurines and they are so beautiful and evoke a lot of feeling. Hope I was able to capture that feeling in these pictures.

The interesting part is that I am now shooting in manual mode and actually think I know what I am doing. LOL! Tomorrow we have our class field trip and we are going to Oakland cemetery! So it is neat that I am sharing these pictures with you now because we will be able to compare them to the ones I take tomorrow and see how well I have improved as a photographer since these pictures were taken. Talk about pressure! LOL!

This statue is one of my favorites! There is just something about her that I find so touching and it moves me to the core!



Here is another one of my favorites!



I like looking up at the statues and seeing them against the sky.


Another monument against the sky shot.


The sky came out a beautiful shade of blue in the shot below.


Another favorite of mine.


I thought this was a cool shot.


I felt something looking at these two empty chairs with the grave marker just off to the side.


I took this shot from the car as we were leaving.


Here is a close-up of the same statue...


Well that's if for today! Thanks for visiting. Until next time, keep on snappin'!