Happy Monday. Yesterday Jeanne and I went for an afternoon drive looking for something to shoot. We left the house about 3:30 p.m. hoping to catch some of the evening light. Good plan but there was an overcast sky and precious little sunlight. So we drove to some places we normally don’t go and came home with a few Winter scenes.
Saturday as you recall I drove up to Durango, Iowa to visit with my friend Andreas. He had graciously offered to look at my lens and do some test shots with it to make a determination if there was a flaw with the lens. I have good and bad news about that later. I had a little trouble finding his place because I didn’t follow his directions. Amazing how that can foul things up. 🙂 Once I found his home he was standing outside to greet me.
He and his wife Joan have a lovely home nestled in a wooded area with wildlife all around. They live in a hilly area, much to Andreas’ enjoyment. The first thing you notice is the abundance of birds everywhere. They feed a lot of different birds so there are birds coming and going all the time.
He has a heated bird bath on his back deck and he has arranged branches so that the birds have a place to perch when not eating or getting a drink. Just inside the dinning room is his camera on a tripod with his 500 mm lens and he is able to study, enjoying watching and photographing the birds that visit his sanctuary in the comfort of his home.
I enjoy the friendship that we have developed over the last three years. Andreas is a mechanical engineer, educated in Germany (his native country) and he is meticulous about his photography and photography equipment. He produces wonderful wildlife images, architectural images, and environmental images. He really uses the light and his photography is simply beautiful. I encourage you to visit his blog. I must warn you though, it will be tough to come back here after viewing his images.
Anyway Andreas took a lot of images with my 500 mm lens and we would talk photography in between shots. It was my first time meeting his wife Joan. She is a Pharmacist by vocation and a very interesting individual. I really enjoyed meeting her and getting to know her a little better. Both Joan and Andreas were very gracious hosts and made me feel right at home. I even made friends with their little dog Cooper. 🙂
So after many test shots inside the house we put the lens outside for about 20 -25 minutes to get it good and cold to see if we could replicate the freezing up of the lens. You know it’s kind of like going to the auto mechanic with a noise in your car that is driving you crazy. When you get there the car doesn’t make the noise anymore. Well that was the case Saturday. Andreas couldn’t replicate the problem with his camera or mine either.
I told you there was good news bad news. The good news is that the lens does deliver sharp images when shot properly. The bad news is the problem with the lack of sharpness is ME! I got some good tips from Andreas and I really look forward to our next meeting. Thanks for taking the time to look at my lens Andreas. I enjoyed the visit and our conversation.
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoy your Monday. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to come back and be careful.
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