Upde Designs

Happy Sunday!  ~  306

A rare Sunday post for me but I was excited to show you some new images and tell you about a wonderful Saturday filled with photography, friendship, surprises and new gear.  A lot to talk about and some fun images to look at.

My friend Andreas has wanted to shoot with my 80 – 400 mm lens as he is considering getting one.  He graciously invited me to his home on Saturday to shoot some images of the wildlife that make their homes near him and to test the lens.  It is always fun to get with Andreas and talk photography.  He is technically proficient and an excellent photographer.  He was born and raised in Germany and is an engineer by trade so he is very meticulous in his preparation and shooting.  He produces beautiful images and over the years I have enjoyed our friendship.

He loves nature and really knows and understands the subjects he photographs.  Andreas once laid on his stomach in the snow and cold for over two hours to capture a wonderful set of images of a fox.  I will post a link < to his blog (you may never come back here.)  🙂

His home is nestled in the woods up by Durango, Iowa and it is a wildlife paradise.  With bird feeders galore, bird baths and lots of branches and trees to enjoy.  We sat on his front porch for three hours just talking and shooting.  It was an enjoyable morning and I want to thank Andreas for inviting me up.  I made over 900 images in those three hours with lots and lots of duplicates but I was just having so much fun I wanted to capture everything.

While we were shooting and visiting I got a text from Jeanne and it read, “Your new Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens is in.”  What?!?!?  I didn’t understand.  I had ordered the new lens on December 21, 2013 from Adorama (it is a new product not yet released) and have been impatiently waiting for the email that says, “Your lens has shipped.”

So how would she know since she doesn’t read my emails?  I called her and she said that there was a message on the answering machine when she got home that said my lens was in.  Then I remembered about 3 weeks ago I was at Photo Pro in Cedar Rapids and I mentioned to the owner that I had ordered the lens from Adorama and was really getting frustrated with the wait.  He said, “I can get it just as quick as they can.”  Sure I thought, but said heck yes, go ahead and order one for me.  That was the call and so Jeanne and I headed for Cedar Rapids to pick up my new lens.  🙂

After picking up the lens we did some shopping for the house and then had a wonderful lunch and conversation at Granite City.  If you’ve never eaten there I would highly recommend it.  We got home around 6:00 p.m. and I shot some test shots with the new lens.  Some were great and some were not, mostly because of me.  Two things right off the bat that really impress me with this lens.  #1 How incredibly fast it focuses and #2 how very quite it is.  More information on it as I learn to shoot it.

So we finally got home and I decided I would lay down and rest for a few minutes.  Jeanne woke me up at 10:00 p.m and told me to get up and go to bed.  🙂

I processed photos until midnight and then finally called it a day.  Wonderful weekend doing what I love to do.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Oh and by the way this female cardinal is for you Ronnie.

The first image is of a Scarlet Tanager, the second one is a Redheaded Downy Woodpecker, and the third one is a female Cardinal.  All images were shot with:  Nikon D4 | Sigma 50 – 500 mm lens |  ISO 400, 1/1250 sec @ f8.0

Enjoy this beautiful day and be careful.