Favorite photo of the week

One of the things I'm thinking about doing, starting with this post is to put up, what I think, is the best photo that I posted to Dogz on Walkz this past week.  There are quite a few that I have really liked, but I just like the look of this beagle called Obi.

I could get used to this

Last month, I posted about Jaxson, who ended up being my third photo at Flickr to make In Explore.  As of this writing, he has over 1,000 views on Flickr and 33 faves.  Not bad numbers in reality, that is until today.

I came home from work and started processing photos for my next two shots on Dogz on Walkz.  Once I was done, I uploaded them to Flickr and discovered that my photo of Colt, the Belgian Malinois that I posted to Flickr last night had in invitation to join In Explore.  Not only that, he has over 3,000 views and 69 faves as of this writing.  Not bad for an iPhone shot I took as I was leaving a burger place down in Irvine.  

I'm still not sure why some of my shots seem to do so well and others don't.  If push came to shove, I'd say I have at least half a dozen shots that I think are technically better than this one.  Still, I could get used to it.  It's fun seeing your photo in that "best liked" gallery.

Changing equipment

For the past 30 years or so, I've been using either Minolta or Sony cameras.  My wife bought me a Minolta Maxxum SLR just about the time we got married and I used that camera for the longest time.  I liked the zoom lens on it and it focused quickly, which was very important to me. So when it started slowing down and showing wear and tear, I felt it was time to move into the digital age and get a DSLR.

I went back and forth between different brands, but what ended up swaying me to Sony at the time was the mounts for the lenses were the same as with Minolta.  It made sense since Sony had bought Minolta.  I figured if I bought a Sony camera, I'd end up being able to use the lenses from my Minolta with that.

I ended up at a camera store in Pasadena where I looked at the Sony Alpha 100 and ended up purchasing that with a nice zoom lens.  The guy who sold it to me said, I'd probably never use the Minolta lens, because the lens that came with my Sony was better and covered more ground, and he was absolutely right.  

I used that camera a lot over the years, but I've noticed, especially recently, that the lens and camera were moving much slower.  Auto focusing was becoming much slower to achieve and with me recently taking a lot more shots of moving subjects (Dogz on Walkz), I felt it was time to start exploring the possibility of getting a new camera.

So this week, I went out and went an entirely different way this way, opting to walk away from the Sony brand and look at other models.  Eventually, I settled on a Canon Eos 80D and I must say, I'm very pleased with it so far.  The auto focus on the camera is incredibly responsive and so far, the only problem I actually had focusing on my subject was the photo of the pyracantha berries I posted to this entry.  With so many berries in the shot, the camera had problems staying sharply in focus on any one particular berry, but eventually I was able to see what it was showing me in the viewfinder and I got the shot I wanted.

I'm hoping to have a long and happy relationship with this camera.  I expect this one will go with me on many travel adventures and family outings.  So far, I've only used the wide angle lens with the camera, so I'm looking forward to getting out to use the telephoto lens.  In the meantime, enjoy these two shots that were taken with the new camera.

Attracting crowds

Sometimes, all it takes is a dog to attract a crowd.

It's not all dogs

Last Sunday I wanted to do a hike up in the foothills, but the city of Claremont decided, due to the wind, to close Claremont Hills Wilderness Park (CHWP) down, because of possible fire danger.  I get it, but when connecting trails, both east and west of the park are open, it kind of defeats the purpose of keeping people out because you think a fire might start. 

So instead, I just decided to walk the Thompson Creek Trail, starting at Higgenbotham Park and walking all the way up to Mills to the parking area for the CHWP and then back down again all the way to Towne and then back to the park where my Jeep was parked.  

It was a good decision, as the dogs were out in force that day and I got many good dog photos that haven't even seen the light of day on my Instagram Dogz on Walkz account yet, but will in the near future.  But I also got a pretty good shot of this acorn woodpecker on a sycamore tree just off the bike path near Mountain Ave.  This one looks to be a juvenile, but the red cap is very obvious in this shot.  

So, needless to say, this is not going to always be about dogs.