First, welcome to any new readers from the Selkirk Horticultural Society. Over the last couple years since I’ve started doing workshops and farm tours, one one of the things that stands out to me is how difficult it is to communicate just how much life you can attract to a farm or garden, and the difference it can make. It’s too bad we had some technical issues and it was difficult to see the photos I had chosen for the presentation. I take all the photos here at the farm and it is something I enjoy doing. Striking images accomplish a lot to give a big “wow!” and drive interest in the subject of ecological connectivity. If we can see an insect or animal, we can identify it, and if we can identify it, we can learn its behaviours and food sources.
This post is an update to a post in February on this subject, and some of the photos from my presentation are also in that post.
I can now say that after many years of avoiding diving into cameras and camera gear, I have as my tool of choice, the OM-5 Mark ii, and it has arrived.
I’ve got until the snow melts to really get a handle on this camera, and the learning curve is quite steep. I’m sure I’ll get more comfortable with it with each day I take it out and get used to it.
In the last post I wrote: This summer I’m going to start a new project, documenting the biodiversity of what we have at the farm. I’m working towards doing it in such a way that I can share what I find with you. What that will look like exactly, I’m not sure.
Now I can say here is the start of that project. I’ll be able to share more photos here, to the farm customer newsletters, and once I figure video out, I’ll work on a way to start a YouTube channel.
The goal will be to show all the life that comes to the farm, and the rich vibrancy of what it looks and feels like. I hope I can add some ecologist spin to it and comment on the aspects of the inter-connectivity of life.
For now, I’ll share some test photos I’ve taken over the past couple days with the 75-300mm lens and the 12-45mm lens.
It’s worth noting here that I have no clue at all what I’m doing yet, and as I’m fond of saying: there’s only one way to find out, learn by doing!
We’ll start with my favourite shot so far, a chickadee trying to crack open a sunflower seed.
Downy Woodpecker. I waited for him to go to a tree and get a better shot, but he never came back after this one.
Nuthatch.
Celeriac seed. So tiny!
Here’s my hoop house tomatoes, which will be potted up by the end of the week.
I’m crazy impressed by the image quality, considering I have no idea what I’m doing! The settings and menus are a bit dizzying for someone with only basic photography knowledge. Being able to zoom in on these tiny birds and capture them in action is really neat, and gives a whole new dimension to bird watching. But I’m also impressed by the standard lens. I’m sorry, but I’ve been trying to take this photo of my tomato seedlings with my fancy phone for the past week and it just never looked enticing enough that I wanted to share it.
I’m truly looking forward to learning how to use the 30mm macro lens I have acquired as well…more so than the others to be honest, I just love all the tiny insects that are around. They are the both most striking, and the easiest to miss. Often they play the biggest roles in our soil health, the health of our plants, and health of our gardens.
It’s going to be fun charting a new path to share some cool stuff this summer! I’ll let everyone know the updates as this project progresses.
Graham
thanks for reading complimentary blueberry juice
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