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Category Archives: Canon

Really Long and Thin

15 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Canon, Costa Rica, Golden Orb Weaver Spider, Spider

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Canon, Costa Rica, Etsy Untouchedtcphotos, Golden Orb Weaver Spider, Spider, Untouchedtcphotos

Have you seen a Costa Rican spider? This spider’s length was about the size of my fist. So I did not use a macro lens to take this picture. This spider is long and thin.

This is a golden orb weaver spider. I spotted this spider as we were hiking in the rainforest in Costa Rica. It’s yellow striped legs popped out to me.

A big spider needs a big web. It was probably 5 to 6 feet in diameter. it is good that this spider is in Costa Rica and not living near us. My wife hates spiders.

We’ve been home for 10 months now, and we are getting a tired of this routine. Even though we do not physically see too many people, we feel the stress of our nation’s conflicts. We feel stress from being home for such a long time. We are losing our patience with one another in our family due to being together a little too much.

So my wife says let’s think about a future blog post. We go and look at my collection of pictures and see this happy spider in his big web home. This photograph diverts our attention to this interesting creature. Our stress level decreases. The spider reminds us about this happy time on vacation seeing all the different creatures in Costa Rica. 

Maybe we are a little like this spider who is stuck on his web home. One day, we will get immunized. Hopefully, the vast population will be immunized, and we will be free to leave our homes to enjoy vacations, restaurants, and parties.

What photographs make you happy and forget current circumstances?

Display photographs which draw your attention to another place and time. We all need a diversion from our pandemic life.

Photos make us happy!

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Blowing kisses to say Good Bye to Tommy Lasorda

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Canon, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants, tell it goodbye, the stick, Tommy Lasorda

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Baseball Stadium, Candlestick, Candlestick Park, Candlestick Park Days Past, Candlestick Park Photography Art, Canon, Etsy Untouchedtcphotos, Former Baseball Stadium, giants nation, giants nation united, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants, Stadium Art, tell it goodbye, the stick, Tommy Lasorda, Untouchedtcphotos, We are Giants, we are sf

The Opening Night pregame lineup for the 1991 season with the San Francisco Giants facing the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants’ manager Roger Craig is seen greeting the Dodger’s manager, Tommy Lasorda. The rivalry between the teams is intense but for the introduction of the line-up, it was on the lighter side.

SF Giants fans will miss Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager, Tommy Lasorda. Despite the rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, SF Giants fans had fun watching Tommy Lasorda.

SF Giants fans loved booing Tommy Lasorda, and he loved blowing kisses to the booing fans at Candlestick Park. It was very entertaining to watch. This was a ritual whenever Tommy Lasorda visited the Stick. I appreciated his excellent attitude in receiving the boo’s. Tommy Lasorda taught us how to exhibit good sportsmanship.

It was natural for this Dodger coach to get mad when the players did not perform. He would get angry and yell at players to play better. But we all need to hear the yelling to push to the limits for the best performance. We all need someone to cheer and criticize us to be our best. A good coach will suggest us to try new things to improve. Old routines are good. But change is constant, and we need to change too.

A few years ago, I was encouraged to start this blog. I was not too keen to showing my photographs online. I did not think there would be interest in my photography. Creating a website was a challenge. It was a big hurdle and challenge that I was not willing to attempt initially. It was a learning experience, and we are still learning how to do a better blog. We are learning to express our thoughts and revelations to show off my photographs. If people in my life did not encourage and coach me in different ways, I would not have started this blog. It is still a challenge. But I learned the more work I do on my photography, I do reap rewards. It has been a step by step journey. It is a work of faith not knowing where the journey will lead.

Tommy Lasorda’s good attitude and fighting spirit is an example to all of us. We need to smile at adversity, even as he welcomed the SF Giants fans boo greetings. Welcoming challenges will help us to push to win. Welcoming rivalry encourages us to be our best.

Tommy Lasorda deserves us blowing him kisses to say “Good Bye”. He also earned our respect to follow his excellent attitude example.

Photos remember a great icon!

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How do You spell Relief?

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Banff National Park, Canada, Canadian Rockies, Canon, Moraine Lake

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Alberta, Banff National Park, Canada, Canadian Rockies, Canon, Moraine Lake

Peaceful Moraine Lake in Alberta, Canada

As we witnessed the Capital Building attacked by protestors, our nation was upset and outraged. No matter what political party one is associated with, there is no justification of this type of protest or event. Seeing the picture of a protester invading Nancy Pelosi’s office and sitting in her chair is just not right. Yes we can agree to disagree. But our disagreements do not justify the actions.

I mentioned in a recent blog post how I am cautiously optimistic about 2021. After today’s events in Washington D.C., I am shifting to being a little less optimistic about the new year. Since the pandemic started, we’ve experienced a list of unfortunate and upsetting events. The unexpected is becoming our normal. How do we deal with this stress?

We need to find a physical and a spiritual place to retreat. Creating my backyard oasis, so I can safely retreat to enjoy nature and photograph pictures, has been a refuge for me. My wife reminds me that I need to spend more time praying away my stress in my backyard retreat. God even answered my prayers by giving me this place I dreamed about 25 years ago so I could shoot pictures of hummingbirds, butterflies and bees in a natural setting.

The weather is a little cold and wet. I was glued to the news to watch the events in our nation’s capital. Fortunately, I have my nature pictures to review and take me away from the stress of the nation’s events.

How do you spell relief from the stress of life’s events? Never would we have dreamed about the situations we are facing today with a worldwide pandemic accompanied with an abundance of American political and racial drama with violence.

Individually and physically, we may be limited in what we can do to change these situations other than just staying home as much as we can to be safe. SIP has meant to be “Sheltering in Place”. Another meaning we could use for SIP is “Sheltering in Prayer”.

Maybe all this disruption is meant to bring us to our knees to pray for peace and relief. Can we pray away our stress by trusting in God to provide peace?

When I look at my nature pictures, they reminds me God is the Creator and can provide peace in the midst of our current storms.

Photos spell relief to de-stress!

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Never Giving up my Old Tickets from Candlestick Park

02 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Canon, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants, the stick

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ballpark art, Baseball Stadium, Candlestick, Candlestick Park, Candlestick Park Days Past, Candlestick Park Photography Art, Canon, Etsy Untouchedtcphotos, Former Baseball Stadium, giants nation, giants nation united, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants, Stadium Art, the stick, Untouchedtcphotos, We are Giants, we are sf

These were some ticket stubs from SF Giants games I went to at Candlestick Park in 1988. I took this picture sitting in the general admission section behind the centerfield fence before a night game. I took the picture with 35mm color film with my Canon camera.

My wife asked me if I still have these tickets. My answer is “YES”! I am glad I kept these tickets especially whenever we go back to seeing live games, we will be using tickets on our cellphones. If we print out our tickets, they will not look like the old paper tickets. 

We are celebrating the new year – 2021! Often we think about getting rid of the “old” to make room for the “new”. We are trying to clean up. But I will keep these Candlestick Park tickets forever.

Why do I want to keep these old tickets? They remind me of the good times I had at Candlestick Park. For many sports fans who grew up at Candlestick Park, we remember the good times where tickets were easy to purchase. The tickets were cheap. I did not have to plan way in advance to buy the tickets. I could just walk up to the ticket window and purchase a seat. It is cool I can buy a ticket online whenever we can go back to Oracle Park. But the experience of going up to the ticket office to purchase a ticket is history.

It is a tough decision to know what to keep and what to throw away. We need to keep our good memories especially during this pandemic period when times are tough. We keep mementos and photographs to get our minds to think about good things. Our hallway has canvas photographs which make us smile. 

Our goal for 2021 is to keep what makes us smile and get rid of stuff which makes life difficult. We hope to create our happy space and improve it to be more efficient and functional.

Be happy with good memories and pictures in 2021!

Keep Photos to be Happy!

 

 

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Crazy Wings

18 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Anna's Hummingbird, Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird, Sloat Garden Center

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Anna's Hummingbird, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Plant, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird, Sloat Garden Center

Since I have been shooting photographs of hummingbirds, I never realized how many different poses and positions these birds have. The more I shoot the more I am surprised by the many different positions they move their wings. These wings look curved forward in their position. Also this bird’s head gives a different position of looking at the top from a slight angle.

Being a good photographer means catching natural images. I dread having my photograph taken. I probably only have a couple poses when I asked to be in a photograph. Being a typical guy, I am not flexible. I miss not playing sports. I walk for exercise and keep an eye on my fitbit to get 15,000 to 20,000 steps a day. In addition to walking, I do get low when I am gardening, but that’s my limit. My wife does pilates. She is flexible and gets into stretch positions I cannot even figure out.

One of my best pictures are taken as I am in position to shoot pictures. That is my natural position. It is best to capture any living creature doing their own “thing”.

A good picture reveals who we are. So my perfect pictures show me in action.

The hummingbirds are pretty focused on getting their nectar. They need the energy, since they move so quickly. So most of their pictures show their beaks in the flower.

How can you improve your photography? Try to catch your subjects in their natural habitat where ever or whatever that is.

See how you can improve your picture taking during this Christmas? Can you take some creative pictures other than just around the tree? What kind of fun poses can you shoot of your love ones?

Photos Teach!

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Up Close & Personal

17 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Anna's Hummingbird, Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird

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Anna's Hummingbird, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Plant, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird, Sloat Garden Center

It is difficult to get an up front photograph of the hummingbird. Most of my shots are from the side. The hummingbirds are timid and are getting accustomed to me in my yard. They fly closer to me to check me out and access if I am safe. I try to wear colors to match the environment and to blend in. I am pretty still and do not move much.

It is hard to find the right spot to catch the hummingbird. It is unpredictable knowing where the birds will fly to get their next sip of nectar. It was pretty remarkable to get in front of the bird to see him face to face.

Since being sheltering in place, we hardly see anyone. We go grocery shopping and see the other shoppers whiz by.

It has been a challenge to be up close and personal with people via video chats. Our family has been just as busy with activity. We save time by not traveling as per our old routine. Instead we spend more regular time with our friends, family and relatives. We are hearing about experiences from the younger generation as they are learning to develop their passions. We enjoy their acting, dancing, writing and ambitions to make this world a better place. We share our worries, problems and triumphs during this pandemic life.

We are learning how to be involved with each others lives. For example, my cousins are enjoying my recent nature pictures. One cousin passed on my website info on a Nextdoor thread about hummingbirds. This probably would not have happened if we were not regularly meeting together.

Surprisingly, we are getting up close and personal with our loved ones, even though we do miss being together physically. Our relationships have become stronger even during our video meetings.

I’m glad I could get up close and personal with this hummingbird. It took effort on my part to get close to this bird.

In the same way, it takes time and effort to get up close and personal with the people in my life. But it is so worth it to be a part of people’s lives. I

Are you going to be up close and personal with your people? Find your people and get involved. A Pandemic is not an excuse to be a spectator. Can you expand your circle?

Photos Teach!

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Reaching Forward

14 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Anna's Hummingbird, Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird

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Anna's Hummingbird, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Plant, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird, Sloat Garden Center

This hummingbird’s wings look translucent. They look a little angel-like. It is interesting how he has his wings going forward. Humans reach forward to obtain an object. A referee will put his 2 arms forward to signal his call for a play. During a worship service, some people will raise their hands to symbolize surrender to God.

Is this hummingbird just reaching forward in excitement for his next drink of sweet nectar? When I was able to attend a live game, fans raise their hands up to cheer when their team scores. Even when at home while watch a championship game, my friend had her own style of raising her arms up to cheer.

How often do we reach forward to grasp something and clumsily drop it? Consider the football player reaching for the ball during a pass and accidentally drops it. The ball was in his grasp. But something goes wrong, and the grip was lost. This hummingbird is fortunate that it does not have hands to hold onto anything. It just has the wings to hold upward and onward.

Do we have something to be excited about during these pandemic times? We can be grateful for this waiting period for COVID-19 to be resolved. Why should we be grateful for this time? We don’t know how long this waiting time will last before things become our new normal without the threat of catching this virus. There is a lot of uncertainty.

The only certainty is that we have to wait. Waiting means having a hope to reach forward and pray for solutions. We have not because we ask not. Reaching forward means we expect to receive something in our hands.

Can we reach forward in hope?

Photos Teach!

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Who is that Masked Bird?

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Anna's Hummingbird, Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird

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Anna's Hummingbird, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Plant, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird, Sloat Garden Center

Light creates interesting patterns and effects for photographs. Due to the change in the seasons, the light is best between 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The position of this hummingbird is getting the black shadow on his face with a backward “C” around his eye. The black shadow resembles a black mask on this hummingbird’s face.

One thing I enjoy about watching these creatures, who are visiting my garden, is their nonchalant persona. The hummingbird does not try to hide who he is. He shows himself as he really is. This bird is not afraid to show how much it likes the flower nectar. He flies from flower to flower and keeps drinking the nectar. Birds have no inhibitions. They know their purpose in life.

Man typically hides his insecurities, fears and anything else he does not like from other people. Being under a mask to pretend we are someone we are not makes it easier to face the world.

My wife is working from home. Like many others, she has meetings with groups of co-workers. Often times, the camera is turned off as they converse about work. Most people do not want to show they are working in their pajamas. Or they may not want to show their hair which has not been cut for a long time. Many are hiding what they look like since everyone is just staying at home.

Wanting to connect with other people at church, she participated in a virtual choir. A video file with the audio singing is required to be merged with the other singers’ files. It was difficult for her to see and hear herself in the videos. It took quite a few takes to create a halfway decent video and audio file.

Ironically, this could be how we approach showing ourselves to the world. Maybe we need to do more practices of life to improve and get out from behind our masks. Imperfection is ok.

I hope my photographs of birds, bees, butterflies or people would show their true individual essence. Yes, I want to capture a sharp and clear image. But a true artist is able to capture the expressions that show who the subject really is.

Photos reveal reality!

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Greenback

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Anna's Hummingbird, Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird

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Here’s a real greenback of a hummingbird who visited me in my garden. These hummingbirds seem to recognize me now when they come to feast on my flowers’ nectar in my backyard. I try to be quiet not to scare of the birds. The birds are getting accustomed to seeing my big camera equipment. Initially, they were a little scared of the equipment.

A greenback is a slang term for the United States paper dollars issued during the American Civil War. This paper currency was not backed by gold or silver but only by the American government’s credibility.

I prefer the greenback on this hummingbird than the old time greenback reference. It is glossy and the color highlights the darker speckles. His wings are perfectly pointed out to the sides, as he approaches his next flower.

I do not utilize any software to change my photos. So the hummingbird’s greenback color is true to his actual appearance.

Being credible and true is important. We all should endeavor to be real and authentic. Nobody enjoys a false persona. I would not have wanted to utilize the original greenbacks. I would not have trusted this currency without any real value backing it.

My goal is shoot photographs which reveal true colors and the intricacies of the subjects.

Individuals may try to hide their true colors. But reality is usually revealed with bright lights.

Let’s try to be credible and real. If we are not content with our current reality, then let’s seek to improve and change.

This hummingbird has the best real greenback!

Photos teach reality!

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Bright Guy

10 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by untouchedtcphotos in Anna's Hummingbird, Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird

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Anna's Hummingbird, Backyard Garden, Canon, Cuphea Plant, Cuphea Vermillionaire, Garden, Home Garden, Hummingbird, Sloat Garden Center

I am not a guy who wears pinks or bright colors. I like darker colors. Male hummingbirds possess bright colors like this bird. Notice the scale pattern with the varying shades of purples, pinks and white from under his eye moving down to his wing. These are the colors my wife loves. It’s interesting how he has one wing forward and one wing going back.

Dreams should be pursued. I thought of this idea of shooting images of birds, butterflies, and bees almost 30 years ago. Due to this pandemic and SIP, I created my garden oasis and upgraded my camera equipment for this quest. I go to my yard for almost 2 hours around lunch time when the lighting is the best. I got a heavy duty chair that will hopefully hold me and my heavy equipment. Since I am in my yard, I do not worry about thieves coming behind me to steal my equipment. It’s already happened to me in the past. In the Bay Area, we’ve heard of many incidents where thieves steal camera equipment from individuals and filming crews.

New equipment means spending time to learn. One can only learn by trying and doing. I figured out how to use some new settings to make this bird look sharper and brighter. Practice does help to improve skills. Since I’ve figured out a schedule to shoot pictures due our pandemic situation, I’ve been practicing and am learning how to improve my photographs.

Please note my website is “untouchedtcphotos”. How did I come up with this name? These colors are not altered via any software program. These are the actual colors from my photo shoot. The picture has not been brightened. The picture has not been sharpened. By the way, “tc” refers to the initials of my name.

Dreams can be pursued even during a pandemic. Pursuing excellence in my photographic skills is my goal.

I hope my sharing these bright hummingbirds in my blog brings a little brightness to our SIP time at home. My bird watching and photography has helped to improve my disposition too.

Photos bring brightness!

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  • Black Wing Bumblebee Stinger
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  • Really Long and Thin
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