Planted a donut peach tree two years ago. Still haven’t had one bite of fruit from this tree yet. But, hope springs eternal. Maybe this year.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 300mm, f/8, 1/60s

Same story for this cherry tree. Gardening can be a fruitless endeavor…literally.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 170mm, f/8, 1/40s

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 300mm, f/8, 1/80s

Full moons are special. I am quite amazed at all the details I can see in a photo of a full moon, considering that the moon is 238,900 miles away from Earth.

For a change of pace, I decided to head out tonight to take a look at the waxing crescent moon in the night sky. I was testing the TC-17EII, which is a 1.7 teleconverter. 200mm x 1.7 should be 340mm, but iPhoto reported it as 330mm.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, TC-17 EII, ISO 100, 330mm, f/8, 1/30s

Took off the teleconverter for another series of photos.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 100, 200mm, f/8, 1/25s

Then, switched to the 28-300mm.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5G-5.6 ED VR, ISO 100, 300mm, f/11, 1/30s

Nikon D7000, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 G II ED, ISO 100, 75mm, -2 EV, f/5, 1/40s

After visiting the Desert View Watchtower in the late afternoon, we headed back to the Kachina Lodge. On the return trip, we pulled over as often as we could to see the Grand Canyon at sunset. As the sun dipped down, the bright sky transformed into a rich pink and purple palette. Absolutely gorgeous.

I was thinking about attending the Winter Wings Festival in Klamath Falls, OR to see the bald eagles. The long drive, challenging environment and my inexperience taking bird photos dissuaded me this year.

Fortunately, the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo was displaying Sequoia the bald eagle this morning. It was a real treat to see a bald eagle up close.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 500, 200mm, f/8, 1/200s

At f/8, the details in the feathers are all in focus with the background just a bit blurry.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 400, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/3,200s

At f/2.8, not all the feathers are in focus. The background is a smooth blur.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 400, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/2,000s

Sequoia is one gorgeous bird. The 70-200mm was great for taking a close-up photo of a bird. Not as practical for group shots.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 900, 200mm, f/8, 1/200

Boeing, a resident of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, is a red-tailed hawk. Poor bird was injured in a collision with a plane.

The Lawrence Hall of Science is a children’s science museum in Berkeley, California. Located in the Berkeley Hills, it offers a beautiful panoramic view of the San Francisco bay. Used an ND filter to smooth out the spray of the fountain.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 48mm, f/22, 13.0s

At 4:22 PM, the view was nothing spectacular, especially with the atmospheric haze.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 35mm, f/22, 1/400s, -2 EV

By 5:38 PM, the sun dropped right behind the Golden Gate bridge and rendered the cityscape into a sepia-toned monochrome.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 66mm, f/18, 1/500s, -2 EV

By 5:52 PM, the sun was going, going, gone…

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 66mm, f/8, 1/100s

Then began the long wait for the city lights to flicker on. Since this was over President’s Day weekend, I wasn’t sure if the office buildings would be lit at night. However, by 6:35 PM, Bay Area was aglow. From my vantage point, it was hard to tell whether the lights in San Francisco were on or not because they were so faint.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 40mm, f/2.8, 4.0s

One problem I experienced while trip planning was trying to figure out the scale of Rome. How walkable was it? From Hotel Smeraldo, near Camp de’ Fiori, the Pantheon was really close by. Just continuing down the path, we then came across Trevi Fountain. Further down, we reached the Spanish Steps.

From the hotel, if we headed in a different direction, we could easily reach the Colosseum. However, walkable means different things to different people. Per Fitbit, I was logging 20,000-30,000 steps a day in Rome.

Anyways, on to the Trevi Fountain.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 31mm, f/6.3, 1/160s

In the winter, the Trevi Fountain was not as crowded as I had anticipated. Access to the fountain was not completely blocked off by other tourists. Still, I had to selectively frame the shot to avoid the other people enjoying the view.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 24mm, f/11, 10.0s

Of course, I returned during an early morning expedition. I saw one small group of tourists just off to the side.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 26mm, f/18, 13.0s

Other than that, we had the entire fountain to ourselves. The fountain was nicely lit, so don’t be shy about stopping by during off hours.

I cropped the second photo (above) so that you can see some of the details of the fountain.

When I was in Venice, I joined a photography walking tour with Arved Gintenreiter. This was my first time on a photo tour and I had a wonderful time. Sure, you can follow Arved around and get some great photos. But, the most worthwhile part of the adventure was learning from another photographer.

Every one has their own style and technique. And, seeing how someone else will approach the same scene was an eye opening experience. Arved challenged us with different assignments. So, instead of falling in the same rut where I will end up taking a similar photo time after time, I had to tackle different scenes which I would not ordinarily try, such as shooting into the light.

Here’s a photo taken shortly after sunset of Santa Maria della Salute.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm, ISO 100, 58mm, f/10, 30s

At the time, I was so focused on the water that every shot ended up about the same. Sitting in front of the computer, I now wish I had taken one with more sky and less water just for the sake of comparison. Don’t get locked in.

On a good day in Venice, the place is absolutely magical. I guess I should count my blessings since I did not encounter acqua alta during my stay. But, a bad case of fog left me a bit puzzled.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70mm, ISO 1000, 50mm, -2 EV, f/2.8, 1/8,000

The -2 EV was a mistake since it was a setting from a prior set of photos. So, the plan was to shoot San Marco from across the water–San Giorgio Maggiore. I like this one after converting to grayscale and adjusting the curves.