Central VA 2021

We spent a few days in the Lovingston area of Central VA this week. I had a chance to test out my new Skywatcher Pro tracker, and it worked perfectly. Unfortuantely the skies didn’t cooperate, battling clouds and heavy humidity meant for not-ideal photos, but it was still nice to get used to the setup.

Fuji Xt2, Rokinon 14mm f/2

Fuji Xt2, Rokinon 14mm f/2

30 shot stack, 5 HDR at 6 focus points. Fuji Xt2, fujinon 35mmf/2.8 WR

Kids-room Macros

I’ve been loving my Fuji XT-2, and rented the Fuji 80mm macro last fall. Here are a few photos taken with that lens, specifically for my son’s bedroom.

Chalk, taken with the Fuji 35mm WR
Pencils – Fuji 80mm Macro
Ribbons- Fuji 80mm Macro

Bird photography with a 35mm lens!

I don’t have a telephoto lens, but I’ve always wanted to explore bird photography. Luckily I have a backyard with a bird feeder that gets a lot of traffic…and a tripod. So I set up my Fuji XT-2 with the 35mm lens on a tripod about 2 feet away from the bird feeder. The Fujifilm Android app lets me look through the viewfinder remotely and snap photos (as well as edit settings like ISO and shutter speed) so it worked out great!

black capped chickadee
House Finch
black capped chickadee

Lake Gaston, August 2019

A trip with friends to Lake Gaston yielded a beautifully dark and clear sky, despite predictions of bad weather. Once again I used my Fuji Xt-2 and 35mm f/2WR for these photos.

Here’s a 70 minute timelapse of the Milky Way. 298 Exposures, 13 seconds, ISO 12800. Jupiter is the bright object just to the right of the Milky Way.

Here’s a stack of 15 images from the above set, including a meteor.

And here’s another 13 image stack, looking straight up at the Zenith, also including a lucky meteor.

New Year, New Gear

I recently sold my Canon 5dii dslr for a much smaller, lighter, better kit. I went with the Fuji X-t2 with the 18-55mm kit lens, and the Fujinon 35mm f/2WR lens. I couldn’t be happier with this decision. For my needs (quick portraits of my family, hiking lansdcape photography, etc) it’s just ideal. All of the photos below were taken with this new camera.

I went to the York River Star Party near Williamsburg, VA. Tested the new setup and was very happy with the results. The built in intervalometer, crazy good ISO, and so many more features of this camera make log exposures and time lapses a breeze.

15 minute exposure
18mm, ISO10,000, f/2.8, 13s. Note the Andromeda galaxy top left
Taken with the Fujinon 35mm f/2

We went for a Hike It Baby hike on new years day, so I had a nice opportunity to play with the Fujinon 35mm f/2.8WR lens. Photos taken at the Chesapeake Arboretum

Saw this cute snake in a tree!