Because It’s Spring

Probably my favorite time of the year next to Winter, Autumn, and Summer…. aw, who am I kidding? They’re all great. Spring has graced us with her presence here on Long Island. With the days getting longer and warmer and my new work schedule (home by 4:00 p.m. the latest every day!), I’ve been making an effort to go out and about in the sunshine with my camera! The parks and streets are full of flowering trees, which are probably my favorite thing to photograph this time of year (it shows). Not only that, but the birds are finally back! Yes, it can be a bit frustrating when you’re trying to sleep and they begin chirping at 4:30-5:00 a.m., but I find it comforting.

This post’s challenge is about where to photograph and how. Yes, there are a lot of lawns covered in beautiful flower arrangements and dogwoods in bloom, but the issue comes from the background. Do I really want that giant SUV in my photograph? Or how about the miles and miles of Levitt town houses? I don’t think so. The more I go out, the more I realize how many picture opportunities I’m not taking because of what’s behind my subject as a whole. I’m limiting myself to close-ups and avoiding big pictures. Soon, I take the big step by putting myself in a setting of my choosing: Westbury Gardens. That will give me the opportunity to take more “big picture” photographs, something I’ve been craving.

The bird photographs were all taken from my kitchen window, where I can “hide in plain sight” and also put myself at the same height as the birds in the trees. The flowers I found here and there along my walk to my parents’ house. Both of them I could have photographed for hours, and the birds I most definitely did. The most exciting thing about photographing the birds was catching an oriole and his female companion! Unfortunately, they were still pretty far away even for my lens, but they were around for the entire hour and a half I played “creeper” out my apartment windows.

Enjoy Spring!