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Sunday, September 06, 2015

Smoky Mountain Owl

Doug and I were reminiscing today, about various things we'd seen during our many trips to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Among his all-time favorite pictures that I've taken there are these of an owl that we saw one evening, as we neared the end of a hike on the Little River Trail.


These were taken in November, 2005, with my very first digital camera. It was a little sub-compact, five-megapixel camera, with a 5X zoom, made by Hewlett Packard. I'll bet most of you didn't even know that HP made digital cameras. But that little camera was phenomenal. It became the standard by which we measured later cameras that came into our hands.


Anyway, these photos are not great quality, but they remain favorites of ours, partly because this is the only time we've ever seen an owl in the Smokies. Doug refers to it as a "demon" owl because of the red eyes caused by the camera's flash.


The originals were quite dark, but I've been able to lighten them up with photo editing software so that more of the owl is visible than just the red eyes.


12 comments:

  1. I had to look closely to see him. He's beautiful.

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  2. Linda, I love this series, and so nice to see the little red eyes peeping out. :)

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  3. well Iamgald you told us there was an Owl in tht first shot as I would ot have seen him. great shots.

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  4. He is well camouflaged and very pretty!

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  5. Very nice capture. I laugh thinking of when I got my first 12 times zoom and thought it made amazing pics. Owls are something one doesn't always see like this.

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  6. I can see why these are some all-time favorite pictures. These are all very good.

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  7. i love the barred owls. :) amazing how technology has changed over the past few years, but we were grateful to have those first digital cameras, too.

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  8. Great shots and wonderful memories. I have pictures as well,that are not the best,but I like them because of the memories they trigger.

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  9. Those are interesting photos, Linda, how observant of you. I'm quite surprised to hear that HP produced digital cameras, I have the company connected especially with printers as we had one at home. But why not? Doesn't Canon produce both printers and cameras as well?

    Our first digital compact camera was Canon, we still have it, and I totally understand what you mean by comparing the newer cameras with the old one. I still do it, even the DSLR ones. :)

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  10. It was sure hard to spot him in the 1st photo. The last photo is much easier with the red eyes. I have a friend who is crazy about owl.

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  11. Love those fall colors. You must've gone in the fall. If you said that in your post, I'm sorry. I am so tired! :) That looks like a Barred Owl. He posed in such a beautiful spot for you. :)

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  12. KB - Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. The owl IS pretty well camouflaged, and the photos aren't the greatest. I'm glad you found him. :)

    Linda - I tried to edit out the red eyes, but Doug liked the pictures better with them. :)

    Margaret - He IS pretty hard to see in that first shot. Glad you found him.

    Aisling - Yes, he is well camouflaged. I guess that's a good thing for him.

    Thank you, Steve. It was a treat to see him.

    Thanks, George.

    Tex - I didn't know what kind of owl it was for sure. I'm glad I didn't delete these images just because they were so dark. With newer editing programs, I was able to lighten them up a lot.

    Ruth - Thanks for the kind words. You're so right about the memories.

    Petra - We loved that little HP camera. We gave it to some missionary friends after I upgraded. The problem with hanging onto those old cameras is that each one comes with its own software. Soon, your computer is filling up with outdated software, just to be able to download the images from each camera. In your case, though, your old cameras would make nice starter cameras for your sons.

    Small - Thanks so much for your visit and the kind comment. Yes, it's hard to spot the owl in the first shot. I can understand your friend's fascination with owls. They're interesting creatures.

    Gail - Yes, it WAS fall. Tex also thought it was a Barred Owl. Two amazing bloggers agree, so it must be right!

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