Time to reveal the September image for the 2026 Photography 139 Calendar.
SEPTEMBER – 2026
- TECHNICAL DETAILS
- CAMERA: SONY 7RM5
- LENS: SIGMA 150-600mm f/5-6.3
- FOCAL LENGTH: 560mm
- APERTURE: F/6.3
- SHUTTER SPEED: 1/2000
- ISO: 6400
- DATE TAKEN: April 19. 2025
The subject of the September image was Virgil the Owl. Virgil took up residence in a tree outside of Lagomarcino on the Iowa State campus this spring. So fortunately this owl was an easy owl to track down. Owls are the number one bird that I hear but never see. Woodpeckers are a close second. So it was exciting to actually be able to see an owl in person. In the wild. The way I took this picture wouldn’t have even been possible a few years ago. But luckily the advancement in sensor technology made this possible. I handheld a 600mm lens. Which meant that the shutter speed had to be pretty fast. But with a shutter speed that fast, the ISO had to be pretty high. An older camera with ISO even half that high would have been covered in digital noise. I probably would have need a tripod to take this image in the past to have a longer shutter speed to dial down the ISO. This picture was chosen for September because it was taken on the Iowa State campus and September was the month my Mom was born and she bled cardinal and gold, in addition to working for Iowa State for over 2 decades.
Tomorrow I will reveal the October image.
A couple weeks back I began to share some pictures I took around Des Moines on a trip there with Teresa. We started at the Farmer’s Market and then went to the Pride event and finished at a Greek Food Fair.
This collection of images starts still at the Downtown Farmer’s Market.
It was amazing to see so many followers of Christ at the Pride Festival. Unlike the Christo-fascists that seem to be dominating the religious landscape preaching hate out of their personal prejudices. When we hit the Pride Festival, there wasn’t too much going on. We were there kind of early, but I’m going to effort to go back this year when there is more stuff going down. I definitely want to try to go to the parade, which is weird since I hate parades. Yet one of my goals is to go to even more parades this year. I must be feeling sick.
Also, in case you had forgotten, Photography 139 is ally AF!*
There is still one more collection of images from this little jaunt left to share.
*As far as I know and as I remind Adam when one of the Youth Group kids uses the term “AF”, that stands for AutoFocus.