North Carolina

It's been ages since I last blogged. Time to post some pohtos. DH and I moved from Maryland to the Wilmington area last May 2020. I'm loving being near the ocean and away from the snow season. I've had the opportunity to photograph a variety of birds and other subjects.

"Wall of Shame"

Cambridge Maryland sits along the Choptank River. There is a small street downtown that dead-ends at a short seawall. It is infamously known by photographers as, “The Wall of Shame,” because it’s almost too easy to get some great shots of waterfowl.

From about December to March, there are hundreds and hundreds of wintering waterfowl. You can see Canvasbacks, Scaups, American Wigeons, Buffleheads, Mallards, Ruddy Ducks, etc.

Photographers will bring dried corn to feed the ducks, looking to get some good action and flying shots. Toss the corn and ducks may fly towards you. Spend some time there and you may get some good shots too.

Photos taken January 2020.

My other Waterfowl Photographs: https://www.pileggiphotography.com/Wildlife/A-Variety-of-Ducks/

Articles I've written

In 2009, I started to write articles for an online site called ItalianNotebook.com. When the website was active, people could sign up for a daily email about all things Italy. There were different categories: Places, events, food and wine, Art, local interest, etc.

Italy is one of my favorite places to visit, so I enjoyed writing articles for the website.  

I didn’t get paid, but I was able to showcase my photography.

Here’s a link to all of my articles.

http://www.italiannotebook.com/author/mjpileggi/

People are not traveling these days due to the virus. I'm hoping my articles will bring back some of your travel memories. 

Haliae, a Bald Eagle with Transmitter

6 December 2017:

Wow, it's been over a year since I last blogged. Where does the time go? I was busy with work (no more, as I retired this past July), traveling (New England in fall 2016 – CT, ME, MA; Viking river cruise in April 2017 – Budapest to Passau followed by a week in Prague; and a week in Southern Tuscany Italy before going on a transatlantic cruise in October 2017); and of course, always being active with my photography.

Last month at Conowingo Dam in Maryland, I was photographing bald eagles. While editing photos the next day, I noticed one eagle had a transmitter on its back. 

A friend of mine told me about a New Jersey organization that has banded eagles. I contacted the biologist at the Conserve Wildlife Foundation and learned more about this beautiful Eagle.  

This is Haliae. She was banded and fitted with a transmitter back in 2013. Haliae is going into her fifth year. The biologist was very excited about the news and photographs. 

I was told that CWF is following three eagles with transmitters. You can track any of the three eagles from this link. Click on Haliae's name and current year/month to see where she's hanging out. http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/protecting/eagle-trax/ 

In my photos (http://www.pileggiphotography.com/Animals/Eagle-with-Transmitter-17-November-2017/) you can see a part of her harness that is loose. The biologist hopes that the transmitter won’t fall off so they can continue to track Haliae.

You can read the CWF blog about Haliae and their bald eagle project: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2017/12/06/new-jersey-2017-bald-eagle-project-report/

I will check up on Haliae often to see where she's been. I hope she lives a long, wonderful life. 

Photos from the Great Frederick Fair

Tony and went to the fair on 23 September 2016.

Here are a few photos from that evening, including a link to all of them: http://www.pileggiphotography.com/MarylandScenes/The-Great-Frederick-Fair-23/.

Photos from the Great Frederick Fair

Tony and went to the fair on 23 September 2016.

Here are a few photos from that evening, including a link to all of them: http://www.pileggiphotography.com/MarylandScenes/The-Great-Frederick-Fair-23/.

Loys Station Covered Bridge

I took these the other night (21 Sep 2016):

The rest are on my web site:
http://www.pileggiphotography.com/MarylandScenes/Loys-Station-Covered-Bridge/

Photo Challenge: New Market Maryland

17 September 2016: This is the second photo challenge I participated in with the local photography club. (You can scroll down to the 26 August 2016 to read about the first challenge and the rules).

The group was small this time, just four of us.  We spent a couple of hours in New Market photographing the town and incorporating three selected words into our photos: Circles, Antiques, and Signs. 

While taking my pictures, I would swap out with my own memory card so I could keep my pictures.  

These are the three I submitted. 

Voting will begin soon. 

Here's the link to all of the photos I took: http://www.pileggiphotography.com/MarylandScenes/New-Market-Maryland/

Sunflowers!

5 September 2016:

I recently discovered (via Facebook) a sunflower festival that's held each September in Monkton, MD. Unfortunately the tickets sold out very quickly and I won't be able to go. I decided to visit the fields on my week day off, as another friend/photographer stated the weekends would be crazy with tons of visitors.  

I met up with my friend Debra who lives only 15 minutes away from the fields. My drive took me about an hour and 20 minutes. 

The fields are located on the corner of MD-146 and Hess Road.  Across the street is Royal Farms (good for a bathroom break, bottled, water, and snacks).

We met at 7am just before the sun came up. There were a dozen cars already in the area parked along the side of the road.

Before us was a gorgeous sea of yellow!! Two million sunflowers were in bloom on 100 acres of land. From what I understand, crops are rotated, so next year, they may be in different fields.

Debra and I spent a couple of hours photographing the flowers, along with bees and butterflies. It was certainly a spectacular sight to see.   

You can view the rest of my photographs here: 

http://www.pileggiphotography.com/MarylandScenes/Sunflowers/

My Sweet, Sweet Lucy Girl

Lucy

10 December 2000 ~ 29 August 2016

Good bye my sweet, sweet girl. You were the best!! You were so loving, a wonderful companion and great family member to Tony and me. I can’t imagine my life without you. I’ll cherish you forever. I will always remember how you made me laugh and smile. You comforted me when I was down. You loved unconditionally. I couldn’t have asked for a better girl. 


We both love you Lucy girl. Rest in peace.


Mommy and Daddy

Rainbow Bridge

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Straight Out of Your Camera

Friday, 26 August 2016

I recently signed up with a photo club on Meet Up (https://www.meetup.com/Frederick-County-Photography-Club). Actually I’m on their 30 day trial. Annual membership fee is $25. Having met some of the gang twice now, I’ll be paying my dues next week. So far I’ve enjoyed the meetups.

This past Wednesday seven of us did a photo walk challenge in Adamstown Maryland, “straight out of your camera”.  No post processing at all.  

Jamie is the organizer of this club and provided instructions. Everyone had to select three words/phrases and write each one on a separate paper. We ended up drawing four words from the ‘hat”: Red, Window, Light, and Glass. We had to photograph subjects that included those words with a minimum of two words.  

Jamie passed out 256mb (or smaller) cards to use and had to shoot jpg only. What made this interesting is that it leveled out the playing field. Those with full frame cameras/higher megapixels had a lower number of shots to take; while those with entry level cameras/smaller megapixels had a larger number of shots to take.

We spent an hour walking around town. Adamstown isn’t much to look at, but I was happy with what I photographed.  At the start of the walk, I headed in the opposite direction of the group, catching up with a few later. 

We were limited to submitting three of our best photos at the end of the challenge, deleting the rest off the card. These are the ones I submitted:

What I liked about the challenge is that it forced me to carefully look at a scene/subject and take the shot knowing I couldn’t make any changes to the photo. I took my time looking at the subject, framing, moving in/out, looking from different angles, etc, before hitting the shutter. 

While out for the hour, everyone could swap the memory card for their own to keep. I did that but I also uploaded my three challenge photos to my smartphone.  

Group voting is going on right now and will end on Tuesday.

I'll update this post next week and let you know if I won the challenge or not.

You can see the other photos I took that day at this link: http://www.pileggiphotography.com/MarylandScenes/Adamstown-Maryland/


PS: 10 September 2016: The firetruck came in first; the red bike came in 5th.