Thursday ~ August 10, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on August 11, 2022
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: . 3 Comments

Happy Thursday!

Well I’d have to say there are a lot of people celebrating today.  Why?  Because I said most of my life that “Hell would freeze over before I ever got a Tattoo.”

I won’t go into the whole story on this blog but my Nephew “Chad Koeplinger” is my only living relative from my side of the family.  My Sister, Becky passed when Chad was only 15 and he was more or less faced with finding his way on his own.

Today he is probably one of the top five tattoo artist in the world.  He has traveled all 50 states, written 3 books and has traveled to over 60 countries including North Korea.  He is truly an amazing individual and owns a tattoo parlor in Nashville, Tennessee and has 7 other artist working for him.

After going through cancer treatment and some other serious health conditions I decided that I wanted Chad to give me a tattoo to help me remember what is most important in my life.  Family & Faith.

So today Chad gave me my very first Tattoo. My daughter Angie videotaped the entire experience.  It is about 14 minutes long and I know that in today’s society that is almost an eternity.  However if you are interested and what to hear some amazing thoughts from this remarkable individual I would hope you spend the time and watch and listen to the video.

The wonderful feeling and emotional uplift I received from this experience was nothing less than remarkable.

Monday I had some physical set backs and it was really difficult to see anything positive in my future.  I think a lot of people feel that way sometimes and they cannot find the reason to keep going.  Chad gave me that reason.

So I hope you will watch the video and more importantly listen to the conversation and gain some benefit from it.

Enjoy your day and be careful!

Tuesday ~ July 26, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 26, 2022
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Happy Tuesday!

I didn’t make it to the Dubuque Arboretum yet but on my way home from lunch I came across some pretty flowers and so I decided to photograph them.

It was a real challenge to find a place to park that wasn’t too far away and didn’t interfere with traffic. I did find a place fairly close by so I spent about 30 minutes with the flowers.  The temperature was really nice.

Remember you can click on any image to reveal a much larger and more detailed version of the small image.  There were several bees working the flowers but fortunately they had no interest in me.

I really enjoy photographing pretty flowers.  I still intend going to the Arboretum, as my Wife told me that the flowers there were really special this year and that it is the peak time for them.

There were some other flowers I wanted to photograph but they were up a level and I couldn’t really get close to them.  Photographing with the macro lens does not allow for long distance shooting.

I hope you enjoy the flowers.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ July 23, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 23, 2022
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Happy Saturday!

I was coming home from a lunch that I had enjoyed with friends and decided to take the “back way” home to avoid all the afternoon traffic.  I met this beautiful red roadster and since I had my camera bag with me I did a “U” turn and followed it.

I decided that I had to photograph this car and that I would follow it until it reached it final destination or the cops pulled me over because I was making the driver concerned by following him as he made his way home.

It turned out to be a wonderful experience.  The driver finally pulled into his driveway and I got out with my photography business card and approached him.  I told him that I loved the looks of this car and would he allow me to photograph it.  He was very gracious and turned out to be an interesting individual who had this vehicle custom made for him.

I asked him several questions about the car and be graciously answered all my questions.  Of course I didn’t have any paper or pen with me so most of what he told me I have forgotten.  But it was obvious that he had a deep passion for this remarkable car.

His name is Jerry Schenke and he was a very nice man.  He was so generous and even moved the car for me so I could get a better view of the vehicle.  It was the wrong time of the day with harsh sunlight but I didn’t care I just wanted some images of this magnificent car.

Thank you Jerry for being such a nice man and so generous with your time.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ July 20, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 20, 2022
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Happy Wednesday!

Talk about a contrast.  Yesterday colorful flowers and today black & white old machinery.  As I was traveling the other day I stumbled across this area that had a bunch of old bulldozers and construction equipment.

As soon as I saw these machines I knew I had to photograph them and I wanted them to be in black and white.  I like to photograph older things in black and white to preserve the character of the subject.

It was very hot this day and I didn’t spend a lot of time inspecting the equipment or photographing them from different angles.  I just wanted to get the shots and get back in the AC.  🙂

I’m sure if these old machines could talk they would have lots of stories about the things they helped to build.  Hope you enjoyed the old construction equipment.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ July 19, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 19, 2022
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Happy Tuesday!

I had a lunch today with some close friends.  After our lunch I wandered around a little bit looking for something capture.  It has been a very long time since I did any macro photography and it shows.

I am not happy with some of these images and it points out the fact that I need to do some more work on getting my camera settings better set.

It’s amazing but so true, if you don’t use your skill in a given application you lose the ability to do it well.  I have more or less taken a hiatus from my photography and editing, since retiring four years ago and sadly it does show.

While I was photographing these flowers I was really uncomfortable.  It was extremely hot and humid so I was just anxious to get the images and get back in the air conditioning.

I think very soon I will visit the arboretum and get some more practice in with a different group of flowers.  Maybe a little earlier in the day before the heat builds.

I hope you enjoyed the flowers.  I was aware of this grasshopper in the center of this flower.  Remember you can click on any of the images to make a larger more detailed view of the image.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ July 18, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 18, 2022
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: .

Happy Monday!

I decided to go on a photo run yesterday as the sky was blue and there were a lot of puffy clouds.  One of my favorite shooting environments, since I’m not an early riser anymore and by the time the sun is closed to setting, I’m usually done with the day.

I enjoy photographing windmills if the sky is dynamic, which it was yesterday.  I have photographed this same windmill before but never get tired of it.

I’m wondering how much longer this old farm structure will remain standing.  As you can see it is starting to lean and the more rain and snow it gets the more it’s going to lean until one day it will give up.

I’ll finish up with this old guy.  Yes I’ve photographed before as well.  Lot of traffic out yesterday so finding a place to park to get to some of the structures proved to be a challenge.  I have several more things to show that I haven’t photographed before and hope to post them tomorrow.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ July 15, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 15, 2022
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Happy Friday.

Had lunch with my beautiful daughter Wednesday and afterward I wandered down to the river.  Found this guy at the 16th Street Basin, which is unusual since they have cleared all the trees the wildlife once used for protection.

I took a lot of shots of him and he didn’t seem to mind.  There were some Canada geese close by and a couple ducks, which I didn’t get any still shots of but I did take some video of the Heron and got the ducks and geese in the video.

I also ventured down to the river and captured this video of the small barge.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ June 13, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on June 13, 2022
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Good Day!

In case you didn’t figure it out, we were on vacation last week.  We spent the week with Angie, Ben, and the Grand Kids in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  A dream vacation for those of you who like the heat and the emerald waters of the gulf.  Not so much for an out-of-shape, old person like myself who hates the hot, humid weather associated with Florida.

Having said that I knew what was in store for me when I decided to accompany the family to the beach.  I spent the majority of my time inside a wonderful facility well cooled by air conditioning and with a view of the ocean that was spectacular.  So don’t feel sorry for me as I enjoyed my time with the people I love the most.

I have a number of images to share with you but I thought I would start the week with this image taken with my iPhone by one of the crew of the “Dolphin Cruise” we did on Wednesday evening.  We caught one glimpse of a dolphin but the entire cruise was well worth the time.

The image above is the cloud formation that we saw on our flight home.

On the flight from Chicago to Dubuque we encountered these clouds, which I had never seen from the air before.

Hope you’ll check back tomorrow as I have more images to share with you.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ June 10, 2022

Posted by Dave Updegraff on June 10, 2022
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Welcome!

A mixture of images today.  Remember you can click on the images to make them larger and more detailed.  A sunset from last night.  Lots of clouds so I didn’t get a real pretty sunset.

A para-sailor off in the distance.  I didn’t have my long lens so had to do the best I could with my 300mm lens.  You really need to click on the image to see much of the para-sail.

This big storm blew in and was gone in just a few minutes.  But as it was coming it sure looked menacing.  It did rain hard for a few minutes but then it was gone and milder temperatures prevailed.

Enjoy and be careful.