Wednesday ~ April 01, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 1, 2020
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Happy Wednesday!

Got tired of staying home so yesterday Jeanne and I took a trip South to Green Island Wildlife Refuge.  I always enjoy going there although many times I come home without a great shot.  When we left Dubuque there was a beautiful blue sky with puffy white clouds and plenty of sunshine.  Unfortunately by the time we arrived at Green Island the beautiful sky was gone and nothing but overcast skies.

There was not an abundance of wildlife around or at least close enough to identify let alone try to  photograph.  We spent four hours there watching and listening and I managed to get a few shots but no award winners here.

The problem was that many of the critters were not in the “trenches” that are a normal part of GI.  There was so much water from the flooding that they were in the field and between them and me was the vegetation that attracted the focusing system on my camera.  So it was difficult to get a sharp image.

All that aside it was fun just to get out in the fresh air and hear the sounds of critters.

Found this Canada Goose nesting in one of the trenches.  You can barely see her eye between the twigs.

Enjoy your day and be careful.  Stay safe in this crazy environment.

Sunday ~ March 22, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 22, 2020
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Good Sunday Morning!

We have been more or less self-quarantined for the last couple of weeks (actually longer than that.)  So I suggested to Jeanne that we get out for a little ride and see what things looked like under these difficult times.

So we drove by McGrath Chevrolet and waved at Mark through the window.  He came out but maintained the social distancing.  He is the sales manager and as such he comes into contact with almost everyone who comes in the dealership.  We talked for a few minutes and it was so great to see him.

Then we drove over to Ben and Angie’s home and called on the cell phone.  They came out and we stayed in the car and just visited for about 10 minutes.  No hugs or anything, which was difficult but it was so great just to see them.  Austin came out at first but he was involved in something so he didn’t stay long enough to get  his picture taken.  Ben was doing work in the back yard but did come up and say hi.

I sure felt good to see our kids and grand kids again!

Enjoy our day and be careful and safe!

 

 

Tuesday ~ March 03, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 3, 2020
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Tuesday!

Went out with my camera last week.  I wasn’t thinking of anything in particular but happened by a large tree with this guy sitting in it.  Took a while to slowly approach him so I could get a decent image.  I fully expected him to take off before I got close enough be he indulged me.

I can’t pass up a interesting tree.  I took several images of this tree including some close ups but in the end I liked this one best.

I enjoy photographing “babbling brooks” as it were and found the way the sunlight was playing off the water to be a soothing sight.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ January 03, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 3, 2020
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Friday (for all my working friends!)

Look what I stumbled upon in my travels yesterday.  I was amazed by the sheer numbers of Trumpeter Swans.

I drove past them and thought I have to turn around and photograph these guys.  The noise of their honking was loud and none of them seemed to mind my presence.

I had my 60 – 600mm lens attached to the Nikon D500 so the cropped sensor effect gave me a focal length of 900mm.

There were at least 30 Trumpeters and triple that number of Canada Geese.  I spent and enjoyable 30 minutes photographing, looking, and listening to these beautiful birds.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ January 01, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 1, 2020
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Happy New Year!

I was out wandering through the woods a couple of days ago and found this tree.  Couldn’t pass it up.

This stream caught my eye as the sun was shinning on it and water sparkled like hundreds of diamonds.  Of course by the time I got parked the sun had gone behind a large cloud and I didn’t have the patience to wait 30 minutes for it to reappear.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ December 12, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 12, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Thursday!

Found this amazing tree while I was wondering through the countryside.

I was photographing it from various angles and when a young woman pulled up in a white SUV and asked me if I was photography that amazing tree.  I told her I was and that I was very impressed with it.

She shared that it was her favorite tree and that I should come back in the Spring to photograph it again.  Very nice lady.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ December 10, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 10, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts.

Happy Tuesday!

This past Sunday our Grand Daughter Gabby had her Gymnastics performance.  I got some images of her but the place was packed with parents and grand parents with cell phones so it was difficult to catch an image of her routines.

However one of my favorite subjects was practicing her routines for PaPa and I was fortunate enough to capture some of them.

I couldn’t use a flash so I had to bump the ISO up to 1000 and shoot at f4.0 to get any decent shots.  There not perfect but when it’s your favorite model you take what you can get.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ December 04, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 4, 2019
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Happy Wednesday!

Monday I had some errands to run and while I was going to be out and about I decided to take my camera along.

I was out for about three hours, mostly visiting the places where I have found good subjects before.  Nothing going on there so I ended up at the river.

I love the way the sunlight enhances the rocks on the side of this cliff.  This image was taken at Mud Lake.  I’ve had some good luck at Mud Lake before but it was very quite on this day.

I also stopped at A. Y. McDonald park and saw this barge headed South.  It was nice to see there was still barge traffic on the river.

Finally I stopped at the River Walk and saw the same barge going through the railroad bridge.  The current must have been pretty strong as he needed this small tug boat to help stabilize the barges going through this tight space.

It was an enjoyable morning and I enjoyed looking for photography opportunities.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ December 01, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 1, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy First Day of December.

I have not touched a camera for almost five months.  It really shows with these two images.  I never gave any thought to my ISO settings or shutter speed.  As a result many of my images taken at this year’s annual Turkey Trot were of poor quality and many of them were blurred due to the low shutter speed trying to capture people running.

Ben, Angie, Joshua, and Gabby participated in the 2.5 mile run.  Both Gabby and Josh ran the entire run without stopping, which includes a pretty substantial hill.  We were all very proud of them.

I missed Josh’s finish as he ran ahead of them the last couple of hundred yards so I wasn’t able to photograph him.

I also found in processing these photos that my Photoshop and finishing skills have suffered as well.  Time to get back involved my my camera.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ July 15, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 15, 2019
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Monday!

Last Thursday Angie and Jeanne took the grand-kids for a visit at the Hurstville Interpretive Center near Maquoketa, Iowa.  I have written about the “Duck Pond” many times on this blog, which is part of the Interpretive Center.

I had lunch plans with a dear friend on Thursday so I asked them if I could join them for a couple of hours.  It was a blast to say the least.

The Interpretive Center is a wonderful place to take kids and teach them in a fun way about nature and some history of the area as well.  So they spent about 45 minutes looking at and interacting with the displays and creatures the center has.  Then they decided to go catch frogs at the little pond in front of the center.  That is where the fun really started. 🙂

Joshua caught the first frog.  He was methodical in his method and it paid off.

Gabby was finally able to catch one although she got a little frustrated because the frogs just wouldn’t cooperate.  🙂

Austin just couldn’t catch a frog so as is with most kids and water he just decided to play in the water.  The water was over the top of his boots so when he walked on land the water sloshed and splashed as he walked.

He said to me, “I tried to catch a frog Papa, but I couldn’t catch a frog.”  He was totally wet from head to foot.  Being the good mother that she is Angie was prepared for any circumstances and had a clean, dry change of clothes for him. 🙂

Josh’s prize catch.  None of the frogs were hurt and all were released back into the pond.  They had lunch at the picnic area provided at the center.  Wonderful time with the kids.

Enjoy your day and be careful.