Friday ~ September 14, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 14, 2018
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Happy Friday!  Especially for my friends still working.  🙂

I was trying to keep the new grass plantings moist so headed out the back patio door and saw this guy.  Went back got my camera, fitted it with a macro lens and photographed him from the inside and outside.

Two things became apparent to me in post production.  One, I need to clean the glass on the door and two, I should have set up the tripod.  Too hard to get a tack sharp image with the macro lens without a tripod. Never seem to learn the basics.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ September 13, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 13, 2018
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Happy Thursday!

I had a fun day yesterday.  Spent about four hours doing a photo shoot for the city of Preston, Iowa.  Actually the company that supplies electricity to Preston hired me to photograph the community.  Shot 175 images and will edit them today.  I got to meet a lot of nice people and learned a lot of things about Preston that I didn’t know.

Wonderful community.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ September 10, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 10, 2018
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Happy Monday!

Every year we go the fly in breakfast at the Dubuque Regional Airport.  It’s a pretty good breakfast and usually there are some neat planes to photograph.

The Grand Kids love the excitement and this year Angie, Ben all four of the kids went.  There were not as many planes to see as in past years but this old war bird was present as usual.  I have photographed it many times and never get tired of seeing it take off.  That big radial engine has an amazing sound.  Click on the image to see a larger more detailed image.

So I photographed it’s take off and then he did a fly by with a smoke trail.  Of course when he made that pass I was in the hanger walking back to the car so I missed that. 😦

This large corporate jet was not part of the fly in scene but I was impressed with the size of it.  It took off while we were standing in line so I ducked out and went to the flight line to grab this shot.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ September 08, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 8, 2018
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Happy Saturday!

Fun day yesterday.  I received a text from Mark wondering if I’d like to me Charlie?  That’s Charlie in the image above.  A beautiful Golden Retriever female that is so full of energy and curiosity that some of it actually rubbed off on me.

Mark and Julia got Charlie a couple of weeks ago and this is my first time to meet her.  After I played with her for a long time it was time to take some images.  More about that in a moment as I have three images for today.

Mark has always loved dogs and now he has his own dog to share that love with.  I decided to use the Nikon 105mm f1.4 lens for the shoot yesterday.  I haven’t had enough practice with it and it shows.  Even though I shot at f4.0 I still struggle with what’s in focus and what is not.  Plus I am used to shooting with a zoom lens and so I sometimes forget that I have to move my feet.  🙂

The 105mm f1.4 is a great portrait lens but not so much for photographing a wild puppy.

Julia is also a dog lover and grew up with a dog in the family.  I’m going to enjoy watching and photographing Charlie as she grows and matures.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ September 01, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 1, 2018
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Happy Saturday!

For my Facebook Friends, I have three images for today.  If you want to see them all just click on the link.

We have had a lawn service for many years and have been reasonably happy with the results, although the last three years I saw my yard go downhill to the point this year where half of it was dead.  When the guy came to do the treatment a few days ago we talked with him and he said, “Well it’s been a tough year and I’m sure it will come back in the Fall.”  That also did not explain all the new weeds in the yard as well.

So I called another service and they came over and looked at it.  They said, “It’s been a tough year and it will probably come back in the Fall if you use our service.”

My Son-in-law Ben had similar problems with his yard and he called “Lawn Doctor.”  I called them Tuesday and the guy came over.  He spent 45 minutes actually digging around in the yard and pulling up the turf to see what was going on underneath.  He discovered that we had grub worms and they were killing our yard.  Within the last three days they have killed the grubs, re-seeded the yard and put down a fertilizer.  We were told to water the new grass and keep the ground moist.  I spent 50 minutes last evening watering the grass and then about 2:00 a.m. this morning we got a 3 inch 5 hour rain.

Needless to say I won’t be watering anytime soon.  🙂

Angie brought the kids over for playtime and lunch today.  Addie is now standing and cruising.  She was having fun looking outside at the rain.

I braved the rain to capture this moment.

Enjoy the rest of your day and be careful.

Friday ~ August 31, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on August 31, 2018
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Happy Friday!

I had a great day yesterday.  Started off by meeting with a new client for a photography project I’ll be doing in September.  Then I arrived at Maquoketa to have lunch with a dear Friend and was about 30 minutes ahead of time.  I know, hard to believe since I have spent most of my life being fashionably late for things.  🙂

Anyway, with some time to kill, I stopped at my favorite place, the Hurstville Marsh and decided to take some images.  There were no wildlife around so just for fun I used my Nikon 70 – 200mm f2.8 lens, which is my normal portrait lens.  While these won’t win any awards for photography I was pleased with how they turned out.

After lunch I received a call from a Friend I haven’t seen in sometime.  He among other things is an avid photographer and I’ve wanted to get together with him for a long time to do some photography together.  We had a great discussion about my new endeavor, Have Studio Will Travel.  He has been doing portraiture work for awhile and I really admire his work.  He also had a session last year with the famous head shot guru Peter Hurley, so to get the opportunity to photograph and talk with him is a real treat for me.  We’re getting together next Thursday so I’m excited by the possibilities.

By the way, the little fly in the right hand corner of this image was just a lucky accident.  I didn’t even notice him until I was in post production.  You can click on any image to see a larger more detailed image.

Finally I had the chance to hook up with some friends I haven’t seen for a long time.  Our visit was short but it gave me a real boost.

Starting my eighth month of full retirement has been a wonderful experience.  I enjoy all the freedom and lack of stress.  The real downside however is that I miss my friends and so many of the people I worked with.  I enjoyed the work that I did but I realize now that it was the people I worked with that made the job what it was.  That’s why I end up in Maquoketa and some of the other towns where the organization is because I need that friend connection.  🙂

Enjoy your day and of course be careful.