Nikon D700 | Nikon 24-70mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f6.3

Hope you had a great weekend.  I vegged Saturday.  The weather was nasty with snow and freezing rain so it was the perfect time to lay low and catch up on some nap time and lessons.

Yesterday I decided it was high time I cleaned up and cleaned out my office.  I had been looking for three things for sometime and had been frustrated by piles of stuff everywhere.  I guess I inherited this from my Mother but I tend to be a pack rat and just won’t throw anything away.  Couple that with that I am always in an acquisition mode and you can see the problem. 🙂

I like the image above.  I was playing around with some of the images I took Friday evening and thought this image of Josh would look good in black and white.  But his beautiful deep blue eyes need to shine through.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24-70mm lens | SB900 flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f6.3

Then as I finished cleaning my office I happened to check my cell phone.  There was a message from a friend of mine (sent at 9:30 am) saying that her and her husband were in Green Island and there were over a “thousand” eagles there.

This was at 5:30 pm so needless to say even if I had been able to have Scottie transport me there instantly there wouldn’t have been enough light to take images. 😦

Oh and speaking of Eagles, I have a treat for you.  Luther College in Decorah, Iowa has an “Eagle Watch” live streaming video of a Mother / Father eagle nesting near the fish hatchery and as of this morning there are two eggs in the nest.

Jeanne and I spent a fair amount of time just watching the event.  The changing of the guard, repositioning the egg to warm it evenly, and watching the ever vigilant parent protect their precious eggs.

If you want to have a look just click here.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24-70 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f6.3

Good Day and thank you for stopping by.  We had a treat last evening.  Ben had two surgeries, which meant that Angie and Joshua didn’t have dinner plans so they stopped over for pizza.  We missed Ben but enjoyed Angie and Josh’s company.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24-70 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f2.8

Joshua was in such a good mood last night.  Angie was here for two and a half hours.  He was awake, smiling, and cooing the entire time.  He sat quietly in his car seat while we ate dinner and just played with his fingers. 🙂

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24-70 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f2.8

After dinner Angie asked me to take a picture of her and Josh.  This was the only one I have out of 50 where Angie and Josh are both looking at the camera.  It’s not a very good picture but I spruced up the background a little and I like it better now.

I shot 116 images  last night so you’ll be seeing lots of Josh in the days to come.  Hope you have a great weekend.  Be careful and thanks again for stopping by.

Nikon D90 | Nikon 18-200 mm | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f14

Interesting choice of a topic for today’s post.  In HR terms that usually means that someone was let go.  What it really means today is that again because of my schedule and the crappy weather I haven’t been able to do any shooting,  So I’ve gone back into the 2010 archives to find some images that for one reason or another I passed over.

I decided to post in B&W today with a touch of color to keep it interesting.  I was messing around with some images last night after I got home from Cedar Rapids and just happen to come across this image of the Maquoketa River at flood stage.  This is main bridge on the Hurstville Road that comes into Maquoketa.   You can see how close the water is to the lower edge of the bridge.  Normally the water would be 10-14 feet below the bridge.

Nikone D300s | Nikon 24-120 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f13

This image is from our Bellevue shoot.  It is a stairway that climbs from river level up to street level in Bellevue.  I remember when I made this image I was drawn to the unique pattern the sun made on stairs and the lines converging to the bottom.  Okay I can’t remember what I was thinking five minutes ago but it sounded artsy didn’t it.  🙂

Nikone D300s | Nikon 24-120 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f13

Finally this image also from the Bellevue shoot.  Poor Jeanne and Steve have to just tolerate Becki and I while we’re shooting.  I liked this image of them sitting by the picnic table waiting for us to finish shooting the particular area we were in.  This was a wonderful day last Summer.  We will certainly go back to Bellevue this Summer and do some more shooting.

Well that’s it for today.  Have a great Friday.    My friend Andreas got some great Eagle pictures last weekend.  I don’t know if it’s too late to catch any down by the river tomorrow but I think I’ll get it a shot.  NO pun intended.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be careful.

Nikon D700 | Tamron 70-200 mm F2.8 lens | Strobes/softboxes | ISO 200 1/100 sec @f20

These three lovely ladies (L-R) Laura, Madonna, and Debbie  are friends of mine from work.  They are each extremely creative in their own way, gracious, and thoughtful.  They do an excellent job in their regular work at the bank but their creative side coupled with their passion for excellence has brought a whole new dimension to their contribution to the organization.

Besides that they just rock as human beings.  The above image is from a portrait shoot I did December 1, 2010 (which I’m ashamed to say I still have not finished.)  Portraits take a lot of time especially when you do such a crappy job in the first place.

This was back when I was still having migraines and I had a big one this night.  It was a learning experience as well (that lighting thing you know) but thanks to Lightroom and Photoshop I think this image turned out pretty well.

That’s it for today.  Have a great Wednesday.  Thank you again for checking out my work.  Thank you especially for the nice comments you have made.

Nikon D300s | Tamrom 18-270 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f6.0

The images I’m posting today are images that I’ve taken in the last couple of weeks that were “throw away” images in my mind.  But I take on-line courses in Photoshop so as I try new techniques I practice on my own images and some of the techniques I’ve learned have helped enhance an otherwise throw away image.

I call the image above “Road to Nowhere.”  I was taking some sunset images of the church and I liked the clouds and nice color in the sky with the road disappearing to nowhere.  But in the RAW format it was really not much of an image.  After trying a couple of different techniques on it I kind of like it now.  You will have to judge for yourself.

Nikon D300s | Tamrom 18-270 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f10

Here is another image that the way it was captured did not appeal to me at all.  In fact I was very close to deleting it from my hard drive.  But after cropping the image and darkening the foreground… well again you have to be the judge.  I kind of liked it.  Perspective in photography (as in life) can make all the difference in an image.  Uncropped it just wasn’t interesting but once I cropped it the sun became the dominate  feature of the image and then it was more interesting.

Nikon D300s | Tamrom 18-270 mm lens | ISO 200 1/30 sec @f 4.5

Finally this image.  Honestly even after I worked with it I still don’t like it.  I remember framing it in the view finder thinking I really like the pattern of the hills and the combination of snow and bare ground but I was worried about the exposure because the light was so low.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but even my eye does not think these are beautiful images.  I worked awhile on them however so I thought I would post them for your amusement.  🙂

Have a great Tuesday.  Be careful out there since our old friend Winter has decided to stick around a little longer.  Thank you for stopping by.

If this doesn’t get your Monday off to a good start I’m not sure what will.  I’m not happy with the lighting on the first two images as I mentioned yesterday I’m still trying to learn how to light properly with off camera flash.

In the image above Angie is singing a song with Josh and when she gets to a certain part he just laughs.  It was fun to watch.

This is another shot of Angie and Josh singing a song.  He really enjoys it.  We were there for a couple of hours with him and the only time he fussed (and I mean fussed) was when I tried to hold him. 😦

This is one of the images I took with the Nikon SB900 flash on the camera tilted toward the ceiling with a bounce card extended.  It uses TTL metering and gives a much better quality of light.  I’m thinking I’m using too much power when attached to the soft box, which is what gives the harsh light.  More practice is needed.  🙂

Have a great Monday all.  Be careful out there.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24 - 70 mm F2.8 Lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f6.3

Saturday afternoon around 5:00 pm Jeanne and I went to visit Angie, Ben and Joshua.  We had not seen them for two weeks  so it was a real treat.    Just as we were pulling in the driveway Ben also pulled in behind us.  As we all got out of the vehicles, I said to Ben, “Nothing a guy likes to see more than his in-laws in the driveway when he gets home from work.” He just laughed and showed me the bottle of Lambrusco that he’d just picked up. 🙂

Nikon D700 | Nikon 24 - 70 mm F2.8 Lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f6.3

I shot close to 100 images and spent a lot of the time trying to figure out the correct light settings for my portable softbox. Lighting is the area I still struggle with and it is and has been the hardest for me to get right.  If I ever get good at it I’ll feel like maybe I have become a reasonably good photographer but I am still a long way off.

Nikon D700 | Nickon 24-70 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ F6.3

I like this image of Nick Roling, Jeanne and Joshua.  After I got all my images taken we decided to go to Red Robin for dinner.  Joshua was totally worn out by then and he slept the entire meal.  When we got to Red Robin there was a huge line and the hostess told me it would be about a 30 minute wait.

Ben called Applebees and it was an hour there so we decided to stay at the Robin.  10 minutes later we were seated at our table and enjoyed a wonderful meal.  I’ve still got a lot of images to work through so will post more as the week unfolds.

Thanks for stopping by and be careful out there.  It was a scary walk down to the mail box this morning to get the paper for Jeanne.  I had to take a bucket of salt with me.  🙂

We had a great late afternoon and dinner with Angie, Ben, Joshua, and Ben’s brother nick.  I shot over 100 images of Josh so I have a lot of culling to do.

The image above is the Sunset image.  I was messing around with Photoshop this evening and found this tutorial on how to make water.  My first attempt didn’t turn out to bad.  Hope you had a good day.  Thanks for stopping by.

Well I was all pumped this morning to post my new images that I shot last evening on the way home from work.  But alas Mediacom was down for some unknown reason.  So I had no internet, no e-mail, no phone, nothing.

Enough about that. I left work yesterday right at 5:00 pm.  The sun was shining and the temperature was mild.  As I headed North on 61 it occurred to me that this might be a good time for another sunset image.

I started surveying the landscape (not a good thing to do while driving at 70 mph) for a good location to shoot the sunset.  I turned West at Otter Creek Junction and decided to look for some grain bins, barns, or whatever.

What I found (because I was losing the sun) was these buildings.  One grain bin, a shed, and some other structure.  So I got a great image of the sun at an optimum moment.  Some shots of buildings silhouetted against the evening sky.  Not bad for a spur of the moment set up.

I was just walking back to my car when a big black Chevy Suburban pulled up behind me.  It was my good friend Sharon.  She and two of her children were headed to Grandma’s house.  The area I was taking pictures of used to belong to Sharon’s family.  Her and her husband grew up nearby.   She had seen me taking shots from the rode and came back to say hi.

I decided to take a leisurely drive to Dubuque since the sun was gone and I couldn’t take any more pictures.  So I headed up the Bernard Road.  Now in my worldly travels (not) I have never been to the town of Bernard, Iowa.

On the other side of Bernard there is small valley full of trees and a small stream running through it.  There was a big full moon that was just rising and the fog was settling in the low lying areas and as I looked out over the valley I saw the misty fog, the trees, contrasted against the snow and this big moon.

Well I had to stop and take an image.  I’m not thrilled with this shot.  It would have been so much better in HDR.  But I was too lazy to take the time to set it up.  I was just about done when I heard a car slowing and a lady yelled “Hey Updegraff get out of the road.”

I was my friend Jenni coming home from work.  She lives in the Bernard area.  She asked me what I was taking a picture of and I showed her.  It looked much better on the LCD screen then it ended up.  HDR would have been perfect.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.  Hopefully I’ll have some more stuff to post on Saturday.  Be careful.

If you remember my “Mediacom Rant” I have an update.  No it is still not fixed (4 months later and counting) but there has been progress.  I was promised resolution by December 17th, January 30th, and then finally on February 7th.  So on the 10th I called (God only knows where those calls go) again and this time they didn’t even have a record of the Issue Ticket.  Apparently after a ticket is so old it just purges itself.  Great way to solve your problems.  If a problem is still there after four months you just delete it.

I can count the number of times on three fingers in my life that I have hung up on someone in anger.  This was the third time when the guy (nationality unknown) said we have no record of your issue in our system would you please restate your problem. Slam!!

The next day I Googled the Dubuque Cable Commission and filed a complaint.  I did that at 5:00 AM.  By 10:00 AM I had received two personal e-mails from a commission member and that afternoon a phone call from an actual cable supervisor in Dubuque (who spoke English.)  They promised resolution by February 25th.  The Commission member requested I call him if I wasn’t satisfied after the 25th.

They also agreed to give me one month free service.  Yipeee! 4 months of horrible service  = one month of free.  Well it’s something.

Nikon D300S | Tamron 18-270 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f20

On my lunch hour I went looking for some skyscrapers to photograph and couldn’t find any of course.  So as I was coming back from my country drive I saw these two barns.  It was one of the few days that the sun was shinning and the sky was a pretty blue color.  (Well maybe not quite this blue but very blue none the less.)

Nikon D300S | Tamron 18-270 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f20

So for my friend Betty F.  I shot the barns because she and I both like barns.  Hope to get to make some images of Josh this weekend.  Depends on everyone’s schedule of course.  Have a great Thursday.

Be careful and as always thank you for stopping by and sharing in my passion.