Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 200 HDR 3 image bracket at f8.0

Only one image today but I really like it.  I had Monday off and so having some business to attend to in Cedar Rapids I drove down there in the morning.  My intent was to take care of business in the morning and then devote the afternoon to photography.

Best laid plans as they say.  Anyway on my way home I turned West on highway 20 at Manchester and headed toward Dubuque.  I went by this large pond that sits parallel to highway 20.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught this makeshift dock reflected in the water.  This going 70 mph at the time by the way.

So one of my infamous u-turns and back I went to capture the image.  Fearlessly I walked through the high grass (knowing that most snakes have long since departed for lower levels.)  This image cried for HDR but alas the tripod was clear back at the car so resting trusty camera on a fence post I shot this in HDR.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your mid-week day and be careful.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/50 sec @ f4

Some more images from my visit of Reiman Gardens on the ISU campus.  I would think that most people who visit the butterfly garden spend a lot of time there .  I saw people who were already there when I arrived and they were still only half way around the garden by the time I left.   Reminded me of a scene from “Family Vacation” with Chevy Chase when he looked at the Grand Canyon in 10 secs and said “Okay  let’s go.” 🙂

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/100 sec @ f4

Anytime a butterfly would hold still long enough to get a lens on it I would fire off a burst of shots.  While I was processing these images I noticed that I had about 80 images of the same butterfly.  Taken at different locations around the garden, it must be a very common species.

An interesting bit of information about this giant butterfly.  A woman was sitting in a wheel chair with binoculars, reference book and drawing pad observing this guy.  She said he only lives for 3 days once he emerges from his cocoon.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/320 sec @ f5.6

Here is another large butterfly.  I never saw the really big ones fly.  There were several with their wings pressed together sitting on a leaf but the two big ones I did capture were up against one of the windows with their wings at full expansion.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/50 sec @ f4

Finally this interesting looking guy.  His wings suggest a beautiful array of colors but he would never open his wings.  I watched him for over 5 minutes hoping to see him spread his wings.  You are forbidden to touch them in any way including blowing on them so I just waited but he never moved.

Well that’s it for butterflies.  Not many different species for 90 minutes of observation but still something you don’t see every day.  I did tour the flower garden inside the building and shot a few macro shots of flowers although I’m not happy with the looks of them.  I may show them at a later date.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Tuesday and be careful

Good Day and happy Monday.  While in Ames for Thanksgiving I decided to go out to Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens.  I wanted to go because a friend of mine had told me about how wonderful it was and because I wanted to try to capture some images of butterflies.

Reiman Gardens sits right next door to Jack Trice Football Stadium.   There is an $8 charge to get in and you have to take this short lesson on what you can and can’t do in the butterfly garden.

I have to admit I was a bit taken aback by the lack of friendliness of the staff.  I guess I expected people to warm and welcoming and that is not what I encountered.  When the one woman saw my camera she demanded to know if I was taking pictures for personal use or professional use.

Once you go through the first doors of the garden you are met by another person who explains the rules to you all over again.  Finally I was allowed in.  It is a tropical climate inside with plants and greenery growing everywhere.   Butterflies are fluttering about everywhere you look.

I found it very difficult to capture images of the butterflies.  You are not allowed to take a tripod into the garden so it is hard to get a macro lens on the butterfly.  The other thing I noticed was when I shot with a flash it tended to blow out the highlights of the wings.  So I raised the ISO and tried it without the flash.

I did use a macro lens on some of the images I captured but it was a challenge.  The other challenge is that you are restricted to the walk way and some of the butterflies didn’t follow the rules.  🙂  Still I don’t want to sound all negative.  It was a fun experience.

I don’t know anything about butterflies or the different species that I encountered.  I know there were some really spectacular looking butterflies and some that were just ugly.

More tomorrow on my adventure at Reiman Gardens.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Monday.  Be careful.

Good Day.  I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.  We traveled to Ames to spend Thanksgiving and part of Friday with Jeanne’s Mother.  We were joined by her Sister and family from Des Moines and had a nice visit.

We picked up Mark on the way over and Angie, Ben and Joshua also were there.  I shot lots of pictures most of which will never see the light of day.  I cranked the ISO up to 1600 and shot without a flash for awhile.  To be honest I prefer using the flash.   I think it does a better job and gives a more pleasing light.  There was more noise in the images at 1600 ISO than I expected.  Easily taken care of with Lightroom3 but still I was surprised.

Jeanne’s Mother was as always the perfect host.  It has always amazed me how she can put on a big meal like that and never seems to dirty a dish.  Jay baked a ham and had a lot of the other traditional foods including my favorite pumpkin pie.  Mary brought the turkey so we had way more food than we needed.  🙂

Later in the day Jeanne’s cousin Pam and her Son Jackson stopped by for a visit.  Typical Thanksgiving Day.  Snacking before lunch (we didn’t eat until 2:00 pm) so you tend to fill up on junk and then the big meal.  I did limit my self to only two trips to the food bar.

Then of course lots of football (two pretty decent games this year) depending on who you were rooting for and the occasional nap.  So it was an enjoyable day.

What made this Thanksgiving even more special was Joshua.  He still had a cold and there were times you could just tell he didn’t feel good.  But he is mostly a happy inquisitive little boy and we all enjoyed watching him explore his new surroundings.

So all in all a very nice Thanksgiving.  I hope you were able to spend time with family and friends and that your Thanksgiving was good for you.  Friday morning I went out to Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University.

In the 35 years that Jeanne and I have been married and going to Ames I had never been there.  So camera in hand I went in search of butterflies.  More on that tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.  Be careful.

I wish you and your family a very happy and peaceful Thanksgiving.  The image above is of an unbaked homemade apple pie.  St. Luke’s Methodist Church participates in a project called Mountain TOP.  Which stands for Tennessee Outreach Project.

Every year adults and young folks from the church go down to Tennessee and do work for needy families who live near the foothills of the Tennessee mountains.  Both of my children have gone on these outreach programs multiple times.

One of the ways the work is funded is by making and selling these wonderful apple pies.  So starting in mid October every Saturday morning many of the faithful and willing gather at the church to peal, slice, knead, roll and put together hundreds of apple pies, which are then sold and the proceeds go to help fund the project.

Every  Saturday Jeanne goes to help with the pies simply because she is a good person.  The person who heads up the project is Dan Jacobsen.  He has done this for at least two decades now and every year he gives up his vacation time to work on the project, travel to the mountain and work for needy people while teaching and ministering to the people he comes in contact with.  In my mind he surely will have a special place in heaven reserved for him.

So I do none of the work nor have I ever gone on the project but I will enjoy this special pie today and think of all the people who made it and all the good the people who go to Tennessee and all the people they help every year.

I thank God that there are people who do these things for others.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm f2.8 lens | Studio Strobes | ISO 200 1/25 sec @ f5.6

Something a little different on my blog today.  Portraits.  I enjoy shooting all forms of photography.  I like wildlife, landscape, macro and portraits.  By far my favorite and the most challenging (at least for me) is portraits.

This past Monday evening I invited anyone from our Maquoketa Bank who wanted to have a portrait made to come sit for a photo session.  I had arranged with the owners of the Decker Hotel to use their lobby, which was decorated for Christmas as the backdrop for the shoot.

The image above is of my friend Tina.  For me Portraits are the hardest form of photography to get correct mainly because of the lighting.  Because it is the most challenging for me it is also the most rewarding when I get it right.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm f2.8 lens | Studio Strobes | ISO 200 1/25 sec @ f5.6

Jeanne gave me a “beginner’s set of studio strobes” for Christmas several years ago and I drag them out and use them about once or twice a year.  They provide adequate light and have slight power adjustments and I shoot through a photo umbrella or 24 x 24 softbox.   The problem is that 95% of my photography is not about using strobes so every time I set them up it is like a new learning experience.

As luck would have it I have three important sessions to photograph in the month of December utilizing my strobes and taking portraits so I wanted to get the learning curve out-of-the-way early.  🙂

It was exactly one year ago last December when I last used my strobes and did any portraiture work.  The image above is of my friend Dave.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm f2.8 lens | Studio Strobes | ISO 200 1/25 sec @ f5.6

I haven’t processed many of the images I took Monday just these three for the blog.  I’ve had a couple of 15 hour days so I’ve been pretty used up by the time I sit down at my computer at night.  Hopefully in the next couple of days I can get them all processed, burned to CDs for the people so they can make prints for themselves.  🙂

So great fun shooting Monday night.  I get the practice and the folks who were gracious enough to let me photograph them get a CD of all the shots to use as they wish.  The image above is of Amy.  She just started working for us a few weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your mid-week day and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Be careful.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f8.0

Happy Monday and the start of the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.  Generally spent with family and friends without all the stress of buying stuff and hoping people like your gifts.  Just lots of food, fellowship, football and naps.  🙂

I went out yesterday on the hopes that the shooting would be better than Saturday.  There were clouds in the sky all be they gray and dark but slivers of sunshine from time to time and a hint now and again of blue skies.  Alas the blue never really dominated and it was pretty much gray skies all day.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f8.0

The first image caught my eye as I was driving out of Centraila.  I had to turn around a couple of times and finally found an equipment entrance about 1/8th of a mile from the field.  Some of the crop was already harvested but there was still a fair amount left to pick.

The above image I pulled in the recreational area by the industrial park to check my camera settings (not a good thing to do while driving.)  Anyway I saw this guy walking around the pond and I imagined it would make a nice image in black and white.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 200 1/500 sec @ f8.0

I had just photographed the corn wagons when I went around a corner and saw these tanks.  I stopped in the middle of the road and snapped a couple of quick shots.  I like the way the shapes of the cylinders contrast with the cloudy sky and barren field.

Well that’s it for today.  I hope you enjoy you Monday.  If you’re traveling this Thanksgiving Holiday, do be careful.  Thank you for stopping by.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28- 300 mm lens | ISO 1600 1/125 sec @f4.5

WOW, a busy week so no time to shoot any images until Friday.  The image above is of my good friend Steve Kent.  Steve works for our organization on the investment side and he is interesting, funny and very knowledgeable person.  I have enjoyed his friendship for several years.

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28- 300 mm lens | ISO 1600 1/250 sec @f8

So Saturday morning I’m very anxious to get out and shoot some images.  As I look out the window I see a gray overcast day with windy conditions.  Well you take what you can get.   Going through Epworth, Iowa I came across this old John Deer tractor setting near a garage and stopped to capture this image.

Yes I did insert a different sky and I’ll admit I didn’t do a very good job of it.  The grey / white sky that was in the original image was just yuk!

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28- 300 mm lens | ISO 1600 1/250 sec @f8

A little outside of Epworth I came across this Buffalo.  There were several of them in the field.  It was hard to find a place to park.  I had to leave half of the car sitting on the roadway with the flashers on.  It’s not every day you see a Buffalo wandering around. 🙂

Nikon D3 | Nikon 28- 300 mm lens | ISO 1600 1/250 sec @f8

Finally just before it started to rain (pretty hard) I captured this lonely combine sitting in a freshly harvested corn field.  Its work done for another year.

I know from a photographic standpoint there is nothing special here, but it was good to get out and shoot even if the conditions were not very favorable.  I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

A couple of barns for you today.  Yes I know I said I would not be posting for a couple of days but I got a chance to get out yesterday on my lunch break for about 25 minutes.  I came across this barn, which I liked and so I captured this image.

Not a lot of angle options with this barn.  I did like the way the windmill framed up against the scene so I made a couple of images and continued looking.  With only 25 minutes I didn’t expect to find much.

I’ve shot this barn before but I’m not sure I ever posted it.  I came across this barn on the way to Green Island.  I like the large stone foundation and the finish of the wood.

I’m taking an on-line lesson entitled “Crush The Composition.”   The main point of the lesson is when shooting a particular subject one should try many different points of view, such as try to shoot wide, shoot tall, shoot low.  In other words shoot lots and lots of pictures to get the one that really expresses the vision you originally had in your mind and the reason you decided to take the image in the first place.

The problem with barns is that they are usually on private property and I’m not always inclined to go up to the farm-house and ask for permission to photograph their barn.  Perhaps I should and while there I could ask about the history of the structure.  Now there’s a thought.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Wednesday and be careful.

A short post today as I’m running late.  These images of Eagles won’t win any photography prizes but I did want to show you that I actually did see Eagles on Friday while at Green Island.

I was just too far away and trying to hand hold the 500 mm lens while panning just isn’t my strong suit so they are pretty awful images.    I guess I would rather have a bad shot of an Eagle than no shot at all.

I’m not sure this guy got his prey.  Like I said on Saturday by the time I could get around the row of trees that were blocking my view the Eagles were gone.

Thanks for stopping by.  I had an e-mail from Andreas on Sunday and he said he ran into the same thing last week.  Too many hunters and all the birds were gone.  He said that it was the first time he had gone to Green Island and not made a single click.

No post for the next couple of days as I have early employee meetings and will be doing a lot of traveling around our corporate footprint.    Enjoy your day and be careful.