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All posts for the month December, 2018

Friday ~ December 28, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 28, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Friday!

All the years I have worked I never had the week after Christmas off.  I always envied those folks that did.  Now that I’m retired I’m enjoying this time between the Holidays.

We spent Christmas Eve Day at Angie and Ben’s home.  Ben made Beef Wellington for dinner.  I have never had it before and was amazed at the process.

Ben carved a Christmas tree in one Wellington and a snowman in the other.

The finished product.  I really enjoyed the taste.  It was a delicious dinner and a memorable evening.

The beautiful place settings.

My place all staked out waiting for the wonder food that would soon fill my plate.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ December 22, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 22, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: .

Happy Saturday!

My wife Jeanne received this 500 piece puzzle last year for Christmas. With her busy schedule she never had time to put it together. Now that she is retired there was enough time.

She loves puzzles. I have trouble putting the grand kids’ 10 piece puzzle together.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ December 08, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 8, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , .

Happy Saturday!

I have over the years photographed Christmas ornaments and presented them on this blog.

I didn’t do it last year so I decided it was time to do it again.  I photographed many of these with the Nikon 105 F1.4 lens.  I usually hedge my best and shoot at f8.0 to make sure everything is in focus.  So I decided to push my comfort zone a little and try the shallow depth of field.

Enjoy the images.

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Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ December 07, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 7, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

Happy Friday!

I had a wonderful lunch with my beautiful daughter yesterday and then decided to go wandering around the countryside again.

I have three farm images for you today and of course one of them is a barn.

One of the things I enjoy about this time of year is that the soft light comes early in the afternoon.

There is a barn that I have wanted to photograph for sometime and I saw it again on the way to Mason City Wednesday.  After driving for sometime I realized that I was only a few miles away from the barn so I decided to go there.

This is not that barn.  Unfortunately when I arrived at the barn the sun was in the wrong location to photograph from the road.  So after some debate I decided to drive about a mile down the road and take the gravel road to the farm-house.  I went to the door but no one was home.  I realize I could have taken a few minutes and got the shot that I wanted.  But I do not trespass and I can’t imagine how awkward that would have been for the owners to pull into their property to see some stranger walking around their buildings.

So I’ll try again another day.  This barn is in its original state including original roof.  It isn’t going to be around for ever so I want to capture some images of it.  It’s 48 miles from home so I’m not inclined to go there on a regular basis to try to find the owners home.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ December 04, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 4, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Tuesday!

It’s been a fair amount of time since my last post.  I have been busy working on some projects and just plain lazy.

Yesterday I had lunch with some friends and then wandered through the country side looking for something to photograph.

It was cloudy, gray, and somewhat depressing environment so I decided to photograph in B&W to convey that feeling.

As I start my tenth month of full retirement I have experienced a range of emotions, many of which I had not expected.  In my mind I have composed  an essay about those feelings and at some point I may put them to paper.

I, for example, never thought I would miss working and in most respects I really don’t.  I enjoy not having the stress of demands and time limits hanging over my head.  What I do miss is my work.   I was able to help people solve problems both in their work life and personal life.  That gave me a feeling of purpose and fulfillment.

I really miss the connection I had with my friends.  I have lunch with many of them each week but I can tell in some cases the connection we once shared is becoming more blurred.

Left on my own, I find that I can spend hours reading blogs, taking lessons, playing games and napping.  One of the things I’m going to work on in the coming new year is putting more structure in my life.  I can do that with photography.

Okay, that’s all the babbling for today.

Enjoy your day and be careful.