Talk about a contrast. Yesterday colorful flowers and today black & white old machinery. As I was traveling the other day I stumbled across this area that had a bunch of old bulldozers and construction equipment.
As soon as I saw these machines I knew I had to photograph them and I wanted them to be in black and white. I like to photograph older things in black and white to preserve the character of the subject.
It was very hot this day and I didn’t spend a lot of time inspecting the equipment or photographing them from different angles. I just wanted to get the shots and get back in the AC. 🙂
I’m sure if these old machines could talk they would have lots of stories about the things they helped to build. Hope you enjoyed the old construction equipment. Enjoy your day and be careful.
I had a lunch today with some close friends. After our lunch I wandered around a little bit looking for something capture. It has been a very long time since I did any macro photography and it shows.
I am not happy with some of these images and it points out the fact that I need to do some more work on getting my camera settings better set.
It’s amazing but so true, if you don’t use your skill in a given application you lose the ability to do it well. I have more or less taken a hiatus from my photography and editing, since retiring four years ago and sadly it does show.
While I was photographing these flowers I was really uncomfortable. It was extremely hot and humid so I was just anxious to get the images and get back in the air conditioning.
I think very soon I will visit the arboretum and get some more practice in with a different group of flowers. Maybe a little earlier in the day before the heat builds.
I hope you enjoyed the flowers. I was aware of this grasshopper in the center of this flower. Remember you can click on any of the images to make a larger more detailed view of the image.
I decided to go on a photo run yesterday as the sky was blue and there were a lot of puffy clouds. One of my favorite shooting environments, since I’m not an early riser anymore and by the time the sun is closed to setting, I’m usually done with the day.
I enjoy photographing windmills if the sky is dynamic, which it was yesterday. I have photographed this same windmill before but never get tired of it.
I’m wondering how much longer this old farm structure will remain standing. As you can see it is starting to lean and the more rain and snow it gets the more it’s going to lean until one day it will give up.
I’ll finish up with this old guy. Yes I’ve photographed before as well. Lot of traffic out yesterday so finding a place to park to get to some of the structures proved to be a challenge. I have several more things to show that I haven’t photographed before and hope to post them tomorrow.
Had lunch with my beautiful daughter Wednesday and afterward I wandered down to the river. Found this guy at the 16th Street Basin, which is unusual since they have cleared all the trees the wildlife once used for protection.
I took a lot of shots of him and he didn’t seem to mind. There were some Canada geese close by and a couple ducks, which I didn’t get any still shots of but I did take some video of the Heron and got the ducks and geese in the video.
I also ventured down to the river and captured this video of the small barge.
In case you didn’t figure it out, we were on vacation last week. We spent the week with Angie, Ben, and the Grand Kids in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. A dream vacation for those of you who like the heat and the emerald waters of the gulf. Not so much for an out-of-shape, old person like myself who hates the hot, humid weather associated with Florida.
Having said that I knew what was in store for me when I decided to accompany the family to the beach. I spent the majority of my time inside a wonderful facility well cooled by air conditioning and with a view of the ocean that was spectacular. So don’t feel sorry for me as I enjoyed my time with the people I love the most.
I have a number of images to share with you but I thought I would start the week with this image taken with my iPhone by one of the crew of the “Dolphin Cruise” we did on Wednesday evening. We caught one glimpse of a dolphin but the entire cruise was well worth the time.
The image above is the cloud formation that we saw on our flight home.
On the flight from Chicago to Dubuque we encountered these clouds, which I had never seen from the air before.
Hope you’ll check back tomorrow as I have more images to share with you.
A mixture of images today. Remember you can click on the images to make them larger and more detailed. A sunset from last night. Lots of clouds so I didn’t get a real pretty sunset.
A para-sailor off in the distance. I didn’t have my long lens so had to do the best I could with my 300mm lens. You really need to click on the image to see much of the para-sail.
This big storm blew in and was gone in just a few minutes. But as it was coming it sure looked menacing. It did rain hard for a few minutes but then it was gone and milder temperatures prevailed.
Obviously I’m not in Dubuque at the current time. More about that later. I hope you enjoy some of the images that I’ll be posting over the next few days.
Over the years I have photographed many Blue Herons. But when I saw this guy and he appeared as a silhouette because of the light I had to capture him. I was pretty happy with this image.
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I saw this commercial fishing vessel. Although it was not on waters as dangerous as “The Most Deadly Catch” I felt like I had to capture it.
Hope you enjoy these images. More to come so stay tuned. Remember to click on the image to make it larger and to show far more detail.
I am not, by any stretch of the imagination. a “Wildlife Photographer.” I do not study the various species, nor learn their nesting, breeding, eating habits, or their migration time. Much of the time when I photograph a bird (like the one above) I have no idea what they are called. I just love photographing and watching all kinds of wildlife.
So after spending about 15 minutes on the internet I “think” this bird is a Pectoral Sandpiper. But it could just as well be a rooster for all I know. Point is that for me and I’m only speaking for me, I just like to take photographs period.
Remember you can click on the images to make them large and far more detailed.
Now I do know that this is a pair of Canada Geese. So I’m not totally oblivious to the species. I did however use to call more than one goose Canadian Geese, which is wrong and it was pointed out to me in very specific terms. 🙂
For over 20 years I have enjoyed photographing all types of wildlife at the “Duck Pond” including all sorts of geese, pelicans, swans, herons, egrets, eagles, ducks, and assorted smaller birds.
I call it the Duck Pond because several of the locals in Maquoketa refer to it as such. It is really the Hurstville Marsh / Wetlands. It is located by the Hurstville Interpretive Center and is normally filled with lots of water. However at the above image reveals the water levels are very low right now.
Here is a drone video that I shot a few years ago that will give you an idea how big the Marsh is. Oh and by the way if you watch the full video you will also see that I crashed the drone. 😦
I’m not sure what this bird is. He is much smaller than the first bird in this post and much quicker. I probably took a hundred images at burst rate trying to capture this little guy in focus.
Finally this image of what I think are tadpoles. But I’m really not sure. What I do know is that there were thousands of these things swimming by my spot the 30 minutes I was there. So what ever they are there is going to be a whole bunch of soon. 🙂
That’s it for today. Hope to photograph some more stuff in the coming days.
First off I’m not thrilled with any of these images today. I have shot them over the last few weeks and my lack of skill is readily apparent. But since I am going to do my best to post more often I thought I would share this potpourri of images.
I only have about 10,000 images of Canada Geese in my files but when I see one I photograph it for my friend Betty who loves Canada Geese.
Found this lone Trumpeter Swan floating down the river. I thought he might come closer but apparently he didn’t like my presence and he meandered further away from me.
I can never pass up a chance to photograph a hawk, when one presents itself to me. He didn’t stick around long after I took the first image.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day and be careful.
Well, it’s been a long, long time since I have posted to this blog. For those of you who have been a regular follower, I apologize.
Over the last few months several people have indicated to me that they would like to see me get back into taking pictures and posting on this blog. I will endeavor to do that in the coming day.
Last night was a unique event with the full eclipse of the moon. I have three images of the moon in various phases of the eclipse.
You can click on the images and see a larger more detailed view of the subject.
Photography is like any other skill. If you don’t stay constant you lose a significant amount of that skill. That has been true not only of my photography and setting up the camera. I have also lost a lot of the skills I once enjoyed in Photoshop.
Photo shop has changed so much in the last couple of years that what use to be routine is now a chore to figure out.
I stopped photographing with this image as I could get a focus lock on the fully eclipsed moon. That and it was way past my bed time. 🙂
That’s it for today. I will do better on my posting.
Talk about a contrast. Yesterday colorful flowers and today black & white old machinery. As I was traveling the other day I stumbled across this area that had a bunch of old bulldozers and construction equipment.
As soon as I saw these machines I knew I had to photograph them and I wanted them to be in black and white. I like to photograph older things in black and white to preserve the character of the subject.
It was very hot this day and I didn’t spend a lot of time inspecting the equipment or photographing them from different angles. I just wanted to get the shots and get back in the AC. 🙂
I’m sure if these old machines could talk they would have lots of stories about the things they helped to build. Hope you enjoyed the old construction equipment. Enjoy your day and be careful.
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