General Posts

Wednesday ~ August 01, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on August 1, 2018
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Happy Hump Day Wednesday!

I thought, as did some of my friends, that I would spend a greater amount of time on photography after retiring.  I’ve actually spent less time for some reason.  My passion for and of photography has not wavered and 90% of the time I have a camera with me.  However I’ve been focused on many other things and have developed a significant case of being lazy.  🙂

I have four images for today.  Yesterday, I had lunch with a dear Friend and for the first time in recent memory I was actually early, so I decided on the way down to stop and photograph anything that interested me.  This pond sitting in the middle of a corn field has always attracted my attention for some reason but yesterday I had, for the first time in years, time to stop and photograph it.

When I went by the Duck Pond I saw this Blue Heron.  I have ten thousand photos of Herons but I just can’t pass up a chance to photograph one.  I had to make a U-turn and do some stealthy sneaking up on this guy to get a shot of him.

On the way out-of-town I stopped at the Hurstville Interpretive Center and shot a couple of images of their flowers.

I love the Interpretive Center and used to spend a lot of my lunch hours just walking around the grounds and enjoying the wildlife and echo system.

Just a word of caution for email users.  It used to be pretty easy to spot a phishing email attempt because of the wording and their look.  Not so much now.  Yesterday I received a notice from PayPal that my account had been put on hold because of a security breach.  I opened the email and it looked like every other PayPal email I’ve receive over the years.  But when I hovered my mouse cursor over the “Log-In Here” button the URL was clearly not PayPal.  I later went to the PayPal website and found there was nothing wrong with my account.  Had I been busy or in a hurry I might have clicked on it and who knows what would have happened.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ December 12, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 12, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

December-11-2015

Happy Saturday!

I didn’t sleep well last night thinking about all the things I need to do to have a successful shoot today in Maquoketa.  If I were doing this on a regular basis it would be a walk in the park but every time I do a portrait shoot is almost like my first one.  A re-learning experience.

I’m not complaining, just sharing those thoughts.  🙂

December-11-2015-B

I had a lot of to-dos yesterday on my list and finally got them all done by mid-afternoon.  I kept thinking the sun was going to come out and I would have a chance to shoot some landscapes but that didn’t happen.  So around 3:00 p.m. I headed out to visit the 16th Street Basin and I was happy to see there were a  lot of geese, ducks and one lone gull on the water.

December-11-2015-A

I also ventured up to Mud Lake Park but didn’t find anything there to put a lens on.

So I’m getting things ready to head for Maquoketa this morning.  It will take an hour or so to set up the lights, background, computer, and electrical cords.  Then get the lights balanced and the camera color balanced.  Hopefully after that I actually have people who want their picture taken show up.  🙂

Anyway check back tomorrow if you have time and I’ll have all the details.  Good, bad, and the in between.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Saturday ~ October 10, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on October 10, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

October-10-2015-10-03-2015-1A

Happy Saturday!

Today I thought I’d publish an all Gabby Day.  She is one of my favorite subjects to photograph and by the way to be around.  🙂

Last Saturday Angie and I did the World Wide Photo Walk in Galena and Gabby came along.  She got tired of walking pretty quickly and since both her Mother and I were photographing it was a challenge to carry her.  My good friend Steve volunteered to carry her.

This look says it all.  If I don’t look at him he doesn’t exist and it does beat walking.  🙂

October-10-2015-10-03-2015-1B

This image is when I was walking behind Steve and Gabby.  She is saying, “Grandpa won’t you please carry me.”  She did come to accept Steve later during the walk but she would, given the chance run to her Mother or me.

We had a decent time at the photo walk although it wasn’t set up like the typical walk.  The group didn’t stay together much and we didn’t meet afterwards for food and conversation.  I think some of them did go to the distillery in town but we opted to keep walking and photographing.  Later we had lunch.

October-10-2015-10-03-2015-1C

Finally I’ll leave you with this image from the pumpkin patch.  Gabby wanted to go in the corn pool and Angie said no it was time to leave.  So this is the response Gabby gave her Mother.  I had to take the shot.  🙂

Love that little girl so much.  She is a real treasure.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day, it looks like a good one weather wise at least in my part of the world.  Be careful.

Tuesday ~ October 06, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on October 6, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

October-03-2015-1A

Happy Tuesday!

Some images from the Saturday Photo Walk for you today.  I used what I call the “Retro” look to process these photos to make them look old.  Of course the first image of the post office is a little out of character with the huge power lines in the background.  It would have taken more time than I had to remove them.

Apparently (what I was told, no research involved) this is a historic post office still in service today.  I did not go inside, which now I regret.  I may have to make another trip over to investigate it more closely.

October-03-2015-A

This guy was fascinating.  I wish I would have had time to visit with him. He was kind enough to step out into the street and pose for this image.  Very nice man.

Apparently they offer what is called “Ghost Tours.”  General Grant gives you a walking tour of downtown Galena and points out several points of interest from the Civil War era.  The uniform looks pretty authentic and he certainly like he could be General Grant. 🙂

October-03-2015-1B

This is the Dowling House, which is the oldest house in Galena.  Galena’s oldest house, Dowling House, was built-in 1826 by John Dowling. Built of limestone, it was once the only trading post in the city. The Dowling House was equipped with primitive living quarters and hosted many fur traders in years past.

I’ll talk more about the actual Photo Walk later in the week and I have a few more images to show.  On the whole I was disappointed in the walk.  I really didn’t come away with many images.

I’m giving strong consideration to hosting a Photo Walk next year and Angie had some great ideas on where to hold it.  So I’ll mull that over during the Winter and decide if I will do that.  I have had some people who were on the other two photo walks if I would consider holding one just on my own.  I’ll think about that as well.  Might be fun.

That’s it for today.  Back at with lots to do.  Thanks for stopping by the blog this day.  Enjoy the Fall weather and be careful.

Tuesday ~ August 18, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on August 18, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , .

August-17-2015

Happy Tuesday!

I stopped by Angie’s home yesterday morning for a visit.  Jeanne was helping with the Grand kids and I had some errands to run so it made for a great opportunity to catch up on some Angie time and see the little ones.

August-17-2015-A

I never got around to photographing Austin.  He is sure changing and can really hold his head up now.  He is a happy little guy and does a lot of smiling.

Grandma lets the kids have the iPad and so when I got there Josh was engrossed in a story and didn’t even acknowledge my arrival.  In fact I don’t think he ever said hi or goodbye.  🙂

Gabby came over and climbed on my lap and we played some interactive games on the iPad.

August-17-2015-B

Got some things done around the house and took care of some travel details for my up coming photography school.   Still two months away but never to early to get things in order.

By the way Snake Eyes, Iowa has four poisonous snakes, all of which are state endangered species except the timber rattlesnake. The massasauga is known to live only in three state marshes. Timber rattlesnakes are the largest and potentially the most dangerous. They occur in eastern and southern Iowa where bits of relatively undisturbed habitat remain. The prairie rattlesnake is very rare in Iowa and is limited to the northern portions of the Loess Hills. The copperhead is found only in a tiny area of southeastern Iowa.

Not much on my mind this morning so I’ll wrap it up.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ May 24, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 24, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

May-23-2015

Happy Sunday!

Interesting day yesterday.  Jeanne and I were invited to a wedding.  I do not enjoy weddings but this was the wedding of a Friend’s daughter so I attended.

The wedding was held in the small church at Green Island.  Readers of this blog will recognize the name Green Island because it is also where the Wildlife Reserve is located.

Jeanne has always wanted to see the inside of that small church and we were both impressed with it.  It is a very nice church.

The wedding was at 2:00 p.m. and the reception was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Bellevue, Iowa.  Knowing there was going to be some time between the two events, I took My camera with me.  All images were shot with: Nikon D4 | Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens | Auto ISO (360 – 500) shutter 1/1250 @ f8.0.

May-23-2015-A

The last two times I have been to Green Island I have been disappointed with the lack of wildlife.  Yesterday proved to be a real bonus day.  I have never seen so many Great Egrets in one place.  At times there were 10 or more within the range of my lens.  There were other critters there as well but in that short hour we were there, I shot 1,387 images.

On full burst mode (11 fps) and a huge buffer I can rip off 50 – 60 shots in nothing flat.  I culled those 1,387 images down to 169.  No there were not that many of them that were bad.  I Just had a lot (I mean a lot) of duplication.  🙂

May-23-2015-B

It was one of the most enjoyable times in recent memory I’ve had at Green Island.  There were so many opportunities to capture wildlife.  We only made it down one canal.  I can’t imagine what we might have found had we covered the entire reserve.

May-23-2015-C

For his effort at fishing he ended up with this small minnow, which he enjoyed on the shore.

That’s it for today.  If you like images of Great Egrets check back tomorrow.  If you don’t, well check back tomorrow anyway because you never know what I may have for you.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ May 20, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 20, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

May-19-2015-A

Happy Wednesday!

On my way home last evening I saw a group of 25 or more pelicans at the “Duck Pond.” An unusual sight to be sure.  I don’t think the duck pond has any fish in it, certainly not enough to satisfy this group.  The water is also very shallow in the pond right now and the water level continues to drop.

May-19-2015-B

So when I drove by the pond (expecting to see a goose or two) I was surprised by this group.  I drove down the road a little, parked the car and got my camera with the long lens.  I keep it set up for wildlife encounters.  I shoot at 1/1250 sec @ f8.0 with auto ISO.  I was shooting into the sun so the ISO stayed around 400 – 640.

May-19-2015

As soon as I fired the first shot they turned and gave me nothing but butts. 🙂

They promptly swam to the other side of the pond and as the image above shows even with the 600 mm lens this is as close as I could get.

Hope you have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.

Tuesday ~ May 19, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 19, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , .

May-18-2015

Happy Tuesday!

I went looking for some wildlife to photograph yesterday and couldn’t find anything of interest.  Lots of red-winged black birds, common grackles, and robins but nothing else.  I did see an eagle but he would have been nothing more than a black spot with a white dot.

So I wandered around the Mud Lake area and finally decided to make a couple of images of this little back water area of the Mississippi River.  The sky was blue and the clouds were puffy and that is my favorite sky.

May-18-2015-A

Later I photographed some farm buildings.  Nothing that really struck me but still I enjoy farm buildings especially old barns.

That’s it for today.  I have an early morning meeting.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ May 18, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 18, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

May-17-2015-C

Happy Monday!

I spent the last part of the week in Minneapolis, MN attending a training seminar along with 19 other folks from our organization.  It was a wonderful experience, both from the training aspect but for me and more importantly from connecting on a more personal level with many of my fellow employees.

May-17-2015-A

As I’ve aged I find it less enjoyable to travel.  The car ride was six and a half hours.  Once I got there it was enjoyable but there was a lot of information to absorb.  I do not enjoy sleeping in a hotel so as you can see I’m not a good traveler.  🙂

Having said all that, I learned some new things (which is always good) and I reaffirmed other things.  Interestingly at the end of the seminar the trainer said something that was incorrect.  Not only did she say something incorrect, she kept repeating it.  I knew it was wrong but it was 20 minutes until the end of the training and I didn’t want to embarrass her, prolong the seminar for others, and knowing her she would have never admitted she was wrong. So I kept my mouth shut.  😦

May-17-2015

Other than the first image (taken with the Samsung mirror less camera) I did not hold a camera in my hand until yesterday.  Saturday and Sunday were filled with catch up things, being Grandpa, and yard work.

The background on this image is not very good but it is the first opportunity I have had to photograph a Gold Finch this season so I was happy to finally capture an image of one regardless of the background.

My friend Andreas invited me up to his house to photograph birds but I just couldn’t make it work.  I would have had much better images for you if I had been able to go.

May-17-2015-B

I leave you with this image of our little dog Maggie.  I’ve posted pictures of her on this blog before.  She is 11 years old and has been a wonderful little friend.  We found out a couple of weeks ago that she has congestive heart failure.  It’s pretty bad but she is not suffering right now.  Yes she has trouble breathing but she is not in pain.

We have her on medication and can’t bring ourselves to put her asleep until her quality of life changes.   I don’t normally let her lay in the grass like this but why not now.  She enjoys it so much.

That’s it for today.  My plan is to do some photography today as my image cupboard is quite bare.

Thanks for stopping.  Enjoy your Monday and be careful.

Wednesday ~ May 13, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 13, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

April-11-2015-2A

Happy Hump Day Wednesday!

I never tire of photographing wildlife.  Be it the ubiquitous Mallard Duck or any other common critter.  I enjoy watching them interact with their environment an each other.  Of course what I really enjoy is photographing them.

The Ducks and Geese in this post were all photographed at the 16th Street Basin.  It has not been replete with wildlife this season as it was last year.  But occasionally like this past Monday there will be a few water fowl there.

April-11-2015-2B

I caught these ducks napping in what little sun there was Monday  It was overcast most of the day, cool and windy.  I guess they had nothing better to do then nap.

April-11-2015-2C

I have never seen a pose like this.  He was rubbing his neck on his back and scratching his underside with his foot at the same time.  Sort of like rubbing a circle on chest while patting your stomach.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.