Upde Designs

Happy Friday.  I woke up this morning to a table setting complete with flowers and a balloon.  What a sweet thoughtful wife I am blessed with.  🙂  This is my 37th birthday with her and she has made each and every one them special and filled with her caring, loving way.  She is truly the best gift I have ever received.

I have received quite a few flowers over the years from Jeanne and it’s always a wonderful feeling to receive them.   I have for the last few years taken my birthday off.  I used to work for a nation wide company 30 years ago that gave every single employee their birthday off.  If your birthday was on Saturday then you took Friday off and if it was on Sunday you took Monday off.  The President of the company was a real people oriented person and believed that your birthday was special and you should be able to enjoy it as you wanted to.

When I had my company I gave my staff their birthday off as well.  I just believe it is my one special day of the year to spend as I choose.  A little selfish and self-centered perhaps but I like to think of it as my present to me.  🙂

After breakfast the Princess was sitting there looking at me as if to say, “You are late, it’s time for me to go outside and you’re an hour late.”  🙂

My plan is to head out with my camera and spend most of the day shooting images.  We’ll see if that plan can overcome the strong urge to take a mid morning nap.  🙂

Enjoy your Friday.  Have a great weekend and thanks as always for stopping by my humble blog.  Be careful.

Yesterday my good friend Steve and I went to a new restaurant (it’s a couple of years old now) for us anyway.   I had eaten there about a year ago and didn’t really care for it but we decided to give it a try once more.  It was not a great experience.  The first sign should have been the funny smell we encountered when we first walked in the place.  It wasn’t that the food was bad, it was just blah and tasted different than I expected.  Well so far anyway no ill effects from the food.  As my Dad use to say, “I’m crossing that place off my list.”

We had about a half hour before our lunch break was over so we drove out to the Maquoketa Dam.  I don’t think I have ever seen such a build up of ice at the dam.  I was also surprised to see this man fishing in his boat.  I captured a similar image a few weeks ago but thought the water would have still been frozen over from the last cold spell.  I like the perspective of the shot above.

A lot of people bring their lunch to this area and enjoy it near the river.  Funny how water seems to have an attraction for us.  In warmer weather there is usually a steady flow of water through the gates and it makes a nice rushing sound and I’ve taken several images of that over the years.  I’ve never seen any wildlife at this location however, so that is why I have spent most of my free time at the Hurstville “duck pond.”  Of course that is just a very small puddle of water anymore.  Doesn’t look like that may improve at least this year unless there is a dramatic change in the weather pattern.

There is a small farm on the way into Maquoketa on the Hurstville Road.  I have photographed the barn there a couple of times.  The barn sets up on a hill and faces the East so that at times I can shoot the barn against the setting sun.  The individual who owns the property has several Peacocks.  For a couple of years I have only seen three.  They live in the barn and usually do not come out in bad weather.  Last year I stopped on the way home and asked the owner if I could photograph the Peacocks.  He said I could but that I needed to stay out of his bean fields that surround his home.

I’m usually running too late in the morning to shoot them and on my way home I would be shooting directly into the sun so I haven’t taken any images of them.  Yesterday however on our way back into to town I noticed three of them in field close to the barn.  I pulled in and grabbed a few images of them.  I only had the 28-300 mm lens so I wasn’t able to get much of a close up.  I was starting to walk back to the car and Steve was frantically pointing behind me.

I couldn’t see anything other than there were now a couple more Peacocks that had come out of the barn.  Now there were five of them.  I got all the way back to the car and asked him what he was pointing at.  He said (from his vantage point) he could see two more Peacocks that were between me and a small shed.  Had I taken about ten steps further West I would have had a wonderful close up of two more of them.

So all together I counted seven Peacocks.  None of them would spread their magnificent tail plumage but with seven of them I might be able to capture a nice shot of them sometime this year.  I’ll stop and talk with the owner of the property again just to make sure he remembers giving me permission to come on his property.  Then I’ll try to make friends with the pretty birds.  🙂

Nice to get out and shoot in some decent light.  Oh and Steve even bought my lunch for an early birthday present.  Thanks Buddy!  Thank you for stopping by and enjoy your day.  Be careful.

Happy Hump Day.  I shot this old school-house a couple of weeks ago but only showed the front of the school.  Since I don’t have a lot of new stuff right now I was reviewing my 2013 images and came across this image, which I thought was not too bad.  I hope you enjoy it.

I normally watch the news while I eat breakfast.  I think that partially explains why I’ve been in a funk of late.  Every day I am amazed at what is going on in Washington but also the terrible violence and pain that is going on in the world.  This morning I was flipping around and came across the Cartoon Channel.  An old Bugs Bunny cartoon was playing with Yosemite Sam.  I laughed several times and when I had finished breakfast I had a smile on my face.  Perhaps I have found something for the funk.  Eliminate the news and replace it with cartoons from my childhood.  🙂

I am on a committee that is part of a larger group of community leaders working on the Vision 2020 Project for Maquoketa.  It has been a year-long process of bringing people together to help write a plan for the betterment of Maquoketa.  The old adage of “If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard to get there” is so true.  I really enjoy working on this project because it is time spent with caring passionate individuals who in the final analysis only want what is best for their community.

I particularly enjoy the give and take of the open discussion.  People have strong opinions that are driven by emotion, which tend to make people resistant to other opposing viewpoints.  However there is a principle I learned in my college days from my Psychology professor.  The human mind cannot contain two diametrically opposing cognitive thoughts at the same time.  In other words you can’t experience euphoria and great sadness at the same moment in time.

The point being that this principle is the foundation of conflict resolution in that if you truly listen and understand another point of view it will have a mitigating effect on your own opposing point of view.  It may be small but it is a change none the less and that is what you build on to eventually resolve the conflict.  Normally it is a lengthy process, however in some of the meetings I’ve attended in this project I’ve seen it happen at a relatively quick pace.   And that has produced some synergistic plans.  It is an enjoyable experience to be a part of.

Well not much in the way of photography today but it was what was on my tiny brain this morning so that is what gets talked about.  🙂  Betty, I hope you enjoy the school-house.

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

Happy Monday.  Yesterday Jeanne and I went for an afternoon drive looking for something to shoot.   We left the house about 3:30 p.m. hoping to catch some of the evening light.  Good plan but there was an overcast sky and precious little sunlight.  So we drove to some places we normally don’t go and came home with a few Winter scenes.

Saturday as you recall I drove up to Durango, Iowa to visit with my friend Andreas.  He had graciously offered to look at my lens and do some test shots with it to make a determination if there was a flaw with the lens.  I have good and bad news about that later.  I had a little trouble finding his place because I didn’t follow his directions.  Amazing how that can foul things up. 🙂  Once I found his home he was standing outside to greet me.

He and his wife Joan have a lovely home nestled in a wooded area with wildlife all around.  They live in a hilly area, much to Andreas’ enjoyment.  The first thing you notice is the abundance of birds everywhere.  They feed a lot of different birds so there are birds coming and going all the time.

He has a heated bird bath on his back deck and he has arranged branches so that the birds have a place to perch when not eating or getting a drink.  Just inside the dinning room is his camera on a tripod with his 500 mm lens and he is able to study, enjoying watching and photographing the birds that visit his sanctuary in the comfort of his home.

I enjoy the friendship that we have developed over the last three years.  Andreas is a mechanical engineer, educated in Germany (his native country) and he is meticulous about his photography and photography equipment.  He produces wonderful wildlife images, architectural images, and environmental images.  He really uses the light and his photography is simply beautiful.  I encourage you to visit his blog.  I must warn you though, it will be tough to come back here after viewing his images.

Anyway Andreas took a lot of images with my 500 mm lens and we would talk photography in between shots.  It was my first time meeting his wife Joan.  She is a Pharmacist by vocation and a very interesting individual.  I really enjoyed meeting her and getting to know her a little better.  Both Joan and Andreas were very gracious hosts and made me feel right at home.  I even made friends with their little dog Cooper.  🙂

So after many test shots inside the house we put the lens outside for about 20 -25 minutes to get it good and cold to see if we could replicate the freezing up of the lens.  You know it’s kind of like going to the auto mechanic with a noise in your car that is driving you crazy.  When you get there the car doesn’t make the noise anymore.  Well that was the case Saturday.  Andreas couldn’t replicate the problem with his camera or mine either.

I told you there was good news bad news.  The good news is that the lens does deliver sharp images when shot properly.  The bad news is the problem with the lack of sharpness is ME!  I got some good tips from Andreas and I really look forward to our next meeting.  Thanks for taking the time to look at my lens Andreas.  I enjoyed the visit and our conversation.

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoy your Monday.  Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to come back and be careful.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  It has been an interesting weekend so far for me and I still have Sunday to work on.  Angie and Ben went to Cedar Falls Friday evening to have dinner with Mark and Taylor at the restaurant Mark works at call Montage.  So we had Joshua Friday evening and Saturday morning.    Yesterday morning I was working on my blog when I heard, “Papa’s office.”  “See Papa.”  In came this little munchkin with a big smile on his face.  Grandpa has a lot of toys in his office and Joshua has learned where some of them are.  He loves switches, buttons and lights and I have a fair amount of all of those in my office.  We had a lot of fun.  🙂

After we played a bit Josh had breakfast with Mama Jeanne and I was able to capture the first image in this series.  Shown in the image above is Josh’s entourage that accompanies him for breakfast.  The last image in the group is when his Mother called and Josh was talking to her.  He hasn’t quite figured out the concept of one voice in his ear but a totally different experience visually in front of him.  It was great fun having him here.  He is very inquisitive and loves exploring new things.

I left the house about 9:00 a.m. as I had to go over to Medical Associate Optical Department.  Unfortunately I had stepped on my glasses in the middle of the week (they fell off my night stand.)  I readjusted them but couldn’t get them right so Medical Associates fixed them right up for me.  I had anticipated it would take a lot longer than it did, which is why I left home at 9.

My friend Andreas had extended a gracious invitation to come to his home on Saturday and he would test my Sigma 500mm lens for me. I first met Andreas on my inaugural Photo Walk about 3 years ago.  He is a mechanical engineer and an accomplished photographer.  I have directed you to his blog many times.  I spent an enjoyable 3 hours with him and his delightful wife Joan yesterday and I will write about that experience tomorrow.  It was a very interesting and satisfying experience for me.

But that will have to wait.  Cause I’m fresh out of time and need to get to my sidewalks and get them cleaned up from the snow last night.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Sunday, the work week starts tomorrow.  I’m not really a fan of either team playing in the game today but I do enjoy the commercials and hype of the game.  Be careful.

Happy Birthday Mark.  I took this image when Mark was at home a few days ago.  He came over for the evening as he had a couple of appointments with some people in Dubuque.  He is doing an Internship for his Business degree and so he was here long enough to say hi, grab some home cooking and then because of the impending snow storm he took off back to Cedar Falls.  Today is his 22nd birthday.  Doesn’t seem possible but time marches on.

I took my camera to this week’s Rotary meeting.  In years past I used to do the Rotary website and I would take my camera to every meeting and do a feature on the day’s program.  I no longer do the website so no need to take a camera.  However we have a Rotarian who recently turned 90 and he is the first one to volunteer for any project.  Dr. Bud Bernard is a remarkable gentleman and Rotarian and so I decided since I’ve been in a shooting slump I would take some images of him and do a little story about him.

Well wouldn’t you know that this was one of the few times he wasn’t at Rotary.  So since I had my camera I decided to make some images of our speaker for the day and that is the image above.  Nice lady, very knowledgeable and had a very interesting presentation.  She works for the Jackson County Soil & Water Conservation District.  Rain or shine, snow or hail, when the DNR wants some water or soil tested she does it.  During the last snow storm she had to go out and test some of the streams for salt contamination.    As you can see my skills as a photographer are impeccable.  🙂

This is the RAW image as it came out of the camera.  I didn’t look at any of the images, just snapped away.  I shot three images.  Two of them she had her eyes closed.  Only on the last one (just below) she had her eyes open.  What to do.  I didn’t want to display my terrible photography skills on the Rotary website!!  Photoshop to the rescue.

Anyway the point of this whole discussion is Photoshop.  It is one of the most complex and robust pieces of software on the market today.  I have read many books, taken many on-line courses, and practiced countless hours (ask Jeanne, she’ll tell you) and on a scale of 1 – 10 I’m probably (if I’m generous) at a level 5 in competence when it comes to my skills with Photoshop.  Having said that when I got back to the office The gentleman who does the Rotary website asked me if I would send him the images I took of the speaker.  Well as you can see the one I had that showed her presentation was pretty bad.

So I had to make a selection on the close up of the speaker.  Transfer that to the image with the poster.  Blend the two colors, shrink the head and make it work.  Now that you’ve seen it you might say, that’s a lousy job.  But if I had only shown you the finished product you would not have known.  In fact I received several compliments on the photo that was posted on the Rotary website.  Anyway, never trust a photo 🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  I haven’t been blogging much.  Lots of meetings and work going on, lack of shooting time and quality images have limited my blogging.  I’m working at getting more reliable on blogging and taking better images.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Last Friday evening the Maquoketa Chamber of Commerce held its inaugural Gala Celebration.  Normally the Chamber holds its annual meeting at a breakfast event but we wanted break up the Winter doldrums a little bit so we decided to have a Gala and hold it at the True Restaurant, which is in the Maquoketa Country Club.

The Gala featured a wine tasting event and a silent auction.  After the auction a wonderful meal consisting of grilled steak and chicken was served to the attendees. After the meal the Executive Director’s Award, President’s Award, Young Entrepreneur  Award, The Above and Beyond Award, and the Volunteer Award were given.

The awards were followed by a live auction of a variety of merchandise.  One of the items was a night scene of the Maquoketa downtown with the Chamber Christmas tree in the image.  This was the same image we used for the formal invitation to the Gala.  it was the image I made back in early December.  I matted and framed it and I was flattered when the bidding reached over $100.  🙂

After the auction the attendees were treated to some wonderful 50s Rockabilly music from The Fast Clydes.   They are a local band that play all around this area and have several bookings in Dubuque.  If you get a chance to hear them do so as you will really enjoy their performance.

I believe the Gala was a huge success.  We had 135 attendees, which was all we could handle with the venue.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.  The Mayor and the County Supervisor gave a state of the city / county.  I heard a lot of people saying they hoped we would do this again next year and that certainly is the plan.

I didn’t take very many images.  The newspaper was there and they were taking pictures so I just enjoyed myself and occasionally had to present an award, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

That’s it for today.  I hope you enjoy your middle of the week day.  Supposed to have a Winter storm today.  Hope it bypasses us.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

I have been in such a creative funk this year (and I’m not sure why) and that has put me into an even deeper funk.  I’ve looked back at what I have shot so far in 2013 and 99% of it sucks.  I am beginning to believe that the 365 project is really not in my best interest from a creativity standpoint.  Having said that I am determined to complete the project but my images really do seem to be getting worse.

I only bring this up because a friend at work asked me yesterday what was going on?  He said that I haven’t been blogging of late and he was worried that something had happened.  Nope, just in a fog right now.  Everywhere I look I see the same things I’ve shot and can’t seem to figure out a new approach.

I attended a funeral yesterday.  I had never met the individual although his son is my friend.  As I was sitting there watching the video slide show run of his life, I thought about the same question that has always bothered through out my life and it always seems to occur at funerals.  “What is the point?”  I watched a person’s life from baby to old man on the slide show and thought how many times since humans set foot on the planet has this scene played out.  It reminds me of the song “Is that all there is?”

I raised the question to a friend who also attended the funeral.  He had a reasonably good answer and quoted some of his favorite verses from the Bible.  But it still left me with the same nagging question.  Not really something you want to discuss on a photography blog but I tend to write what I feel and think about.  If you’ve got any good answers I’d like to hear them.

That’s it for today.  Make the best of this day as it could always be the last one we have.  So be careful.

I had a late afternoon / evening meeting at one of our banks yesterday so on the trip over the sun was starting to set and the light was becoming soft and warm.  I have photographed this old school before in the Summer time but when I went past it I notice how the light was bathing the front of the school so I had to turn around and capture some images.  I’ll admit I didn’t spend a lot of time on this image.  It was cold and the wind was blowing.  So as we know from our past discussions I have a pretty high wimp factor and a low tolerance for bitter cold. 🙂

A little further down the road I saw a deer crossing the road.  I know from experience on this road that there are a lot of deer and they always seem to come in pairs so I slowed way down as I approached the area.  Then another couple of deer darted across the roadway followed by another one.  I thinks to myself is there something going on here?

I still had my camera on the floor from the school shoot and on a hunch I eased up a little closer and this is what I saw.  All total there must have been 20 deer crossing the road.  I still had the camera set up for the first shot so I ended up with a little motion blur on the deer.  After rattling off 15 images I noticed that the shutter speed was down to 1/25 of a second and my f-stop was at 10.  Too late to make changes as the crossing was over.  I thought about coming around this corner in the night-time at normal highway speed and seeing this sight.  Ugh!

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

Good Day.  Happy Hump Day.  I had yesterday off and went out in the frigid weather to see if I could capture some worthy images.   I went to my favorite place (the 16th Street Basin) and down in the lower corner of the basin there were about 20 ducks in what little open water there was.  I shot a few images of them and then went to the river.

I don’t remember ever seeing so many Eagles in one place before.  They were everywhere.  In the trees above the dam and at any given time there we 10 – 15 eagles circling over the dam looking for fish.  Now the L&D at Dubuque doesn’t offer the best vantage point to shoot eagles but braving the cold temperatures I got as close as I could.  Some of them even flew over my head so close I could have hit them with a rock.  I shot about 285 images and never kept a single one.  I was demoralized, dejected, and depressed.  My lens would keep freezing up and just shoot a bunch of black frames.

When it did focus (and that was rare) it was always out of focus.  Certainly some of the problem can be attributed to my lack of abilities but not all the problems.  You could tell there was a flying object in the images but that is all you could tell.

I think I have about had it with long lens photography.  There are so many other areas of photography that I enjoy I’m not going to continue to frustrate myself with trying to capture a quality eagle image.  I will just enjoy Burt’s and Andreas’ eagle pictures and shoot barns.  🙂  At least they are big enough I can get a good focus on them and they don’t move. 🙂

The image above is from Monday when Angie and Josh stopped over.  Josh was really feeling bad as his cold came back and he wasn’t very happy.  But he did get as close as he ever has to making friends with Maggie.  He still keeps his distance, which is probably okay with Maggie as well.

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