Friday ~ December 11, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 11, 2020
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Happy Friday!

Well I went to Green Island yesterday with high expectations but in the 10 years I’ve been going there this was my worst experience.  I saw a fair amount of wildlife but they were all too far away to get a decent shot of them. 

I only photographed these Canada Geese for my friend Betty otherwise they too were too far away.

I spent 4 hours driving the “trenches” and setting and waiting hoping that something would land close to where I was but all for not.  I only took these two images. 

I’ve had some wonderful experiences at the preserve and I’ll probably go back sometime but not for a while.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ December 10, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 10, 2020
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Happy Thursday!

A couple of days ago a good friend of mine asked if I had any long lenses I would like to sell.  After asking a couple of questions I found out that they had an eagle spending a lot of time in a tree near their home and she wanted to Photograph it.

I gave her my recommendation and so she purchased the lens and then wanted to meet yesterday at the Hurstville Interpretive Center.  Jeanne and I drove down to the Center and met with her and her husband (who is a dear friend of mine.) The lens is complicated and somewhat overwhelming to a new user.  So we all drove over to the “Duck Pond” and as luck would have it there were 9 Trumpeter Swans in the water.  They were pretty far away as you can see in the above image, however it was good practice for her to get to know and get comfortable with her new lens.

As we visited and took several images of the swans I decided to put my camera and lens back in the truck.  I kept noticing that the swans were getting closer the longer we were there.  So I went back to the truck and got my camera and once again started taking some images.

Then as if they had decided among themselves it was time to leave they started taking off in unison.  I was so glad I had my camera ready for their departure.  You can click on any of the images to make a larger version of the image which contains much more detail.

I had my 600 mm lens on the Nikon D4S, which has an incredibly fast frame rate so in a sort span of a few seconds I had close to a hundred images on my card.

And then they were gone.  We said our farewells to our friends and decided to see if we could relocate the swans but they were no where to be found.  It was a fun afternoon and I hope my friend gets as much enjoyment out of her new long lens as I have with mine.

Today I am headed out to the wild life preserve at Green Island.  A photographer I know posted some great images from last weekend so I think I’ll see if I can find something interesting.

Be safe, enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ December 03, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 3, 2020
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Happy Thursday!

Out among them again yesterday searching for something to photograph.  This was my best image for the day.  I had a really old barn lined up but there was no way to get to it so I had to shoot through some branches.  Unfortunately when I got home and viewed the images on the big monitor the only thing that was in focus was the branches.

I did find this old barn but it too had a lot of clutter around it and there didn’t appear to be anyone home at the farm so I opted not to go on their property to get a better angle.

So all in all I’m not that happy with yesterday’s shoot.  See what I can find today.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ December 01, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 1, 2020
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Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday late afternoon I saw there were some puffy clouds in the sky and that is my favorite sky to photograph.  So the biggest decision I had to make was where to go.  Since I hadn’t been to the mines of Spain area in some time I decided to try that.  Not a lot going on but I saw the soft rays of the sun catching the Julian Dubuque Monument and so I decided to take an image of it. 

Continuing to walk through the area I found this view of the river from high up.  No traffic on the river but I liked the way it was framed between the trees.  Remember you can click on any of the images to see a much larger and more detailed image.

Another view of the river looking the opposite direction.  I don’t go out on the river very often so I’m not really familiar with the different backwaters and when there is a division in the river like above.

It was getting late in the day and the sun was going down.  Those beautiful clouds had disappeared and all I was left with was a plain sky.  So I waited for 25 minutes until the sun finally went below the horizon to get this image of a family farm.  It would have been so much better with lots of clouds in the sky.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

 

 

 

Sunday ~ November 22, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 22, 2020
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Happy Sunday!

Yesterday when I went out it was not a good landscape photography day.  It was midday and the sun was harsh with no clouds in most of my images.

But I was tired of sitting at home so I loaded up my cameras and headed out.  I went to a lot of different places that I normally go to but in the end I decided to take a road I had not been on before.  I found this wonderful old barn.  If you have followed my blog for anytime at all you know I have a love of old barns.  This was a perfect barn (in my opinion) in that it had it’s original roof and paint on the sides. 

The shot above was taken from road and normally that would have been the only image I would have made.  But this old barn intrigued me so I decided I would drive onto the property and see if the owner would give me permission to photograph this magnificent structure.

When the owner came to the door I was delighted that he said, “sure go ahead.”  So I spent the better part of a half hour photographing this beauty.  Like I said earlier the light was not good and in the first two shots there was just blue sky.

After I shot this image (notice there are clouds on this side) I walked around the other side of the barn and saw a gentleman splitting wood.  As I walked around and down to where he was I was worried that he might not want me there.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was very friendly man who one could tell had worked hard his entire life.

We visited for about 10 minutes and I found him to be very engaging with a wonderful sense of humor.  He told me that he didn’t know exactly how old the barn was but that it was built before his time.  He said he didn’t know how much longer the old structure would remain standing as it had been through a lot in its lifetime.

He said that it had withstood a tornado and when it went through it actually moved the barn six inches from its original place.  He also said that they had some high winds this year and it had moved a little bit more.

I really enjoyed the time we talked and I think I would have enjoyed a much longer conversation but he was busy and I know how sometimes when you have a project to do you would just like to get on with it.

I hope I get to meet him again.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ November 14, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 14, 2020
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Happy Saturday for all my working friends. 

Kind of a frustrating week photography wise.  I went out three days in a row and didn’t find anything that interested me.   So yesterday I decided to go down to the river.

There were several Ring-Billed Gulls at A.Y. McDonald park.  I was really surprised that this little guy let me get this close to him. 

I photographed this guy standing on one of the light poles.  I cleaned a significant amount of bird leavings on the light so you didn’t have to look at it. 

After the gulls I went to the 16th Street Basin (which used to be a great place for wildlife.)  Found this group of Double-Crested Cormorants that were sunning themselves in some rare sunlight.  A little gull was mixing in among them as well.

Hope you enjoy your weekend.  Be careful.

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 11, 2020
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Happy Wednesday!

Not a lot of commentary today, just three more images from my photo shoot on Monday.  I have a friend that calls these shafts of light in the clouds “God Beams.”

It’s hard for me to pass up a tree especially when they are almost barren of leaves.  This harvested field made a nice backdrop for the tree.

This is the last image for today.  I hope to get out later this afternoon and see what I can find.

Not sure what happened to the images I posted yesterday.  You could not enlarge them.  It is working today so if you click on the image you will get a larger more detailed image.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ November 10, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 10, 2020
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November-09-2020

Happy Tuesday.

I have been in kind of a funk since the election so I haven’t paid much attention to my photography of late.  But yesterday afternoon I looked out the window and saw a lot of wonderful clouds.  So I loaded up my cameras and headed out to see what I could find to make an image. of.

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If you’re new to my photography blog let me tell you a little bit about it.  I started this blog 10 years ago.  I have taken thousands of images of everything from people, eagles, all types of wildlife, landscapes, and farm scenes.  I love to photograph old barns, windmills, harvest time, and really anything that has to do with farming.

One of my favorite things to photograph is eagles.  If you would like to see some of my eagle images just look on the right side of this blog and click on the January 2015 link.  I photographed lots of eagles during the months of January and February 2015.

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I was hoping for a opportunity to capture a sunset with all the dynamic clouds available yesterday.  Unfortunately the rain we’re having today was moving in so the sunset itself was obscured by dark gray clouds.

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By the way you can click on any image which will make it larger and you can view the image in much greater detail.

I have photographed this church several times in the past but the wonderful clouds made it look different this day.

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

Sunday ~ November 01, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 1, 2020
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Happy Sunday!

Hope you had a safe and happy Halloween.  Jeanne and I went over to Angie and Ben’s house to help with the candy distribution while Angie and Ben took the kids through the neighborhood.

I use to wear this costume when the kids were little and Angie asked me if I would wear it again and sit on their porch more or less like a Halloween display.

All the kids and parents that came by looked at me closely as it was hard to tell if I was real.  I didn’t jump up and scare anyone just moved a little when they were there. 🙂

Ben did not wear a costume but Angie dressed up.  I was trying to get a image of their entire family but that was like trying to heard cats.  The kids were so excited about Trick or Treating I couldn’t get them all corralled.

The kids were also excited to have both of their Grandmas there.  It was a fun night and I’m glad we were able to participate.  Paula and Jeanne monitored the candy and encouraged the treaters to take all they wanted.

This was the best costume I saw all evening.  The little boy being abducted by an alien. 

Angie looking very stylish in her costume.  Josh as the grim reaper.  All the kids came back with their baskets over flowing.  They only went in their neighborhood under the supervision of Ben and Angie.  They had a lot of fun.

I have to end this post with an image of my favorite little model.  Every time I point a camera at her she smiles and says “Cheese.”

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday ~ October 31, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on October 31, 2020
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

 

Happy Saturday and Happy Halloween

Today I am showing you the last three images of my leaf photo trip of a couple of weeks ago. 

The image above was taken at Pikes Peek State Park.  It has a wonderful look out designed for sight seers and it gives a magnificent view of the Mississippi River some of the back waters.  If you click on the image to enlarge you can see barges waiting to be loaded and several fishing boats in the back waters.

Jeanne and I stopped in Guttenburg for lunch.  the have picnic tables and benches the entire length of the river area (about a mile) as well as charcoal grills and a large walking path.  They have really done a nice job. 

This last image is from the park again.  Just a massive area with a railroad bridge running through it. 

That’s it for today.  Hope to get some fresh images later this week.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.  As always be careful and safe.