Upde Designs

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/250 sec @ f8

This is Dwight and Beth Duckstein from Maquoketa, Iowa.  I met them about a year ago at the Jackson County Regional Health Center Golf Outing.  They were there taking pictures of the event and of course I went right over to them and introduced myself and started talking about photography.  They both are avid photographers and have a passion for it.  They both shoot with the Nikon D300 and have a pair of them.  Today they were shooting with a Tamron 18 – 270 mm lens.  A very good walk around lens capable of about any type of shot.

Then in June of 2010 they joined us on the Worldwide Photo Walk and we’ve become more acquainted over the last year.  They are wonderfully talented folks who have a photography business called Bear River Photography.

This year at the JCRHC Golf Outing I saw them again and we had a nice visit.  I would encourage you to visit their web site to see some of their beautiful work.  They are wonderful people and I hope to continue growing our friendship.

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/160 sec @ f8

This is a par 3 hole at the Bellevue Golf Club.  The course is a very nice course and offers beautiful scenery at every turn.  I can’t ever remember playing worse than I did on; this day.  I’m sure I have but I just can’t remember it.  For the entire 9 hole event my team used only two of my shots and those were putts.

I have come to two conclusions about golf and my ability to play it.  My game is better left in the garage at home where it cannot embarrass or frustrate me anymore.  I can look at my clubs every day and think what a great golfer I am.  As long as the clubs stay in the garage then that is the way it is. 🙂

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/125 sec @ f5.6

What is the second conclusion about golf?  It is a great place to drink beer.  Now I do not drink beer but I have noticed at these events just about everyone does.  It seems to deaden the pain of the game and helps people forget just how lousy this game can make your feel.

I’ll close this post with an image of a barn.  This wonderful barn was located near the golf course and I saw it as I was leaving.  So of course I had to pull over and capture an image of it.  I was shooting directly into the sun so it’s not the best but I was anxious to get home and I wasn’t going to wait for the sun to go down.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/800 sec @ f6.3

Last week when I met Andreas at the large pond near La Motte I passed a couple of barns that got my attention.  I decided that I needed to go back and make some images of them.

I like this one because of its size and shape.  It is well maintained and I like the way it is framed against the horizon. I tried shooting at a higher ISO to get a faster shutter speed.  I was watching a training video over the weekend and the instructor was suggesting a higher ISO would result in a faster shutter speed, which would result in a sharper image.  All that may be true and it certainly did give me a higher shutter speed but I’m not sure I like the results all that much.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/800 sec @ f6.3

Down the road a bit was this older barn with the stone foundation.  It was sorely lacking a paint job but still I liked the way the two buildings converged together.  The weather last evening was more moderate than it was last week when we were at the pond but the wind was a lot stronger.

I kept thinking there was one other barn that caught my eye and I wanted to capture it, then as I reached 52 highway I realized it was on the gravel road by the pond.  So I headed north to go home.  I was disappointed that I only had found two barns worthy of shooting.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 28 - 300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/1200 sec @ f6.3

Jeanne has been telling me about this large pond she goes by on the way to work and that she almost always sees some wildlife around or in it.  I thought what the heck, I’ve still got a lot of day light so I drove to the pond.

Nothing, not even a sparrow, I couldn’t find anything that even remotely looked like wildlife.  The only thing I could find was some pond scum.  🙂  Anyway I tried to capture the reflection of the trees in the calm water.

So feeling unfulfilled I went home.  Tons of room left on my compact flash card and not much to show for the hour and a half, but it was still enjoyable.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Hope you had a great weekend.  Mine was filled with some projects and repairs.  I didn’t get to shoot any images Sunday but I’ve got some fun shoots scheduled over the next couple of weeks so hopefully I will have some worthy images for you soon.

Last Thursday I took a day vacation and went to Wyoming Golf Course with three great friends.  We did this three years ago and had a wonderful time, didn’t get to do it last year and so we made a promise that we were going to do it this year.

The image above is of Steve Flynn.  This is a lousy image as the sky was a bright gray and hard for the camera to find a focus point.  I only include it because I wanted to get all the participants in the blog.

The above image was taken at Mick Clark’s Saw Shop near Maquoketa.  Mick was the score keeper for the 14 holes we got in.  Dave Johnson was disputing the scores and I had to capture this moment between two longtime friends.  It was all in good nature but Dave’s memory is a big foggy when it comes to golf scores.

This is Mick and his wonderful bride Carol.  Carol worked at the bank in Maquoketa for many years and was the teller supervisor.  She and Mick have been married for a lot of years.  I’d probably get it wrong if I guessed so I’m not going to.  Mick told me he opened the Saw Shop 39 years ago and I believe he and Carol were married before that.

After the golf we played a marathon of Euchre.  It was as an enjoyable time as I can remember having.   The golf was just awful and I’m seriously considering putting my clubs away for the season.  But the companionship, cards, and the level of insults were really outstanding.  Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy your week and be careful.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 28 -300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/320 sec @ f6.3

Saturday was misty rain, cloudy and very cool.  That means it must be the annual Grandview Gallop.  The 6^th annual event was held on South Grandview in Dubuque, Iowa.  The Grandview Gallop is a 4 mile run on the picturesque Grandview Avenue.  The racers start at Murphy Park, do a 2 mile stint and then come back to the start line.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 28 -300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/320 sec @ f6.3

Last year the race was delayed almost an hour because of heavy rains and thunderstorms.  Jeanne and I went to watch Angie and Ben run the Gallop last year and we were soaked.  They actually ran the race in a steady rain.

So this year I was excited because the sun was supposed to be shining, it was going to be a pleasant 65 degrees and I would get to shoot some great shots of runners.  Not to be, there was a lite mist during the entire event and the temperature was about 51 degrees.  So I had to hold an umbrella and push the ISO up to 800 to get any kind of a decent shutter speed.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 28 -300 mm lens | ISO 800 1/320 sec @ f6.3

It was really fun when Angie and Ben came by.  I had my camera on burst mode so I shot about 20 frames of them as they came into view and ran past me.  Don’t they make a cute couple!

Then it was time to load up all the stuff and hike the half mile back to the car. I managed to bring enough stuff to camp out for a week.  I wouldn’t want to be without anything in the remote case I might need who knows what. 🙂

The Grandview Gallop is a neat event and if you like running it is worth looking into.  There was a new course record set in both the Men’s and Women’s division this year.  There is a full news article in the TH Online.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you enjoy your Sunday and as always be careful.

Happy Saturday. Thursday Jeanne got to sit with Joshua and before I left town I stopped over to see him and make a few images.  He was in his usual great mood and very interested in everything.  Lots of smiles of course when he saw Grandpa 🙂

He loves to stand up now.  He needs some assistance obviously but enjoys the perspective from this angle.  I have about 20 images of him and none of them of him smiling.   If I put down the camera then lots of smiles but when I put the camera to my eye this inquisitive look was all I could get.

Perhaps a tripod with a cable release would render more happy pictures.   Sorry for the short post today.  I’ve been home late every night this week and I have stuff that has piled up on my desk and I have a lot of images to sort through and catalog.

I love this image.  I’m not sure if he’s reading the sports page or the financial news but the paper certainly has him interested.

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

Nikon D700 | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/30 sec @ f6.3

Thank you for stopping by.  I had an interesting afternoon from a photography standpoint yesterday.  My friend Andreas invited me to join him on a wildlife shoot at one of his favorite locations over by La Motte, Iowa.

I was supposed to meet him around 4:00 pm but because of last minute work issues it was about 5:20 pm by the time I found him.  He was walking back to his car after exploring some shooting locations.  It was very hot and humid.  Let me repeat that, it was very hot and humid.  The image above is what I saw a lot of.  We had to wade through this stuff (waist high) to get back to our cars and it was all around us.

Do you know what lurks in this type of grass?  Snakes, that’s what.  Andreas assured me he didn’t think we would see any snakes on this venture and certainly no dangerous snakes.  All the same I had him lead the way and I followed in his footsteps.

Nikon D700 | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/80 sec @ f6.3

Did I mention it was hot and humid and lots of bugs (the biting kind) all around.  Of course I didn’t bring any bug spray.  I thought I was prepared for this nature expedition but like all things it is a learning experience so I know what to bring and what to leave behind the next time.

The image above is a red wing black bird that was across the pond from us.  The lighting was not very good and there wasn’t a lot of other wildlife to shoot so I tried to capture this bird.  It is not a very good shot because of the lighting, lack of skill, and poor technique but aside from all that you can at least tell it is a black (color) bird.

Nikon D700 | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/40 sec @ f6.3

These at the only two ducks that were anywhere near the area we were at.  So I shot about 77 images of them.  I deleted 75 of them and this is what is left.  Did I mention it was hot and humid?  Andreas said they were more than likely hybrids or a mixed duck species.  He couldn’t identify them in his research books.

The part of the experience that I enjoyed the most?  The long visit I had with Andreas.  He is such an interesting and very knowledgeable individual.  He seeks perfection in his photography and is very precise in his shooting and post processing workflow.  He produces wonderful images and I always learn something of value when we visit.

Of course those who know me know that I am just the opposite.  I’m pretty loose and casual. While I want to shoot the best images I can I’m just not wired to be all that detailed. I probably drive Andreas nuts but he is very gracious and always helpful.

So despite the fact it was very hot and very humid I had a great time.  I must admit it was awfully good to get in my car and crank up the air-conditioning full blast.  Thanks again to Andreas for including me on his shooting trip.  If you want to see some really cool images here is the link to his blog.  http://exnerimages.com/

Stay cool and be careful.

Just a short post today with images from last Friday evening.  These are not noteworthy from a photography view point.  Just snapshots really, but they are of the Relay For Life that was held in Dubuque last weekend.

Many businesses, civic groups and churches form teams to walk in the relay so that someone is walking all the time.  I believe it goes from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.  Lots of music and different events to participate in.  Above one of the Teachers at Audubon School, where Jeanne teaches donates hair to the wig project.  People who have to go through chemotherapy can get a free wig from the Cancer Society.

Above, is just a small representation of the crowd.  I believe I heard there were over 5,000 people who participated this year.  It is a great event and a very moving one as well.  Most of us either know someone or have ourselves been touched by this terrible disease so it is critically important to raise money for the ongoing research and treatment.

Thanks for stopping by.  More about photography stuff tomorrow.  Be careful.

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | SB 800 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 @ f8.0

Good Day.  Hope you had an enjoyable weekend.  Mine was filled with all things that had nothing to do with photography.  Saturday was filled with errands, shopping, and a nap for good measure.

I did get to see young Joshua.  We were finishing up Angie’s birthday present so we met her, Ben, and Josh at the store to pick out the remainder of her present. No pictures but both Grandma and I did get to hold him. 🙂

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | SB 800 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 @ f8.0

Sunday was spent doing yard work for most of the day.  I had two projects that I’ve been putting off for some time and it was time to start them..  Finally last night around 8:00 pm I decided I had to have something for my blog and I needed some images so I set up some foam core, lighting, and made some images.

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | SB 800 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 @ f8.0

The first image is a table piece from a wedding shower.  Jeanne and one of her close friends helped host a wedding shower for some friends from Church.  This was one of the center pieces and I liked how it looked so I decided to take an image of it..

The second image is a soft metal airplane (DC 3) replica of an older propeller aircraft.  I purchased this plane 20 years ago at some shop and it has set on top of my desk ever since.  I’ve never taken a picture of it until now.

The final image is a favorite of mine.  I enjoy the Dilbert Cartoon and the work of Scott Adams.  Over the years, as gifts, I have received various characters from that strip.  These two, Dogbert and Catbert (the evil HR Director), are my favorites from the strip.

So that’s it for today.  Hopefully I’ll get some shooting in this week.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Good Day and thank you for stopping by.  Early morning meeting today so not much time for the Blog.  This beautiful 1955 Chevrolet is from the Memorial Day Parade.

I have some images left over that I wanted to post and  since I had a long day yesterday and didn’t have time to shoot anything I decided to post some of my images from the Memorial Parade.

Most of the wars were represented in the parade beginning with the Civil War through to our current war.  I rarely watch Television, but on those occasions when I do it is either one of the History, Discovery, or Military channels.

I never cease to be amazed by the history of our civilization and our need to make war on each other.  Over the course of time we have gotten very good at killing each other and seem hell-bent to keep improving that ability.

No I’m not a tree hugger and I fully support our Military.  These brave men and women are willing to give all for the rest of us.  That is truly remarkable.  What fascinates me is from the beginning of time we have had wars  and it looks like that is a trend that will continue.

On that somber note I will bid you a good day and as always be careful.

Some more images from my farm shoot of last Friday.  The sky was just magnificent and it was fun to frame subjects up against that great cloudy sky.

The image above  was an attempt to capture the windmill and the Silo.  You can make out the Silo in the middle of the picture.  It didn’t work very well and I will have to do some compositing  in Photoshop to get the look that Megan wanted but I really like this landscape image.

This image of the windmill was captured when the sun was completely behind the clouds.  It made the sky look gray and the clouds a little menacing.

As you can tell there is tall grass all around.  You know what lurks in tall grass?  Snakes, that’s what.  I do not like snakes at all (doesn’t matter if I see them before they see me.)  So the solution was to have Megan go first and scare any that might be around far away.  🙂

I liked the shape of this tree and the way it looked.  I violated the rule of thirds but I really did want to make the tree the focal point of the image and since trees as a rule do not move left or right, I figured it was okay to break the rule this once.

Finally this dead tree that has fallen into the pond.  This is the first thing I saw when we drove into the farm.  I was hoping to catch some turtles or big bull frogs but they had long since departed so I captured the tree.

I enjoyed the opportunity to visit the farm and shoot some of the more interesting features of it.  Thanks to Megan for taking me to the farm and letting me have some fun with my camera.  Also no camera settings for these images.  They are the same as the one’s I posted a couple of days ago. 🙂

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