Upde Designs

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f8

Today I will post some B&W images from Sunday’s River Walk.  The image above is the railroad bridge at the North end of the River Walk.  It is of similar construction to the railroad bridge at Sabula.

You know I could see taking a book, a seat cushion, and some assorted beverages to River Walk and just enjoy the warmth, the water, and especially the people.  You might call it a poor man’s day at the beach. 🙂

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f8

The Star Brewery is also at the North end of the River Walk.  Wonderful place to enjoy an adult beverage and or a nice meal.  In the lower right of the image you can see a couple enjoying the warm day with a beverage.

Oh by the way my good friend Becki Kenton advised me that the flying bird in the post yesterday was a Blue Heron and the little black ducks are Coots.  I’m sure most of you already knew that.  I am quite ignorant when it comes to wildlife.  Even thought I don’t know much about them I do enjoy making photographic  images of them.  Thanks Becki.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/320 sec @ f8

Finally on the South end of the River Walk (actually it’s not on the River Walk at all) was this large tug boat.  It was sitting amongst all the clutter of structures and other floating barges and yet it stood out in its own right.   So I made this image. Wow that sounds profound doesn’t it.

Speaking of my friend Becki.  Steve, Becki, Jeanne and I are going to Green Island on Saturday for a photo shoot.  The weather is supposed to be Sunny and Seventy.  I talked to a friend of mine on Monday and he was at Green Island on Sunday kayaking and said he saw about 40 or more Eagles still in the area.  So maybe…

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day and be careful.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/640 sec @f5.6

First off, these are not very good images.  I shot over a hundred images at the river and of those only about 20 were “keepers” and of the keepers none were worthy of showing.  Except I try to write a daily photography blog so I have to show something.

Besides yesterday I said I would post some of the river walk.  The photo above suffers from among other things being out of focus and that in and of itself creates all sorts of other problems.  The problem?  First a lousy technique in panning, I was caught off guard and never really caught up to the bird (he was always ahead of my focus point), and I had the camera set to single focus, which is why the shot is so soft.

No I do not know what kind of bird this is.  Andreas would of course but I haven’t a clue.  Jeanne didn’t know either.  Her guess either a loon or a crane.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/500 sec @f5.6

Nope this is not the same duck I showed last week.  Well then again it could be.  He wasn’t wearing a name tag.  He had a buddy with him this time.  They were forging around the debris near the shore.  I don’t know what they eat but their heads were constantly bobbing in the water.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/400 sec @f5.6

So the last of my forgettable images for today is of these little black ducks.  Talk about working the debris field.  I thought for awhile they were going to get mired down in the gunk, but they managed to navigate around all the stuff.  There is a lot of debris in the river right now.  We only saw a couple of boats out in the channel.  We saw lots of big pieces of trees and other objects floating in the river and that would do a lot of damage to a boat’s drive train.

So this Sunday afternoon the 3rd of April was a gray, overcast, and surprisingly warm day.  A real treat and we really enjoyed the time we spent on the River-walk.  I apologize for the poor images.  It’s a continuous process of learning.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f8

Happy Monday to you.  We had a relaxing weekend.  Got caught up on some much needed sleep, got to see Angie, Ben, and Joshua, and finally we spent some time on the river walk down by the Mississippi just enjoying the wonderful warm afternoon.

The kids were going to Ben’s parents for dinner but we got an invite to stop by for a little visit.  So on Day 138 of Josh’s life we stopped by for a quick bonding experience and a photo opportunity.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f8

When Grandma or I hold Josh, he tends to get this worried look on his face like… “wait a minute, what’s going on and where’s Mom?”  So as long as he can see Mom and she pays attention to him he is pretty happy

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f8

I love this picture of Jeanne laughing at something Angie said.  I don’t think Josh got the joke but he will someday.  Anyway he likes it when you walk around with him and keep the scenery moving.  He only got a little cranky once while we were there.  I think it was a combination of the immobility of his carrier and lack of a Binky.  The combination was just little more than he was willing to tolerate.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | SB900 Flash | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f8

Finally even I got into the act.  While I was holding Josh Angie took my picture.  I don’t know which of us was the most worried, Angie, with me holding her son or me with Angie holding my beloved D700. 🙂  By the way I had to spend an hour in post production fixing this image.

After we left their house we decided to drive down to the river and see what the ole Mississippi looked like.  It is still very high and there is a lot of debris in the water.  Tomorrow I’ll post some of the river walk.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week and as always be careful.

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/400 sec @ f6.3

I was on the way back to my office in Maquoketa from visiting our bank in Cascade when I spotted these canoes by the river.  The vibrant colors really caught my eye.  So like any self-respecting photographer I made a U-turn in the middle of the road and went back.

I was standing there taking some  images and didn’t notice this Gentleman walking up behind me.  I turned around and he was right there.  He thought I was there to take pictures of the accident scene from a couple of days earlier.

When I told him what I was doing he told me that this is actually his advertising board sign.  He said he used to have a sign there that didn’t get much notice but one day he put these colorful canoes by the river and people started coming by.

He said that today (Saturday) is the first day he will be open for the season.  He didn’t expect much business because it was going to be kind of chilly but he hoped next weekend would be better.  Very nice man and I enjoyed chatting with him.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/500 sec @ f9

I didn’t find anything worthy of taking a picture yesterday so I’ll show you a couple more images from the Duck Pond.  I told you that my friend Adreas would identify these ducks.  He says they are Lesser Scaups, a very common duck in this area.  Andreas loves Nature and has a project of capturing images of as many species as he can.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/500 sec @ f9

Finally for today a shot of a pair of Geese surveying the land.  I liked the way they framed up with water at the top of the image and bottom of the image with them and the land in the middle.

I don’t know how an image critic would rate it but I like it so that’s really all that matters. 🙂  Anyway hope to get out some this weekend.  I have to put some finishing touches on the web site I’ve been working on.    If you want to see the web site you can click here. Have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Well let me start of by saying that I don’t particularly like any of the images I’m showing you today.  They were all done in HDR and once I got them into Lightroom 3 I realized that I had forgotten one important step in the HDR process.  Of course the last HDR I did was in December so that’s a long time for my little mind to remember something.

Above is the HDR image of the Star Brewery.  I had taken a picture of this entryway  back on October 10, 2010.  I had hand-held my camera and shot at a pretty low shutter speed.  I’ll let you decide for yourself which one is better.

This is the non HDR image that was taken without a tripod or flash.  Actually as I look at it there is a fair amount of detail that shows up in this one that is not as good in the HDR image.  I don’t know, like I said I don’t like any of the images I’m posting today.

This one of the display cases in the entryway at the Brewery.  It has a lot of interesting information about the brewery and about beer in general.

Finally this is the last image I took in the entryway.  I just didn’t have my camera set up properly and didn’t take enough time to double-check everything.  Very disappointing because I had thought about doing this shoot at the Brewery ever since last October.

Sorry for the crappy images.  I spent a lot of time processing these guys but they just are not what I was expecting.  The good news is that I will try again. 🙂

Have a great Friday and weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and as always be careful.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/500 sec @ f9

Happy Thursday. It was a good shooting day for me yesterday.  I grabbed a sandwich at Subway and then headed out for some fun.  I went looking for a bridge I had seen sometime ago but couldn’t find it (actually I couldn’t remember where I had seen it) so I came back to the Duck Pond to see what was shaking there.

There were a bunch of little ducks with dark heads (Andreas would know what kind they are) but they are just little ducks to me.  Anyway I quietly got out of the car and slowly started walking toward them and just as I was bringing the lens to my eye they did this water walk to the other side of the pond.  I didn’t even have the burst mode on, just manually snapped as many shots as I could get (which is why they are a little soft.)

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/500 sec @ f9

I walked around and waited for a long while but the ducks and geese stayed on the far end of the pond.  I decided to drive over to the Interpretive Center and see if I could find any birds closer as I didn’t have my long lens with me.

As I rounded the corner on the way to the Interpretive Center I found these geese exploring a small inlet area next to the shore.  They didn’t seem to mind me and so I was able to get some close up shots of them.

I got a few more shots of the pond to show you later but that’s it for the Duck Pond today.  After work I headed home.  It was a bright sunny day and I knew that Jeanne had an appointment after work so I decided to go down to the river and see what the flood stage looked like.

Nikon D300S | Nikon 18 - 200 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @ f10

I don’t remember seeing the river this high and so full.  I’m sure it has been but you have to realize that I don’t remember what I what I did yesterday so I can’t remember how high the river has been over the 30 years that I’ve been here.  I was just impressed how high the river actually was today.

I saw a pair of Mallard Ducks swimming very close to the shore and so I walked out as close as I could get.  Apparently this guy is used to having his picture taken or I’m getting really good at this because he let me get very close.  I’m thinking he is pretty used to humans coming close to him and probably even throwing him something to eat.  Which might explain the loud quacking and look of disgust he displayed as he swam off when I didn’t feed him. 🙂

Well that’s it for today.  I have some (I think) pretty good shots to show you over the next few days.  I shot several HDR images at the river and I’m anxious to see how they come out.  It was late last night when I got to the laboratory so I only got to process these three images.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.  Be careful.

I told Jeanne last night that I didn’t have anything to post for today.  I’ve had after work meetings two nights in a row so nothing.  Her response, “You have thousands of images in your archive, why not use some of them.  Why not indeed.  No Eagles or wildlife but lots of other images to choose from.

So I was rummaging through my images and came across a bunch I shot while I was attending the Graduate School of Banking  HR Program in Madison last August.  I went down on State Street one night and  there was plenty of things to shoot.

The group above is an all Cuban band.  They were holding a street performance this evening and they were quite good.  When they took a break I walked on down State Street.

I remember they told us in class one day that you could find  a lot of interesting sights on State Street.  Just about anywhere I went on State Street there were musicians playing.  This individual was in his own world.  I watched him for a while and finally asked if I could take his image.  He rolled his eyes at me as if to say how bourgeoisie.  So I ignored his boorish behavior and took the image anyway. 🙂

I just remember it was hotter than the hubs of hell this particular evening and I was full from dinner, tired from all the walking, and just downright uncomfortable.  So I took a few more images and then headed for the ice-cold air-conditioned hotel room and a nice cool shower.

By that time the all Cuban Band was cranking up for their second set.  Twenty years ago I would have hung around and enjoyed the music and the crowd.  But that was 20 years ago and the comfort of my hotel room was much more enticing than the music.  😦

Thanks for stopping by.  Be careful.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm f2.8 lens | SB900 | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f5

Growing up we were very poor.  I didn’t realize it until later but we were.  The one thing you could count on was what ever we had for Sunday dinner (lunch) you would see some form of it on Monday.  🙂  So that’s what I have for today.  I’ve been working on a web site (seems like for ever) and I was determined to get it finished and published by the end of the day yesterday.

I love the image above.  It was a look we saw a fair amount of when we babysit Josh on Saturday.  He just wasn’t sure of what was going on.  Grandma and Grandpa are okay when Mom and Dad are around but when there not, well hence the look.

Nikon D300S | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/250 sec @ f10

This image is from the “Duck Pond” shoot on Thursday.  I had followed this pair of Geese around the pond trying to get a good shot of them.  One would do their bottom thing and then the other one would.  I couldn’t get them both upright at the same time.  I did however manage to get both their butts at the same time. 🙂

Nikon D300S | Nikon 70 - 300 mm lens | ISO 200 1/200 sec @f10

Finally this interesting railroad bridge at Sabula.  My regret about this bridge is that I didn’t spend more time with the shot and explore the different perspectives available.  It was cold and I was after all after Eagles.  However if it is worth doing it is worth doing right.  I’ll get back to Sabula this Spring and get some better shots.  It would really be cool to take an image of the bridge with a train on it.

Have a great week.  Hope to get some shooting in this week.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm F2,8 lens | SB900 Speed Light | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f5.0

Today was the first day that I got to try out my new lens.  I got it a couple of weeks ago but shooting wildlife is a job for the Tamron 500 mm lens.  The lens is a Nikon 70-200 mm f2.8 VRII lens.  WOW!  That is the only word I can say for it.  Wickedly sharp and fast focusing.  It weighs 7 pounds and for a lens that’s heavy.  It is quite as  can be.  To say that this is my new favorite lens is an understatement.

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm F2,8 lens | SB900 Speed Light | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f5.0

So we got the call.  Ben and Angie were going out to dinner with Ben’s family and did we want to baby sit.  Jeanne said yes of course and so she went over at 5:30 pm to do her Grandma thing.  By the way she does it very well. 🙂

Nikon D700 | Nikon 70 - 200 mm F2,8 lens | SB900 Speed Light | ISO 200 1/60 sec @ f5.0

Yes his eyes are really that blue.  I did not enhance this image.  He has the bluest eyes I have ever seen.   I don’t have any pictures of Joshua smiling for this shoot as the only time he was smiling and laughing was when Grandpa was playing with him.  Seems that Grandpa hasn’t lost his skills either. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Be careful.

Nikon D300S | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/340 sec @ f10

Yesterday was a very sad day for lot of people in our community.  I spent a fair amount of my day with friends trying to come to grips with the terrible tragedy of this week.  If any thing positive  has come from this week may it be that we never take the people we care about for granted.  We tell them, hug them, and show them each and every day just how much they mean to us.

Nikon D300S | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/340 sec @ f10

I love going to the Duck Pond.  I have images of it frozen solid, flooded, with wildlife on it, without wildlife, glassy smooth, white caps, and bone dry with cracked ground.  It is my favorite place to spend some time in solitude and to reflect.

Nikon D300S | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 200 1/340 sec @ f10

So out of the 180 images I shot on Thursday I culled them down to 35 and out of the 35 I will use only 6 and out of the six I will print none.  But the entire process of taking, reviewing, editing, and posting is some of the most fun I have.

Arrived in Dubuque last night in time to meet Angie, Ben, and Josh for dinner at Happy Joe’s Pizza Place.  Jeanne drove herself  as it would have taken an additional 25 minutes for me to drive home and pick her up and then go to the restaurant.  It was a fun time with them.  Josh was awake the entire time and just looked around at all the sights.  Never once got cranky.  Neat kid. 🙂

Be careful and give someone you care about a hug today.  Thanks for stopping by.