Wednesday ~ April 04, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 4, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Wednesday!

I have three images from Sunday’s session for today.  For my Facebook Friends, you will need to click on the link to see all three.  Also please remember you can click on any of the images to see a larger more detailed version of the image.

I was checking out A.Y. McDonald Park Sunday, when I came around a corner I saw a man (I could only see the top half of him because he was down on the boat ramp) throw what looked like a large bottle of pop into the river.  I decided to investigate.  He was actually working with his dog on retrieving birds and had a couple of training birds that he would throw for the dog to retrieve.

I thought the water looked awfully cold but the dog seemed to be having a good time.

A common red-winged black bird looking for food.  Couldn’t help myself and had to photograph it.

Finally on my way out of the park there were several common grackles in a tree.  I watched them for a while and thought this guy was getting ready to take flight so I tried to capture that moment.  He was just shifting his position a bit.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ April 02, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 2, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter celebration.

After church I drove down to the river to see if there was anything going on.  It is said that one definition of insanity is, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I’ll explain…

I have three images for today.  One of my favorite places to photograph wildlife in the area has been the 16th Street Basin for a variety of reasons.  It has offered an abundance of geese, ducks, herons, egrets, eagles, and various other species including pelicans.  I could always count on finding something to photograph at the Basin, no matter what time of year it was.

The Basin was close, only a few miles from home, so it was easy to get to no matter what the weather was doing.  There was a lot of distraction (buildings and power lines) to inhibit photographing wildlife in flight but it could be done.

It had a lot of fish in it so it attracted lots of fish-eating birds.  Two years ago they chopped down all the trees around the Basin.  Trees that provided cover and a resting area for the wildlife.  They put in a large solar farm adjacent to the basin, hence the removal of threes.  😦

I keep going back to the basin in hopes of finding something to photograph thus the definition of insanity, because for the last two years there has been nothing to photograph.

Imagine my surprise when I went to my favorite spot of years gone by and found a half-dozen Blue Herons resting.  I was excited to say the least.  However a sad things is there is no one is taking care of the Basin any more and so I spent a lot of time on each of the photos I’m showing today cloning out all the junk and debris that have built around the banks of the Basin, with Photoshop.  😦

There were some geese and this pair of Mallards swimming near the herons.  I couldn’t pass them up.

That’s it for today.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ March 26, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 26, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Monday!

I want to wish my little Grand Daughter Gabby, happy 5th birthday today.  🙂

Nothing special about the three images I have today.  Some landscape shots of farm scenes and of course an interesting tree.

I enjoy rambling through the countryside looking at and for interesting farm scenes.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ March 24, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 24, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Happy Saturday!

After running some errands and having lunch with my beautiful daughter and grand-daughter I decided to wander through the countryside to see what I could find.  The first image inspired the black and white theme for today.

I have three images for you.  My Face Book friends will need to click on the link below to see all three images.

This took a fair amount of walking to get this image.  There was no place to park (that was safe) and so I had to find an area wide enough to accommodate my car and then walk the half mile back to the tree.  Up hill I might add.  😦

I can’t pass up an old barn.  Even though it has a metal roof, the structure itself has some age on it.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ March 22, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 22, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Thursday!

This past Tuesday I spent 6 and a half hours on a photo shoot with two different departments at the Maquoketa State Bank.  I have three images from the session to show today.

I got there around 8:30 a.m. and finished the actual photography around 12:10 p.m.

Went to lunch with some friends and then came back and took another hour and half to tear down and pack away the equipment.

This was one of the best sessions I have had.  I really enjoyed it. The light set up and place I had to work was great.

I’m thinking more and more about offering a corporate / head shot service in the near future.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ March 15, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 15, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Thursday!

I had lunch with a dear Friend yesterday and as I was on my way to that lunch this guy just happen to fly in front of my lens.  🙂

Actually I saw him in a small clearing near some woods, finishing up a meal and after about 20 minutes of me being there he decided it was time to seek some solitude.

So I have lots of shots of him eating (they are boring) and I didn’t think I would get a sharp image of him because of all the trees and clutter but I got lucky.

You can click on the image to get a larger more detailed image.

I love eagles!

Enjoy your day.