Friday ~ December 07, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 7, 2018
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Happy Friday!

I had a wonderful lunch with my beautiful daughter yesterday and then decided to go wandering around the countryside again.

I have three farm images for you today and of course one of them is a barn.

One of the things I enjoy about this time of year is that the soft light comes early in the afternoon.

There is a barn that I have wanted to photograph for sometime and I saw it again on the way to Mason City Wednesday.  After driving for sometime I realized that I was only a few miles away from the barn so I decided to go there.

This is not that barn.  Unfortunately when I arrived at the barn the sun was in the wrong location to photograph from the road.  So after some debate I decided to drive about a mile down the road and take the gravel road to the farm-house.  I went to the door but no one was home.  I realize I could have taken a few minutes and got the shot that I wanted.  But I do not trespass and I can’t imagine how awkward that would have been for the owners to pull into their property to see some stranger walking around their buildings.

So I’ll try again another day.  This barn is in its original state including original roof.  It isn’t going to be around for ever so I want to capture some images of it.  It’s 48 miles from home so I’m not inclined to go there on a regular basis to try to find the owners home.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ December 04, 2018

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

Happy Tuesday!

It’s been a fair amount of time since my last post.  I have been busy working on some projects and just plain lazy.

Yesterday I had lunch with some friends and then wandered through the country side looking for something to photograph.

It was cloudy, gray, and somewhat depressing environment so I decided to photograph in B&W to convey that feeling.

As I start my tenth month of full retirement I have experienced a range of emotions, many of which I had not expected.  In my mind I have composed  an essay about those feelings and at some point I may put them to paper.

I, for example, never thought I would miss working and in most respects I really don’t.  I enjoy not having the stress of demands and time limits hanging over my head.  What I do miss is my work.   I was able to help people solve problems both in their work life and personal life.  That gave me a feeling of purpose and fulfillment.

I really miss the connection I had with my friends.  I have lunch with many of them each week but I can tell in some cases the connection we once shared is becoming more blurred.

Left on my own, I find that I can spend hours reading blogs, taking lessons, playing games and napping.  One of the things I’m going to work on in the coming new year is putting more structure in my life.  I can do that with photography.

Okay, that’s all the babbling for today.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ November 14, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 14, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

Happy Wednesday!

This is the last of the vacation images for you to endure.

On our last day at the beach I decided to put on my water shoes and go visit the ocean one more time.  I was photographing some birds when this helicopter flew by.  It was not until I was processing the image that I actually paid attention to the writing on the copter.  Later that afternoon I went to their website to see what the cost was for a trip around the beach.  It was reasonable but too late to book a flight by the time I decided I’d like to do it.

Full disclosure.  This is not my image but lifted from the company’s website.  This is an image of our beach and the red arrow designates our room at the hotel we were staying at.  I could walk out on the balcony and have a full view of the beach.

I was doing a panorama of the beach and when I finally processed this image I noticed the Kennedy Space Center on the coast line.  That is a Mercury capsule sitting on top of a Red-stone rocket used in the original Mercury flights.

I’ve seen some large ships before when I was in New Orléans a few years ago.  But nothing the size of this.  I captured this image at 600 mm and there was no room to spare on either side.  This is the largest ship I’ve ever seen.

We were only a couple of miles from where the cruise ships dock.  So the two days we were there (Saturday and Sunday) we saw a number of ships sail out of port.

That’s it for the vacation photos.  Back to stuff I find here.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Tuesday ~ November 13, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 13, 2018
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Happy Tuesday!

This was the view from the balcony of our hotel room at Coco Beach, Florida.  We spent two days there after Disney World to rest and relax.

I went down to the beach a couple of times but never got into the water.  I took my camera and the 28 – 300 mm lens to take some photos.

I noticed all the umbrellas on the beach and lounge chairs.  I thought I’ll just go down there and sit under an umbrella and enjoy the breeze and sound of the waves coming on shore.  No more had I gotten to one of umbrellas, a guy comes running up to me and tells me it $20 to rent the umbrella and $20 for the chairs.  I passed.

The birds on the beach let me get very close to them and I had some enjoyment of capturing some images.  I spent about a half an hour this morning trying to identify each of these birds.  Truthfully I’m just guessing at their names.

So I think this is a black-legged kittiwakes.

These two guys are Short-billed dowitchers.

And for the last bird that I can’t identify, I think these are Sanderlings.

Like I said I’m probably wrong on all of them but I spent all the time I was going to trying to identify them.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Monday ~ November 12, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 12, 2018
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Happy Monday and Happy Veterans Day!

A huge thank you to all our wonderful Veterans for their service.

I had a great weekend.  I did a photo shoot for a family in Dubuque this past Saturday.  Wonderful people and they were very gracious and patient.
This was the art director for the project.  🙂

She found a napping place in several of my photography equipment bags.

This is one of the backgrounds they chose from my website. They also chose a more neutral gray for the second background.  I had a lot of fun working with three generations of the family for this shoot.

Each time I do a photo session I come away with new techniques and better ways of lighting.   I learned a lot of things from this shoot and as a result I will cut down on the amount of stuff I bring on the next session.

One of the must have items (for me) is the Color Checker Passport™.  It has a graduated gray card and lets me build a color profile for the particular shoot I am on so that I know the colors are correct.

Anyway I would love to show you some of the images from the shoot but because of privacy concerns I cannot.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Wednesday ~ November 07, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 7, 2018
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Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday I said I was going to do an opinionated review of the Nikon Coolpix P1000 camera.

This is normally not the type of camera I would buy.  I love the DSLRs I have.  From the way they feel in my hand to sound of the shutter and the results I get with them.

Having said that, I gave my old Nikon Coolpix to my Grand Son some time ago.  I use to carry it on my bike and in the car for those occasions when I didn’t have my regular camera.

So when Nikon announced this version of the Coolpix and the fact it could shoot in RAW I ordered one.  Knowing of the trip to Disney World I thought I might get some use out of it. But the real selling point for me was the 3000 mm optical zoom lens.

An example of that zoom is below.  Above I stepped out on the balcony of our suite and captured this image of the basketball court.

This image is not zoomed to full length and has not been altered in any way.  No cropping of this image, it is just the way I shot it in camera.

Another example is this image taken from another balcony of our suite.  That is the Magic Kingdom Castle to the right and on the left is one of the rides at the Magic Kingdom.

This image is zoomed all the way out to 3000 mm.  I did not have a tripod and actually hand-held all these images.   Now this image is a little soft but considering the length of the lens and the atmospherics of the day I was impressed to say the least.

So for me it is better to have this camera than my iPhone.  It takes 4K video and has a digital zoom factor of X4 beyond the 3000 mm optical zoom.  So it can see a long way.

I used it one day at the Magic Kingdom.  I was not happy with the results I got photographing people.  One of the problems is that it has a pop up flash.  Handy sometimes but it makes an awful image more times than not.  The P1000 also has a micro function that lets you get very close to a subject.  I can shoot fully auto or completely manual and several variations in between.

Final verdict?  I have a few more days to decide if I want to keep it.  I’m leaning towards keeping it because I can see so many opportunities for its capabilities.  Not the most professional review but neither am I.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ November 05, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 6, 2018
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Happy Tuesday!

Today is all about Princess Gabriella Grace Roling and her transformation into a full-blown Princess.

This is the finished product with her personal attendant.  At one time she had three people (including one named Gabby) working on her.

I shot 79 images of this process and no I’m not going to show them all.  Just the four I have for today.  🙂

I can tell you that watching the excitement and magic in her eyes during the process was one of my most enjoyable moments of the trip.  It truly is such a magical place.

This image was taken after she had selected her dress and was waiting her turn for the make over.

There are about 12 personal attendants and each one of them has two specialist to assist with make up and nails.  It is quite the sight to behold.  Additionally there is a roving photographer who roams the room taking images of each princess and each step of the process.

I made all of these images (at the Magic Kingdom) with the new Nikon Coolpix P1000 camera.  This was its first outing so I made a lot of mistakes with it as the learning curve with this camera is considerably different than the DSLRs that I’m used to.

So tomorrow I’m going to write a blog on my first impressions about this unique camera and how it does or does not fit into my work flow.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Sunday ~ November 04, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 4, 2018
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Happy Sunday!

This is a continuation of my exploration of the resort complex we stay at while at Disney World.

After photographing the wildlife at the water’s edge (after reading the sign) I decided to see what else there was to see at this magnificent facility.

You are always reminded that you are in the world of Disney.  No matter how far you wander off the beaten path.  Well okay, truth be told I didn’t wander very far after reading the sign. 🙂

I didn’t realize this until I inquired.  Another way to get to the different areas of the park is by boat.  So some of these people perhaps came to our resort to have a meal or shop and then the boat (like a shuttle) would pick them up and bring them back to their resort.

If you click on the image to enlarge it you’ll see one of the signs that are everywhere there is water.

Another shuttle boat taking guest back to their hotel or to a different part of the park.

I saw one of these at Epcot as well as this one at our resort.

Next more of the Magic Kingdom.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ November 03, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 3, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Happy Saturday!

I’ll get back to some Disney images later next week.  On Thursday I decided that I was Disney-ed out and so I elected to stay at the hotel while the rest of the family went back to the Magic Kingdom.

I explored the resort we were staying at for most of the day.  It was still hot and humid but I walked at my own pace and sought shade at every opportunity.  After I explored the shops and recreational areas of the resort I decided to take my camera outside and walk around the entire area.

I believe this bird is an Anhinga (a heron species.) I spent a lot of time this morning trying to identify the birds of this post so if I got them wrong please feel free top correct me.

I was again amazed at how close the birds would let me get and pay no attention to me.  I had my 160 – 600 mm lens with me but this image full frame was taken at 270 mm focal length.  I could have taken 10 or more steps and touched the bird.  I believe this critter is a Cattle Egret.  I was walking pretty close to the water’s edge.  There was a chain link fence between me and the water but it let me get very close.

I was having lots of fun photographing the wildlife until I came across a big sign that warned of the presence of alligators and snakes.  “Nuff” said.  I was out of there.  🙂

I think this is a common duck.

This was the same general area where a young toddler was killed by an alligator.  It’s all fenced now and signs everywhere but of course you have to look at the signs and read them.  I thought it was strange that there were no footprints in the sand where I was.

This was the last wildlife image I made after reading the sign.

Enjoy your day and be careful.