Saturday ~ May 19, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 19, 2018
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Happy Saturday!

I have 5 images for today as I was doing a lens evaluation.  The results are pretty amazing.

Jeanne and I are going on a couple of trips this Summer and I don’t want to carry a heavy camera bag with lots of lenses.  I also don’t want to get in a position where I don’t have the right focal length to capture the images I want.

So about a year and a half ago Tamron™ announced an 18mm – 400mm lens to bridge the gap of several lenses.  Like everything there are pros and cons to a zoom lens with that big of focal length range.  Being a certified gear head I had to have it, even though I have not always had the best luck with Tamron™ lenses.

It is a Dx lens meaning it is for a “cropped sensor” camera body.   I have it on the Nikon D500, which is a “cropped sensor” camera body.  There is a multiplier factor to the focal length on a “cropped sensor” camera body of 1.5 times.  Which means that the 18mm-400mm lens becomes a 27mm – 600mm lens.  It is relatively light weight and compact so it is the perfect “touristy” walk around lens.

I’ve probably told you way more than you want to know about this lens other than the fact that it was fairly inexpensive compared to a “normal” lens.  To be honest, I didn’t think it would be a very good lens but I had 30 days to try it out before buying it.  I remember shooting a few images with it and thought it’s okay.  Click here if you want to see the results of that initial shoot.

Yesterday I had lunch with my wonderful Daughter at the Dubuque Golf & Country Club.  I even dressed up a little bit for that.  🙂

Then I went down to the river with this lens to put it through its paces.  I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the results.

It has a fast focus and is quite.  It’s light weight so pretty easy to hold and carry.  The lens also has image stabilization so it mitigates camera shake.  As you can see with the Red-Winged Black bird it is a pretty sharp lens. But the real eye opener is the next two photos.

I was standing in the parking lot near the River Center and took this photograph of the Dubuque County Courthouse.

I was standing in the exact same place at the racked out focal length of 600mm and this is the uncropped image as it came out of the camera.

Needless to say I was very impressed with the lens and it will travel with me.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ May 16, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 16, 2018
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Happy Wednesday!

After dinner last night I peeked out the patio door and saw that Ms. Robin was not sitting on the nest.  So I grabbed a camera and a glass of wine and decided to sit outside and watch the clouds roll by.

I have three images for today.  You can click on any image and make it larger with more detail.

I enjoy including clouds in my images and but rarely make them the main subject.  I was impressed with this large Cumulonimbus cloud that continued to grow as I watched.

Before my wine was finished Ms. Robin started letting me know it was time for me to move.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ May 15, 2018

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

Happy Tuesday!

One image and a short story (well short for me) for today.  I’ve been having an ongoing feud with a mother Robin the last several days.  She first attempted to build a nest outside my office window.  I kept moving the grass, straw, and mud and she finally gave up.

Then I found a bunch of straw, grass, and mud on the back patio as she was trying to build a nest on a step-ladder Jeanne had left out.  I brushed away that mess and then it was several days before I went back to the patio and she had a fully constructed nest.

I hated to tear it down but what mess that was going to be.  I peaked inside and there was one egg.  Well, shoot!  Now I can’t touch it.  Now there are 4 eggs in the nest and she is mostly on the nest 24 hours a day.

Last night we had burgers for dinner and she was pretty upset with me because I kept coming out to take care of the burgers.  So today I snuck around the corner of the house to grab this image.  Even though it looks like I am really close, I used a 600mm lens so she wasn’t stressed out.

It’s going to be a mess for awhile, especially when they hatch and there all the chirping and feeding going on.  Probably more to come.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ May 14, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 14, 2018
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Happy Monday!

Had an enjoyable Mother’s Day afternoon at Angie and Ben’s home with the Grand Kids, Mark, and Julia.

Spent a lot of time watching the kids swing on their new swings.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ May 13, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 13, 2018
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Happy Sunday and Happy Mother’s Day!

Yesterday was a fun afternoon and I have two images for today.

I met some great friends from Cedar Rapids at the Maquoketa Art Experience as they wanted to see my photography exhibit.

Left to right is Emily, Crissie, Lynda, and Lavon.  They all use to work at the same company I did and only Crissie is still there.  We spent an hour at the Art Experience looking at and talking about the images and then we went for Mexican food for lunch.

We had a nice lunch and good visit.  I never cease to be amazed and thankful for the wonderful friends I have made over my career. I’m truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ May 12, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 12, 2018
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Happy Saturday!

Yesterday was a fun day.  It started for me with a trip to Anamosa to have lunch with a great friend.  Then back to Dubuque for the celebration of an amazing person and career.

I have three images today and a story.  Remember you can click on any of the images to see a larger more detailed version of the image.

Jeanne has taught special education for 43 years.  An amazing accomplishment given the challenges she has had to face.  Coincidentally we’ve been married 42 of those years and many would say that she has had a good practice subject to perfect her craft.  🙂

I just know that there are a lot of kids over that career that have benefited and have a better life because of her care, concern, teaching, and compassion.  She taught in Missouri for two years and in the Waterloo District for 2 years before we moved to Dubuque and she has been in the Dubuque School System for 39 years.  She retires at the end of this school year after a phenomenal career.

So last week Angie received an email from the School Principle advising her that her Mother was going to be receiving  a special inaugural award that was to be given to the outstanding teacher of the year.  The nominations were made by the students and it was the culmination of a week-long staff appreciation celebration.  There was an assembly Friday afternoon when the award was going to be presented and we could come but had to keep it a secret from Jeanne.  We had to keep it a secret because if she had known about the award she wouldn’t have gone to the assembly.  🙂

So we gathered the grand kids and snuck into the back of the gymnasium where we got to see the whole program and Jeanne’s big award.  There is a phenomenon called cognitive blindness and I used to teach about it at the leadership training I did over the years.  Jeanne was unaware that we were there (even though Josh ran up and gave her flowers) because she was not expecting us to be there and as always she was focused on keeping an eye on her kids.

It was a fitting tribute to an amazing person, teacher, wife, and Mother.  I am truly blessed!

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Thursday ~ May 10, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 10, 2018
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Happy Thursday!

I have three images for today.  Yesterday late afternoon I played golf with a couple of great friends at the Maquoketa Country Club.  It was my first time out and it was ugly.

Before going to the golf course I rambled through the countryside and found some things to photograph that appealed to me.  Actually it was the sky with the big puffy clouds that I wanted to capture so I looked for things to frame with the sky.

We finished the round about 7:30 p.m.  It was a beautiful day but the wind was blowing a gale.  I would like to blame the wind for my poor play but I can’t.  😦

We decided to have dinner at a local restaurant.  While I was waiting on my friends two more friends walked in, which was a real treat, so the five of us enjoyed dinner and I had to endure some trash talk about my lack of golfing skills.

Great evening.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ May 08, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 8, 2018
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Happy Tuesday!

I had lunch yesterday with a Dear Friend and she presented me with this wonderful “retirement gift.”  I was speechless and so appreciative.

We had a good visit and got caught up on what’s been going on in our respective lives.  It is but another reminder to me of just how precious friendship is.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ May 03, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on May 3, 2018
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Happy Thursday!

It’s been a while since I posted as I have had several things going on that have occupied my time and mind.

My photography showing at the Maquoketa Art Experience is now on display and there is a “Meet & Greet” this Sunday May 06, 2018  from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.

The Have Studio Will Travel logo above, is my venture into a small sideline business of corporate photography.  I have all the equipment and experience to make successful corporate head shots, marketing materials, and product photography.

Still some work to do on the legal end of things and I need to get my website up and running, but I’ve ordered business cards.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful

Friday ~ April 27, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 27, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Happy Friday!!

I have two images, a short video, and a long story for today.

For my Friends on Facebook {Click Here}   if you want to go directly to my Blog Post.

Yesterday was the culmination of a month-long project.  I never imagined how much was involved in the project in both time, work, and money.

I have close to 80,000 digital images on my computer and back up hard drives.  Out of those I have probably printed no more than 20 over the last 18 years as the bulk of my work has been posted digitally.

About a year ago I was offered the opportunity to present my photography work at the wonderful Maquoketa Art Experience in Maquoketa, Iowa.  It is truly a remarkable place and if you are in the area you owe it to yourself to pay a visit.  They have learning experiences and workshops for young children through senior citizens and allow artists the chance to show their work to the public.

So my showing was originally scheduled for December 2017, which gave me seven months to prepare.  Being a chronic procrastinator I didn’t do anything about it and was notified in October that my showing (because of a scheduling conflict) was being moved to May 1, 2018.  Even more procrastination followed plus retirement and then I received an email with a notice of the scheduling of my showing and when I needed to have my work to the Art Experience.  PANIC!

I spent hours looking through those 80,000 images trying to pick a wide representative range of my work from wildlife, landscape, portraiture, farm scenes, and of course  trees.  I visited the Art Experience to see the layout of where I would be presenting and went to the wrong section of the building.  The photographer, that was currently displaying had 47 images.  Wow, I thought, that’s a lot of printing, matting, and framing not to mention the expense involved.

A commitment is a commitment so I started the process.  I selected 43 images and sent them off to be printed.  Then I shopped for and purchased 45 frames and matting materials.  UPS was delivering boxes almost every other day.  🙂

All that “stuff” had to be un-boxed and unwrapped and then assembled.  It was a daunting project to say the least.  Our dinning room table became my storage space and the breakfast counter my work space.  Jeanne was very supportive and put up with all the materials without complaint.

I got everything done and ready to transport so I sent an email to my contact at the Art Experience telling them I had 43 images to show.  I received a reply the next day which stated, “You have too many photographs, we don’t have room for that many.”  Ugh!  Now what.

To shorten the story, the wonderful folks that make the Are Experience work said to me, bring what you have and we’ll make it work.  WOW!  They were so gracious and helpful I was very moved.  One of my friends, who volunteers at the Art Experience came to my retirement celebration and told me that they had it all planned out and bring all my images.  I was very happy.

So yesterday I loaded up the car and took my work to Maquoketa.  Ted, Dick, Wayne, and Helen helped me with the hanging, wiring and placement of the images.  We worked for four hours getting it ready.  It was a fantastic experience that I will not forget.  Wonderful people.

I have a 38 second video below if you want to see the work in progress.

Enjoy your day and be careful.