Sunday ~ January 24, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 24, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

January-22-2016-CC

Happy Sunday!

I have a potpourri of images for you today from my Friday shoot at Lock and Dam #14.  If you read yesterday’s post you will remember it was a cloudy, windy, and cold day with only three eagles in the area.  So when things are slow you look for anything that you can photograph.  There were several flocks of geese flying over and landing throughout my stay there.  Lots of coots and ducks as well.

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This young couple and their dog walked across the observation platform and across to where the eagle tree is.  The photographers get nervous when people (especially with dogs) do that as it tends to scare the eagles off and they don’t come back for sometime.  Since there was only one eagle in the tree at the time they walked over there and it really didn’t matter.  They stopped well short of the tree and so the eagle tolerated them.  🙂

January-22-2016-EE

As most of you who follow this blog are aware I am a self proclaimed gear head.  I love photography gear almost as much as photography itself.  One of the things you see at Lock & Dam #14 is a lot of very cool and expensive lenses.  This guy was standing about 10 feet from me and even though it is a Cannon lens it is a thing of beauty. 🙂

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I thought I was going to be able to photograph this guy fishing but what ever it was that brought him this close to the water must have dived because he never came close to catching anything and returned to his tree.

People at #14 2

You will remember me lamenting yesterday that since the sun was shinning on Saturday the photographers would be shoulder to shoulder.  Well interestingly here they are.  My friend Steve and Becki went to the Lock and Dam on Saturday and Becki took this image of the crowd.  She then sent to me.  So the image above was taken by my friend Becki Kenton and it shows just how crowded it gets at Lock and Dam #14 when the weather cooperates.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ January 23, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 23, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

January-22-2016-A

Happy Saturday!

Yesterday I had to go to the Quad Cities to get the battery replaced in my aging Mac Book Pro.  It was a 15 minute process (they had ordered the battery last Friday) so I waited for them to finish.  I was optimistic about the weather because the sun looked like it was going to burn through the clouds and give us some sunshine on the way down.

I was wrong.  The conditions were as bad if not worse this Friday at Lock & Dam #14 than they were last Friday.   Along with the cloudy gray sky, cold temperature, and wind there were less eagles.  I only saw, at any one time, 3 eagles and some of them were just passing through too far away to photograph.

January-22-2016

I almost missed this image and probably the only reason it is in focus is that the eagle is still close to the water because he is out of my focus ring for sure.  I was busy visiting with a guy I met on the walkway and all of a sudden he snapped his camera to his eye because this guy was going after a fish.  By the time I got my camera on him he had already caught the fish and was starting his climb.

I met a lot of interesting people at the dam yesterday.  Very friendly and all had different stories about their photography.  Many were retired, some had just gotten into photography and one guy I talked to only lives 10 minutes from the dam so he comes every day.  He only took one image the entire time he was there.  I asked him about that and he said he had hundreds of images of eagles doing everything so why duplicate them.  He looks for the catch only.  🙂

I also met two gentlemen who were from Michigan.  They drove all the way just to photograph at the dam.  One of them had been there before but for his buddy it was a new experience.  It was a blast talking with other people about photography, gear, technique.  Things that make normal people’s eyes glass over.  🙂

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The eagle action was pretty slow so when Mr. Pelican floated by so close I felt like I could touch him I had to take this image.

I spent a total of 5 hours at the dam and came away with very few shots.  Three eagles sitting in trees and occasionally flying over the water with gray skies in the background does not make for superior wildlife shots.  Having said that I take what I can get.  I shot about 700 images and culled that down to around 160 eliminating mostly duplicates and to be honest a fair amount of blurry shots that were totally my fault.  😦

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This unflattering selfie gives you an idea of just how cold it was yesterday.  I took this after standing on the walkway for about two hours.

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On a personal note a dear friend of mine passed away Thursday evening.  We affectionately referred to him as the Kink (long story.)  He was two years younger than me it was a real shock to learn of his passing.  We played a lot of golf together, went on several golfing trips together and played a lot of Euchre.  I will certainly miss his warm smile and giving nature.  God bless and keep you Bob.

Today the sun is shinning brightly and I will bet the walkway at Lock and Dam #14 is shoulder to shoulder.  Unfortunately I cannot go because I have other projects that I have to complete today.  Well there’s always the next time.

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

Wednesday ~ January 20, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 20, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , .

January-20-2016-01-15-16

Happy Wednesday!

A short post today with the last of the eagle images.  At least until I can get out and find some more.  I hope to capture some more images this coming weekend.  Probably go back to Lock & Dam #14 on Friday because I will need to pick up my laptop in the Quad Cities.

That’s it for today.   I told you it was going to be a short post.  You can click on the image to make it larger if you like.

Thanks for your support.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ January 19, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 19, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

January-19-2016

Happy Tuesday!

I was sitting at the breakfast bar yesterday morning noticing that occasionally small birds were coming to the bird bath for a drink.  As you can see the water quickly evaporates and leaves a freeze ring around the top.  So I set up my tripod, camera, and 600 mm lens.  Cleaned the glass inside and out and waited.  I waited and waited for another bird to come for a drink.  Forty five minutes later this little guy showed up.  🙂

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This gull is from my LeClaire shoot.  The eagle action was not all that great but lots of gulls fishing.  They make for good practice between the eagles.  They are obviously much smaller, faster, and much harder to track and lock on the auto focus.  I had lots of white blurry blobs to show for my efforts but a few good ones as well.

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But the eagles are what we all come for.  They are such a magnificent creature and I love to watch and photograph them.  I would have enjoyed a bright blue sky with sunshine on his feathers but had to take what I could get.  I have to pick up my laptop this Friday so hopefully the weather will cooperate a little more then.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day, stay warm and be careful.

Monday ~ January 18, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 18, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

January-17-2016

Happy Monday!

I take a break from eagles today as I have images from our photo drive yesterday.  Jeanne and I went on a photo drive yesterday afternoon around 3:00 p.m.  It was a little warmer (a balmy -1) and the light was soft and orange.  I was hoping to catch some wildlife in the harsh weather conditions.  We drove a total of 67 miles to some of our favorite places but couldn’t find any wildlife to photograph.  They were all hunkered down trying to endure the bitter cold temperatures.

So toward the end of our journey we came across these horses walking toward a barn and some hay.  They were spread out when I stopped the car but as I started making images they actually grouped up and posed for me.  🙂

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We came up over a hill, that we had driven on 20 minutes earlier, and found this heard of doe feeding in a harvested field of corn stalks.  They didn’t offer to run as I’m sure they were hungry enough they didn’t want to leave what little food they had.  We were far enough away that they probably didn’t sense any real danger from us.  There were a lot more deer in the heard just couldn’t fit them all in the frame.

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I know, it’s a common cow.  Well this was taken before the horses.  I told Jeanne I wasn’t going home with an empty card so I snapped an image of this cow in the field.  It was shortly after that we saw the horses.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Probably more eagle images tomorrow if I don’t find anything worthy today.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day.  Stay warm and be careful.

Sunday ~ January 17, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 17, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

January-15-2016-A

Happy Freezing Sunday!

I have more eagle images from my Friday shoot for you today.  The second image is a little softer than I like to show but this guy sneaked up on me so this was the first frame and the lens didn’t have a enough time to properly focus.

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I was actually trying to capture an image of an eagle flying over the dam and when I took my eye out of the view finder I saw this guy coming in for a fish.  I didn’t have time to react fast enough to get him totally in focus.

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His prize (lunch) securely in his talon he is heading off to the feeding trees to enjoy his meal.

That’s it for today.  Stay warm, enjoy your day and be careful.

Saturday ~ January 16, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 16, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

January-15-2016

Happy Saturday!

I have Eagles for you today.  Yesterday I had to go to the Quad Cities to take my laptop in for a new battery.  I had decided earlier in the week that I was going to check out Lock and Dam #14 at LeClaire, Iowa as my friend Burt had said the eagles were there.  So after dropping off my laptop I headed over to the dam.

The shooting conditions were terrible.  If I hadn’t had to take my laptop to the repair shop I would have taken one look at the weather and said I’ll go to LD#14 another day.  Gray sky, foggy, biting wind, occasional mist and downright cold.  I knew it wasn’t going to be a banner day when I pulled into the parking lot and saw only 3 people on the observation deck.  Usually it is packed and there are people down on the rocks (as you can see in earlier posts.)

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I walked up to a lady closest to me and asked her if there had been any action.  She turned around, gave me a look (like duh) and said no and then turned around again.  I noticed that there was one adult eagle sitting on the “eagle tree” so I thought I might as well get my gear and see what I could come up with.

Turned out it wasn’t too bad (as far as eagles go.)  There were four adults, one young adult and later two juveniles showed up.  The young adult provided most of the action but occasionally the mature ones would take a stab at getting lunch.

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I have to admit I went back to my car a couple of times to warm up.  My body was okay but my hands and face were like ice and the camera and lens needed drying off and warmed up.  Anyway I used that as an excuse for going back to the car.  🙂

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This young adult couldn’t handle this large fish.  He never got more than a few feet in the air when he lost the fish.  He made several attempts to recover it with the same results.  😦

It took me all the way to Dubuque before I felt warmed up.  On the way back I almost hit a fox.  He was trying to cross the four lane highway at an intersection and was confused running from one side of the intersection to the other.  Fortunately I was able to slow down and miss him.  I followed him for about a mile hoping to get a shot of him but he took off across a field so he was safe but no photo opportunity.

That’s it for today.  Probably more eagle pictures tomorrow as I have a bunch.  I shot 1,229 images yesterday and I was happy with the results.  I really like the Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens.  Very sharp and fast focus plus lightweight enough to hand hold.  I used a tripod and gimbal most of the time yesterday but missed some shots because of the tripod.  There were some throw away images but for the most part I mainly threw away duplicates.  At 11 fps the D4 captures a lot of duplicates.  🙂

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

Friday ~ January 15, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 15, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , .

January-14-2016

Happy Friday!

Seems like forever since I last had an image to show you.  Only been five days but that’s a long time for me.  The good news is that as I left work yesterday at 5:05 p.m. there was enough light to make this image.  🙂

I’m heading out today with my long lens hoping to make some images of eagles.  If nothing else it will feel good just to have a camera in my hand again photographing anything.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for sticking with me.  Enjoy your Friday and be careful.

Sunday ~ January 10, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 10, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

January-09-2016

Happy Sunday!

I’m posting these images as a proud Grandpa only.  No photography skills involved.  Josh got to skate at a big game with the Fighting Saints last night at Mystique Ice Center in Dubuque.  It is an impressive facility and quite comfortable.  Parking was difficult especially with the freezing temperatures and we had to walk a long way to get inside.

It was difficult shooting conditions as well so here are the specs:  Nikon D750 |  Nikon 28 – 300 mm 3.5 lens |  ISO 6400 1/125 sec @ 6.3 | shooting through the safety glass.  😦

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The little ones got to skate onto the ice for the National Anthem and then at the first period break they actually got to play a small game with another one of the pee wee league teams.  Josh has played hockey now since October and he really enjoys it.  Skates pretty good as well.

The Saints won in overtime, however not being a hockey fan we left at the end of the second period.  It was bedtime for the grand-kids and not too far away for the grandparents.  🙂

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I had to grab an image of Miss Gabby and her reindeer hat.

Yesterday morning I facilitated a strategic planning session for the Maquoketa Art Experience.  I enjoy doing planning sessions and have done many of them in my career.  After that session I was asked to conduct one for another organization.  I enjoy helping organizations get better.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  It’s been pretty quite on the blog this year.  Just a lack of things to show you but I’ll get on track before long.

Stay warm and be careful.

Tuesday ~ January 05, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 5, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , .

January-04-2016

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday the sun shone and I was optimistic I could find something of interest to photograph.  I spent three hours visiting all my normal places and that is probably part of the problem, I need to find new places to explore.  Anyway the only thing of interest I found was this fox running on the ice.  I started rattling off images of him and he stopped and looked around but the problem, as you can tell, he was too far away for my 500 mm lens.  You can surmise he is a fox and that is about it.  Saw some gulls and geese but nothing else of interest.  I was disappointed.

So that is all I have for today.  I will endeavor to find subjects worthy of your time in the coming days.

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