Monday ~ March 02, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 2, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Julian Dubuque Bridge

Happy Monday!

Another black & white offering for you today.  It didn’t start out that way but as I got more into the post processing these images were clearly more dramatic in B&W then in color.

Jeanne and I went for a photo drive yesterday and after a few places where we found nothing of interest we came back to the river.  Lots of ice fishermen by the lock and dam.  the ice was as close to the lock as I can ever remember, so no eagles anywhere.  Very few breaks in the ice so no wildlife of any kind anywhere that we went.

So with an empty card we decided to cross the bridge into Illinois and look at things from a fresh perspective.  I shot the Julian Dubuque Bridge with the Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens, which was really the wrong lens for a shot like this but it was all I had. 🙂

Star Brewery / Shot Tower

I captured this image with the 600 mm lens from the Illinois side of the river.  In this case it was the right lens.  The old Star Brewery and Shot Tower were the focus of this image.  I’ve made many images of the brewery but never from the Illinois side of the river.

Marker Buoy

Finally I’ll leave you with this image of a frozen channel marker buoy safely ensconced in the grip of river ice.  We saw ice fishing almost everywhere we went and at one place on the river we actually saw a person had driven their car onto the ice and was fishing from the front seat of his car.  Yes I did get a picture of that and I’ll show that later.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Another busy work week ahead.  I hope you enjoy your Monday.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.

Sunday ~ March 01, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 1, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

February-26-2015-2A

Happy Sunday!

A brief post this day.  These are a couple of images from last Thursday.  I really like this windmill sitting down below the road elevation.   It caught my eye so I had to turn around and photograph it.

I didn’t venture out much yesterday.  Just too cold for me to be out if I didn’t need to be.  So I did some maintenance to the garage door opener (which I had been putting off for sometime) and then refilled all the bird feeders.  I had let them get pretty low so now the birds are happy with me again.

I attempted to make some images of the birds on the feeders yesterday from inside the house with an open door but for some reason I just didn’t get any good shots.

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This Juvenal eagle was working on some road kill with a mature eagle.  The wise old eagle flew high up into a tree but this young guy wanted to be a little closer to his lunch so he stayed on the ground.  In time he will learn, hopefully.

That’s it for today.  Stay warm and be careful.

Friday ~ February 27, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 27, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , .

Red Tailed Hawk

Happy Friday!

A short post today as usual I’m running behind.  I was traveling to one of our banks yesterday and when I travel I always take a camera.

I had the 28 – 300 mm zoom lens with me yesterday.  Not particularly a great lens for wildlife photography but it’s what I had.  I was traveling west about 40 mph as the county road was pretty much ice-covered.   Be cause I was traveling slow I saw this hawk some distance away and so I slowed down considerably.  It is usually about this time (when I slow down) they fly away but he stayed put even when I pulled off on what little shoulder there was.

I couldn’t get a shot of him so I went to the bottom of the hill, got the camera configured and then drove slowly back up the hill.  To my surprise and delight he did not fly away.  I ripped off about 46 images of him just sitting there.  I would have stayed a little longer but there was another car coming.

So that’s it for today.  Hope you have a wonderful Friday.  Thanks for checking out the blog.

Be careful, stay warm and be aware.

Thursday ~ February 26, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 26, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Retired Windmill

Happy Thursday!

I had lunch with friends yesterday and then had to concentrate on just getting home with the snow storm so I didn’t capture any images yesterday.

This old windmill was from Tuesday and made as I was coming back to town.  I like to capture images of windmills against interesting skies or near old farm structures, but this old guy (who is near or at retirement) caught my attention.

The windmill itself is in serious disrepair and the growth up its spine makes it clear that it no longer is able to perform the purpose for which it was originally intended.  Sort of like us when we get to a certain age.  🙂

Anyway on that happy note I will bid you adieu.  Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy your day, be careful, and be aware.

Wednesday ~ February 25, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 25, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-24-2015

Happy Black & White Wednesday!

No lunch meeting or appointment yesterday so I grabbed my camera, a quick salad and off I went, looking for images.  I decided to take a road that I have never been on before and it turned out to be an interesting although dirty (car wise) experience.   The word desolation kept creeping into my mind as I saw the vast expanses of barren fields covered with snow and leafless trees for as far as the eye could see.

There was never any doubt that all the images I captured yesterday would be rendered in black and white.  I didn’t really go past many farm homes, just lots of farm land and very few structures hence the word desolation. 🙂

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Part of my job (although not officially in my job description) is to help people solve issues with their professional (work) life and in some instances in their personal life as well.  It is amazingly rewarding when successful and devastatingly disappointing when not.  It is one facet of my work that I both love and hate.  Well hate is not the proper word, perhaps regret is a better choice.

Yesterday I experienced both sides, one of success and one of failure, so it was an emotional roller coaster for me yesterday.  Comes with the territory but it’s never routine or without feelings.

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On the way home last night I stopped at the car wash, because my black car was a light shade of brown from my noon road trip.  That made me too late for any photography on my home commute.  I have about 25 minutes of good light before I have to start cranking the ISO up and then it becomes a real challenge.  So I’m glad I had the opportunity to take a ride during my lunch break.

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoy your day and it has some color in it.

Thanks as always for supporting the blog.  It makes my day when someone says something (good or bad) about one of my images.  Thank you.

Be careful.

Monday ~ February 23, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 23, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Gabby

Happy Monday!

Back at it today.  The kids stopped over for dinner last night after Josh’s skiing lesson.  I took this image of Gabby when she first got here and that was the last time I touched the camera.

We had a great time with Josh and Gabby and a wonderful visit with Angie and Ben.  Jeanne and I took the grand kids to the playroom while Angie and Ben cleaned up after dinner.  How about that having your guests clean up while you play.  🙂

I finished getting the new Phantom configured and wired up.  Everything seems to work okay, but it was just too cold out to take a test flight.  It is recommend that  you not fly in temperatures below 22 degrees.  It was much below 22 degrees here yesterday.

So now like everyone else, I’m waiting for some decent moderate weather.  I think everyone has had enough of winter for one year.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your frigid Monday.  Be careful and be aware.

Sunday ~ February 20, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 22, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

February-21-2015

Happy Sunday!

A short post today.  I realize this image is not very good and I do not post it for its esthetics but merely as a visual representation of how I spent most of my day yesterday.  This image is from the “Phoenix” the name I’ve given my DJI Phantom that crashed several months ago.  I have been rebuilding it piece by piece and yes I would have been money ahead just to buy a new one but I wanted to see if I could get it flying “properly” again.  The emphasis is on “properly.”

The short list of things I’ve done aside from a complete cleaning and drying of all the parts.  I installed 4 new motors and controllers, a new compass, a fair bit of new wiring, and yesterday I installed a new GPS system.  Additionally I installed a new H3-3D gimbal.  I took it for a 3 minute flight yesterday and it flew like it used to.  It was very steady in the hover position and was responsive to the controls.  🙂

I did get a new Phantom as well.  Thanks to some wonderful friends who felt bad because I had crashed my Phantom trying to help the community with a project.  It was unbelievably gracious and generous of them and I am humbled and very grateful.  So I spent a fair amount of time yesterday preparing the new phantom for flight.

Today I have to install the H3-3D gimbal, the video transmitter, and the iODS telemetry module and it will also be ready for flight.  Yea!  Too cold today to fly unfortunately.

I’ve been asked if I would be willing to help Clinton County with a project they have and need some aerial photography and of course I can’t say no.

I’m excited to be back in the air and hopefully I will be able to have some interesting images and videos for you in the coming months.

That’s it for today.  Enjoy this cold Sunday.  Be careful and aware.

Friday ~ February 20, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 20, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

February-19-2015

Happy Friday!

Once in a while, not very often, but once in a while something that you believe in and have fought so hard to get, proves to be worth the effort, even though most (especially those who should) won’t realize that it in fact was everything and more that you said it would be.  At least there is the self-satisfaction of knowing it was the right thing.  🙂

The other good news is that finally after almost three months of darkness, there is barely enough light after 5:00 p.m. to once again make images after work.    The sky was beautiful last night and the light was phenomenal so my challenge was to find something to capture in that wonderful light.  When all else fails go back to the known and that is what I did last night.

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Now for the not so good news.  Almost 4 months after my cataract surgery my eye is no better than it was.  In fact if yesterday was any example it is worse than it was right after the surgery.  The doctor said to give it six months and I am willing to do that but at this point after these last 4 months it is hard for me to imagine that it is, suddenly, going to get better.

To end on a positive note, a dear friend of mine found out this week that his greatest fear was not going to materialize and for that I am grateful and reassured that in fact faith and prayer do work.

So I hope you enjoy your day.  Be aware and be careful.  Thanks for your support of my blog.

Tuesday ~ February 17, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 17, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

February-13-2015-2A

Happy Tuesday!

Back at it today.  My 4 day mini vacation is over.  I didn’t venture out yesterday as I found enough projects around the house to amuse myself.  So I’ll show you the remaining images from my trip to Lock and Dam #14 on Friday.

This guy was the only eagle I saw the entire time I was there.   He was sitting in what they call the “Eating Trees” sans a fish.  The funny thing about these trees is that you can walk up right under the bird and they won’t fly.  It doesn’t seem to bother them.  However on the other side of the dam there are the “Eagle Trees” where eagles sit and wait to fish.  My friend Burt says if someone walks over there (and occasionally someone does) the eagles will fly and they won’t come back for hours.

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This guy flew by so close as to offer a photo opt before he landed.  Like I said earlier, it’s not that I don’t enjoy photographing pelicans, it’s just that I really wanted to capture some eagle images on this day so it was a little disappointing.

I’ve always admitted to being a gear head.  But a trip to Lock and Dam #14 will show that I am not on the endangered species list.  There were several tripods (fiber carbon, very expensive) with Nikon D4Ss on them with $7,000 – $10,000 lens attached to them.  The oldest camera I saw (in the Nikon brand) was a D3S.

February-13-2015-2C

Is this cheating or not?  By one of the unattended D4S was this sling shot device with a fish in it.  No need to shoot it into the water as the only bird that would get it would be one of the many pelicans.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Hope you have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by.  Still sending prayers your way Kathy.

Be careful and as the new phrase that unfortunately is becoming common, “be aware.”

Monday ~ February 16, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 16, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-15-2015

Happy Monday!

Jeanne and I went for a photo run yesterday afternoon, even though the sky was gray and it was only 8 degrees above zero with a wind chill of -6.  We went to our normal places and then to some places we have never been.  The pickings were pretty slim.

I told Jeanne I wasn’t going to come home with an empty card like I did a couple of weeks ago, so I captured this image of the people on the ice fishing below the Lock and Dam.

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Talk about your dedicated biker.  I had to stop and grab an image of this guy riding in the harsh temperatures.

We did see two eagles sitting in a tall tree by the Lock and Dam.  They were pretty well covered with branches so I couldn’t get a good in focus shot of them.  We waited for a little while hoping they would do some fishing but they never moved.

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On a back road we saw this eagle feasting on some small animal that we suspected he had caught.  I removed the animal because it was gross.  The eagle was very far away testing the limits of my hand holding ability with the Tamron lens.  I just get much better images when I mount it on a tripod.

That’s all I have for you today.  I’m off today for the President’s Day Holiday.  If you have to work, make it a great day and if you’re lucky enough to be off, enjoy your day.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Be careful.