Sunday ~ February 15, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 15, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-14-2015

Happy Sunday!

I captured some images from Jeanne’s flowers that I gave her for Valentine’s day.  I always use Butt’s Florist in Dubuque and they do such a great job at arranging the flowers and delivering them on time.

I enjoy photographing flowers, especially in the Spring and Summer months.  Inside, when it -2 outside, not as much fun.

February-14-2015-A

Jeanne and I went to see the movie “American Sniper” yesterday afternoon.  We went to the 4:00 p.m. movie and there were huge crowds.  I was afraid that we wouldn’t get a good seat.  The lines were as long as I have ever seen them.  Fortunately for us they were mostly there for the movie “50 Shades of Gray.”

We had discussed for sometime about seeing this movie.  I don’t enjoy movies that are sad or have tragic endings.  There is enough strife and grief in life.  But so many people had told us that we had to see it, that it was one of the best movies made compelled us to go.  The theater was nearly full (after all this time) and the movie was riveting and amazingly done.  It gave me a new appreciation of what our soldiers are going through.

I have never been to a movie where people remained silent and in their seats for a few moments after the movie was over.  No talking or laughing or anything.  We all walked out together, some stayed in their seats, but no one said a thing.  Amazing.

February-14-2015-B

I’ll finish up with these flowers that Jeanne gave me for my birthday a few days ago.  She had them sitting on the window ledge and the evening sun was warming them.  I decided to capture them without a flash and just use the soft sunlight.

We had a wonderful dinner at home.  For the first time in our lives we tried lobster tail.  It was wonderful and I grilled a steak so it was a very special evening.  I am so blessed.  🙂

That’s it for today.  I hope you enjoy your cold, windy Sunday.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Saturday ~ February 14, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 14, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-13-2015

Happy Saturday and Happy Valentine’s Day!

I had yesterday off.  I took it off because we have a holiday Monday for President’s Day and I wanted to make a 4 day weekend out of it.  My plan was to travel to Lock and Dam #14 and capture eagle images.

Best laid plans as the saying goes, I knew there was a problem when I pulled in the parking lot.  Very few cars and less than 6 people on the observation deck with cameras.  It was a gray and cloudy sky so that was the first problem and there wasn’t an eagle to be seen.  I talked with one of the guys on the deck and he said the eagles were staying away because of all the pelicans.

There were lots of pelicans to be sure.  They were coming in 4 – 6 at a time and sometimes just a single pelican would come in.  A few geese and some ducks but no eagles.  The Eagle trees were barren.

February-13-2015-A

So I stayed there a couple of hours and shot 385 images of pelicans and a few geese and then gave up and headed home.  Of course by the time I got home the sun had finally broken through and the light was fantastic.  I traveled 3 hours for these shots.  Nothing wrong with pelicans, don’t get me wrong I’ve photographed them many times and been thrilled with what I got.  But it’s like having your mouth set for a steak and you find out you’re having chicken.  They are both good but…

February-13-2015-B

I was hoping to at least catch some pelicans fishing but they were not even doing that.  They would come in, land, and then just float.  At one time there was a dust-up between three pelicans and a duck that had wandered into their territory but I had my hands in my pockets getting warm and by the time I got my camera ready the action was over.

That’s all I have for you today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Prayers for my dear Friend Kathy.  There are a lot of people working for you my Friend.  🙂

Be careful.

Wednesday ~ February 11, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 11, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Joshua

Happy Wednesday!

The wonder of a little boy building a tower with blocks is a fascinating subject.  When it would fall over he would patiently rebuild and at one time had to stand on a stool to get the last block on the tower.  It was great fun watching and listening to him work.

On the medical front some good news.  When I was diagnosed with diabetes on July 25, 2014 my A1C blood sugar was 9.1, which of course is very high.  I got it down 60 days later to 6.4 and three months ago to 6.2.  I got the results of my 90 day A1C test yesterday and it was 5.8. 🙂

So thank you Jeanne who has helped me in so many ways and so many friends who have continued to encourage me.  It’s not a destination and the journey continues.

Gabby

This is the best image I could capture of Gabby.  Unfortunately I did not get my camera out before she got into the cheese dip.  🙂

I took about 20 images of her during the evening and I just don’t have the time to spend in Photoshop removing all the cheese and food.  She is such a delight.

Angie and Ben were wonderful hosts and made the night very special for us.  Even if they did rudely defeat us in Euchre.

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

Tuesday ~ February 10, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 10, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

February-10-2015-02-06-15

Happy Tuesday!

A couple of images for you today that I shot last Friday on the way home from work.  Significant because there was enough light to shoot the image above at ISO 200 at 5:15 p.m. 🙂

February-10-2015-02-06-15-2

I admit that sunsets look much better over water but when living in the Midwest in February I’m not choosy so here it is.  When photographing sunsets I always attempt to get an interesting sky with clouds or some farm structures in the foreground.  Maybe not one of my best sunsets but they all have a certain beauty to them.

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

Monday ~ February 09, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 9, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-08-2015-A

Happy Monday!

It isn’t Spring but maybe these flowers will help brighten your day as they did mine.  My wonderful wife had them for me complete with a happy birthday balloon at the breakfast bar yesterday morning.  A nice way to start the day.

We went to Angie and Ben’s home Saturday evening for my birthday dinner and was joined later by Mark.  We played some cards and had a great time, with wonderful food and thoughtful cards and presents.

I took several images of Gabby but she was covered with food in most of them so I may not show them.  Josh didn’t mind that I photographed him this time so maybe we’re over that phase for now.

February-08-2015

I had a great birthday and I was truly humbled by all the well wishes from my wonderful friends.  I’m truly a lucky man to have such a loving family and so many wonderful friends.  Thank you all.
Back at the grind today.

I was looking back through my blog a year ago.  I was doing a lot of flying with the Phantom.  Today it sits in a case half assembled with some spare parts waiting to be installed.  My new Phantom is still in the box yet to be opened.  I have a lot of work to do on both and soon I’ll be getting them airworthy.  I’m looking forward to doing the aerial photography that I didn’t get a chance to do last year.

Photo specs: Nikon D4 | Nikon 105mm macro lens | Nikon SB910 speed light | ISO 100 1/60 sec @ f8.0

That’s it for today.  I hope you have a great day and as always thanks for stopping by.  Be careful.

 

Saturday ~ February 07, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 7, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-05-2015A

Happy Saturday!

I normally do not post on Saturday but since I missed yesterday I’ll make up for it today.  I didn’t post yesterday even though I fully intended to because this image took so long in post process.  I wanted an image of the tractor and the windmill in the same frame.  However there were too many power lines in the frame.  The only way to capture both the tractor and windmill was to include the power lines in the image.

Power lines are the bane of photographers.  I hate them.  Yes I know they are necessary but one would think in 2015 we could find a better place for them.  So should I have just shown the image as it was or tell you that I spent an hour and a half taking all the power lines out?  There were 8 of them.    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken what I thought (in camera) was a great image only to find those dreaded power lines prevalent in the image during post processing. 😦

Anyway I’m giving you the image sans power lines.

February-05-2015B

I was on highway 61 headed back to Dubuque after the retreat at Camp Courageous, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted this old McCormick tractor.  I continued a half mile down the road and finally won the argument with myself to go back.  Once I finally got off the four lane I had some difficulty actually finding the tractor and getting to a place where I could photograph it.  The evening sun was getting very soft and yellow and I just couldn’t pass this old-timer up.

February-05-2015C

I’ve photographed this old barn many times in the past.  The warm sun was bathing it in soft yellow light and I couldn’t resist pulling over and grabbing another image of it.  I hope you enjoy this old structure as much as I do.  I’m beginning to see a pattern here of “old things.” 🙂

That’s it for today.  Hope you have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Thursday ~ February 05, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 5, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

February-03-2015-C

Happy Thursday!

I have one more barn for you today.  I tried a lot of different techniques in post processing but this is the one I liked the best.  I hope you also enjoy it.

I’ll be at Camp Courageous today facilitating a retreat.  I enjoy the process and it is always a treat to go to the Camp and see all the wonderful work they do.

I’ll be working with some great individuals today and that always adds to the enjoyment of the process as well.

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

Wednesday ~ February 04, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 4, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

February-03-2015-A

Happy Hump Day Wednesday!

I have barns for you today.  I love to photograph barns.  The older the better and in many cases the more deteriorated they are the better.  These old barns have so much character and perhaps it’s that they remind me of my youth working in the hay fields and spending so much time the hay lofts of barns.

February-03-2015-B

I experimented with black and white on all of these images but in the end I only liked this one.  Maybe it was because this one was a faded gray to begin with and the other two were red or it was just the starkness of this barn.  What ever the reason it was what I felt most comfortable with.

February-03-2015

I sent some time with an employee yesterday who is retiring in a few weeks.  I enjoyed listening to her talk about her retirement plans.  She is a talented lady and quite an artist as well.  She is self-taught playing the guitar and even has written some of her own songs.

She took a free art app for her iPad and made a beautiful scene of the Cedar River that flows in front of their cabin.    I have a half-dozen art apps on my iPad and haven’t made anything that you can identify. 😦

I will miss visiting with her as she is always interesting to talk with.

That’s all I have for you today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your cold, snowy day.  Stay warm and be careful.

Tuesday ~ February 03, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 3, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

February-02-2015

Happy Tuesday!

I saw a lot of wonderful winter scenes that begged to be photographed on the way to work yesterday.  Of course because of the weather and road conditions I was already very late so I had to pass them up.

I did manage to capture this shot of the Hurstville Kilns on the way home last night, which is good news on its own.  There was actually enough light (at ISO 640) to capture this image at 5:20 p.m. 🙂

Busy day ahead and I have to travel to Cedar Rapids.  I will of course take my camera and hopefully see something of interest.

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

Monday ~ February 02, 2015

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

Mark and Joshua

Happy Birthday to my Son Mark.  24 years ago you came into our lives and made them exponentially better.  I am very proud of all that you have accomplished and the man you have become.

Weather Sensor

Since I started this blog in 2010 and have made over 1,100 posts and I have never gone a week without posting something until now.  I have not had any images to post, no opportunity to take any images and no time to collect my thoughts to post a blog.  Part of that is my fault and some of it has been out of my control.  But I have a series of images for you today from the big snow of Sunday.

My main project Saturday was to get my new weather station installed and put outside.  Jeanne did a quick one day trip to Ames to spend some time with her Mother so I was without my trusty assistant.  Naturally for everything I did right I did it wrong two other times.  By the end of the day it was installed and calibrated.

Weather Station

I had a list of 8 things I wanted to accomplish on Saturday and the weather station was the only one that got done.  Yesterday during the peak of the storm I photographed the user interface.  As you can see it gives a lot of information and although it is still in the learning phase it is forecasting snow.  It makes its forecast by the elements it measures and then through a series of algorithms  it makes a prediction.

Birdbath

I was delighted to see that we have some finches on the bird feeder yesterday.  There was too much snow for the camera to focus on the birds.  I tried manual focus but there was just so much snow they didn’t come out right.    We had some gold finches and some purple finches.  I’m not sure that is the right name for them but I’ll call them that for now.

That’s all I have for you today.  Drive safely, be careful and stay warm.