Happy Saturday!
This is what I saw this morning when I went out to get my Queen’s paper. It was chilly but I had to make an image of this beautiful Winter moon. Click on the image to make it larger.
Hope you enjoy your day.
Thanks for taking a look. Be careful.
Happy Friday!
I was taking my normal route to work yesterday morning and in the distance I saw what I thought to be some black birds feasting on some fresh roadkill. As I came over the hill there were three eagles on the highway (not black birds.)
I slammed on the brakes and turned into the other lane or I would have surely hit one of them. There was a farm driveway a few feet down the road and I pulled in there to grab a camera. I’m very fortunate to get these shots as the camera was not configured properly for the long lens.
I put the Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens on the Nikon D4, which had the ISO set at 100 in aperture priority and fired away. The fastest shutter speed I got was 1/320 sec at f9. There was no time to make changes. The eagles quickly flew around the area and departed.
I’ve heard of hunters getting “buck fever” when hunting deer and a prize deer comes within range. I think that is what happened to me. I was a little charged with adrenaline from the near miss with the eagles and then rushing trying to capture some images of them I was literally shaking. 🙂
Another doctor appointment today. Seems like I’m spending a lot of time sitting in waiting rooms to see various doctors. Plan B sucks so no complaints.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Thursday!
A couple of years ago I shot a lot of images of Christmas ornaments from our tree and posted them and some history of their meaning on this blog. It was a fun exercise and since then when I see a really interesting Christmas decoration I like to make an image of it.
So yesterday after I came back from lunch I saw this guy out in the hallway. I was really taken with it as I don’t think I have ever seen a white Santa Clause. I’m not sure this image does him justice but I hope you enjoy him.
A short post today as I am still feeling a little under the weather with my cold.
Enjoy your Thursday. Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.
Happy Wednesday!
I was coming back from the Quad Cities yesterday and for some reason this tractor sitting in a harvested field with patches of snow caught my attention. I shot a dozen or so images of it.
I wasn’t particularly thinking of black and white when I took the image but it didn’t have the same appeal to me this morning in post processing in color so I opted for black and white. I like it much better this way.
For information only as folks have inquired, my eye is showing modest improvement (that or my brain is just getting use to the flickering.) I have an appointment next Wednesday and hopefully it will continue to improve.
I caught my first cold in three years Sunday. I had forgotten how the common cold can make you feel so rotten.
Thank you Dave for your very kind call yesterday. It is truly amazing how much a thoughtful word can brighten an entire day.
That’s it for today. Busy time of the year for us all. Thank you for taking time to visit my humble blog. Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Monday!
I spent two hours on Saturday breaking up the frozen snow and ice on our sidewalk. I even did the neighbor’s sidewalk as they must have been gone for the Thanksgiving Holiday. By Saturday afternoon the sun and 47 degree temperature took care of any remnants of the snow and ice so I didn’t get any credit for all my hard work. 🙂
I call the first image synchronized swimming and the second one synchronized sleeping. I went to the 16th Street Basin Saturday afternoon and found a couple of hundred geese and a few mallard ducks on the ice. There was another photographer also taking images. I didn’t stay long as you can only shoot so many images of geese sitting on the ice.
Nothing special about this eagle picture other than it is the first eagle of the season. He was sitting in a tree over looking the lock and dam. Lots of people around watching and photographing him. I think we are all waiting for the river to freeze over so we can get some images of eagles fishing.
I hope to spend some time at Lock and Dam #14 this year. I’ve only been there a couple of times and it’s very crowded but it has the best opportunity to capture some eagle images while they fish.
Burt Gearhart is an accomplished wildlife photographer who spends a lot of time at lock and dam #14 and he has invited me down on numerous occasions.
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoy your Monday. Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.
Happy Friday!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. Our Thanksgiving was relatively quite. Angie stopped over in the morning with the kids as Ben was at the hospital and then he stopped by for a short visit when he was finished.
A traditional Thanksgiving dinner was prepared lovingly by Jeanne for her, me, and Mark. I was careful with my intake so no problems, however at dinner time I had another piece of pumpkin pie and that was one too many.
I have some more flowers for you today. This will finish up the macro shots I took of Jeanne’s bouquet from our Anniversary. It really was one of the prettiest arrangements I can remember. I’m glad I was able to capture some of its beauty before they fade away.
I was watching the Black Friday chaos on the news this morning and recalled my very first experience with Black Friday. Angie must have been around 12 or 13 and Mark would have been 7. We were in Ames celebrating Thanksgiving with Jeanne’s parents and I took the kids out to Staples in Ames. I thought we would be first in line as it was about 4:30 a.m. when we got there. The line was more than two blocks long. 🙂
Lots of pushing and shoving from a lot of the college students. There was a group of Asian students that were sitting in their warm cars and when the store opened their doors they ran from their cars and crashed the line. Staples had a pretty good price on USB drives back then and they grabbed them all. The store manager made them give them all back except for the limit of 1. It was pretty funny actually.
I’m off to work today, but if you’re lucky enough to have the day off be careful shopping.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day and really please be careful.
Happy Wednesday!
I have flowers for you today. These are from the bouquet of flowers I had delivered to Jeanne on our anniversary a couple of days ago. She brought them home last night and of course I couldn’t resist.
So I found my macro lens and lighting system and had a fun time making some images of the beautiful flowers. Trust me for putting up with me for 38 years she deserves the entire flower shop and more.
I keep thinking about doing more macro photography, especially during the Winter months, when outdoor shooting is at the mercy of the weather. It’s a lot of fun to explore the macro world. I’ve followed some photographers who only do macro photography.
I was doing some research last night on cataract surgery. It said that today about 95% of the surgeries are without incident and only 5% have any post operative problems. I’m apparently one of the 5%. I see the doctor again in two weeks and hopefully it will either be better by then or he will have some other treatment suggestions.
Hope you enjoy your day today. Thanks for stopping by the blog. I may post tomorrow it just depends if I can make some images today. I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I do wish we lived closed to you guys Daryl. I miss seeing you on a regular basis. Be careful.
Happy Monday!
38 years ago today I married my best friend, my soul mate, my lover, my life partner. It is the single best thing I have ever done.
Thank you Jeanne for all you are, do, and say. I love you now and forever!
Happy Sunday!
I had a couple of images from last week that I thought I would post today. Yesterday was a washout from a photography standpoint so nothing new to add.
We had a wonderful dinner and visit with Andreas and Joan Exner Friday evening at L. May Eatery. It is a nice Italian restaurant located downtown Dubuque. The ambiance is very nice and the food is great and the prices are okay. We usually spend the bulk of our conversation on photography and that is very enjoyable for me.
Angie brought the kids over for lunch yesterday as Ben was on call and at the Hospital. I was to lazy to even get the camera out. Had a lot of fun playing with Gabby and talking with Angie.
My eye is still bothering me. I have not noticed any real change in it. I know it may take some time for it to settle down. Certainly not what I expected but the vision improvement is a reasonable trade-off. I just hope the flickering and movement subside at some point.
Cloudy, rainy day in this neck of the woods today. So I’m not sure there will be any photos made by me.
I hope you enjoy your day. Thanks for stopping by and be careful.
Happy Glorious Friday!!
If you have followed this blog for any time at all you are aware of two things. I love to photograph farm structures (barns in particular) as well as anything to do with farming and I love to photograph wildlife, especially Eagles.
I have photographed this corn crib and the barn below any number of times because it is so well maintained. The owner put a new coat of paint on both building this Summer and on my way back to town the other day from a photo run I couldn’t help myself. So that is what I have for you today.
This horse was also in the lot near the barns so I decided to include him as well.
I did not watch the President’s speech last night. I pretty well knew what he was going to say. It always amazes me how politicians use words (I call them fat words because they overlap the truth) to “spin” their point of view. If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig! Enough said.
We’re going to have dinner this evening with my Friends Andreas and Joan. It’s been a long time since we were together and it is always fun to talk with them about photography, wildlife and so many other common interests. I’m looking forward to it.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. I hope you enjoy your Friday. They are very special and there are only 52 of them each year. Thanks for stopping by and be careful.
Visit My Photography Web Site
Upde Designs 