Barns

All posts tagged Barns

Thursday ~ January 14, 2021

Posted by Dave Updegraff on January 14, 2021
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Thursday!

I met a dear Friend in Manchester yesterday for lunch.  We’ve been close Friends for 43 years.  We can go a couple of years and not visit and then when we do get together it is like we talk everyday.

On the way to Manchester I saw 6 eagles sitting in trees and one on the side of the highway eating some road kill.  I was so tempted to stop but I was running a little late anyway and I knew if I stopped and tried to get set up with the long lens I was going to be a lot later so I just kept driving.  😦

I have seen this barn many times but have never had time to photograph it.  On the way home I decided to finally get some good images.  I drove up to the house to get permission but there was no one home.  I didn’t want to be wandering around their farm and have them come home so I went back to the side of the road and waded through a little snow to get this image.

As I turned around and headed for my vehicle I noticed this juvenile eagle perched on top of this pine tree.  All I had with me was my Nikon 70-200mm  f2.0 so it is not a good image by any stretch, but at least it is an eagle.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful. 

Thursday ~ March 08, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 8, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Thursday!

I spent several hours yesterday roaming the countryside looking for things of interest.  Even ended up at the Green Island Wildlife Preserve, which was a sloppy mess by the way.  It took two trips through the car wash to get all the crud off.

For today, however I have three barns to show you.  I love to photograph barns and I often said when I had the time I was going to visit with the owners of the barns and learn their history.  Now that I have that kind of time, it is what I plan to do.  🙂

I was disappointed in my visit to Green Island.  My friend Andreas had been posting about a lot of the migrating wildlife that he had found over the weekend and so I thought yesterday with the beautiful blue sky with puffy clouds would be a perfect time to visit.

I found a lot of the ubiquitous geese and ducks but that was about it.  I enjoy photographing geese but you see them almost everywhere now and so they lose a little of their luster as a photographic subject.

It was a fun day with no responsibility or schedules to meet.  Never looked at my phone once the entire day.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ June 07, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on June 7, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

June-03-2016-2XXa

Happy Tuesday!

I have three more images for you today.  This is from last Friday when the weather was so good for photography.

I worked yesterday because of an event that was happening at our organization.  It was funny the number of second looks and questions I got from fellow employees when they saw me on a Monday.  🙂

I love to photograph windmills.  I found this guy along a country road I had never been on.  So I will add him to my collection.

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Three silos setting in a field.  I liked the pattern they made so I stopped for a few images.  It was just a gorgeous day, mild temperature, light breeze (to keep the bugs away) and a beautiful sky.

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I’ll finish up with this barn.  Although not one of my favorites it is after all a barn, so in my mind it is worth capturing an image of.

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

Saturday ~ June 04, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on June 4, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

June-03-2016

Happy Saturday!

Yesterday was one of my favorite days from a photography standpoint.  I love to make photographs against a deep blue sky with big puffy white clouds.  I was presented with such a sky yesterday morning and although it was later in the day before I could get out the conditions were still very good.

I decided to look for farm structures to photograph and so I took roads that I have never been on (well let’s say I don’t remember being on them.)  I saw a lot of new places yesterday but not a lot of farm structures that stood out to me.  I love red barns so I’ll show that as my first image.

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I don’t like photographing images with power lines in them and where possible I will remove the power lines in Photoshop if I cannot eliminate them by the angle I take the image.  There were just too many power lines in this image and it would have taken an hour or more to remove all of them so they remain.  😦

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This old structure is in the twilight of its life.  One day the owner will decide to tear it down and put something else in its place of just let it become pasture again.  I enjoy photographing deteriorating structures and usually render them in black and white, but I loved the blue sky so the color remained.

Personal story.  I have had a Microsoft Surface 3 tablet for a couple of years and I started using it as my work notebook because I would have anywhere from 6 – 12 paper note books lying around and sometimes it was hard to keep track of everything.  It just made sense to keep everything in one place and with the Surface 3 I can type my notes or hand write them and they are very easy to organize.  Thursday I got out of the car for a meeting with a couple of employees and sat the tablet on top of my car to get some more materials and then shut the door.  The vibration of the door shutting caused the tablet to fall off the roof onto the concrete parking lot and the tablet now has the most interesting mosaic arrangement of glass.

I turned it on when I got inside and it actually still functioned although the cursor would radically move around what was left of the screen at random times.  So I got the replacement yesterday afternoon and will probably spend most of the day today getting it reconfigured.  It is amazing how dependent I have become using the tablet and the thought of going back to paper note books was in my mind not an option.

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

Tuesday ~ February 16, 2016

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

February-15-2016-01-29-16

Happy Tuesday!

A foggy, snowy day yesterday.  I decided to go out and see if I could find some trees with crystallized ice on their branches.  Never really found what I was looking for but I did find some interesting things to photograph.  The only disappointment was I found a row of trees that had a lot of snow clinging to their branches and in the middle of them sat a beautiful red cardinal.  By the time I got the camera ready to shoot he flew away.  😦

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This old bridge is no longer used by vehicle traffic, just wildlife critters.  I hiked about a half mile (well it seemed like a half mile) to grab this image.  There were rabbit tracks and paw prints (I’m assuming fox or coyote.) I suppose it could have been a cat or dog.  I’m not fully trained in the art of reading animal tracks.

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Came across this old barn surrounded by the snow.  There used to be a twin barn that set a hundred feet to the side of it but all that I found yesterday was the foundation.  I’m couldn’t tell if it had been torn down or burnt down.  Either way it’s sad to see a wonderful old barn gone forever.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for checking out the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ November 24, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on November 24, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

November-23-2015-B

Happy Tuesday!

39 years ago today I did the smartest thing I have ever done in my life.  I married my best friend, soul mate, lover, confidant, and life partner Jeanne.  It’s been an amazing journey with peaks and valleys as all things in life are.  Way, way more peaks for sure and the valleys have strengthened the bond even more.  Thank you Jeanne for a wonderful life together! 🙂

Yesterday I took a 4 hour drive through the country side.  Some familiar roads but a lot of unfamiliar roads.  I took two cameras and two lenses.  The long lens unfortunately never made it out of the bag, which means that I didn’t find any wildlife to photograph.  So today I have barns for you.  I love to photograph farm structures and especially barns.

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I thought the contrast of red and green was appropriate for the season.  🙂

I went as far North as Guttenberg looking for some eagles or other water fowl but found only a couple of sea gulls flying over the lock and dam.  I did spot a Coyote in a field hunting but he took off running when I slowed the car.  He would have been too far away to photograph but I could always hope that if I remained in one place long enough he might come my way.  I also saw a huge hawk but same story.  After spending 15 minutes slowly getting into range he decided that was close enough and he took off.

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Finally I’ll leave you with this barn.  I don’t think I have ever seen a barn this color.  Really caught my eye so of course I had to turn around and photograph it.

That’s it for today.  Thank you for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ November 09, 2015

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

November-08-2015

Happy Monday!

I have barns for you today.  Well barns and a machine shed, but use your imagination.  🙂

I apologize for the lack of activity of late on the blog.  A combination of things have prevented me from making any posts.  I was out most of the day yesterday finishing up a photography project for the City of Maquoketa and so I took a long slow drive through the country on the way home.

It was like I had not where in particular to get to and all day (afternoon) to get there.

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Sunday was a beautiful crisp autumn day with not a cloud in the sky.  It would have made my job easier yesterday if there had been clouds because I was constantly fighting the harsh light of a washed out sky.  But I’m not complaining.  Days like yesterday in November are rare and to be enjoyed.

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I saw lots of deer on my travels.  I came very close to hitting a huge buck deer chasing a doe.  He had one thing on his mind and was frothing at the mouth.  It was the largest deer I have ever seen and he cleared a high fence in one effortless leap and was gone.  It was stunning to see something that large bound so high and so effortlessly

I also saw lots of doe running across the road and through the fields.  I could never get a camera on them and the one time I did it was late enough in the day that I didn’t have time to change my ISO so I ripped off about 40 shots at 1/80 of a second and that produced a lot of brown blurry things on green grass.  🙂

Here is a question for you Miss Marilyn.  Is the plural of doe – does?  or did I use it correctly in the sentence above?  I searched the internet but there were as many contradictions as there were answers.

That’s it for today.  I’ll be spending most of the day processing images for the project.  I have to deliver them tomorrow.

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

Sunday ~ March 22, 2015

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

March-20-2015

Happy Sunday!

These images are from my commute home Friday evening.  It was a nice soft light and I found a never traveled road (by me that is) so there were lots of new things to see.

I actually was, for a time, lost in the relative sense and thought I might have to turn on my navigation system to figure out where I was but finally came to a main road so all ended well. 🙂

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I think when I retire I may just drive around the countryside and shoot old farm structures.  I love the looks of them and to me they are very interesting.  They mirror life, in that at one time they were new and purposeful and now the passage of time has taken its toll on them.  Perhaps their original purpose is no longer needed.  Some have been abandoned while others have been relegated to a different less meaningful purpose.  All seem to be waiting for their inevitable fate of final demise.

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We had a great dinner last night with Angie, Ben, Josh, Gabby, and Mark at a nice restaurant downtown.  I’ve eaten there several times before and for the first time we had a very good server who was attentive to our needs and got everything correct.  It makes dinning out so much more enjoyable when you have a server who actually seems to like their job.  I tipped him well and told him he had done a great job.

That’s it for today.  I hope you enjoy your Sunday.  We’re expecting another (hopefully short) round with Winter today.  I’m getting anxious to start photographing flowers and other Spring related things.

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.

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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.

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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.