Dubuque Iowa

All posts tagged Dubuque Iowa

Monday ~ February 01, 2021

Posted by Dave Updegraff on February 1, 2021
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Monday!

I only have about 10,000 images of Canada Geese many of which I have posted over the last 10 years of writing this blog.  So I wasn’t anxious to add more geese to my inventory.  But after wandering through the country side for two days and finding nothing that inspired me to push the shutter I decided to got to one of my favorite places in Dubuque.

I had to do a fair bit of walking to get to them but found a group of Canada Geese and some Mallard Ducks enjoying the open water and sunshine.

I walked past these geese in their sleeping position.  They paid me no notice other than one raised its head just to make sure I wasn’t going to get too close to the group.

The wind was blowing pretty hard and that made the wind sting my face.  I hadn’t put on a heavy coat and didn’t anticipate being out very long so I was really cold when I got back to the truck.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ December 17, 2020

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 17, 2020
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

Happy Thursday!

I decided to drive down to the river yesterday hoping to see some eagles flying.  I drove into A. Y. McDonald park and sure enough there was a bald eagle floating around the river just a few hundred feet away.  By the time I got my camera set up and ready to photograph I couldn’t find him anywhere. 

So I drove down to the river’s edge and found some Mallard ducks swimming near the boat ramp.  Not wanting to go home with an empty card I photographed the female as she was swimming near the ramp.

Then this male duck started coming towards me (I was in my vehicle) and perhaps he thought I was going to throw some food to him.  Many people do that.  They drive down to the ramp and throw out bread crumbs and other food for the various wildlife that congregate there.

He finally came up close to my truck and looked at me like (Where’s the food?)  Well I didn’t have anything with me so he was disappointed and went back to the water.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ June 12, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on June 12, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

June-11-2016

Happy Sunday!

Today’s post is all about my little grand son Joshua.  Yesterday he ran in his second Grandview Gallup.  It was very hot and humid yesterday and as I stood by the finish line of the one mile event waiting for Josh, the look of exhaustion from the little competitors was evident.

So here he is finishing the race and you can see he is about done.

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Then of course there is the reward that most of the young ones enjoy.  Come to think of it I would have enjoyed one of those as well.  Unfortunately I’m not sure I could have (well okay I am sure I couldn’t) ran the mile to earn it.  🙂

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The look of satisfaction.  It didn’t take long for the Popsicle to be devoured.

I was going to run down to Farmer’s Market and shoot some images but I was already melting in the heat so I opted to go home to the air conditioning.  I know what a wimp.

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

Monday ~ May 16, 2016

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

May-14-2016

Happy Monday!

I went out Saturday afternoon looking for images because the sky was a deep blue and there were a lot of puffy clouds.  One of my favorite conditions to shoot in.  Problem was I couldn’t find anything to photograph (well that interested me.)  So I paid a dollar and toured Eagle Point park.

It was a bit chilly and there were several people having picnics in their winter coats and hooded sweatshirts (not my idea of a picnic.)  Anyway I was hoping for some small migrating birds but I couldn’t find anything other than sparrows and red-winged blackbirds.

There is a look out point at the park and so I shot a few images of the lock and dam system.  For those who are not from this country the Mississippi River uses a series of locks and dams to control river levels and to assist with river traffic.  Lock and Dam #11 is located at Dubuque, Iowa.

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I noticed these pelicans sitting on the edge of the lock and so I shot this image in crop sensor mode (on my camera) which turned my 600 mm lens into essentially a 900 mm lens.  I was pleased with the results considering I was hand holding the Sigma Contemporary lens.

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I noticed this turkey vulture floating over the water so I followed him for a while with my lens.

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This fish must have been dropped by an eagle.  I’m sure it didn’t get there by itself.  🙂

Anyway it made a nice lunch for this guy.

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

 

Saturday ~ December 12, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on December 12, 2015
Posted in: General Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

December-11-2015

Happy Saturday!

I didn’t sleep well last night thinking about all the things I need to do to have a successful shoot today in Maquoketa.  If I were doing this on a regular basis it would be a walk in the park but every time I do a portrait shoot is almost like my first one.  A re-learning experience.

I’m not complaining, just sharing those thoughts.  🙂

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I had a lot of to-dos yesterday on my list and finally got them all done by mid-afternoon.  I kept thinking the sun was going to come out and I would have a chance to shoot some landscapes but that didn’t happen.  So around 3:00 p.m. I headed out to visit the 16th Street Basin and I was happy to see there were a  lot of geese, ducks and one lone gull on the water.

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I also ventured up to Mud Lake Park but didn’t find anything there to put a lens on.

So I’m getting things ready to head for Maquoketa this morning.  It will take an hour or so to set up the lights, background, computer, and electrical cords.  Then get the lights balanced and the camera color balanced.  Hopefully after that I actually have people who want their picture taken show up.  🙂

Anyway check back tomorrow if you have time and I’ll have all the details.  Good, bad, and the in between.

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

 

Wednesday ~ October 28, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on October 28, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

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Happy Wednesday!

A short post for you today with three Black and White images from my visit to the Millwork District on Sunday.  A short post because I overslept and I’m out of time. 🙂

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I want to spend more time at the Millwork District when the light is better and capture a variety of angles and perspectives.

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That’s it for today.  Oh yes, Yea Royals!!   Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ October 26, 2015

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

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Happy Monday!

I have three HDR Images for you today.  If you are viewing this on Facebook you will have to click on the link below the text to come to my blog to see all three images.  Since I never look at my posts on Facebook, until yesterday, I’m wondering if you can always see all the images I post or only the first one?  Can someone let me know?

I’ve wanted to get down to the Millwork District and do some building photography for some time now.  They have spent millions of dollars on refurbishing these old warehouse buildings turning them into upscale apartments, offices, and shops.  Simply put it is a vibrant and fun place to visit.

Anyway, I didn’t start of with the intention of making HDR images.  I was going to shoot for Black and White processing but I chose the wrong time of the day to photograph and so the only way to do the scenes justice was to photograph them in HDR.

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So for the non-photographers who may not know what HDR is, it is short for High Dynamic Range.  The normal human eye can see about 9 – 11 levels of luminance.  Unfortunately most Digital SLR s can only capture 5 levels.  If you expose for the highlights the shadows are pure black and have no detail.  If you expose for the shadows the highlights are blown out and have no detail.

To compensate for that, you shoot a series of shots at the same aperture (like these were taken at f8.0) and the camera will “bracket” the shutter speed by 1 full stop (or what ever number you choose.) You can shoot a series of 3 images or 5 images (like I did here) or even up to 9 images.  Then you (with the help of software) merge them into one image so that all the levels of luminescence are exposed properly.

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Some people do not like HDR images because you can get carried away with the processing and they do not always look realistic.  I happen to think it is just another way of expressing yourself in another art form.  In other words “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” 🙂

Now that I’ve completely bored you out of your mind, I’ll say that’s it for today.  If you live near the Dubuque area it’s worth your time to visit the Millwork District.  I was really surprised at the number of people visiting some of the shops on Sunday morning.

There were also two photographers shooting.  I assume they were professional, because of their equipment and cameras.  One was photographing a young couple, probably for their engagement photo and another photographing a couple and their three kids in Halloween costumes.  Great fun watching them work.

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

Saturday ~ August 22, 2015

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

August-21-2015

Happy Saturday!

I have some post birthday snapshots for you today.  I call them snapshots because they were quick, shoot from the hip type shots without much thought to composition or camera settings.  That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Above Jeanne shows off her big bowl with all the kids foot and hand prints on it and a wonderful tribute to her.  She was thrilled to have it.  She is also wearing a special birthday hat that Josh spent hours making for her.

We had the kids over for her birthday dinner celebration.  Only downside was that Mark couldn’t join us but he will be here this evening.

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Jeanne has wanted me to go to the River Center Museum for years.  I have to admit that aside from funerals and weddings visiting a museum is right up there on my top 10 list of things I do not want to do.  But as a part of her birthday I took her to visit the Titanic Exhibit at the River Center Museum.

It was amazing.  If you have an opportunity to go I strongly encourage you to do so.  I’ll tell you just one part of the experience.  When you “board” the exhibit you are given a boarding pass that has complete information about one of the passengers and what “class” ticket they had.

It helps in understanding the class distinction and as you progress through the exhibit you also progress through time from departure to the impact and eventual sinking.  The artifacts from the Titanic are breathtaking.  They have been under water 2.5 miles deep with 6,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, for 40 years.  They are encased in humidity / temperature controlled display cases and are as I said just breathtaking to view.

When you reach the end of the exhibit you find out if your person was a survivor or perished.  Interestingly the most survivors were crew members, first class ticket holders and the ones who fared the worst was of course the third class ticket holders.

Your boarding pass also give you some information about the person, what they did as a profession and why they were on the ship.  My person was a prominent businessman who had just concluded a successful business deal and was traveling back to the states first class.  He didn’t survive.  😦

We toured the rest of the Museum as well and I have to admit it is a wonderful place that I will revisit from time to time. 🙂

We had a wonderful lunch on the patio at Tony Romes and watched river traffic go by.  Then flowers, a balloon and a wonderful dinner completed her day.

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A rare image of Austin.  I’ve been neglectful about photographing his progress.  He is a happy little guy and rarely cries, usually only when he is hungry.  He is very social and Josh has adopted the role of his protector making sure he is properly covered when he is laying down.  🙂

So it was a great day for the Queen.  I enjoyed sharing it with her.

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