Happy Sunday!

I was grilling last night and saw this wonderful moon in the sky.  Well much like seeing an eagle I cannot pass up an opportunity to capture a clear shot of the moon.

I saw my little friend the squirrel at the feeder yesterday afternoon so I know he is still safe.  I worry that feeding at the bottom of the feeder really exposes him to the red-tailed hawk but there isn’t much I can do about that.

Yesterday morning I drove to Cedar Rapids, which is not something I particularly wanted to do, however there was a company in town for the day at the photo store I do business with, that were there to buy used cameras.

Yes I had (even for me) an extra camera that I needed to sell and I’ve done business with this company before so I thought it would be worth the while to drive down.  I knew what the camera was bringing on e-bay and what it should be worth and of course I had a bottom price that I would accept.

I have always found these folks to be extremely fair and cordial.  While I was standing in line I was able to visit with a couple of factory representatives from Sony and Cannon.  It was really fun to talk equipment with other people with out someone’s eyes glazing over.  🙂

Anyway, when it was my turn I got into another conversation about the Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens with the guy who was appraising my camera.  I felt guilty for taking so much time but he had just received his lens and was excited to talk with someone who has had some experience with it.

They gave me more money then I figured they would so I was really happy.  I sold the Nikon D600. which was a really good camera but it was the first production run and it had some issues with the sensor.  A year later they released the Nikon D610 and so I bought that one when it came out.  So it was more of just an upgrade for me.

I had lunch with my good friend Barb after selling my camera and we got caught up on what she’s been doing.  She likes to shoot sports as her one of her brothers is a H.S. football coach.  Shooting football under the lights with a long lens is really a challenge.  Especially if you don’t have a really expensive and fast telephoto lens.  She was frustrated with some of her results so I gave her some tips that might help but it will be a challenge none the less.

I saw the wagon in the second image on the way to Cedar Rapids.  It was really overcast and I was wanting to make sure I had plenty to time at the camera store so I made a mental note to stop on my way back.  Fortunately the blue sky and sun were out when I came by the second time so I was able to make this capture.

The image just above was captured near Anamosa, Iowa and I’m sure the farmer and his helpers wondered what that Dude with the camera was up to.  I shot several passes of him harvesting but finally got one of him harvesting and unloading at the same time. 🙂

That’s it for today.  Angie and Ben have hired a photographer to take their family picture out at Swiss Valley today.  They have invited Ben’s family and our family to also have a group picture taken.  So Mark came up last night and we’ll meet at the park this morning.  Going to be chilly but hopefully a nice day for the shoot.  I have seen the work of this photographer and she is very good.  Maybe she’ll talk cameras with me.  🙂

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