Happy Tuesday. Yesterday I ate a quick-lunch and then drove through the countryside looking for things to capture with my camera. Nothing special about this doe. She is one of over 200 that I saw in my 25 minute drive. I stopped counting at about 145 because it was pointless.
It is no wonder I see them lying by the roadside about every day. They were thick in some places trying to find anything to eat in the harvested corn fields. Other areas it would only be a doe and couple of her fawns. They are a beautiful creature but they sure make it dangerous for night-time driving.
On the way home last night I must have seen another hundred deer in the fields and then on one of the country roads I take home, at one place there were three of us backed up waiting for 5 deer, who were walking along the side of the road, to move out-of-the-way.
This image of a frozen river has no main subject. It was at the end of a turn around located at a little park I drove through. I just thought it made a nice winter scene. The sky was a soft blue with some wispy clouds and the golden prairie grass contrasted with the white snow. Well I thought it was a pretty scene. 🙂
That’s it for today. I hope you enjoy your Tuesday. More winter weather coming today and tomorrow. Yea! Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.
Happy Saturday! I usually do not have a post on Saturday but I will make an exception this Saturday to tell briefly about an exceptional man, whom I’ve had the good fortune to have met and known these past 14 years through Rotary.
His name is Asher Schroeder and he is of our greatest generation. The young lady next to Asher is his neighbor and good friend Lisa Clark. Lisa works at Maquoketa State Bank in Maquoketa and her and her husband have two sons. Everyone knows Lisa as one of the most caring and considerate people you will ever meet. She watches over Asher and makes sure he is taking care of himself.
In August of 1943 Asher was inducted into the Army to serve in the theater of War and was shipped to Europe. He landed at Utah Beach on June 10th and he recounts his amazing story from that period on.
I have heard Asher speak of the war on different occasions but only in casual conversations and only bits and pieces Two weeks ago he gave the program at Rotary and it was a captivating recollection of an event that happened more than 70 years ago with specific dates and vivid memories. He did this without notes or any other visual aids. It was a remarkable story to listen to.
Yesterday our bank, Maquoketa State Bank, had Asher come and speak to the entire staff at their weekly meeting. He told his story again and it was just as remarkable hearing it two weeks later as it was the first time.
Dennis Voy, a fellow Rotarian and owner of KMAQ FM / AM Radio in Maquoketa was on hand as well and he video taped the presentation. He posted it on YouTube® and I have linked to it below. It is 46 minutes long but I can tell you that you won’t find a better 46 minutes to watch. We are losing this generation at an alarming rate and anytime we can share in their remarkable giving and sacrifice is well worth the time. I encourage you to click on the link and listen to his story.
As always thank you for stopping by the blog. Enjoy your snowy Saturday and be careful.
It’s just an old abandoned house that I came across this week in some of my travels. I like the old antique look of this image.
My Son, Mark turns 23 on Sunday. It’s so hard to believe. He is a hard-working guy with a ‘can do attitude’ and I’m very proud of the young man he has become. He has had some challenges in his life as everyone does and he has stood up straight and taken them on without complaint and over come them all. That is after all the true test of an individual, how they handle adversity.
That’s it for today. I haven’t been able to fly the Phantom since the “lost on the Mississippi episode.” So many things I want to do with it and the weather just hasn’t cooperated. There will be opportunities ahead I’m sure.
Much to contemplate in the weeks ahead. Thanks for all the supportive comments from my dear friends. I am so grateful for your friendship and support.
Enjoy this Friday. This is number 5 and there are only 47 more this year. 🙂 Be careful.
Good Day! I grabbed a quick-lunch yesterday and then went looking for things to make images of. When I came into Maquoketa yesterday morning this guy was sitting in this tree looking much like he does here. He was still in the same spot at noon and then when I left Maquoketa around 4:30 p.m. to travel to one of our banks for an evening meeting he was still there. Either he is totally confused or has the patience of a saint. 🙂 I’m not sure there are a lot of fish that are going to swim by his field of vision right now but I have to admire his tenacity.
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to amuse me. I was driving up a narrow gravel road when I caught a glimpse of movement off to my left. So I stopped and once I got the camera to my eye I could see it was a squirrel digging in the snow. He was very busy and snow was flying everywhere. I tried to get some shots of that but none of them turned out to my liking.
Finally he emerged with this pod and spent the next ten minutes eating on it. His face is all covered with snow from his digging and rooting around. Like I said it doesn’t take much to amuse me and I sat there watching him for 10 – 15 minutes. Sad isn’t it. 🙂
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoy your day. Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.
Happy Hump Day. Short post today. This is one of the images I captured from the lock and dam on January 4th. These two battled for several minutes and finally the juvenile gave up and flew away. Once he did that the mature eagle landed near this spot and just sat there. So apparently they were fighting over a small piece of ice on which to stand. We humans tend to do the same thing. In the HR world we call it “turf protection.”
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your cold wintery day, although it will seem down right balmy today with a predicted high of 25 degrees. Be careful.
Wonderful weather pattern we’re in right now. I’m looking forward to the -20 plus degrees tomorrow night. It could be worse and if you live in the Midwest during the Winter months what more can we expect. Jeanne and I had a wonderful time at the Chamber Gala this past Friday night. It was a very nice event and it afforded me the opportunity to take portraits of all attendees (those who wanted them) as part of their evening package.
Portrait photography, as is the case with all types of photography comes with its own challenges. I can’t remember the last time I set up my lights and did a formal portrait shoot so like anything you forget things and have to get in a rhythm. That being said I was overall very happy with my images.
The image above is of a wonderful couple. She is on the board with me at the Chamber and I just met her husband the night of the Gala. They were great subjects and one day I might talk them into a more lengthy session. I basically did a two and through session with everyone. I had people stand on a predetermined mark and shot two images of them. A quick look at the LCD screen to make sure eyes were open and then on to the next. So they are not perfect but again I’m pretty happy with them.
I shot everyone against a green screen background. That presents its own challenges but I like to use it sometimes because I can use any type of back ground to insert behind it that I choose. The image above is of the same couple pretty much like it came out of the camera. Photoshop and some of the plug-ins that you can buy for Photoshop do a pretty good job on a green screen background so that’s why I continue to use it. I could tell you a nightmare story of the fist portrait shoot I did with a green screen. OMG it was terrible I don’t even like looking at those images. 🙂
Another type of background on this image. This lady was presented with the Volunteer of the year award. She is one of those individuals that really gets involved in the community and works hard to improve it. I may post some more of these images as I get them processed. I spend about 20 – 40 minutes on an image getting it ready. It’s a lot of work but I enjoy working in Photoshop almost as much as I do taking the image so I don’t see it as work at all.
Enjoy your day and stay warm. Thanks for stopping by the blog. Be careful.
It’s called I got nothing Friday. This is the best I could do. Another image lifted from a video I took this past Monday. Sorry subject I know but it’s all I could come up with today.
On a happier note, this evening is my last official act as President of the Maquoketa Chamber. We are holding our 2nd Winter Gala. There are 160 people signed up for an evening of great wine, food, music and some other fun things. This year I am doing a formal portrait of each couple as a complimentary gift to them.
So that means I’ll be taking my portable studio complete with green screen backdrop, Elinchrom BXRI 500 strobes and soft boxes, the whole operation and making (hopefully) some fun memories for the attendees. I would like to show you some images from the Gala tomorrow but it depends on how late I get home. They may have to wait until Sunday. 🙂
That’s it for today. Enjoy this small break in the cold today. Back to the freezer Sunday and through most of next week.
Thanks for stopping by the blog. Please be careful.
A short post today as I am true to form running late. I’m still experimenting with the images from the Phantom from my Monday experience. I didn’t take any still images but lifted the two images used for this post from the video. Therefore the quality of the images is pretty soft and was very noisy. After I removed the noise the images were really soft. Like I said I’m still testing and evaluating and trying new things.
I gave a program on the Phantom today and about my losing contact with it out over the Mississippi. I think the Rotarians enjoyed the presentation and I had fun telling the story and showing the 10 minute video.
I would have liked to give them a demonstration of what the Phantom looks like in flight but the temperature was a balmy 4 above with 15 – 25 mph winds so I opted to just do a PowerPoint presentation with some images and the video.
As you look at the image above if you focus on the middle of the image you will see me standing between the two benches flying the Phantom. I cannot actually see the Phantom because of the bright sky and my dark glasses but I could still see the POV application on my iPhone.
So if you think about how small I look to the Phantom (and trust me I’m not small) you can understand why I couldn’t see the Phantom once I got close to the bridge. I won’t make that mistake again.
That’s it for today. I hope you have a great Thursday. Thanks for stopping by the blog. Be careful.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck. Before making my trip to the river on Monday I stopped by the 16th Street Basin. There hasn’t been any activity there the last few times I’ve stopped but I thought I’d take a chance.
At the very Southwest side of the basin there was a small open space of water and a dozen or more ducks were busy playing. They move very fast and are constantly changing course and bobbing for food on the bottom so they are a little tricky to capture. I enjoy shooting images of Mallards. I think the male is really colorful. I enjoy taking images of wildlife just about anytime.
I did go down to the lock and dam and there were two eagles sitting high in the trees close to the Eagle Point park. No I didn’t even consider getting the Phantom out and trying to get a close up of them. The last thing I want to do is scare or disturb an eagle. I love to watch them and take their pictures but I am not about messing with their environment.
I also photographed some folks walking and fishing on the ice. At my current density I do not believe it would be wise for me to walk on the ice. There were a couple of people with high-powered binoculars who walked very close to the dam to watch a lone eagle fishing. Again that is something I wouldn’t do.
Well that’s it for today. Not much of a story for you with this post. I have a busy last half of the week ahead, with dinner meetings Thursday and Friday and then dinner with a group of friends on Saturday. I also have a program to present at Rotary today on the Phantom. So I was up late last night working on images and video for that presentation.
Enjoy your Hump Day. Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.
Happy Monday! I’m enjoying a day off from work in honor of Dr. Martin L King’s Day. The weather yesterday cooperated (sort of) and I got to do some more flying. It is clear to me that I still have lots to learn. I’ve watched a lot of videos on flying, read the instructions, and spent a fair amount of time on the Phantom Forums, however there is no substitute for actually getting out and learning first hand.
So yesterday I decided to fly from my back yard for two reasons. One I only had half a battery and I wanted to make sure I could land safely when the battery was low. The app on my iPhone makes a loud warning sound that repeats when you get to 20% battery left. Anyway I had a misstep on my first attempt at getting airborne and bounced the Phantom into the snow, which meant that the camera was buried in snow. 😦 So I cleaned it up and dried it out before trying again. (Lesson #1)
I got brave enough to fly to 358 feet in altitude. I actually couldn’t see it from the ground and of course that made me very nervous. I had the point of view live image on my iPhone but in the bright sunlight it was hard to see where I was. I still do not have the camera configured properly. I’ve got some more work to do on that and learning what the best setting for the camera is. Anyway I flew it over the house and wanted to take an aerial shot of my neighbor’s home to make a nice framed image to give him for helping with my snow removal. I need a lot more work on composition and positioning of the Phantom. (Lesson #2)
By the way that little green spot in the middle of the patio is me. 🙂
I got a little braver and drove out to the industrial park. There is a nice fishing pond and walking path there and I wanted to practice flying around a given area. As you can see from the video below there is an old bridge that they have set across part of the pond, however it is not yet open to the public.
So I flew around the pond and just where the video stops I took a couple of images of the ice fishermen. I wanted to get closer but again my motto is that I don’t want to spoil anyone’s day so until I learn how to control the Phantom I’m keeping it very far away from people. When you take a still image you have to shut the video off and take the images. Then you have to remember to turn the video back on. (Lesson #3) So I missed the coming back to the parking lot and a great landing because I forgot to turn the video recording back on. I still see live point of view images while flying but just not recording what I see.
After landing and checking everything out I decided to get a little bolder. So I did a low flyover of the bridge (it was pretty cool if I do say so myself) and then went up and around the pond again only at a lower altitude. This time when I came back to the parking lot I let the Phantom hover and I walked over to it and looked into the camera and waved (I thought that would be cool.) I took the first image on this post and then landed the Phantom.
When I got home none of that video nor some of the other video that I wanted to show was retrievable. I kept getting the files are corrupt. 😦 Damn camera! Then I thought it has to be something I’ve done so I went to the Phantom Forums. Sure enough after about 20 minutes of searching and reading I found the problem. When you land and are ready to shut down you have to shut the video capture off and power the flying app off. Then turn the Phantom off and then your video will not get corrupted. (Lesson #4)
So much to learn and such a little brain to learn it with. Doesn’t look like very good flying weather today. I’ll have to see this afternoon. I was standing in the shade (so I could see the video) at the industrial park and without the sun shining on me I froze like a Popsicle. Found it hard to land the Phantom because my fingers were so numb.
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoy your Monday. Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.
