Thursday, October 31, 2013

10/31

Happy Halloween everyone!  This was the creepiest thing I could think to post today.  It's a huge Garden spider that I photographed with a zoom lens so I didn't have to get too close to it!  I find spiders rather scary!


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

10/30/13

I can't remember if I posted this one on my Photo of the Day Blog before but even if I have it's been long enough.  :-)  This is a Dryas Julia Butterfly on Lantana.  I subdued the color of the greenery and left the butterfly and flower alone.  


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

10/29/13

This is a Toad Lily that I have in my garden.  I shot it against a light background and then put it on a black one instead.  I think it turned out fairly well.  Toad Lilies are different looking flowers, kind of cool.


Monday, October 28, 2013

10/28/13

This is a Downy Woodpecker that I was able to capture on a seed head of Flannel Mullein that I saw on a walk back in August and haven't thought to share until now.



Sunday, October 27, 2013

10/27/13

Well, another hard frost today so what wasn't gone with the last one will almost definitely be gone with this one.  So anther macro shot with an explosion of yellow to remember summer.  It's going to be a long dreary winter, will have to brighten it up with photos.


Saturday, October 26, 2013

10/26/13

A fall scene in Kansas this past week.  Late afternoon sunlight on a field of Brome grass and a view of the Walnut trees turning yellow.  Winter is coming quickly.  <SIGH>


Friday, October 25, 2013

19/25/13

Got this shot today.  A Metallic bee on the Blanket flower.  Not many flowers left after the frost last night.  Lost most of my Zinnias.  Fall is here and soon to be dull and brown.
 :-(


Thursday, October 24, 2013

10/24/13

Posting during my lunch break today as I will be away from the computer tonight.  I saw these grapevine leaves lit by the late afternoon sun on a recent walk.  I loved the back light on them and the detail it brought out.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

10/23/13

This is a shot I was able to get of a goose coming in for a landing.  I shot this at the Milford Lake Swimming lake the same day I saw the Cormorants.  I liked how the wings were positioned and the feet.  Gear down, flaps extended!  :-)



Tuesday, October 22, 2013

10/22/13

This is a macro image of my Allium flower in bloom.  It's from the onion family but the blooms are bigger.  They can be really big if it's a full size version but mine is a miniature.  I think it looks a bit like a firework burst.


Monday, October 21, 2013

10/21/13

This is an image that I shot with a macro lens.  This little Skipper let me get up very close to it without flying off, this is not cropped at all.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

10/20/13

Time for my favorite subject, railroading!  :-)  I shared this over on Google Plus today for Steamy Sunday.  It's an older shot I made when we were out at the Georgetown Loop a few Years ago.  It's a B&W image that I selectively colored of our locomotive as it came around our train to pull us back to Silver Plume.  They push the train to Georgetown and then switch ends for the return.



Saturday, October 19, 2013

10/19/13

Posting late today, was out of town all day.  This is an older shot I had that I completely forgot about till I was going through files and found it while looking for something else.  This is a Baltimore Oriole at my old feeder with a Hummingbird at the feeder in the background.  Thought it was cool to get them both at once.



Friday, October 18, 2013

10/18/13

Poison Ivy is something I usually try to stay as far away from as I can.  This fall it has been particularly colorful.  From yellow to red it's been really showing off it's fall colors this year so it's nice to see that something that can be very much a problem is also pretty as well.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

10/17/13

This is  a view of the Milky Way which was taken the same night as my previous image.  This is the spot where I took most of my photos that evening.  It's an old railroad trestle that serves as a car bridge now.  I liked how the dark of the bridge framed the stars.


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

10/16/13

This is another view of the Geary State Lake Falls.  I processed this a bit more artsy with a dark glow and liked how it turned out.



Tuesday, October 15, 2013

10/15/16

When I was out at the swimming lake and saw the Cormorants I was able to get a shot of one of them flying off that turned out fairly well.  It has a Seagull as well that was more interested in me I think than what was flying behind it.  :-)



Monday, October 14, 2013

10/14/13

Posting during lunch today cause lots to do tonight and won't be on the computer.  I don't share much B&W work here but I have been getting back into it more due to weekly project on Google +.  I decided to process this in B&W because I thought it really showed off the starkness of the area even though it is still beautiful.  This is a view of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park from our trip there this summer.


Sunday, October 13, 2013

10/13/13

This was a very lovely sunset we had this past week.  We were walking a bit different path than we usually do so had a new vantage point to view the colors.




Saturday, October 12, 2013

10/12/13

This is a cute little Chipmunk that I was able to capture one morning while walking to where I was helping out in Rollag, Minnesota.  Loved the way he was posed and looking at me.


Friday, October 11, 2013

10/11/13

We don't have many trees in the area that give the nice pretty fall colors but things like the Sumac are turning to bright red and are looking rather lovely.  Saw this on a walk the other afternoon.


Thursday, October 10, 2013

10/10/13

This is Geary State Lake, the lake where the waterfall I found near where I live.  This is taken on the backside of the lake on the damn.  If you were to walk off the bottom right of the photo and down a hill you would see the waterfall when it's flowing.  It's not now because we haven't had much rain at all since August.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

10/9/13

This was another of the very abundant Skippers that I was able to capture on my Zinnia this summer.  They are still around on the Zinnias even in the fall.  I put a bit of a glow on this photo.




Tuesday, October 8, 2013

10/8/13

I liked this photo of the daisy with it's little beetle visitor.  I love daisies, they are such happy flowers.  :-)  I put a bit of a glow on this and I liked how it turned out.


Monday, October 7, 2013

10/7/13

My Mother-in-law and I were walking out by the swimming lake at Milford Lake this weekend.  We saw these birds to photograph but didn't know what they were until we got back home and researched on the net.  We were able to determine that they are Double Crested Cormorants which we didn't know were this far south.  Also, because their chest is white, they are juveniles.  Learn something new all the time!



Sunday, October 6, 2013

10/6/13

I haven't done a train one for a while, one of my favorite subjects.  This one is actually not a full size train, it's the 15 inch Wagner that I get to help operate in Rollag, MN.  I was in the process of "Blowing it down".  You wait till the pressure has dropped pretty low and then you open a valve to let the remaining water and steam blow out any crud that may have gotten into the boiler and then allow it to dry out.  This was in preparation for winter but it's something you would do if you aren't going to run for any length of time as well to fight deterioration of the boiler from rust.  I liked the way the light was hitting the steam and the angle made the engine appear as if it's larger than it is.



Saturday, October 5, 2013

10/5/13

I find spiders rather creepy but have been a bit braver in taking a photo of them lately.  A friend and co-worker helped me get this shot at work one day by stepping in front of it when it tried to move while I was getting the shot.  We were both a bit even more creeped out when we found out what it was.  It is a Cardinal JUMPING Spider.  If either of us knew it could jump I don't think we would have been doing this.  At least I got a good shot out of it!  


Friday, October 4, 2013

10/4/13

This is a Skipper that I caught on some Dakota Verbena out at Konza Prairie earlier this year.  There are actually 2 but the one is facing forward and hard to see.    Have a great weekend!


Thursday, October 3, 2013

10/3/13

I have been experimenting a bit with star shots since I have been seeing ones from a particular photographer on Google Plus.  He even has a site with tips and how tos. This is my third kind of major attempt at photographing stars and I was rather pleased with how this one turned out.  You can see the Milky Way fairly clearly.   I took this on this past Saturday night at a spot I figured would be pretty dark for this type of thing.  It's a 25 second exposure.


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

10/2/13

This is another view of the beautiful waterfall I found not far from where I live.  This is at the Geary County State Lake.  The falls has about a 30 foot drop and was flowing very nicely this summer due to the fact that we actually were getting rain at the time.  I processed this shot with a bit of an HDR effect to bring out more details.



Tuesday, October 1, 2013

10/1/13

Wow, it's October already!  Where has the time gone?  Pretty soon winter will be here and the cold and blah.  Well, enough of that.  This is a male Redwing blackbird that I was able to photograph in Minnesota this June at a nature center in the reeds by a pond.  He was sitting there calling, most likely to the female who was also around.  It's about the closest I have ever gotten to one, they are very skittish birds.

Remember you can always click for a larger image.