Monday, June 30, 2014

6/30/14

I'm on vacation this week so posting early.  :-)  This was taken a year ago today I believe.  Never got around to posting it.  These are moody skies in Rocky Mountain National Park.  A beautiful place.


Sunday, June 29, 2014

6/29/14

Last weekend I was in Colorado and New Mexico riding the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway on a special train trip.  We got a treat as we were being headed by the oldest locomotive they have, a K-27 from 1903.  Another treat we got was being able to photograph the train as it came out of the tunnel.  I was able to get this image of it as it was entering the tunnel.  Bet you can guess what my next train image will be.  :-)  To bring out the rock texture in the tunnel I processed this with an HDR effect.  It gave it a look like William Henry Jackson's Lithographs which I quite liked.



Saturday, June 28, 2014

6/28/14

Memories of spring today.  This is a tulip macro I did of one of the tulips that I found blooming when I made the trip to Wamego, KS where they have a tulip festival which was a bit of a bust due to the late spring.


Friday, June 27, 2014

6/27/14

I was able to get this image a couple of weeks ago in Minnesota.  The Yellow Lady Slippers were in bloom at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge.  These are in the orchid family and the pink and white variety are Minnesota's state flower (I had it reversed earlier).  This one had a spider buddy on it.  Not sure if it lived inside but it posed for me while I was taking the slipper picture.  :-)


Thursday, June 26, 2014

6/26/14

Took this a couple weeks ago or so.  I saw this acrobatic Ladybug defying the laws of gravity on a leaf one day while walking.


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

6/25/14

Time for some cuteness.  I got this a couple of Sundays ago when I was in Minnesota.  These little ducklings were all lined up along this log till mom didn't like the fact that I was stopped taking photos and came and got them.  Luckily I got a couple of shots and this is the one I liked best.  They are Mallard ducklings judging by what mom and dad looked like.


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

6/24/14

The Daisy Fleabanes are having quite the year and are blooming in large numbers everywhere.  I got this image on one the last evenings of May on Konza Prairie.  A Tawny Emperor butterfly that was flitting amongst the blooms.


Monday, June 23, 2014

6/23/14

This is an older image I got at the Overland park Arboretum and never shared.  A Blue Jay was sitting rather nicely in the tree for me.   I had to fix the lighting on this one because he was actually a bit back lit and so caused some shadowing on him.  


Sunday, June 22, 2014

6/22/14

I did not forget.  Blame how my phone saves photos.  Will post something when I am home.  Sorry.  
Edit:  So this is what I was going to post.  I saw this female Ebony Jewelwing dragonfly last year while photographing the Geary State Lake Falls.  Never got around to sharing it.  Thought it was a rather beautiful dragonfly.


Saturday, June 21, 2014

6/21/14

I got this image on June 12, the day before the moon was supposed to appear as quite orange in the sky.  It was cloudy that evening.  We were coming back from a late dinner in Minnesota and I saw the moon rising like this behind one of their new windmills.  I liked the look so thought I'd share.




Friday, June 20, 2014

6/20/14

So it was cold and rainy in Minnesota and has been nothing but hot and humid here.  No in between it seems.  This is from a rainy day last year.  My Mandevilla Vine with raindrops on it.  This year it still has a bit to go before flower buds appear.


Thursday, June 19, 2014

6/19/14

Another image of a Monarch Caterpillar snacking on Milkweed.  Was very glad to see these guys and hope we get some Monarchs around due to the fact they were here.  Glad there is the milkweed they like along the road.



Wednesday, June 18, 2014

6/18/14

This image I have had for a while.  I think I shot it in West Virginia.  It's of Queen's Ann Lace growing wild there.  I love that flower.  The heads are large but so delicate looking hence the name.  :-)  I put a bit of a glow on this image.


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

6/17/14

This is one of the planes that made it to the Bi-plane Fly-in this year even though the weather was not very good before the event and one morning.  It wasn't as bad as it could have been but kept a lot of planes away with the threat I think.  Anyway, this was a cool plane i thought, very Art Deco in styling.  This is a 1936 Beech Staggerwing.  








Monday, June 16, 2014

6/16/14

Heading back home after our vacation and getting back to heat and less rain.  I've actually missed that.  This is an image from last year of a Buckeye butterfly on Vervane.


Sunday, June 15, 2014

6/15/14

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!  It's been raining for hours here in Minnesota so can't get out and do much playing.  This is an older image from when we were in West Virginia at the Cass Mountain and Scenic Railway.  The Shay locomotive was sitting while we were stopped at a lookout point and I thought it made for a timeless scene so I processed it with an antique look with a program for B & W photos I use called Silver Efex Pro.


Saturday, June 14, 2014

6/14/14

It's another dreary day here in Minnesota.  Rained a good share of the night and supposed to be more today.  I took this photo early this spring at my friends house.  They had this lovely tulip which had the largest flower head on it I had ever seen.  I loved the colors as well.  Put a bit of a glow to it.


Friday, June 13, 2014

6/13/14

Posting something a bit different today.  I saw these fungi growing in my Mandevilla vine pot one day and thought they were kind of cool looking.  Since I took the image I have learned that they were young pale yellow Toadstool type.  When they turned into Toadstools they died off rather quickly so I wasn't able to get an image of them in that form.  I guess we are getting mushrooms because we are actually getting a bit of rain.


Thursday, June 12, 2014

6/12/14

On vacation so I can post early so I don't forget.  :-)  Finally saw some Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed that grows along the road we live on.  Hadn't seen any for a long time and was beginning to worry that maybe they wouldn't be around but then there they were.  Got this shot of one guy with a leaf about 1/3 gone.  I actually have a title for it, Monarch Munch.


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

6/11/14

This image reminds me of warmer days than what I am experiencing at the moment.  As usual it's cold and rainy where I am, Minnesota.  These butterflies are usually very skittish and hard to photograph.  This one was sitting on the Spirea when I got home form work one day and posed for me for a while so I could take several photos getting closer to it each time.


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

6/10/14

The annual Bi-Plane Fly In was held this past Saturday here in town.  I got this image of one of the planes in flight.  It was a small showing due to the weather but some nice planes and still fun.  Not sure what type of plane this is, it was painted in British style patterns.  I put an old style photo look to it.


Monday, June 9, 2014

6/9/14

I took this when I took the in-line rain drops photo after it rained one day.  I hadn't realized until I was looking through the photos I took that there was a daisy reflected in a couple of the drops of this flower as well.  It's raining quite a bit again today.  Wanted to try one of these shots again but may be dark by the time it quits.


Sunday, June 8, 2014

6/8/14

This is some red clover I saw on a walk one afternoon.  The heads were especially colorful.  It was attracting bees and hummingbird moths but has since been mowed off.  I liked the light I was able to capture it in.


Saturday, June 7, 2014

6/7/14

This image was taken last weekend out on the Konza Prairie.  It was earlier in the evening than my previous cloud image from that day and the light on the prairie was still quite lovely and the clouds gave it a bit more dramatic view.  The Konza Prairie is quite beautiful and one of the few reasons that I like where I live.  This image has a bit of an HDR effect on it to bring out details in the foreground.


Friday, June 6, 2014

6/6/14

I love these flowers but I have a lot of trouble trying to grow them.  This is a pink Gerber Daisy.  They have such lovely long lasting flowers.  I have a yellow one right now that I am trying to nurse along.  If you see a shot of it in the future you know I was successful!  ;-)


Thursday, June 5, 2014

6/5/14

I got this image of this red beetle on a rose leaf late last summer.  I have not been sure of what it is since it has no spots.  However, I have had it ID'd for me by a couple of people on Google+ and it is indeed what i originally thought, a Lady Bug.  


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

6/4/14

This was the first of the orange colored butterflies I was able to photograph this spring.  We had a frost shortly after and then didn't see any others until just recently they are starting to appear again, mostly flying by on their way to somewhere and not sitting still to allow me to capture and image of them.  This is a Painted Lady that was on a dandelion which were the only flowers around at the time.


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

6/3/14

Had a pair of Blue Jays hanging around this spring.  Don't usually see them much.  They weren't too much of a bully either which was nice, the Grackles are that.  I did a bit of an artsy processing on one that was under the feeder looking for seed.


Monday, June 2, 2014

6/2/14

Sharing a cute little frog that posed very nicely for me even though I was getting up pretty close with my macro lens.  I liked the texture of it's skin and the copper stripe on it's back.


Sunday, June 1, 2014

6/1/14

Happy first day of June!  It's officially summer in my opinion even though it doesn't officially start for another 20 days.  This is an image from last weekend when we were at a friend's house and I ran my live steam Shay type locomotive on his railway.  The engine runs on butane and water and that is steam not smoke coming out the stack.  It is passing by his built from scratch coaling tower.  I need to build one of those for mine.  :-)