Saturday, March 31, 2018

3/31/18

I am hosting a theme this week over on Google Plus called new Bird Poker so my images this week are going to be mostly birds.  I started off my hosting with wanting to see shots of eagles or hawks.  I captured this image of a Bald Eagle out at Milford Lake last February.  It's one of the best flight pictures I have been able to get an even so needed work in Photoshop.  I liked how it turned out so sharing.


Friday, March 30, 2018

3/30/18

I have a day off today so posting early.  A bright photo today of some lovely flowers I was given as a gift this week.  These are Daisy Poms which are a type of Chrysanthemum.  


Thursday, March 29, 2018

3/29/18

Winter is on the way back this weekend it looks like.  I thought I would share another in my Frozen Bubble Series.  This is one of the first ones I ever did.  I loved the fern-like effects.  I think the ferns form when it is not quite as cold as some of the days I was trying to do this.  I shot this at night and used a flashlight.


Wednesday, March 28, 2018

3/28/18

So we got a bit of rain the other day.  It was pretty worthless as it was less than a tenth of an inch.  It did make for a nice photo though.  I was outside and saw this web in my miniature Lilac.  It is a 7 photo focus stack image to get as many of the rain drops in focus that I could.  If you look at it large by clicking on it you might even be able to see the spider that created it.  😃


Tuesday, March 27, 2018

3/27/18

Here's a flower for today.  This is a 2 image focus stack of a Columbine flower from my garden this past summer.  I love these flowers and the details of them.  From Wikipedia:  The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because of the shape of the flower petals, which are said to resemble an eagle's claw. The common name "columbine" comes from the Latin for "dove", due to the resemblance of the inverted flower to five doves clustered together.


Monday, March 26, 2018

3/26/18

I captured this Canadian Geese family on the lake at Alexandria, Minnesota this past summer.  I loved the look of the one young Gosling with the head tilt.


Sunday, March 25, 2018

3/25/18

Posting an image today with two of my favorite things to photograph, trains and waterfalls.  I was photographing the train I rode to Silverton moving around on the Wye to get ready to head back to Durango.  I caught this image of it with two waterfalls behind it placed on each side of the sand dome, the one closest to the stack.  These waterfalls were caused by snow melt and it was interesting to see snow in July.


Saturday, March 24, 2018

3/24/18

This is an image from the archives.  I took this shot on a trip in Minnesota one summer.  There was an on-coming rainstorm with these cool looking clouds so I had to stop and take some shots.


Friday, March 23, 2018

3/23/18

Just some lovely wildflowers I photographed in Minnesota one summer.  This is a group of Daisy Fleabanes so named by the pioneers because they believed they could keep fleas away.


Thursday, March 22, 2018

3/22/18

It's supposed to be Spring but it does not look like that at the moment where I am.  It's not cold enough to do these which I am glad for but I am kind of looking forward to being able to do these next winter, I have some ideas.  In the meantime this is Golden Bubble, another in my Frozen Bubble Series.



Wednesday, March 21, 2018

3/21/18

It's officially spring but where I am at the moment looks like the middle of winter.  Crazy.  I needed this to warm me up today.  A lovely Sunflower field that I found south of me late one summer at sunset.


Tuesday, March 20, 2018

3/20/18

Happy First day of Spring.  Where I am at the moment it does not look much like spring.  I captured this grass head last summer and I loved the bokeh behind it.


Monday, March 19, 2018

3/19/18

This is a fun little bird to watch in the tree.  They move around very quickly and seem to peek around the branches.  This is a Downy Woodpecker I captured in the winter outside my window in the Mulberry tree.


Sunday, March 18, 2018

3/18/18

Posting a bit late today.  This was taken as I was riding the train and heading to Silverton on the Durango & Silverton Railway.  As we crossed this bridge the engineer blew down the boiler.  The boiler gets blown down to clear out scale and debris to get it to operate more efficiently.  You have to do it in short bursts when running like this because it uses up a bunch of water and you don't want the level to get too low.  In these short bursts over a bridge like this, it puts on a show for the people riding because the steam burst looks fairly impressive.


Saturday, March 17, 2018

3/17/18

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Today's image is a 2 image focus stack of some mushrooms that were growing in the backyard last year when we used to get rain.  They are surrounded by nice green grass so my green for today.  😁


Friday, March 16, 2018

3/16/18

I am officially on Spring Break so now I can post early for a week or so.  I was out in the garden yesterday because I saw that another of my Hyacinths was about to bloom.  When I got to the garden I saw that these little crocus that I had newly planted in another part of the garden were up and blooming as well.  It was lovely to see them.  Just hope we don't get a bitter cold snap now that things are starting to emerge and bud out.  Would be nice if we could get some rain for them as well. 


Thursday, March 15, 2018

3/15/18

Last day of working and posting late.  Yay.  Found this one in the archives.  An older shot I got of a Clearwing Moth enjoying the blooms of a Milkweed plant.


Wednesday, March 14, 2018

3/14/18

Happy Pi Day to all the Geeks, 3.14 and Happy Hump Day to all.  This image today is one of my favorite wildflowers, Blue Flax.  They are just so dainty and lovely.  I have only found them in Minnesota, I am sure Kansas is too hot for them as they only seem to grow in shade even up there.  This is a 2 image focus stack to get both blooms in focus.


Tuesday, March 13, 2018

3/13/18

Working late this week so posting late.  I felt like a photo to make me happy today.  I love Sunflowers and a nice bright shot of them makes me smile.  I took this photo a while back.  I hope to find a field again to shoot but they are hard to find even though this is the Sunflower state.  They are not as profitable crops as Soybeans or Corn.  This field was south of where I live on Hwy 77 in Kansas.


Monday, March 12, 2018

3/12/18

I have to work later this week so posts are a bit later than usual.  I was going through the archives and found this cute guy.  This is a miniature horse that the owners bring out to the railroad that I get to play at outside Topeka every now and then.  They bring it for the kids to enjoy in-between train rides.  


Sunday, March 11, 2018

3/11/18

It's a Spring Ahead Steamy Sunday today.  Hope those of you in the US who change remembered to change your clocks.  My image today is from last June and the 14 and 3/4 scale Wagner locomotive I get to help operate.  Here it is running past the newly built Roundhouse.  Currently track is being laid to the turntable and a maintenance pit is being constructed inside to be able to work on the locomotive when it is housed in there.  A wonderful addition to the railroad. 


Saturday, March 10, 2018

3/10/18

I shot this about a year ago now.  I hope to see sights like this soon.  With not having rain in 6 months and the chances not looking too great, not sure what Spring flowering will be like this year.  This is a Crabapple tree in bloom in the city park.


Friday, March 9, 2018

3/9/18

Well, Spring is on the way again.  I photographed this yesterday in my garden.  I just planted this in the fall and it is emerging already.  Not sure if that is a good thing but it is nice to see a flower for a sight of Spring.


Thursday, March 8, 2018

3/8/18

This is an older image I found while looking for something else.  I captured this Honey Bee busily working on a flower and covered in pollen.


Wednesday, March 7, 2018

3/7/18

Something bright and sunny for the Hump Day of the week.  It's been a long one already so glad we are on the downhill slide to the weekend now.  This is a Sunflower from my garden this past summer with a Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly enjoying it.


Tuesday, March 6, 2018

3/6/18

This is another image I was able to capture this past January of a male Cardinal.  The light was just about perfect to bring the detail out and he posed so nicely for me.  We had had a bit of snow that made for a lovely backdrop for him as well.


Monday, March 5, 2018

3/5/18

Here is another in my Frozen Bubble series.  This one is from a set where I thought that due to the light, the bubbles seem to resemble planets from a sci fi show.  I love the fern-like crystals at the bottom.  It's now too warm to do any more of these.  I hope to try some experiments next winter as I have some ideas that might make for neat images.




Sunday, March 4, 2018

3/4/18

Well I am back to color images now and this one is from this past summer in Colorado.  We were back at Durango after our ride to Silverton and back.  They were moving the locomotive off the turntable and into the Roundhouse for routine maintenance to get it ready for another day's work in the morning.


Saturday, March 3, 2018

3/3/18

Today is the last day of the B&W Challenge I took on.  I was looking for a subject and what could be better than my cat Sam (Samantha).  She posed very nicely for me for a moment and looks great in black and white.


Friday, March 2, 2018

3/2/18

I shot this image last week which seems forever ago since it was so cold and crappy and icy.  Since Friday's are about the bokeh I shot this one with that in mind for this B&W challenge of which this is day 6.  Ice drops off a Cedar Tree branch in the yard.


Thursday, March 1, 2018

3/1/18

This is another 3 image focus stack that I took on Sunday as well.  I love these seed heads of this grass up close.  They remind of a big cluster of stars.  This is a head of Fountain Grass by my pond that I thought worked well with a monochrome treatment.  On this one all I did was lower the saturation to get this look, it was already nicely sepia toned for me.