Friday, January 31, 2020

1/31/20

This is a macro image I captured of the hoar frost we had in our area.  It was the day after it was at it's largest and prettiest but in this one area it was still present and lovely.  I liked the bokeh around it as well.  I wish the background had been a bit darker to show it off even better but you take what you can get sometimes.  


Thursday, January 30, 2020

1/30/20

I have been lucky this winter and have been able to capture Blue Jays around my own home.  Usually I can only seem to see them at my in-laws.  I captured this one getting a drink at my backyard pond stream a couple weeks ago before it froze over.


Wednesday, January 29, 2020

1/29/20

This image was another favorite I was able to capture while shooting frozen soap bubble images.  This one produced the fern like crystals that I find quite pretty.  For those new to the Blog that would like to see one freeze, i have a YouTube video that I made.  Here  and also here .  You can see the difference in how fast it freezes when it is very cold out in the short video to when it is a bit warmer out in the second.

Note: the videos will open in a new window.


Tuesday, January 28, 2020

1/28/20

I have a smaller Poinsettia that I got last year and have kept alive.  I keep it in an east  bay window on the south side. I do put it outside during the summer as well.  It turned back red and also developed flowers again.  It lost these during a dry spell during the summer when I did not water it enough.  Oops.  I was very impressed with how it recovered.


Monday, January 27, 2020

1/27/20

We had another snow finally this past week.  We did not get much accumulation but there was a bit of an opportunity to try and capture snowflake images.  They were quite tiny and I wish I could get closer but I was able to capture a few good examples.  These are a couple that I combined into one image.  The one on the left is a 9 image focus stack and the one on the right was 10 images.


Sunday, January 26, 2020

1/26/20

Back at the end of September I went to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania to be able to ride behind this beautiful locomotive that was visiting from Virginia.  This was not long before my ride where the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western J class 611, was sitting on display so visitors could get in the cab and blow the whistle for a fee.  In a few moments it would move and hook onto our train and pull us to Leaman Place Junction at Paradise PA and back again.  A fun if short ride.




Saturday, January 25, 2020

1/25/20

This is what our yard has looked like on a couple of weekends this winter.  We have had more ice than snow so far.  Fortunately there has been no damage other than a few small branches.


Friday, January 24, 2020

1/24/20

Todays image is mostly for the bokeh because Fridays Are bokehlicious!  😀  This is an icy branch I captured during the first ice event we had the next day after the sun came out and made it all lovely and sparkly.  


Thursday, January 23, 2020

1/23/20

I captured this cute shot of a male Cardinal this past weekend.  He was looking at the seed that I had put out for the ground feeding birds below.


Wednesday, January 22, 2020

1/22/20

As I write this on Monday it is cold enough today, all day to try and get some more of these images.  I will have to do in the garage though as the wind is too high.  I love when the bubbles produce the fern like crystals but these type are typically what I get.  They are beautiful in their own way though and always different.


Tuesday, January 21, 2020

1/21/20

I mentioned before that I brought my African Daisy Spoon flower plants inside to over winter.  They have been blooming quite well, better than they did outside this summer.  This is the other color that I have, I have shared a photo of the white one not too long ago.  The stem was actually bending over so this is how the flower was facing at the time.


Monday, January 20, 2020

1/20/20

So far this winter we only had one good snow that I was able to capture flakes from and that was over a month ago now on December 15.  Since then it's all been rainy ice.  This is the best flake I captured that day.  I was able to get the best focus in the amount of images taken, this is a 10 image focus stack and the clarity of the flake was lovely, no rime.


Sunday, January 19, 2020

1/19/20

Today's Steamy Sunday is another shot of Union Pacific's recently restored 4-8-8-4 Big Boy heading into my town of Junction City.  It was very cool to be able to have this locomotive come through our area.  I found it funny that one of the train crew was photographing us as we were photographing them.  I had to take out a few people who were standing too close to the track.  I heard the crew had to ask people a lot of the time during the trip to stay back.  People don't seem to realize how hot and dangerous these locomotives can be.  Plus putting pennies on the track can be dangerous, the locomotive will not derail, it is much too heavy for that.  The danger is that it could shoot the penny out if not placed correctly and hit someone.  They were removing them as the train pulled into and out of towns, this one as well.



Saturday, January 18, 2020

1/18/20

This image was shot a week ago today.  It was in the morning when the sun was just peeking out and there were storm clouds in the east that created quite the dramatic sky and showed the ice off rather well.  This was taken in my yard.  I should have gone out for a drive that day but had things to do and didn't take the opportunity.



Friday, January 17, 2020

1/17/20

I shot this image on Saturday when the sun came out in the morning.  I loved all the sparkly bokeh produced by the out of focus ice.  I had to share this image today because Fridays Are Bokehlicious!


Thursday, January 16, 2020

1/16/20

Earlier this winter I finally had some Cedar Waxwings visiting my yard.  I got a few images but actually messed up the best ones by not getting them in focus.  Ah well.  This is an older image I found while looking for something else of several in the trees the last time I saw them.  You can see in this image why they are called Waxwings as well.


Wednesday, January 15, 2020

1/15/20

As I mentioned, the weekend temps were very cold.  Never got out of the 20s F.  Saturday night I went out and shot some frozen bubble images.  I had tried various times during the day but there was too much breeze to get them to form.  This was the first one I shot and I loved the formation that grew.  This is on the back of the bubble so I also liked the bokeh that was produced in the foreground.  No it's not Friday but bokeh is good any day!  😁


Tuesday, January 14, 2020

1/14/20

I was given this Kalanchoe plant by one of my employees for Boss's day over a year ago now.  It was flowering when I received it but had never flowered again until now.  I have actually been amazed I have kept it alive as I usually don't do well with these plants.  I took this macro shot of it one day and was pleased with the results against the plain background.


Monday, January 13, 2020

1/13/20

On Friday we had a heavy rain storm and the temps dropped like crazy.  The roads and sidewalks stayed pretty clear considering but the trees and grass became coated in ice and were quite beautiful.  Even on Sunday as I write this it is still heavy in the trees because of the bitter cold temps.  I shot this branch of my pine tree on Friday when it was cloudy and liked the high key look of it against the drab sky.


Sunday, January 12, 2020

1/12/20

For the 2nd Steamy Sunday of the new year I am sharing another image of the locomotive I get to help fire on at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion on Labor Day weekends.  This is  former Soo Line switch engine 353 by the roundhouse at Rollag Minnesota.  They were filling with water there because the water tower was having an issue that day.


Saturday, January 11, 2020

1/11/20

We had a quite vibrant and firey sunset on Wednesday night.  I had to run out and take a shot of it.  The clouds looked like wisps of flames.  


Friday, January 10, 2020

1/10/20

I love that I have a Maple tree on my land now.  I find the leaves very photogenic, especially in autumn when they change color.  Because the bokeh was so great on this image, I had to share it for today because Fridays are Bokehlicious!


Thursday, January 9, 2020

1/9/20

I am starting off the year with my favorite things to photograph.  I love when I get a chance to see and capture butterflies.  Monarch are a special treat since I usually don't get a lot of them through my yard.  In September there were a couple of days where there were about 4 of them around at least.  I captured this one enjoying some Goldenrod and was surprised to see that there was a bonus in the image as well.  A wasp was coming in to enjoy the blooms as well.


Wednesday, January 8, 2020

1/8/20

I love to photograph waterfalls and I have not shared one in quite some time.  This is Treasure Falls in Colorado that I visited on my last trip there during the Cumbres & Toltec trip.  


Tuesday, January 7, 2020

1/7/20

The Bluebirds have been around a bit more than usual trying to get a drink.  Lately the stupid Starlings have been emptying the bird bath.  I got this image the day of the snow of a lovely couple having a drink.



Monday, January 6, 2020

1/6/20

The next day after the extreme Hoar Frost there was still some smaller examples of it around.  I took a few close up images of it with my actual camera like this one which I thought turned out rather nicely.



Sunday, January 5, 2020

1/5/20

I have to start off my Steamy Sunday for the new year with my all time favorite tourist railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec.  This is an image I had never shared from my last trip there.  The train has just passed over the Chama river heading out of Chama New Mexico on it's way to Antonito Colorado.  It's a wonderful ride with great scenery and I highly recommend it.


Saturday, January 4, 2020

1/4/20

It is so weird having to put 20 as the year now.  So far I have remembered though.  This is another image from the morning of the beautiful thick Hoar frost.  This is taken at an area called The Bluffs Park.  There is a pond there that I never knew about till that day as I had never gone to this particular overlook.  I thought it was quite the lovely view.


Friday, January 3, 2020

1/3/20

Today's image is one that I was really happy with.  I rarely get Blue Jays where I can photograph them in my yard.  On this day not only did I get to see one but got an up close shot of it.  This is in the Mulberry tree just outside the window on the east side of our house.  I did not have to crop this shot at all.  I also love the bokeh the tree is providing so also sharing this image today because Fridays continue to be Bokehlicious!



Thursday, January 2, 2020

1/2/20

I thought I would start off this year with my favorite things to photograph.  This image contains two of them, flowers, and especially Sunflowers and butterflies.  This is a Clouded Sulphur enjoying one of my garden Sunflowers from this past summer.


Wednesday, January 1, 2020

1/1/20

Happy New Year everyone!  I thought that this image I shot last week on Christmas day as the sun rose was appropriate to start off a new year and the 2020s.  Hope it's a great year for us all!
This is my in-laws view of the eastern sky every morning.  Some are more colorful than others.  This was a fairly good sunrise though I was hoping for even more clouds.  😃