Monday, January 31, 2022

1/31/22

 Happy Monday!  I wanted to start the week off with something bright and cheery as it looks like we are heading into some dreary weather.  These are a flower I like a lot but don't grow myself because their bulbs won't survive our Kansas winters and I am too lazy to dig them up and replant every year.  Being honest here.  😀  I took this image at Hershey Gardens in Pennsylvania this past July.  They had lots of lovely ones there in different colors.  They are called Dahlias.



Sunday, January 30, 2022

1/30/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is another effort at Tilt/Shift processing.  Once again I used an image from the Cumbres & Toltec Railway and I think it turned out fairly well.  The effect is to give the subject a sort of toy quality.  These types of photos are best viewed larger by clicking on the image.



Saturday, January 29, 2022

1/29/22

 Something a little different today.  This image goes back to the Udvar Hazy annex of the Air and Space Museum at Dulles outside Washington DC.  This is an image of the Space Shuttle Discovery with a couple of neat satellites hung above it.  I had to do a verticle panoramic image to get it all in frame up this close to it.  It is 2 images stitched together.



Friday, January 28, 2022

1/28/22

 It's Friday, TGIF!  Friday's are Bokehlicious as well!  Today's bokeh image is of a lovely backlit grass head that I captured last week while returning from a walk.  I love the detail in a backlit piece of grass.  I also loved the bubbly bokeh behind it as well.



Thursday, January 27, 2022

1/27/22

 I had several Monarchs visit my yard this past summer.  This is one that I captured that was really enjoying my Coneflowers also known as Echinacea.  I was really pleased with this capture, very clear straight out of the camera with great lighting.  Doesn't happen that often unfortunately.  




Wednesday, January 26, 2022

1/26/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog!  Today's flower is one of my favorites that I enjoy photographing.  They are sunny and make me happy. This is a rather large group of Black Eyed Susans that I saw at the edge of a field on a bike ride this past summer.



Tuesday, January 25, 2022

1/25/22

 On one of our cold and snowy days recently I captured this male Cardinal sitting in the Trumpet Vine.  He was posing very nicely for me while trying to stay out of the wind that day.



Monday, January 24, 2022

1/24/22

 I have my Geranium that I bought this last year in the house under a plant light that has a lot of red in it.  I use the light to start my tomatoes with but that won't be till a bit later so I am using it for this.  I liked the way it made the flowers even more vibrant and kind of seem to glow so took a photo of it the other day.



Sunday, January 23, 2022

1/23/22

 It's Steamy Sunday!  I have been reading about a photographic technique recently and looking at some photos that utilize it and decided I wanted to try it.  This technique is called Tilt/Shift and originated from how the old view cameras worked that had bellows to focus the lenses and has to do with perspective in a very over simplified explanation.  You can do it today with specialized lenses which I don't have or in post processing in a photo program which is the approach I took.  Certain images look better with this process more than others.  I find images that have a central focus with not just sky in the upper part like a city shot from a tall building or a train as in this case with scenery all around it.  The effect makes the subject look toy like.  It shows up better if you view it large by clicking on the image.  It's just something fun that I wanted to try and share and do that was a bit different than my usual.  This is the Cumbres & Toltec train out in the scrub of New Mexico.



Saturday, January 22, 2022

1/22/22

 It's a double digit day!  😀  Winter has been providing us with lovely sunsets and sunrises.  I captured this sunset on a walk last week.  I like this spot to take photos due to the windmill but it is becoming more difficult as there is a hme being built just off to the right.



Friday, January 21, 2022

1/21/22

 Happy Friday, TGIF!  Friday's Are bokehlicious and here is today's bokeh image.  This is another lovely rose that I saw and photographed at Hershey Gardens in Pennsylvania.  It had rained a bit that day and there were still a few drops on the flowers for a bit more interest.



Thursday, January 20, 2022

1/20/22

 I am looking forward to spring again.  I hope my frog buddies are doing well this winter.  This is one of the Leopard Frogs that inhabits my Gazebo pond.  He thought he was unseen among the rocks but not so much.  😃



Wednesday, January 19, 2022

1/19/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Today's image is one I stopped to capture while bike riding one day.  There was a nice big group of these Dotted Gayfeathers or Blazing Star or Liatris.  I liked this particular group of them as it showed the "dotting" fairly well on the one.



Tuesday, January 18, 2022

1/18/22

 Recently while walking I had a Red Tail Hawk be very cooperative and photogenic.  This one was gliding around and actually came closer while doing so and passed right by me.  I was able to get this shot of it looking at me, well I am betting they are looking at the big "eye" of my camera.



Monday, January 17, 2022

1/17/22

 Happy Monday!  Today's image is another trio of flowers I captured this past summer.  This time they are my Gaillardia or Blanket Flowers which can be a wildflower here in Kansas.  I am hoping that these survive the winter and return but we shall see.  So far I have not had much luck with them returning.  I enjoyed them very much though during the year and they bloomed right up till frost.  The middle one is what they look like just as they begin to open.



Sunday, January 16, 2022

1/16/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  This is The Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western J Class 611.  I was able to see this locomotive once again in Strasburg Pennsylvania in July while it was out there for a fudraising trip.  I captured it as it passed by on it's way back to the station.



Saturday, January 15, 2022

1/15/22

 Today's image is the first sunrise of this year that I witnessed that was worth sharing.  I took this on January 4th on the way into work that day.  It was a lovely start to the day and year.



Friday, January 14, 2022

1/14/22

 It's Friday, TGIF!  Friday's Are Bokehlicious and I have a photo to share with my favorite bokeh, the bubbly kind, for today.  This is a Silver Spot Skipper on my Butterfly Bush or Buddleja this past summer.



Thursday, January 13, 2022

1/13/22

 Today's image I was able to get during one of the recent snows as well.  This little Goldfinch looked quite cold and was puffed up against it while sitting in the River Birch tree outside my window.



Wednesday, January 12, 2022

1/12/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday!  Today's flower is Ironweed.  It blooms in late summer and the bees and butterflies are magnets to it.  This image of it has an example of that with some bee bonus!  😀



Tuesday, January 11, 2022

1/11/22

 We have had a couple of small snows already and they even provided oportunities to get a few snowflake photos.  This one turned out pretty well I thought.  The angle I shot it at did not provide for much color, it made it appear fairly clear.  I was happy that I got the majority of it in focus.  It is a stack of 5 images.



Monday, January 10, 2022

1/10/22

 Happy Monday!  I planted some miniature Alliums in my garden railroad not knowing at the time how much they spread.  Not sure it was such a good idea now but I do enjoy their blooms as do the bees and butterflies.  This is a shot I got of a trio of them that I rather liked.



Sunday, January 9, 2022

1/9/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  This is the Porter tank style locomotive that I got to have a shift on this past year at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion.  It's a great small locomotive that they got running again after some issues and were hauling a train around the grounds in addition to 353.  Here it was loading passengers at the stop by the water tank.



Saturday, January 8, 2022

1/8/22

 Last November was a great month for some stunning sunrises and sunsets.  This is a gorgeous sunrise I was treated to one morning on the way to work in the early part of the month.



Friday, January 7, 2022

1/7/22

 It's the first Friday of the new year, TGIF!  Friday's are Bokehlicious here on the blog.  Bubbly bokeh is my favorite kind and here is a shot of a Rose that I took in Hershey Gardens in Pennsylvania this past summer that has quite a bit of that.



Thursday, January 6, 2022

1/6/22

 I had to start the first week of the year off with one of my very favorite subjects to photograph, butterflies.  This is one I captured in very late spring and was a new one for me and one not very common in our area.  This is a Gray Copper butterfly that was enjoying my Echinacea or Cone flowers in my garden.



Wednesday, January 5, 2022

1/5/22

 It's the first Wildflower Wednesday of 2022!  I am going to start the year off with one of my favorite wildflowers, a Sunflower.  This is a Common one and is the state flower of Kansas.  Sunflowers always make me happy.  



Tuesday, January 4, 2022

1/4/22

 I follow a photographer who used to live in Canada named Don Komerechka who has produced some stunning macro snowflake photos.  I have tried to get those results and have suceeded at times.  This one is not quite there as there are some bits that I missed getting in focus but I was still pleased with the result.  I was cold and hurrying too much, this is only a stack of 8 images, I should have done several more.  I captured this during a snowfall on the first day of 2022.  A nice start I thought.



Monday, January 3, 2022

01/03/22

 I enjoy photographing birds though they don't often cooperate with me. I'll start off the new year with this image of one of my favorite birds.  I like capturing Blue Jays but they can be difficult because they usually don't sit very long at all. I was able to capture this one posing rather well in a Pear tree at the in-laws in-between getting his/her peanuts.



Sunday, January 2, 2022

01/02/22

 It's the first Steamy Sunday of the New Year!  I have to start the year off with my favorite railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec which travels between Antonito Colorado and Chama New Mexico.  It's a great ride with the experience of old time railroading and great scenery.  Here on my last trip I captured the train as it made it's way up Windy Point to the highest point on the railroad at Cumbres Pass.



Saturday, January 1, 2022

01/01/22

 Happy New Year!!!  Welcome to 2022!  May this year be better than the last.  May we all have a safe and happy one.  My image to bring in the new year is my last sunrise I took in 2021 at my in-law's home in Missouri.  It was a beautiful and colorful start to the day.