These are the first flower pictures I took in 2019 in my own yard.
There are also a couple of bonus Naima pictures, since she was there too.
On further reflection, I would say that some of these flowers are actually from my Mom’s yard. Definitely the tulip.
The pictures in the folders 2009-08-15, 2009-08-20, and include pictures from an anniversary dinner for Shorty and Doris and pictures from that time I actually tilled up part of my backyard and planted a garden.
The picture of Jill that is edited in a couple different ways is her with a car that she described as her mid-life crisis. But that can’t be the case. She was only like 30 when she bought that car.
This is the first time that these pictures have been published. Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will definitely involve the Iowa State Fair and Teresa and Ernie. But not in a way that is connected.
Here is a collection of pictures I took in my backyard back in August of some flowers, the sky, and of course that most noble of insects, the wasp.
Want more wasp pictures? Don’t worry baby bird. I’ll feed you. Eventually.
This is a collection of images that I took on my way home from following the Big Boy. After letting the train roll past us one last time, Teresa and I headed back to Boone after stopping off in Carroll for a delicious meal at Rancho Grande Mexican.
Then in Glidden we stopped at Dairy Mart for ice cream. Then finally made a brief stop at the Harrier Marsh to take a few photos.
Ralston, Iowa
I just want to say for the record that flavor burst ice cream is straight trash. I understand it is a way to try to serve several types of ice cream on the cheap, but it is garbage. It is just vanilla ice cream with some weak tasting syrup dribbled around the outside.
That isn’t to say that my experience at Dairy Mart was bad. What I got was delicous. A raspberry shake. I stayed away from that flavor burst garbage.
Rather than naming the folders that include images from the Backbone State Park Road Trip I took with Jay, Derrick, Jen, Sara, and Shannon, I’m just going to call this post Backbone Road Trip.
Here are a look at a few of my favorite images from the road trip:
It truly was a great trip and one of my favorite road trips of all time. We did have to pack up and leave Backbone State Park really early on Sunday morning to beat a storm, but it was still a weekend filled with treasured memories.
By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to its original glory:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve potatoes, probably a whole bunch more, but definitely potatoes.
I spent a few moments taking pictures of flowers one day back in May. Here are some of my favorites:
The tulips belong to my Mom. The rest belong to me.
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One thing I wanted to bring back this year was happy birthdays. Today is Lowell’s birthday, so happy birthday Lowell!
I hope it is a good one!
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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FOOD:
A FOOD photo is any photo that centers around FOOD. A picture of FOOD. Preparation of FOOD. People eating FOOD. You get the idea!
Happy photo harvesting!
Back in August, Logan purchased a new mirrorless Sony camera. I took it for a brief run through my backyard for fun.
I’ve been on the struggle bus lately because it is about time that I purchase a new camera but I can’t decide if I should stay in the world of the DSLR or join the mirrorless revolution. The issue being that Sony really only makes one DSLR that is better than my current DSLR.
Mirrorless is undeniably the future, but to make the move, I would have to commit to an entirely different lens lineup and I kind of like my current lenses. Not to mention I shudder to think what it would cost to replace them with comparable lenses.
I haven’t made my mind up and an upcoming auto bill means that I probably won’t pull the trigger any time soon, but we’ll see what happens. I could probably spend that money in better ways, but we both know that isn’t really what I do.
Here are some pictures I made playing with Logan’s mirrorless camera:
I guess there is no rush to make a choice. The 77ii is still going strong, even though I thought I had killed it twice this year under some rainy circumstances.
The number one thing other photographers don’t respect about me (to my face) is my lack of care for my equipment. But you know what? I’m going to get the shot I want!
Last April I went up to Minneapolis to checkout all the hoopla that surrounds the Final Four. Dae Hee and I went downtown and checked everything out. I snapped a few pictures. Here are some of my favorites:
It appears to be a down season for the Cyclones this year. I can only imagine what this team would look like if THT would’ve come back instead of going to the NBA. That being said, there is still time for the current team to get it figured out, starting tonight against Kansas. Go Cyclones!
The pictures from the folder 2009-08-06 are taken in my backyard. They are mostly of the products of my garden. The first year I lived in my house, I actually planted a garden. I believe I had some mixed results, but I did manage to grow a few things here and there.
That year Dawn came over and picked the currants. She then took the currants and made me a cheesecake. I think this event closed the chapter in my life where beautiful women would come over and pick things from my garden and then feed me.
I never brought the garden back because, I didn’t really do anything with the stuff I grew. Then I got to the point where I like uninterrupted grass in my yard. I have often thought of doing hay bale gardens, but I have yet to find a good source of hay bales. By that I mean, the one person I asked doesn’t do square hay bales.
This is the first time these pictures have been published.
The next walk down memory lane will involve a road trip to eastern Iowa.
Today I reveal the 2020 Photography 139 Calendar images for September and October.
The September image is of the Union Pacific Big Boy. It was taken a few miles east of Boone, near Jordan. It was taken on August 2, 2019. The Big Boy was on a tour to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Details
Camera: Sony ILCA-77M2
Focal Length: 28mm
Aperture: f/8
Exposure: 1/400
ISO: 100
The October image was taken in the Discovery Garden at the Iowa State Fair. The subject is a monarch butterfly on top of a zinnia. The picture was taken on August 19, 2018.
Details
Camera: Sony ILCA-77M2
Focal Length: 200mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure: 1/320
ISO: 400
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If things go right, by the time you read these words I will be somewhere in Illinois or Missouri or maybe even Kentucky on my way back from Orlando, still high from a Cyclone victory of Notre Dame.
Therefore, when I get home from Orlando I will publish all the submissions for last week’s theme CANDID PORTRAIT.
However, just because I’m out cruising through the country, doesn’t mean you should be delayed on starting this week’s theme:
HDR! What a great theme! Wait a second. What the Hades is an HDR image?
Okay, so this is the one that I was pretty sure would end the double digit submission streak. If the holidays didn’t end it already, but CANDID PORTRAIT is a pretty easy theme especially when, is there a better CANDID PORTRAIT opportunity then little kids opening presents on Christmas morning?
But none of that answers the question what is an HDR image? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Here is a great explanation from Digital Trends:
HDR stands for “high dynamic range.” For those who aren’t so acquainted with this high-tech shutterbug lingo, dynamic range is basically just the difference between the lightest light and darkest dark you can capture in a photo. Once your subject exceeds the camera’s dynamic range, the highlights tend to wash out to white, or the darks simply become big black blobs. It’s notoriously difficult to snap a photo that captures both ends of this spectrum, but with modern shooting techniques and advanced post-processing software, photographers have devised ways to make it happen. This is basically what HDR is: a specific style of photo with an unusually high dynamic range that couldn’t otherwise be achieved in a single photograph.
The best way to think of it is several pictures taken at different exposure levels, combined to create one image.
How the hades am I going to do that? Well, it isn’t as hard as you think. Pretty much every camera (including your phone camera) has a setting that will do this for you automatically. For example on my Pixel 2:
I can turn off and on HDR. Or even enhanced HDR. Look under you camera settings, you can find it there too.
You can also try to get fancy and take individual pictures yourself and try combining them yourself. You can even use an HDR toning program to create an HDR image from just one image.
As you can see, this isn’t an intimidating theme at all. You can literally take a picture of anything, as long as you change a setting on your camera before you take the picture.
It is almost too easy!
