The picture below is what greeted me on Thursday as I left the Computer Mine on my lunch break.
In retrospect, I should have taken the time to take a decent picture. Rather this one out my car window while I was stopped at a stoplight.
Lunchtography
Category Archives: Nature
Test Post
I moved my website to a different server so that I could get my galleries up and going again. This is a test post to see if An Artist’s Notebook is in the ballpark of being functional again.
Here is a test picture.
Hopefully this works out.
Selected Pictures
This year I took a different route selecting pictures for the Photo Contest. I put together 20 pictures and then had certain people select and name 1 picture from that list. I then entered those pictures.
I liked the way this process worked out. I will do it again in the future, with only a slight tweak here and there.
These are the pictures that were entered:
15 Minutes
This picture was selected by Shannon. The picture was part of my experimentation with light painting. This is an experiment that I need to start back up again. The name comes from the flower being in the spotlight.
Soaking up the Rays
This picture was selected by Teresa. This picture was taken at the State Fair.
Grains and Creases
This picture was selected by Jay. This picture was taken of wooden praying hands outside of a Baptist church in Paducah, Kentucky.
Deity Saturation
This picture was selected by my Mom. This picture was taken north of Boone. I actually named this picture. It comes from the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Nature is saturated with deity.”
“The Last Dragon”
I picked this picture because one person I asked to pick a picture never made a choice. I really can’t remember what I named this picture, but it might have been named after the classic 80s kung fu flick Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon. It is also possible that I named it “Jay LeRoy”. This picture was taken while I was sitting on my back on the sidewalk in front of the basilica in Dyersville. There has been a glow effect thrown onto this picture.
The Last Refuge
I also picked this picture because I needed to switch out another picture that didn’t print very well. This picture was originally in color, but I switched it to black and white because I wanted to enter more than 1 black and white picture. The name of this picture comes from the Samuel Johnson quote: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” This picture was taken at ground zero of the Ames fireworks show. This picture did get 3rd Place in the Black and White division. One more ribbon for the trunk.
I am currently taking application for photo selectors for next year.
Kentucky – Day 3
Sunday of the Kentucky trip consisted of going to a Southern Baptist church service and visiting Ernie’s pond.
What 1500 bucks buys in Kentucky.
President Lincoln
Church Sign
Church Bus
Sculpture
Sculpture
Teresa and Ernie
Home of some great fudge.
Kentucky Dam
Crane
Lunch
Ernie
Desecration
Unofficial Southerner
Citizen of Ernie’s Pond
Ernie’s Pond
Cat Tails
Berries
Ernie’s Sister
Ernie’s Tractor
All that was left to do was to head back to civilization.
Enigmatic
So I went on a small cruise around Boone County with Becky on Monday night. Here are a few images from that experience.
What I learned about Becky from this trip is that there is a strange inconsistency in a person that claims that Halloween is their favorite holiday, but freaks out when you tell them a simple story from Boone’s historic past. I also hear that the Jaycees Haunted House isn’t her thing, but she insists on going through it every year. Well, I guess not this year.
3 Things
Relay for Life
So Relay for Life is coming up pretty darn quick. As it turns out I forgot to start raising money. I have raised some money, but that money consisted of me sitting on my rump when somebody came up to me and threw some cash into my hand and said, “That’s for Relay for Life.”
I don’t want to give you a long winded sales pitch about why you should donate money for Relay for Life and tell you about how cancer has effected my life or the people in my life. I think I can distill the entire thing down to its essence.
“It is cancer, stupid!”
So if you have a couple extra bucks stuck in your couch cushions or have a bag full of beer bottles in your basement that need to be taken back and you don’t really have much use for that money and you aren’t mad that I just called you stupid, I would be in your debt if you would throw it my way for Relay for Life.
There are a couple of ways to do such a thing. First you can go to my Relay for Life page and donate there:
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You can also just give me money when you see me.
Flood Pictures
From time to time I get asked if I have any flood pictures. But I will post the one flood picture I do have.
Son of Rambow
I’m pretty jacked up right now. One of two must see movies of 2008 has finally came to Ames.
Take a look at the trailer. (If you received this through a RSS Feed or e-mail, you will actually have to go to the website to view the video.)
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I’m hoping to put together a small platoon of people to go see this masterpiece next week.
Sunset
I hope that some people had a chance to catch the sunset last night.
It was lovely.
More From Friday
Duff flooded a few hundred feet from the Computer Mine on Friday. The woods behind the Computer Mine flooded as well. I think all this water caused some of the animals from the woods to be a little more active near the building.
Earlier this year I figured out that Steve the Groundhog (as opposed to Angry Steve that works in Software or Steve the Hardware Plant on Dan’s desk) is in actuality a Stevie. A Stevie like Stevie Nicks, not like Stevie Wonder. I figured this out because I saw a few baby groundhogs hanging around the entrance to their hole a few weeks back.
On Friday I saw 4 baby groundhogs. I was able to get these heavily cropped pictures of some of the baby groundhogs.
They really blend in with their natural surroundings so they make for less than spectacular photos, but believe me that they are cute in person.
I also ambled down to the flood with Vest during my lunch break and snapped off a few pictures.
While we were over by the flood the water rose rapidly enough to close us in. We had to cross the water just to get back to the dry land of the Computer Mine.
Playing in the Mud
Tonight was the night that the Jaycees planted and tended to our Flower Garden in Brookside Park. 3 of us showed up to do it. Here are some dark and grainy and poor pictures from the experience.
I’ll most likely post pictures of the flowers as the year progresses or you can go to Brookside Park and get your own update.
New Toy
I got a new toy for the camera in the mail yesterday. I did some experimenting with it.
I know some cynics out there are thinking: “Wow you bought a toy that takes blurry pictures, congratulations.”
I would only respond with a smile and say, “Yes I did!”