Category Archives: Ruins

Turkey Hunt

I’m known as the tree-hugging environmental whacko in my department of the Computer Mine. I have this title because I don’t hunt, voted for Obama, and want guns to be regulated. Also, I don’t actively hate our environment. I don’t pay much attention to the derision that comes my way on that front because one of my cognitive shortcuts is that when people use words like treehugger or Obamacare, I instantly assume they aren’t particularly well informed and I needn’t pay attention to what comes out of their mouth. After all, anybody can regurgitate talk radio taking points and catch phrases. It doesn’t mean that they have actually thought about an issue. I still let them speak, but I’m thinking about mayonnaise cake or something like that.

However, on the last day of April I pulled myself out of my very comfortable bed at 4 in the morning and drove to the Computer Mine parking lot to meet Micky to go turkey hunting.

Don’t be concerned. I haven’t had a radical change. I went carrying a camera and a tripod.

Here are some pictures from Micky and I’s early morning excursion.

I apologize for the last picture, but it had to be taken.



Micky


The view from the blind.


More Micky


The Decoys


This is as close as a turkey came to us. 75 yards. Too far to shoot at even if it was a “bearded turkey”, which it is not.


The Blind


The Decoys


What a turkey might have seen if it would have come anywhere near us.


Micky and I in the middle of the field after our failed hunt.


Micky carrying the blind out. I carried the decoys in and out.


If you look closely, you can see a deer. This is about as close as we came to any wildlife besides a squirrel.


An old abandoned slide.


Micky on the way out.


The ladder we used to cross the fence to get into the field to hunt turkeys.


The road we drove down to get to the ladder.


At Micky’s parents’ home we saw this goose nesting on top of a muskrat hut. The next day the eggs hatched and the family was gone.


A bullfrog in Lake Augustin.


As we were leaving beautiful Lake Augustin, we came across a tract of land that I can only describe as Deer Auschwitz. I made Micky stop the truck and I took this picture of the inside of a deer’s ribcage because… it was there.

Next Wednesday will be 9 Month Old Pictures of Alice.

RWPE #28 – Calm

Last week’s submissions for CALM:


IMAGE LOST
Carla Stensland

IMAGE LOST
Dawn Krause

WEEK 28 - CALM - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 28 - CALM - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest

The Random Generator has been randomizing and randomizing and finally it has generated the theme for this week:

DEPTH OF FIELD

This is a slightly more technical theme than most of the themes. Here is a good definition of DEPTH OF FIELD:

Depth of field (DOF) is the portion of a scene that appears acceptably sharp in the image. Although a lens can precisely focus at only one distance, the decrease in sharpness is gradual on each side of the focused distance, so that within the DOF, the unsharpness is imperceptible under normal viewing conditions.

Depth of Field is controlled by the size of the aperture used to take a picture. The larger the aperture, the smaller the Depth of Field. The smaller the aperture, the larger the Depth of Field. If you want only one item in a picture to be in focus, then you use a large aperture. If you want almost the whole picture to be in focus, then you use a small aperture.

One thing to note about aperture sizes, the larger the number, the smaller the aperture. f/1.4 is much larger than f/32.

Perhaps you don’t know how to control the size of the aperture on your camera. You can still fake it. Almost all camera have “Creative Control” settings. If you set your camera on “Portrait”, almost always symbolized by a sideways icon of a woman’s face, then the camera will use exposure settings with the largest aperture possible. If you set your camera to “Landscape” almost always symbolized by a mountain icon, the camera will use exposure settings with the smallest aperture possible.

DEPTH OF FIELD is usually meant to describe a picture taken with a large aperture to separate the subject of a picture from its background. Here are a few examples:


Obama at Mike O'Brien's House

WEEK 25 - STILL LIFE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

Personal Photo Project #23 Alternate - Well-Shaped Girl

2009-04-28

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2010

The Best Place to Seek God

Girl in the Blue Skirt - 2010

Personal Photo Project #23 Alternate - Well-Shaped Girl

Of course, feel free to use your own definition of DEPTH OF FIELD.

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

For reasons that are slightly inexplicable to me, I ended up in Beaver, Iowa yesterday morning. I’ve always felt that Beaver is a town that looks like it “walked” out of a horror movie. For this reason I once (years and years ago) took a series of pictures called “The Beaver Machete Massacre Project”.

It had been several years since I have wandered through the nearly abandoned streets of Beaver. In my absence the town has become even more of a ghost town. It has fallen even farther apart.

I did not spend much time in Beaver because I was meeting Teresa and Logan for lunch, but I did take a few images.


Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

Welcome to Beaver, Iowa

I am a big fan of modern ruins, so I will have to return to Beaver at some point for a Personal Photo Project when I have more time and a full supply of insect repellent.

Because I’m not 100% sure that Beaver isn’t a real life horror story, I will have to bring at least a couple of photo assistants with me for protection. Preferably the kind that have lots of pre-marital sex, drink lots of beer and do lots of drugs. The type that wear impractical shoes and fall down a lot while I’m running to my car (that will never be shutoff) to escape a chainsaw wielding maniac covered in the skin of his previous victims are the most desirable.

Flame On

A couple weekends ago I made a trip to State Center with Teresa and Mom so I could photograph their rose garden. As is frequently the case, they got bored and left me behind so they could go to a gas station.

When they came back they told me that the fire department was burning down a house. I finished up my rose photography after about 15 more minutes and we headed over to the fire.


Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

Flame On

If you are the inquisitive sort, the State Center Rose Garden pictures are slated for a release date of July 16.

Boone County Fair

This is not meant to be in any way shape or form meant to be bragging. It is merely meant to be informative, since not everybody makes it to the Boone County Fair.

I wanted to enter a couple of pictures in the Boone County Fair “photography contest”. As it turned out, I didn’t have time to order 2 new pictures, so I selected 2 8x10s out of a stack of about 25 8x10s I have stored in a manila envelope for just such an occasion.

Even though I didn’t order any new pictures, but only entered a couple of pictures that are a couple of years old, I still couldn’t seem to find time to mount and mat the pictures. Luckily, Vest from work was willing to do that for me.

Here are the pictures I entered:


Boone County Fair Photo Contest - 2009

Boone County Fair Photo Contest - 2009

The orange flower picture got a Blue Ribbon.

The black and white bus picture got a Purple Ribbon for Outstanding Home Department Project or something like that.

I have a fairly firm rule about never entering a photo in more than one contest, but I was distressed to find out when I got home late Sunday night when I was putting the pictures in their bag and putting them in the trunk, that I had entered the orange flower picture in the 2007 Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

That frustrates me and lead to a re-organization of the trunk. Even though that kept me up until 2 in the morning.

Arizona Day 4

Jesse and I woke up in Coolidge, Arizona and made our way to a local diner for breakfast. This place was certainly McCain Country.

We sat at the breakfast counter and listened to a couple locals complain about the governor for “being nice” to Obama. They agreed that the governor was not going to be re-elected and what made her near criminal offense even more difficult to fathom – “And she’s even a Republican!”

As I sat down at the breakfast counter I noticed that staring back at us was an NRA poster. Next to the NRA poster was a poster of John Wayne in front of an American flag with the line:

“Tell me again, why the hell do I have to dial “1” for English.”

Although I wasn’t going to order a side dish of prejudice with a sprinkling of racism with my breakfast, I got it any way.

Next to the poster of John Wayne was a poster for a fundraiser that was related to Easter. The fundraiser was a raffle. The winner of the raffle won a Glock 9mm.

I guess that makes sense, if you recall John 23:

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again, packing heat, perhaps a Glock 9mm.”

There was also some terrible artwork for sale in this joint.


Arizona Day 4
I don’t know what is more confusing. The lighthouse, the clock or the reference to the comic stylings of Larry the Cable Guy.

Arizona Day 4
Tag’s Cafe

Arizona Day 4
Tag’s Cafe

Arizona Day 4
Tag’s Cafe

Arizona Day 4
The owners of this establishment did not like me taking pictures of their building.

Arizona Day 4
It is probably for the best that this game has been lost to the ages. It would be just one more game that I would dominate.

Arizona Day 4
Did you get a picture of a cactus?

Arizona Day 4
Did you get a black and white picture of a cactus? Okay, nobody asked that question.

Arizona Day 4
Cliche picture of a guy next to a tall cactus.

Arizona Day 4
Hohokam ruins.

Arizona Day 4
Jesse getting his learn on.

Arizona Day 4
The Big House, not the one in Ann Arbor.

Arizona Day 4
More mud ruins.

Arizona Day 4
More ruins.

Arizona Day 4
Jesse all tuckered out from a big day of looking at Hohokam ruins.

It should be noted that despite having a culture that runs contrary to my value system, Tag’s Cafe was easily the best meal I had my entire time in Arizona. Sorry Del Taco.