Another nice day here today. I've done my Thursday morning chores by getting the recycling and trash bins to the curb for later pick up. Later today I might ride the motorcycle down to the veggie stand (a little over an hour away) to resupply our fried peanut stash.
I went through the archives to find this image from the local botanical garden. Used to be that anyone could park there and walk around and I would do that pretty regularly to take photos. Now it is gated, only open certain hours, and they want you to have a "membership". So I seldom go there now. They have all kinds of events that require tickets too. Anyway, here is the photo.
Hump day - hope everyone has had a good week thus far. Weather has been nice here is Georgia. Cool at night and warm, sunny days. Hope Rich is having nice weather up in Tennessee on his trip.
Here are a couple more from Bosque del Apache. Only a little over a month before we get back out there. These photos were taken outside the refuge, at a favorite spot for photographers to gather to try to get the sunset and the birds settling in for the night. I think I posted a photo of the photographers and all the tripods. This shot is of the light, which was fantastic. Talk about the golden hour, this afternoon sure lived up to that. The other image is a close up of a Roadrunner, one of our favorite birds to see out west. I didn't realize how much color they had until I took a photo and enlarged it a bit.
Well, only one more week till Halloween, and then that is over.
I wish I could say that I enjoy this time of the year when one holiday follows the other. But I am afraid I look at it as "then that's over" and I can relax the day after the holiday occurs. Some people sure go all out for Halloween, don't they? I do have a skeleton holding on to a small lamppost alongside our driveway, but nothing more than that.
Here is the photo I promised you yesterday. I took it using my ND filters. I sort of like the blurred water effect, especially since there are some areas that are still in focus in the water and show the reflection of the colors in the leaves. I wish I would have had the bright orange leaves in focus though. It looks like I didn't have anything in focus. But I recall trying to focus on the green leaves on the left. OH well, I need a lot more practice. It was pretty cold out there and there was limited things to take photos of. The shoreline is not safe and I didn't want to fall in. The photos that I took from a bridge did not turn out well. I know that I should go back, but am too lazy. Actually, I am going to go outside and trim a couple of shrubs before the temps drop dramatically this weekend. Yesterday I emptied the rain barrel and stored that, the few shrubs I off the patio should be the last thing I have to do to close up the back yard.
Hey, I am getting a new lens. I am so excited. I finally am buying myself a lens that I have wanted for years, a lens Baby Velvet 56. I have been drooling over the effects of this lens for so long and decided to finally get it after it went on sale at Adorama for 20% off. At that point, I asked myself, "What are you waiting for?" Now I do not have to soften the edges of my images in Post. The lens will do that naturally for me. And if I up the aperture, the blur will disappear. The lens is a 56mm, but on my camera it is equivalent to a 112 mm, making it a macro. Yes! I love close-ups and macros. So, hopefully, I shall be able to show you some of the first images that I take with the new lens. Just counting the days now.
Welcome to Monday, the start of another week. Quite possibly the last week for this forum. It's been pretty much only Peter, Dave and Rich for the past few weeks. Rich is on vacation this week so he might not be posting. So we'll just have to see how this week goes. In any event, it has been nice knowing everyone.
But, I'll start the week with a manipulated image from a trip to New Mexico a few years ago. We are going back at the end of November so I've been looking over the images. This was a favorite spot for photographers to get a sunset shot with mountains, sandhill cranes and geese getting ready for the night.
South Dakota's pheasant hunting season started today. Back in the late 50's into the 60's our local airport which used to have commercial flights was jam packed with private planes. These were corporations and well to do individuals or maybe some even rented a plane and pilot to get here. It was and still is a big deal. Many are flying commercial and being picked up by lodges. Some come in a week early to hunt in a private pheasant farm. Whatever they do to get here it is not the same.
Here are some photos I took yesterday, not many planes!
EDIT:
Looks like a few more came in after I took yesterdays photo.
I got a check for $1000 (from a California Lottery scratcher), so yesterday I walked to the bank to deposit it. That's about a 2 mile round trip. I started around 10:30 AM under clear skies and mild temperatures. It was rather hot on the return leg and I faded badly, slowing way down and feeling a little dizzy despite drinking one bottle of water and pouring another bottle over my head.
Along the way I managed 3 photos worth working on.
1) Not sure what variety this is, but I liked the yellow against the lavender & pink...
2) Don't know what this one is either, but the strong blue caught my eye...
3) Pretty sure this is a variety of plumeria; I really like the colors and found this photo to be soothing and peaceful...
No new photos, so here's one from my archives (probably 15 or more years ago); I liked the color combination of gray and yellow, and also thought the cast shadows were quite nice...
Good morning all. Here is a photo I took while riding the Cherohala Skyway. As mentioned I was a bit early for peak color, but some trees were beginning to change. Probably looks pretty nice now.
Good morning all. Chilly here this morning but clear skies.
On my Tail of the Dragon ride there were at least 3 different commercial photographers set up along the route. You can go on line and find the photos of yourself and purchase if desired. I did buy one digital down load from one company and a few from another. Also posting a photo of the actual TOTD route.
