“It’s weird that photographers spend years or even a whole lifetime, trying to capture moments that added together, don’t even amount to a couple of hours.” — James Lalropui Keivom
Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it helps keep me inspired.
This week will only be photos. Did some commentaries on my photos that I wanted to post this week, but did not have the opportunity to finish so I am posting only photos. I will finish this week’s photos for next week’s blog.
Sunday, 01/12/2025: Posted photo — Grand Tetons.
Monday, 01/13/2025: Posted photo — Alaska.
Tuesday, 01/14/2025: Posted photo — Bird in Bryce Canyon.
“Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.” — Tony Benn
Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it helps keep me inspired.
I will keep taking them as long as I can before the time of the sunrise does not allow for it.
Tuesday, 12/03/2024: Posted photo — Joke.
Shopping night. Here are some fruit. These are quick photos since I needed to get ready for my trip to Ohio this week. One of these photos reminds me of end of a knock-knock joke. As I write this, I realize I missed my opportunity for the full joke.
I have been busy at work, attempting to get more work done so when I return from my vacation, my backlog will not be so great.
Wednesday, 12/04/2024: Posted photo — Wood Stove.
Settings: FLIR i5, ISO n/a, f/na, 1/30 s, 7 mm.
Some of you may know that I own an infrared camera. This camera takes photo of heat signatures of object. I use it to look at insulation in houses and efficiencies at power generating plants. Occasionally I use it to take artistic photos. Some of these photos are of footprints, handprints, car engines, warm tires, and even have used it as a stud finder.
Once or twice a year, I use it to check out my wood stove. My wood stove is old and not as efficient as some of the newer stoves. It is just a steel box with an exhaust pipe. One item that I often check is the temperature given on the stovepipe thermometer. This is a thermometer that has a magnetic backing and just sticks to the stove pipe. To my surprise, that thermometer and my thermal camera normally show the same temperature. The 518°F (250°C) temperature reading is the maximum temperature my camera can detect. The brand name of our stove is Nashua. You can just make out the name near the center of the photo next to the pointer.
Thursday, 12/05/2024: Posted photo — Snow.
We left today go to Columbus OH to see our nephew dance with the Columbus Dance Theatre.
Here is some history from their web page: “COLUMBUS DANCE THEATRE (CDT) is a unique voice for dance in Columbus with work born out of a rich background in ballet, contemporary and modern dance, music and theatre. As a professional arts organization, CDT produces high-quality work in an intimate environment. CDT prides itself on creating collaborations with new and upcoming artists of all art mediums and has collaborated with many visual and musical artists local to the city. The work of the company is new, fresh, and innovative, offering central Ohio audiences a cutting edge performance experience.”
We left our house in a snow storm. The storm was ending and we had to drive through the snow most of the trip until we were in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.
Some photos of the snow around our house before we departed.
Friday, 12/06/2024: Post photo — Wonderment.
Our nephew did his last lead in the Columbus Dance Theatre’s production of Wonderment. He is aging out of the roll of Kai. This is the fourth year of this production. We went to Columbus four years ago for the world premier. His photo is not in the program since he is only in the intensive training program.
Here are photos from around the theatre.
Saturday, 12/07/2024: Post photo — Anchor.
Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 400, f/9, 1/1600 s, 18 mm.
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941— a date which will live in infamy— the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” — FDR. Thus started the United States entry into World War II.
This photo is from my second visit to Pearl Harbor. It still amazes me that there is oil floating out of the USS Arizona. Looking back, I posted the same photos a year ago. This is from that post — “’This anchor was recovered from the Arizona. The ship had three anchors. The crew used one in calm seas and two in foul weather, the third as a spare. Each weigh nearly 10 tons.’ This are the words on a placard near the USS Arizona Anchor at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument in Hawaii. The sacrifice these men and women made to make our country the great country it is today.”
“I don’t trust words. I trust pictures.” — Gilles Peress
Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it h keep me inspired.
I did not have much time this week to go into detail on why I took each photo. I will be posting the photos and a short description.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in this coming week.
Sunday, 11/17/2024: Posted photo — Perspective.
This week’s photo challenge in my other photo project is perspective. As in most weeks, I start out with a plan in mind and then need to take a quick photo.
This is one of my blanket. I took it as I was folding my laundry.
Monday, 11/18/2024: Posted photo — Sunrise.
When I arrived at work today, I was greeted with this wonderful sunrise. I did have my DSLR in hand, stepped my exposure down one, and took this photos.
I am happy with the colors. I know that a photo does not always capture the moment. This one almost does.
Tuesday, 11/19/2024: Posted photo — Flowers.
The topic for my 52 week photo project this week is high key. High-key photography is a style of photography that uses bright lighting to create images with a light, optimistic feel, and minimal shadows. Since I do not have a studio to set up special lighting, I took this photo of roses, brought it into GIMP, and turned it into a high key photos.
High Key ImageOriginal Image
Here are the before and after photos.
Wednesday, 11/20/2024: Posted photo — Onions.
Last night was a special town meeting, so I did my shopping tonight. One of the items I needed to pick up was onions. When I saw the different types of onions next to each other, with their contrasting colors, I took this shot.
Thursday, 11/21/2024: Posted photo — Roses.
Here are a bouquet of rose I saw today. No particular reason for this photo. Just needed one to keep my streak of a photo a day since January 1, 2010 alive.
Friday, 11/22/2024: Post photo — Stage Harbor Lighthouse.
The Harding’s Beach Lighthouse, the Stage Harbor Lighthouse is one of the most noticeable landmarks on Cape Cod. It is the youngest lighthouse in Cape Cod having been built in 1880.
An automated light on a separate tower was built in 1933 and the Stage Harbor Lighthouse was decommissioned. The light at the top of the tower, the glass enclosure and the roof over it (called the lantern room) was removed and the keeper’s house and remaining tower was sold. It is now private property.
Saturday, 11/23/2024: Post photo — Nobska Lighthouse.
History of the lighthouse off the web. “Nobska Point Lighthouse, a classic New England-style lighthouse situated at the entrance to Woods Hole Harbor, Massachusetts. A lighthouse has stood on Nobska Point since 1828; the current cast-iron tower was erected in 1876. During open hours, visitors can explore the lighthouse tower and view the fascinating multifaceted lens that casts its light, as well as the quarters that hosted lighthouse keepers until the light was automated in 1985. From the lantern room at the top of the tower, take in breathtaking 180-degree views of Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard, the Elizabeth Islands, and Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds.”
“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” — Dorothea Lange
Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it helps keep me inspired.
Sorry for the broken English some weeks. I type as I think and sometimes do not make all the corrections that are needed.
Sunday, 11/10/2024: Posted photo — Moon from Movie Clip.
Last week I noted that I would not post a moon shot unless I took it during the week. I took this one tonight as a movie. One of the features of the AutoStakkert program is that you can take a movie of the moon and then have the program stack all the frames of the movie.
The movie I took tonight was with my “moon” lens and my Canon 60D. This might have come out better if I were to have a tracking telescope, or if I did a better job focusing, but I like to practice with what I have. The wind was also blowing, and the long lens does not like the wind. Also, I do not plan on purchasing a tracking telescope. I have investigated a tracking feature for my camera, but I would not use it enough to justify the cost.
Monday, 11/11/2024: Posted photo — Ring around the Moon.
The temperature was dropping during tonight’s hike. We have not had much rain lately and the clouds were moving in for possible rain showers tonight.
I saw this ring around the moon earlier in the hike and wanted to take a photo of it at the summit. When I saw it earlier, we were in a wooded area. This ring may or may not be a luna halo, I need to look up the official scientific definition.
The White Pass & Yukon Route climbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3,000 feet at the Summit in just 20 miles and features steep grades of almost 3.9%. The tight curves of the White Pass called for a narrow-gauge railroad.
I have, in the past, posted a photo of one of the mountains that can be seen from the railway. This is a photo of the train as it goes through a valley. Not happy about the washout in the background, but I did not have much time to adjust any camera settings.
Navajo Arch sits on a short side trail off the Devils Garden Trail in Arches National Park. The arch is made of Entrada sandstone and sits at the mouth of a small sandy alcove. The tree in this photo looks like it is full of branches, but if you look at it from the other side, the branches have been blown away. The area that I think looks like water, is the sun shining.
The day we did this hike it was over 100 degrees F in the shade. We were hugging the cliff walls during rest stops to keep out of the sun. The rule in the park is one gallon of water per person per day. We had one member of our group, me, carrying most of the extra water, with the other parties in the group carrying their own. This was a spur trail that we took on our way to Double O Arch, the second largest arch in the park, behind Landscape Arch.
Thursday, 11/14/2024: Posted photo — Fire.
I was bored today. It was the coolest day of the week so far and we had a fire in the wood stove. As I was loading wood into the fire, I had and idea of adding texture to a photo. I took a photo of the fire and went into the archives to my texture photos.
This photo is what I came up with. It looks like the photo is sideways, but it is not. This was just after I placed a log in the fire and the log was beginning to burn. The fire was following the contour of the log.
Friday, 11/15/2024: Post photo — Beaver Moon.
This is a composite of 12 photos stacked together with the AutoStakkert program. It is one of my favorite moon photos. I have been taken moon photos for 14 plus years and I am almost happy with one. All I need to do next is to take a full moon photo at moon rise, when it is closer to the horizon, so that it looks big.
The full moon for November is named after beavers because, at this time, they become particularly active in building their winter dams in preparation for the cold season. The beaver is mainly nocturnal, so they work under the light of the Full Moon. This is also the last supermoon of the year. A supermoon occurs when the Moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time the Moon is full.
Saturday, 11/16/2024: Post photo — Photo.
Needed one for today so I took a photo of the buttons on our projector.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” — Elliott Erwitt
Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it helps keep me inspired.
Sunday, 10/20/2024: Posted photo — Past Foliage.
The foliage has past in my area. We do not have bright, vibrant colors. We have the browns of fall. The sky was a great color blue and the contract between the leaves was amazing, especially with the brightness of the sun.
Monday, 10/21/2024: Posted photo — Comet.
If you look closely to the middle of this photo, you can see the comet that I posted last week. The comet is very hard to see with the naked eye tonight. You can see it very clearly when using binoculars and I was lucky to capture it with my phone.
Tuesday, 10/22/2024: Posted photo — Full Moon.
Last week I experimented with new software to stack my photos of the harvest moon. This is a second attempt at it. I am much happier with tonight’s photo. I also used my “moon” lens tonight, getting better starting photos of the moon prior to stacking.
Wednesday, 10/23/2024: Posted photo — Milky Way.
Used a different software tonight to take a photo of the Milky Way. The moon is my primary photography subject. I would like the Milky Way to be my second subject, except I live in an area with many trees so it is a difficult subject.
Unlike moon photos that I have been taken for years, I have only been taking Milky Way photos for a few years.
Thursday, 10/24/2024: Posted photo — Lightning.
I took this photo a few years ago. I was looking at old photos this week, saw this one, and wanted to share it again.
Friday, 10/25/2024: Post photo —Fenway Park.
The baseball championship started today with the best team winning game one.
I that honor, I posted one of my favorite photos from the oldest ballpark in MLB, America’s Most Beloved Ballpark, Fenway Park.
Saturday, 10/26/2024: Post photo — Acorn Cleanup.
Last week I posted about all the acorns in our yard, today I started to clean the up.
“Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies.” — Diane Arbus
Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it helps keep me inspired.
This is a repost of animals that I have photographed in the past.
Sunday, 09/22/2024: Posted photo — Prairie Dog.
One of the campsites we were camped, was a remote campground in Badlands National Park. In this campground and the surrounding area, there USGA was doing a study on Prairie Dogs. These were some that were near my tent.
Monday, 09/23/2024: Posted photo — Camping Bison.
In the same campground, there was a bison that used the site markers as scratching posts. This bison also showed up in the morning. The remote campground had only 10 sites. All eyes were on the bison. People did come out of these tents as the bison moved away.
Tuesday, 09/24/2024: Posted photo — Ducks.
These ducks were in one of the rivers at Yellowstone National Park. I did look up the type of ducks these are but did not write it down.
Wednesday, 09/25/2024: Posted photo — Elk.
This elk came to visit us at the first campground we had in Yellowstone.
Thursday, 09/26/2024: Posted photo — Bison by River.
At the second campground in Yellowstone, we took a walk in the morning and saw this bison by the river. There was a plaque at this location that stated that this was the exact location that the idea to make Yellowstone a national park was born.
Friday, 09/27/2024: Post photo — Mini Cow.
One of my sister-in-law’s animals.
Saturday, 09/28/2024: Post photo — Feasting Bald Eagle.
This Bald Eagle just caught a fish, brought it to the top of this tree, and had its dinner.
To find Brown Pelicans, head to the southern coasts of the US (Atlantic, Gulf, or Pacific) and look for huge birds gliding low over the water—check nearby gulls and cormorants as a size reference. These birds plunge into the water to feed. The huge splashes they make can, from out of the corner of your eye, look like a whale’s spout. If you see a splash, look for the bird on the water’s surface as it drains water from its throat pouch, or scan for other pelicans circling around to dive in the same spot. If you can’t find pelicans over the water, head to a jetty, mudflat, or estuary to look for groups of them resting.
Photo location: Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
The Dall’s Porpoise is the largest porpoise species, reaching 210-220 cm long and 200 kg. There is some sexual dimorphism in size with females being slightly smaller at 160-206 cm long. The size difference between the sexes varies across the species range.
Bubble-net feeding is a feeding behavior engaged in by humpback whales and Bryde’s whales. It is one of the few surface feeding behaviors that humpback whales are known to engage in. This type of feeding can be done alone or in groups with as many as twenty whales participating at once.
Mountain goat, (Oreamnos americanus), also called Rocky Mountain goat, a stocky North American ruminant of the family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla). Surefooted relatives of the chamois, mountain goats cling to steep cliffs in habitats ranging from ocean shores to glaciated mountain tops. They are agile, methodical climbers, adapted to the insecure footing of snow-covered and icy cliffs, where predators are loath to follow. On these cliffs, they readily turn on their pursuers, including humans.
Photo location: Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
While most red birds owe their redness to a variety of plant pigments known as carotenoids, the Western Tanager gets its scarlet head feathers from a rare pigment called rhodoxanthin. Unable to make this substance in their own bodies, Western Tanagers probably obtain it from insects in their diet.
Saturday, 08/24/2024: Post photo — Desert Spiny Lizard.
Photo location: Goosenecks State Park, Utah
An adult male desert spiny lizard usually has conspicuous blue/violet patches on the belly and throat, and a green/blue color on their tails and sides. Females and juveniles have large combined dark spots on their back and belly areas, and the blue/violet and green/blue coloring is absent. Both sexes have brownish/yellow triangular spots on their shoulders. A female desert spiny lizard will lay anywhere from 4 to 24 eggs during the summertime. A fully grown desert spiny lizard will reach a body length of up to 5.6 inches. Besides their bright colors, the desert spiny lizard changes to darker colors during the winter to allow them to absorb more heat from the sun and become lighter during the summer to reflect the sun’s radiation. It is frequently seen doing push-ups, pushing its body up and down, as a form of territorial display. The first recorded case of Leukemia in the family Phrynosomatidae was found in this species.
“Photography has nothing to do with cameras.” — Lucas Gentry
This week’s blog features some of the scenes from my vacation.
Sunday, 07/28/2024: Posted photo — Milky Way.
During my vacation, I attempted to take a Milky Way shot. The first two nights, I practiced at a couple of different locations. Both these locations had a large amount of ambient light. I was hoping that when we traveled away for civilization, the sky would be darker. No luck. When we were away from civilization, either the moon was too bright, or there was cloud cover. Here are my test shots.
Monday, 07/29/2024: Posted photo — Ganoga Falls.
We went to Ricketts Glen State Park in PA during this trip. This park features 23 waterfalls along a 5 to 7 mile trail (depending on your direction). We were able to see 18 of these waterfalls. This is the largest of the falls. Ganoga Falls has a height of 94 feet.
Another fall at the park is RB Bicketts Falls. This 36 feet waterfall is a wonderful example of the cascading falls in the park. The hike we took had about 800 feet in elevation change over some easy and difficult trails. The trail we took was marked the most difficult trail in the park. It was well worth the hike.
Ozone Falls is the second highest falls at 60 feet tall. The water was flowing well in the park. It will be great to go back in the fall, after the snowmelt, to see how much water is in the river. We camped two nights at Ricketts Glen to be able to hike and rest up before we moved onward.
Thursday, 08/01/2024: Posted photo — Bee on Flower.
Back home after vacation, we went to the cottage. My wife’s family has their reunion the first Saturday in August every year. I am always in the lookout for bees on flowers since I need practice on talking high speed photography.
Friday, 08/02/2024: Post photo — Rainbow.
Rain today. Rain this time of year produces rainbows. The strange thing about rainbows is that no two people see the same rainbow at the same time. They are based on your perspective.
This one started out weak, and then became stronger and then a double. The photo is an attempt to capture the full rainbow using the panorama setting on my cellphone.
Saturday, 08/03/2024: Post photo — Nature.
Just a shot of a log with moss on it to close out the week. When I returned to the office, I had one day to get up to date with my work before customers and auditor paid me a visit.
This photo was taken during the family reunion. Great to see old and new faces once a year.
“I never have taken a picture I’ve intended. They’re always better or worse.” — Diane Arbus
Photo for the week. Comments welcome.
Sunday, 04/28/2024: Posted photo — Leading Lines.
I needed a photo for one of my photos projects this week. The topic was leading lines. I kept my eye open for the perfect photo opportunity and did not find it. I saw the lines in the ceiling leading to the altar, so I took this photo to post if I did not see anything else that met the topic today.
Monday, 04/29/2024: Posted photo — Off on a Hike.
Monday night is hiking night, as you know if you have been following this blog. The last couple of hikes started and ended in daylight. The trails have been drying up over the last few weeks, so more people are out hiking.
These are some of the members of the Monday night hiking group enjoying the good weather.
This is the trail junction of Harrington and Semuhenna on Wachusett Mountain. Semuhenna trail a 1.1 mile connector trail. The trail I took tonight was a 0.5 mile sections between Harrington and West Side. Most of the time I go up Harrington. The section of Harrington after this trail junction is the steepest section on the mountain. It is steep and there are many scrambles for novice hikers.
Semuhenna is not an old Indian name, as most people believe. Looking at the name backwards, it is Annehumes or Anne Humes, the name of the wife (or daughter according to some people) of the person who made the trail.
Wednesday, 05/01/2024: Posted photo — Texture in the Sky.
When I looked at the cloudy sky tonight, I saw textures in the clouds. There is rain coming in tonight. I do not think that this photo does this justice. Sometimes it is difficult to relay the emotion of nature into a photo. Sometimes the photo puts more emotion into nature. I think this photo is too blown out to have the intended emotional value.
Thursday, 05/02/2024: Posted photo — Fiddleheads.
Fiddleheads are the tightly coiled tips of ferns that are eaten cooked. These delicate delights are available only in early spring when ferns grow their new shoots. These fiddleheads are growing near my mailbox. I may have posted photos of fiddleheads earlier this year and they are still growing. They are around for a very short period.
Friday, 05/03/2024: Post photo — Mount Rainier.
This mountain always inspires me. Either seeing it from Seattle, hiking on it, viewing from different sections of the national park, or flying past it, Mount Rainier is majestic. I feature Mount Rainier on the cover of my first photo book (portfolio book).
An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning five major rivers. I have camped at Mount Rainier a few times and always remember the signs stating that this is an active volcano, and I am camping in a lava flow path.
I took a photo of a waterfall one spring and went back a couple of years later to take a photo of the waterfall with more snow cover. I had the GPS location but could not find it. After looking at my path, I was standing on top of the waterfall and could not see it because of the snow cover.
Saturday, 05/04/2024: Post photo — Historic Marker.
I have Wilderness First Aid (WFA) training today and tomorrow. This class will certify my in doing first aid on people that are more than 1 hour away from definitive care. That means when I am leading groups or hiking in the mountains or a remote location.
On the way to the training, I passed this historical marker in the John Havard Mall adjacent to the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) headquarters.
Photo by Joseph Ciras 