One Night Before a Full Moon

I don't know why I shot this at such a low ISO but here it is.  Tomorrow is a full moon but tonight will be the only night to get anything as tomorrow it is suppose to rain....90% chance.....lots of rain they say.  Sump pump started last night and is running every 22  seconds.

Anyway, I shot this at 100 for 30 secs at f~5.0 with the lens at 270mm.  Hence the star trails and clouds out of focus, I mean moving, I always shoot in focus.  Santa won't visit me tomorrow after that big lie.  No matter, this is pretty much right out of the camera.  You'll have to blow it up to see how many of the little stars I caught.

Landing Gear This Year....Wheels!

No Santa....we aren't going to put the runners on the sleigh this year.  Get over it.  December, mid-sixties, rain and fog.  This morning just the fog.

There was a bright shininess to the trees as the sun came up and started to burn off the fog.  It looked as if we had had a little ice over night but it was just from the rain.  Just keep the wheels on Santa.

No One Guessed What the Project Was

Only one person tried to guess on what my project was, you can see it in an earlier posting.  I couldn't put the results up until after Thanksgiving.  Our daughter has a motorcycle that she enjoys to ride so I thought I would make a bike for her to put in her office on a shelf, something she could look at on those snowy or bleak rainy days that lie ahead for the next few months.  Three types of wood, red oak, pine and I'm assuming a dark oak that I took from an old skid.

Ice

Here it is Nov. 23rd and come Thursday it is suppose to be near 60 degrees.  It can hang around all it wants, however, I do believe what we woke up to this morning is more like what is just around the corner.  Indianapolis is just a couple of hours away and they had snow yesterday.

Yes boys and girls that is ice on the pond....No Ice Skating Allowed.

From October 14th

I posted a picture of a bush and explained how it was loaded with purple berries that the birds eat in March.  You could see the berries but now that the leaves are gone you can really see how it is loaded.  Robins seem to like it the most, however I have seen smaller birds in the branches.

Such A Colorful Fall

Here it is, almost Big Bird Day....  Who would have thought that it would be so warm here and that we would have had such a colorful fall.  It proves one thing, water in the spring and summer bring on great colors in the fall.  Of course most of the trees left with colors, and leaves, are primarily Pear trees.

What Is It To Be?

My next and newest project.  Question is, what is it.  Three woods, pine, oak and cherry.  This reminds me, we had a Weeping Cherry tree removed and replaced it with a Blue Eyed Spruce.  I had them save the trunk as it was 5" to 6" in diameter and very straight.  It is in the garage drying.  I also pre-cut two limbs that were all twisted.  The limbs are going to be bird feeders.  An eye hook on one end to hang them from a tree and I drilled some holes with various sizes of forstner bits.  I guess I need to take a picture.

So, what is this?

Crazy Weather.......

Yesterday we woke to dead still air that along with the temperature and humidity we had a good amount of fog.  Today we are on the leading edge of the storm that dumped snow in Colorado and tornadoes west of us.  Here are pictures of the last two mornings.

Black and White Morning Sky

A morning after a day of rain.  Wasn't sure what the day would turn out to be so I started it in neutral. Turns out it was quite nice....breezy and cool but this is Ohio, it's fall.  Next week November starts and the 70's are predicted.

A Golden End

With all the rains in the beginning of the year and then the heat, never really got that hot, and the dryness you wouldn't have thought that this fall would be so brilliant in color in this area.  We do not get the colors of Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia or the northern eastern seaboard.  But this year has been very generous in mother natures color.

I must put out a tribute to a blogger from Maine.  His name I never knew until just yesterday.  He a 7th grade teacher in literature and the arts for 41 years at the same school  until retirement.  He never missed a posting in over a year or two....maybe even longer than that.  I should look that info up.  I read his post of 10/17/15 and then notice either the next day or Monday that he hadn't posted anything.  Well, I just learned his name a day ago when I checked the Portland, ME obits and found he had passed away suddenly on 10/17/15.  Mark Norton, also referred to as Birdman.  His blog was pORTLANDcITYdAILYpHOTO.  He grew up in Portland and would take you through memory lane every so often, talking about his paper route, playing baseball in the summer or just hanging out as boys will on lazy summer days, well, at least back then.  I know, that's what we...my brother and I did back then.  He told stories of how he met his wife, she had just graduated from college with an art degree and applied to where he was teaching.  She was from New Hampshire and had no place to stay so after staying with friends and something like the Y she moved in with Mark as a roommate.  Fate took over from there.  They ended up living in Buxton, ME on a small piece of land just to get out of the city.

So, this is my Golden tribute to a guy I never met but wish I had.  We did converse every now and then through our blogs...it was fun.  He will be missed.

Finally!

We are finally getting some much needed rain.  It wasn't suppose to happen, only a slight chance but late today it poured for awhile.  No more now until the remanence of Patricia shows up Tuesday and Wednesday.  Then the odds are for about 90% per day.

We've pretty much peaked this week in fall colors but unless you got up early and trekked out to the woods or real late in the day the sun was just too bright, however, today's cloud cover was perfect for bringing the colors out.  It was a good day for fall colors or taking pictures of cars but the car shows have all but wrapped up for this year.  Let there be clouds when wanting color in your images.  The rain can hold off.

Yellow-Green Sunrise, Really?

I know this is the same posting as the last but I sometime find photos I really like to change up from one look to another.  This is one of them so I have gone from chrome to a yellow green tone.  Seems to make the image brighter.  Maybe even cleaner.

Orange Skies to Black and White

In this area they are always asking the viewers of the local TV news to send in photos of news and weather issues.  Once I saw a picture during one of the weather issue times and they thanked the sender.  Something didn't look right so I stopped it backed it up and froze it again to really get a good look.  Unfortunately they gave credit to an individual that sent in a photo for sometime before, a year or better.  So, the other night they did the same thing.  Said where the sender was and thanked him for the great sunset shot.  Only problem was there wasn't a cloud in the sky all morning, day or afternoon.  The picture, it had plenty of clouds, just like this one except mine doesn't have color.  There is a fine line that can be used in time to where you can't tell AM from PM....Blue Hour from Golden Hour.  Maybe I'll send in a morning shot and say look at my sunset.  Naw, not my style.

As Promised

I have no idea as to why my post yesterday didn't show the picture except I was doing it on an iPad and the picture was in my iPhone so I sent the picture from the phone to myself then did a copy/paste into the body of the blog.  I saw it in my preview but when I clicked the Publish button it was only text.  Today, if you got it, would have been because I went back to the post and edited it on my phone and put the picture in from the photos.  Now that was not fun.....can't see the small print let alone the fine print.  Again, I saw the change on my iPad and Steph saw it but Cindy didn't.  No one else said anything so I figured they didn't see it either.

Now I am doing what I said I would do, post the pumpkins after hanging them outside next to the front door.  We had 7 then I added 4 so will that be luck at the Halloween craps table?   Face on the bottom says it all.

Latest Project...Hey Charlie Brown

Started with a piece of 3/8" wanes cot plywood.  Flipped it over, sanded, mixed some paint with my daughters advice and air brushed the pumpkins and their stems.  Traced the pumpkin outlines on some wrapping paper that you would use for moving and then drew the faces.  Cut the faces out to make stencils then air brushed the faces on.  Pre hung the pieces with twine and pins to balance the setup and then I super glued the twine where the pins were.  Next I put a coat of polyurethane on the pumpkins and the twine so they would be weather resistant.  Tomorrow, a picture from outside.

Let it be known, I have never attempted anything like this from scratch.  Big thanks to Steph.

Mid-October

It's still warm to very warm here in the mid-west for this time of year.  We have had temps ranging in the 80's and we should be nearer to the 70 mark.  A week or so ago, right about the time the floods hit the southern states as the hurricane went up the coast, it got down to the 40's at night and right around 60 in the daytime.  Now that has passed and we have gone back into the 80's again but we are headed towards our first frost of the year this weekend.

One thing about these hot days and cool nights is that it sets up the possibility of fog.  It was starting to burn off when I took this picture of one of my favorite plants.  It's just a bush but it gets these little yellow followed by white flowers on each limb from tip to base.  Then they set little blue seed pods, about the size of push pins with the round head...not the flat ones.  In late September they turn purple and stay that way until February, changing only because the weather gets too cold too long.  When they do they turn dark brown to black and some burst open to reveal their seeds.  In March they become the feast for Robins and pretty much no other bird.  They will come every day to feed until they are gone and I mean gone...picked clean like a good BBQ rib bone.  In April or May I go out with my hedge trimmer and shear it down to about 4" and the process starts all over.

We have just started to really get fall colors here in the middle of Ohio.  In about a week we should start to peak.  Places like Hocking Hills should be in full color by then.

Of course, all of this is followed by ................................... SNOW!!!!!!!!

In 68 days and a little over 9 hours the winter happens and the days start to get longer.....yea.

Before and After

Straight out of the camera.  Nothing fancy.  Might make it my home screen background for awhile.

Of course it's the same shot with "some" editing.  I'll make it my background around the end of the month when the spooks and goblins come out for All Hallows Eve.  Even the bats are flying early this year.  Oh, it's just a flock of birds.....or is it?

In the Darkness of Night

Finally, the weather has Fall written all over it.  Windy, very cool (60ish) and now wet.  Good time to catch up on some photo work.

Four shots of the lunar eclipse from my perspective.  I only wish that I had remembered it when the moon first came up that night, when it would have appeared to be larger than life as some people said.  I've seen super moons before and they don't excite me unless the atmosphere is really working for you.  Then it helps in getting a better picture with a smaller lens.  Without using my teleconverters I'm limited to 270mm which is fine, not too much grain in the images.

I labeled these as Beginning, Middle, Ending and Blood Moon.  What was interesting was that to look up with the naked eye at the final stage the moon didn't look so bloody but more of a faint spot in the sky.  Unless you shoot a lot of night images it's hard to get it right in exposure which is ISO, shutter speed and aperture.  The first shot was set at 1/1250sec @ f-11, ISO 6400 at 270mm focal plane.  The next two were 1/4000 @ f-6.3, ISO 6400 and 270mm.  The final shot was 1.3 sec @ f-6.3, ISO 6400 at 154mm focal plane.  I had one at 270 but I thought it was more blurred.  It would have been great to have had a faster lens than f-6.3 at 270mm but as one of my first bosses told me, "any one can do it with the right tools, it takes a real tradesman to do with what he has to work with....get it  as close as you can to perfect, it'll all work out."

All I can say is thank goodness for LR and PS.


Beginning

Middle

Ending

Blood Moon  

Wright B Flyer

It may be just a replica and in today's modern technology one would think that it would be safer to fly than when the Wright brothers flew it but it is still a  experimental piece of flying equipment.  You can't even say it was a mode of transportation other than the pilots did travel but mainly for their work...experimentation etc.  Approximately a year ago one of the Flyer's, yes, there is more than one, crashed killing both pilot and co-pilot.  I'm not sure what the cause was but I'm sure something was discovered.  The two pilots were the main fliers of this aircraft with many hours behind the stick.  It was used at many of the festivals around the area and anything that takes place at Wright Patterson AFB.

These were taken as flew over my house when returning from the start of the Air Force Marathon.  I missed it when it was going to the event, however, when I heard it coming back I knew I had time to get my camera as it was flying into a pretty good head wind.

Into the Light

Ever wonder where they are going? 

The Shadowy Figure

No, that's not me.  Fourth to fourth-five years ago you would have found me climbing around the rafters of General Motors, Hobart Bros. etc.  Getting up there was simple, grab a beam, put your feet in the webbing and start pulling yourself up.  Once you were at I-beam level the next part was getting up and over the beam so you could stand up and walk the rafters.  GM's posts were 32' one way and 30' the other direction between the posts.  Height was 30' up.  I-beams ran post to post and on the diagonal you would have 3" x 3" angle iron.  Great but narrow walk ways for cutting corners if you needed to get o the other side.

This is my neighbor.  He's finishing off his pergola roofing....almost in the dark.  It stands 14' plus and is accessible with a ladder.  It's pretty massive....12" x 12" cedar posts.

I miss rhose days, they were fun and satisfying accomplishment wise.  Today, I just act my age and stay on the ground, working like what's referred to as a grunt.  I hand things up to those that are younger and more agile.

Way to go Chris.....

Competitors at Odds

This fight between a hawk and crow was started by, what appeared to be, the hawk.  There were three crows in the area together.  The come here all the time.  One was off someplace else and the other is just out of this shots view.  I guess the hawk was being territorial because I didn't see anything food wise that it would have wanted.  There was cawing and screeching for a bit.  The crow appeared to be the larger of the two birds but the talons of the hawk probably looked quite large as well to the crow.  Eventually the hawk flew off.

The Watchdog of the Pond and a Friend

This turtle has become the watchdog of the pond.  He perches himself upon one of the rocks and if he sees something he doesn't like he disappears into the water very quickly which warns other inhabitants in an alarm fashion.  I must admit that I have never looked it up but turtles must have the eyes of a hawk.  My deck is at least 75 yards away and he use to sink into the water as soon as I would step out.  I think he knows me now and pays no attention.  By the way he stayed in this position for a long long time.  The dark spot on its back appears to be his shell torn up or peeled up like an injury.

 This heron was cooling down very near the turtle.  No, he's not floating like a duck but rather he's just cooling off.  Taking a break from fishing.

 As you can see, he's standing up for a bit.  Guess he didn't like squatting as long as he did to cool down so he decided to stretch his legs.

 Back to squatting and looking like a deck.

90 Degrees

Two days ago it was near 90 degrees out in September here in middle Ohio.  I say middle because we are in line with Columbus which is in the middle, we are just 100 miles west.  Today we're 30 degrees cooler with just a hint of fall showing.  We are so green for this time of the year that everything is lush like springtime.  Fall could be very interesting here in the mid west.  

This picture is just a reminder of what could be seen in just a couple of months.

A Smokey Fountain?

Experimentation

The other day we had a nice case of morning fog.  Didn't last long, however, as usual it didn't fail to disappoint.  Takes all the color out of the air kind of and makes lighting difficult to deal with but fun at the same time.  I decided that my first attempt with this would be a metal layer laid on top of the image and then give it some of the metal tones, almost a leathery look.  I feel it came out okay, the light spots in the metal take the place of the clouds that couldn't be seen, if they were there at all.

The Ever Quick and Elusive Turtle

And now the creature of the pond that I have been trying to capture on "film" or  should I say memory card.  It likes these rocks because of the isolation, not too close to the bank and easy to slide off of if he sees something he doesn't like.....like me.