The Event

Late in the pitch dark night, much too early one morning when the sun was high in the afternoon sky, ever so slowly it happened quite suddenly. 

There was no sound when, loudly, it came crashing down upon them. No one expected it, but it was just as they had predicted. 

What had happened was entirely beyond description and yet everyone had a mental picture of it on the tip of their tongue. 

The smell of it rang in their ears. 

The entire crowd was speechless, the nattering endless. For hours on end the blathering lasted but a moment. 

And then, in the calm of turmoil, it was the village idiot who quietly projected (in a manner that everyone in sight could hear), "while this event, which lasted but a split second, could go on forever, there is no time like the present for a nicely chilled cocktail."

Working Man's Technology

Our Lady of Guadalupe – Mission, Texas

 Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church was established in 1899 as Our Lady of the Mission. It was renamed in 1927 when the church was rebuilt after a disastrous fire.

 Windows in the choir loft.

 Major renovations, completed in November, 2013 included new wings on either side of the sanctuary.

Light from clerestory windows reflect a beautiful soft light from the arched ceiling to an expansive sanctuary attended by worshipers every day of the week.

Light Painting

 Painting with a penlight thanks to our friend Ruth Blackmon who suggested we try this as a group.

 These are my best attempts with water drops on a CD

Morning After

Trying to walk off yesterday's food binge, I went out the the Red Cedar River this morning. In otherwise untracked snow I saw these deer tracks on the sidewalk alongside the river.

Even in Michigan where people are used to the cold, there was only one other person willing to brave the sub-freezing chill.

 The temperature has been in the low 20s F. the past three days. The river still flows freely, but there are many patches of ice on the water.

Branches from an overhanging Willow dip into the water to provide a surface where ice crystals form. They appear as  brushes recharging from an artist's palette.

Thanksgiving Morning

Light snow fell most of the night. We woke to a powdery dusting on the ground and trees, by early afternoon the wind had blown it all onto the ground.

Outside Barb's back door we were treated to a variety of songbirds: Slate Gray Juncos, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Sparrows, Nuthatches, Chickadees and a Flicker.

In the photo a Junco sits in a berry tree outside the backdoor waiting for a Red Squirrel to finish gorging itself from the bird feeder below.

Winter Sunset

Black Walnut Trees stand naked, silhouetted against a winter sunset, in Grand Ledge, Michigan.

Michigan November

Cattails stand upright in a frozen pond bending away from the icy wind and drifting snow near Grand Ledge, Michigan.

I didn't really expect to find open water frozen over and new fallen snow so early in the year. Then again, friends in Texas have been writing that this is the coldest weather in the Rio Grande Valley in more than forty years,

Ice patterns in a quickly frozen puddle provide testament to sub freezing temperatures that are still hanging in.

I'm hoping that south Texas warms up before we return next week.

Bleak November Morning

All it needs is a flock of grackles and an Alfred Hitchcock story.

Minimalism

Wind Ripples in the Dunes

Another version of the South Padre Island, TX dunes in the early evening. The photo has been manipulated a little to balance the light in the sky with the light on the sand.

Laguna Madre Sunset

Cross the Queen Isabella Causeway, turn left onto South Padre Island, take State Park Highway 100 a few miles north. The road is also known as Ocean Boulevard. Drive a considerable distance away from the city. When you spot a patch of sand unmarked by human footprints, park the vehicle, climb a small dune to the west of the highway and watch the sunset – it happens very quickly so plan to arrive well before sundown.

If you're an early riser, follow the same directions except you will climb a dune on the east side of the highway where you will watch a sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico. For me, it's a sight I'll likely never see.

They Grow Up So Fast

Vicki said she thought there was a bird's nest in our Grapefruit tree. A quick glance confirmed her suspicion. I began this series of photos October 13th.

Sometime before October 21st the eggs had hatched to produce two very ugly little chicks.

Four days later, October 25th, they had developed feathers and looked much less ugly.

This afternoon, November 1st, they have a well-developed set of feathers with a nearly "cute" appearance, although, they don't particularly like having a camera stuck in their faces.

All this development took about two weeks. Next thing you know they'll be leaving home and starting families of their own.

Analog Files

Is it 1950s style texting while driving?

Contact management system?

Scheduling?

Turn-by-turn GPS?

Little Black Book for god and everybody to see?

Honey dew list?

Macular degenerate driver trying to cover up the floaties in his eyes?

Sleepy Valley Resort Swimming Pool Immediately After Sundown

Sangre De Christo Mountains

A roadside view  of the Sangre De Christo Mouuntains on Highway 285 about 25 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico yesterday morning.

Rolling Iowa Farmland

Photo taken at mid day from the Grinnell Rest Area on I-80 between Iowa City and Des Moines.

Mid day is not the best time for landscape photos, but it was when I was there.

According to the plaque at the Rest Area, Grinnell was founded by Josiah Grinnell after following the famous advice of Horace Greeley who told him to "Go West, young man, go West."

Grinnell is the home of Grinnell College alma mater of actor, Gary Cooper and Robert Noyce, inventor of the process the made the micro-chip possible, and thereby the modern electronics revolution.

Beautiful Places

Photo processed in Photoshop CS5, HDR Pro using three exposures.

Scott Kelby, author and Photoshop guru, asserted in a Livonia, MI seminar last week that if you want to take beautiful pictures you must take your camera to beautiful places. His implication – You must travel to iconic places such as, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon, Smoky Mountains or any of the several "arches parks" in Utah to find outstanding photos.
I take great exception to that argument.

First, look for the beautiful light, it's usually at dawn or at dusk, although every now and again you can find interesting light at mid-day. Next, identify what it was that moved you to point your camera – what made you say, "WOW?"

You will find that you are always in a beautiful place.

These three photos were taken within about ten minutes overlooking the White River delta at Montague, MI. The beautiful light was, of course, the impending sunrise. The WOW factor was the spectacular color. The reflections on the water provided a magnificent texture. The cloud patterns repeated in the reflections provided an interesting foreground, complete with middle and background all within a framework of thirds (the requisite pattern for a successful landscape photo).

Click on any of the three photos to see a larger image.

Pink Chairs in the Sunset...

...way out on the lawn.
They are old, retired and started to yawn.
They rose before the dawning, played all day with nary a snooze.
Pink chairs in the sunset, they left you to get more booze.

Afternoon Trout Stream Flows Into the Night

Architectural Digest Visits Barb's New Condo

...hey, it coulda happened.

The new corner cabinet needs a couple knick knacks. Otherwise, the color, balance and decor are all very nicely done.

Hummingbird Moth

Wildflowers in the Afternoon

I find it difficult to capture a photo of wildflowers that shows the beauty of their color scattered in a broad, mostly green, field.

Form Shape Texture

The most "everyday" of everyday subjects illuminated by a bathroom skylight at mid-day.

Worn-Out Gloves

...but the patio is finished.

September Morning in the Neighborhood

Montague, MI – September 11, 2013. My stroll through the neighborhood early yesterday began at the new

park behind the Trailway Campground.

Early morning light on a sunny day washes everything in spectacularly brilliant hues. Wild flowers flourish next to an old telephone pole and farther into the new meadow where a herd of deer feeds during the night.

Delicate Poppies, in particular, visually shout out the magnificence of nature reflected in early morning’s glow.

An elderly woman angles for panfish on the river delta next to the Fishing Bridge. She was among the very few people to witness this gorgeous morning in our neighborhood.

Golden color on the Lily Pads is a stark reminder that we are on the cusp of season’s change. The river flats will soon be frozen and covered with snow (something I don't intend to see again).

Down on the lake at the Municipal Marina a john boat floats in a broad sliver of morning radiance, a vision that will be totally unremarkable at mid-day.

A park bench, lamp post, and evidence of well-fed Canadian Geese mark the end of my morning amble on this early September day when the sky was clear, the air soft and the temperature absolutely perfect. The perfect time for a stroll through the neighborhood.

Discover the Light

Pussywillows in a crystal vase lit by the sun from a south facing window.

Red and Blue Jackets

An image based on light and color, manipulated in Photoshop CS5 with a border added in Perfect Effects 4.

Late Summer at Trailway Campground

Although the rules of thumb dictate that outdoor photography should be performed late in the afternoon, early evening or early in the morning before ten o'clock, mid-day light inspired me to get out with the camera this afternoon in a desperation move to record the campground as it nears the end of the summer season. Many residents are already getting ready to head south for the winter.

Lilies blossom in a "wild garden" back by the fire pit and common area.

All summer long folks in the creek-view sites have worked to clean the stream banks, manicure lawns and prepare colorful, relaxing outdoor spaces.

I gave the horseshoe pit an old-time, antique look with a new plug-in for Photoshop. I don't often use these effects, but they do generate an atmosphere I couldn't otherwise create.

The fire ring provided a centerpiece for many cocktail parties and potlucks for the most sociable season I can remember at Trailway.

Travel flags indicate the winter destinations for many of the parks residents. Another "cute" effect from Perfect Effects 4. Some of these effects would have been embarrassing accidents back in the days of film photography and color slides.

Flowers and bird feeders attract finches and hummingbirds. The pink chairs frequently attract neighbors bearing cocktails.

Colorful blossoms at swamp's edge bring hummingbirds. We have to be careful about what we plant because the deer and rabbits eat all the blossoms of some plants in a single night. Tomatoes are entirely out of the question. This is the scene from our backyard, overlooking a marsh on the White River.

These blossoms will last only a few more weeks, the planters will be retired until next spring.

Contrived photo enhancements can't relieve the depression of seeing summer come to an end so soon. It seems we've only just settled in from our spring trip to Michigan from the Rio Grande Valley.