Uncategorized – Page 11 – Photos by Pody

Be still and see the flowers

I have been thinking about doing this for a while now especially since I rented the Canon Macro lens a few weeks ago.

This type of photography is a little harder than you would think. I need a REAL white background instead of poster board. I used cheap reflectors and garage lamps with LED, and curly CFL bulbs for lighting. Sometimes I used flash as a fill and flood. The problem is too many shadows. Some turned out nice and I may print a few.

These are from our flower beds. High Key Rose_20171030_081

I bought a single yellow rose to play with as well

Juanita got these in a vase for Halloween with a little scare crow. They are about on their last leg but make a pretty good photo.

A neighbor has these Mexican Sunflowers in her flower beds at an apartment down the street. Yes, I asked before I cut them.

A pink rose from the front yard.

This is my favorite of the bunch.

Until next time, on to the next adventure!

Pody

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Up close and personal

Uncategorized

I decided to try my hand in Macro Photography. I couldn’t justify spending $800.00 so I rented a Canon 100mm lens. This lens is one of the best there is on the market today. The colors and detail are amazing.

Things are a lot different when you get close. This is a whole new world most of us never see. I found bugs, butterflies and worms. Flowers and rain drops, fruits and cinnamon rolls. Some staged some in nature.

It was a lot of fun for the week I had the lens. I shot a little over 750 photos.The problem now is picking the best of the best to post here!

It is a fun lens, but as I said, I am not so sure I can justify $800.00 for one of my own. Maybe Craigs list?

Pody

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The Edge of Dark

Photography, Uncategorized

While we were in Kansas, getting ready to shoot The Great American Eclipse of 2017, I decided to try shooting the Milky Way and some other stars. The sky was a little overcast and not knowing where the heck I am, I stopped on a hill after driving a mile or so down a dirt road about 10 miles west of Salina, Kansas.

When I first got there, the sun had just gone down and it was not quite dark yet.

Stars in Kansas_20170819_025 If you look close, this is the Big Dipper just after Dusk

Stars in Kansas_20170819_029 — It’s hard to see but a little better picture of the Big Dipper and an Airplane, top right

Stars in Kansas_20170819_033 — I had some visitors as well. They are not really ghost cows

I have photographed the moon before, but this was my first chance to be away from the light pollution of the city. Well, almost. Turns out there was a little town a few miles over the next hill.

Stars in Kansas_20170819_034 — Still not quite dark enough

Stars in Kansas_20170819_037 — Milky Way

Stars in Kansas_20170819_040 — You can see a small plane right in front of the Milky Way

Stars in Kansas_20170819_043 — You can make out part of the Milky Way

I’ll try again at some point if I can get far enough away from lights. Maybe McDonald Observatory in West Texas. Hmmm…. Can you say our next adventure?

Pody
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The Birds and the Bees and the Flowers…

Photography, Uncategorized

Reminds me of a great old song, but I digress.

I have been shooting birds and bees just about everywhere we go. Most of these are shot in a setup I have in our backyard. I found a Crepe Myrtle someone cut down and hung several types of feeders with different seeds and suet. When the squirrels are not eating, I can get some pretty good shots of various birds from under our pergola.

Most of these are from around the house and creek behind our house. Some were taken near the Pawhuska, Oklahoma, home of the Pioneer Woman Mercantile.

Woodpecker_20170704_020 Woodpecker_20170704_016 Downy Woodpecker_20170622_003 Downy Woodpecker_20170529_001 Mississippi Kite_20170702_021 Mississippi Kite_20170702_013 Mississippi Kite_20170702_002 Sparrow_20170521_088 Sparrow_20170521_085 Sparrow_20170521_074 Sparrow_20170520_052 Sparrow_20170520_011 Sparrow and Cardinal_20170520_006 Mockingbird_20170622_003 Mockingbird_20170529_016 Mockingbird_20170704_003 White-Winged Dove_20170704_003 Night Hawk and Horses_20170701_002 Common Night Hawk_20170528_003 Carolina Chickadee_20170523_010 Carolina Chickadee_20170520_028 BlueJay_20170704_008 BlueJay_20170628_001 Bees_20170704_004 Bees_20170704_001 Bees_20170622_003 Bees_20170520_012 Bees_20170520_004

Thanks for looking.

On to the next project and or adventure!

~__.
[(O)]
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Back to Black….and white

Photography, Uncategorized

In the early years of my photographic journey, I had a film camera that only shot black and white. In my photography classes at High School, we had black and white film cameras as well. I was a lot less expensive to develop. I always wanted a color camera and when I finally got one, the decision of which film to buy, ISO 100, 200, 400, Slide, Kodak, Fiji, etc, etc. I thought of black and white but never purchased any film. Color was cool!

Now in the digital world I can convert any picture to black and white and they look really good. Most every picture I work on in post production, I will at least convert to B&W then back to color.

Some of the pictures here were taken several years ago.

Abilene_20160430_038 Albuquerque_20150706_004 Arizona Roadside_20150707_005 Corpus Christi_20170421_156 Corpus Christi_20170421_206 Drummond Ranch_20170527_004 Drummond Ranch_20170527_016 Drummond Ranch_20170527_026 Grand Canyon_20150709_078 MonsterJam2013_20130223_093 Painted Desert_20150707_001 Pawhuska OK_20170527_032 Pennsylvania_20160921_048 Pioneer Woman Mercantile_20170527_024 Roadside CO.KS.OK_20160825_024 Roadside CO.KS.OK_20160828_082 San Antonio Trip _20160417_025 Sangre de Cristo Mountains_20160825_035 Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_091 Truck_20170408_005 Vacation Savannah_20140728_198 New York City_20161217_441 New York City_20161216_258 Corpus Christi_20170422_332 Corpus Christi_20170422_373

I can’t wait till our next adventure!

Pody

Camera

Oklahoma Pioneer

Uncategorized

Over the Memorial Day weekend we decided to make a quick trip to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, Home of The Pioneer Woman. For those of you who may not know, Ree Drummond has a show on the Food Network called The Pioneer Woman. The Mercantile is a really nice renovated old building in Downtown Pawhuska. Excellent dining and atmosphere. Much to our surprise, Ladd Drumond was outside greeting guests.

We went to the Mercantile and did some shopping but the line was so long we decided to wait a while to eat. Pioneer Woman Mercantile_20170527_006

We went to the Lodge where the show is filmed. Its a very nice place that they renovated a few years ago as well. The view was beautiful.

They have several hundred head of wild horses on the Drummond Ranch. It has rained enough everything was nice and green.

Back at the Mercantile, we ate what we call LU-PPER. A cross between lunch and supper.

After getting stuffed, a little more shopping and Guess who we saw? The Pioneer Woman herself.

Afterwards, we took a little walk on the “Swinging Bridge” This was cool and Grandma went as far as anyone!

Swinging Bridge Pawhuska OK_20170527_014

Swinging Bridge Pawhuska OK_20170527_012

Swinging Bridge Pawhuska OK_20170527_010

This is a white-Tailed Kite(at least from what I know). It is a member of the Hawk family. If you view the picture at full size, you can see its Eyes appear Red. It’s hard to take a picture of a bird at telephoto lengths on a swinging bridge.

Sunday I wanted to go to the Tall Grass Prairie. It is one of the largest protected Prairies in the US covering 39,000 acres according to the WIKI. It is really cool to see several hundred Bison roaming free. Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_001

We saw some up close and personal!

It was a very peaceful ride around the preserve.

Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_022

There are several different species of birds there as well. These Western Meadowlarks are singing all over the place.

Western Meadowlark_20170528_018 Western Meadowlark_20170528_004

This Bob White Quail let us know he was there.

Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_024 The Scissor Tail Flycatcher is the state bird of Oklahoma.

Scissor Tail Flycatcher_20170528_012

Once we left and headed home we actually took a Scenic Route! We drove about 30 miles or more on the dirt roads and ended up only 6 miles from Kansas.

Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_097 Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_092 Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_087

Tallgrass Prairie_20170528_095

Over all we had a really fun time. The best of rest are here

I’m not sure where our next adventure will lead us.

Stay Tuned!

Pody

Camera

Elgin, Texas Spring 2017

Photography, Uncategorized

Elgin, Texas April 28-30, 2017 – pronounced Elg-In.

We took Juanita’s Mom, Chana, to see her eldest son, Daniel, for her 93rd birthday. He lives in a very small town named McDade, about 35 miles east of Austin. Elgin is about 24 miles from Austin. It is a small town of 8100 people or so. Downtown is filled with historical old buildings that have now been renovated into Antique stores and shops. The rest of the town is like most other small towns across Texas. There are some really pretty places and some that should be condemned.

Here are a few shots of both places.

Downtown McDade

Perez Family_20170430_011 — Daniel, Chana, Juanita, and Adolfo

Daniels House_20170429_008 — An uninvited visitor at Daniel’s house!

The train was a building block of most old towns. Of course next to the tracks was the Grain elevator. I think the grain may get wet.

A retired old blacksmith shop. I really wanted to go inside this place!

This is Sacred Heart Catholic Church. We listened to a very nice homily from Fr. Charles Van Winkle. He has published 3 books and can be found at his website.

Elgin Texas_20170430_034

Thanks for looking.

Our next Adventure?? We’ll have to wait and see.

Pody

Camera

Corpus Christi Spring 2017

Photography, Uncategorized

My lovely wife and I went to Corpus Christi Texas for a Catholic Daughters Convention April 20-23, 2017. While she was at the convention most of the time, I had a photography outing. I took over 850 pictures of the event and areas in and around Corpus.

Nice weather produced some pretty sunrises.

I rode my bike to the Naval Air Station and saw several birds. The birds I saw and wanted to photograph was a Red Tipped Spoonbill. They look similar to Flamingos. When I dove there in the car, of course they were already gone and it was getting hot.

I had a nice surprise when I loaded the Pictures on the PC.

Corpus Christi_20170421_092 — You can’t plan this shot

Corpus Christi_20170421_087 — I thought this seaweed was interesting

Afterwards I drove to Mustang Island to Bob Hall Pier.

I don’t know what this bird is, but he looks intimidating. I just googled it and it is an Osprey.

I tried some long exposure shots at night of the Corpus Christi bay and skyline. Some are pretty good but even on the tripod the wind was shaking my camera. Crazy!

Birds everywhere.

I got photobombed with a seagull. Surprise!

Corpus Christi_20170422_334 — This is one of my favorites!

Along the Docks there are several actively working shrimp boats.

Along the coast line as well is a little ways in town, there were some interesting places from yesteryear.

Some planned graffiti and some not so much.

I walked to the top of the Harbor Bridge, (well almost) – This bridge is 16 stories high at the road surface to the water. The little walkway is barely wide enough for two people back to back. It was a little freaky to say the least!

I have posted the some of the better pictures here.

Next weekend we go to Bastrop, Texas for Channa’s 93rd Birthday! Stay tuned!

Pody

Camera

Levelland

Photography, Uncategorized

Levelland, Texas. Population 13452. Home of South Plains College and Little Dribblers.

We made a quick trip to Levelland last weekend (04-07-17). I had a little time Saturday morning to take a few shots.

Levelland_20170408_059 — I’m not sure what this building used to be

The Ethanol plant east of town.

Levelland_20170408_040 — The Cottonseed Oil plant

Levelland_20170408_052 — My fellow photographer captured this as well.

Check out her site, she has some great pictures – https://melindagreenharvey.com/

Birds at South Plains College and around the house.

These are the Iris in the yard. Channa (my mother-in-law) has a very green thumb.

On our way back to Plano, I took the road of my childhood through Haskell Texas. We didn’t spend much time in Haskell, but there are MANY photo opportunities along the way.