landscape photography – Page 14

The Edge of Dark

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
~__.
[(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

For the Birds

Photography

I love being outside in the first place, and have always had a fascination with bird photography. I don’t have the $7000.00 camera and lens that will shoot 10 frames per second from 100 yards away, but mine does pretty good on a very limited budget. Since our trip to Corpus Christi a few weeks ago, my fascination with Birds has grown even more. Of course Coastal birding is completely different than North Texas birding. At some point I want to take a trip to Weslaco, TX to the World Birding Center and Bosque Nature Preserve in Albuquerque, NM. Of course these are not day trips from Plano. So for now I’ll stay in the back yard and surrounding areas of North Texas.

We have all kinds of birds in the park behind our house. It seems I never have my camera when I see something unique like a little finch or a crow.

This Red Tail Hawk was almost out of my range.

Red Tail Hawk_20170513_003

M R Ducks, C M Wangs! – Here are a few with babies in a row.

This Robin was taking a bath.

We have a nest of Mockingbirds in our Magnolia tree in the back yard. Mama and Daddy don’t like us getting too close to the nest and now babies!

When we were at Daniels house, there were some House Swallows in a nest under his front porch. These are curious(to me anyway) little birds. They build nests under porch overhangs and culverts along the roads out of mud and twigs.

Last weekend I went looking for the baby ducks again and much to my surprise I found some bucket list birds, Eastern Screech Owls. There were actually 5 or 6 nesting in a tree down by the creek.

I’m in the process of building a bird feeding station in hopes of getting really good shots of some other birds. I also purchased a camouflage changing tent so I can be a little closer to the station. We’ll see!

There will be more to come but for now, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open,

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.

Truck_20170408_006

Roadside Flowers_20170408_017 — These two were taken outside of Jayton

Jayton Cattle_20170408_011 Jayton Cattle_20170408_005

Road Runner_20170408_004 — Road Runner in Haskell

We go to Corpus next!

Thanks for looking.

Pody

Camera

First New blog post

Photography, Uncategorized

This is a new blog site I have started. The layout is better and more user friendly (I hope).

These are pictures from my daily walk around the neighborhood.

Thanks for looking.

I’ll try to keep this updated about once or twice a month.

Pody

Camera

A world of Concrete

Photography, Uncategorized

Neighborhood Petroglyphs!

According to Wikipedia Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph

I believe just about anything can make a good photograph and hopefully I have captured some here.

I carry my camera most of the time on my daily walk in the morning and/or at lunch and try to be more observant of things, I started the noticing concrete. Of course we have lots of it around here and I have seen several places with something scribbled or an OOPS moment. There are several shades of concrete with weathering and some a little newer.

Writing