Day 243 - On the rocks

Day 243 - On the Rocks

I took the Photo Safari with Joe McNally and Moose Peterson. Our quest took us out to Valley of Fire about one hour outside of Las Vegas.

Joe was as good as I thought he would be.

Part of the time was spent with models, actually posing on the rocks.

I get it, lighting really does make a difference.

ISO 100, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/200 sec.

But I like natural lighting too.

Day 242

ISO 100, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/100 sec.

Day 242 - Six Strings and a CD

Here I sit amongst all of the twinkly lights of Las Vegas and my photo is one I took in the Portland Airport.

This guy was playing on the concourse, I was completely enamored by his music. This is Jimmy Free. Check out his website if you like New Age music, he's very good.

Day 241 - I'll miss you too

ISO 100, 155mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec.

Day 241 - I'll Miss You Too

Tomorrow I leave for Las Vegas and Photoshop World.

Our Internet has been on and off all day, it is driving me nuts.

I will really miss my family, but I'm looking forward to all that PSW offers.

I'll do my best to get the daily posted. I suspect there will be lots of lights coming your direction.

Day 240

ISO 400, 35mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec.

Day 240 - Oh My Aching Feet

We went to the Oregon State Fair for awhile today.

I was most intrigued by the draft horse competition. We wandered over to the stalls after they were done. These horses are so majestic, weighing in at a mere 2000 lbs.

I watched this guy from the back for quite a while, kind of a prissy boy, he rested one foot and then he rested the other.

His trainer walked by and we chatted for a moment. He said he was 12 years old, a good age for a draft horse, but he would be retiring after this competition. He said this big guy was getting lazy.

Day 239

ISO 100, 21mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec.

Day 239 - Flame Thrower

Yesterday I hung the "Do Not Disturb" tags on both my e-mail and voice mail and exited stage left for a much needed 11 days off.

Last night for the first time in weeks, I didn't dream about work, but rather which lens I should use at the Northwest Air and Art Festival.

Dutifully, I mounted my 16-35mm lens on my camera before we left the house this morning, not really sure how well I would like using a wide angle lens.

I loved it. I pushed right in and got up close and personal as the pilots got their balloons ready for launch.

Day 238

ISO 100, 105mm, f/10, 1/80 sec.

Day 238 - Eastern Skies

From the roof of a parking garage (thanks Angela), we looked east to the sunset. Definitely a different perspective of the capital than I have seen before.

Day 237

ISO 100, 82mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec.

Day 237 - Filing a Missing Season Report

I turned around today and realized that summer was gone. Did anybody see what happened to it?

Day 236

ISO 100, 35mm, f/2.8, 1/320 sec.

Day 236 - Make Mine A Double

I lied, I want a minimum of five shots in that thar drink.

It's been a day, and I popped by my favorite espresso drive-up on the way home from work.

Day 235

ISO 1600, 16mm, f/2.8, 1/20 sec.

Day 235 - After Dark

Our path to the backyard, barely lit by shadows.

This is the ultimate lazy shot. Didn't want to set up the tripod, so I pushed the ISO and set it to the slowest that I knew I could hand-hold.

Sheesh.

Day 234 - Sour apples

ISO200, 130mm, f/2.8, 1/640 sec.

Day 234 - Sour Apples

Pucker up Danny Bleu, that must be one sour apple.

We have several apple trees on the property that went bonkers this year. The greyhounds love the apples and we pick them fresh right off of the tree much to their delight.

Judging by the look on Danny's face, I'm guessing the apples aren't quite ready.

Day 233 - Hello up there

ISO 100, 190mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 sec.

Day 233 - Hello Up There

It was another day spent on the acre with the doggies. I will not admit to how many pictures I took this morning, but I will say that the new Canon and I have officially become one. I love that camera.

When I first renewed my interest in point and shoot photography a few years back, it was to take pictures of the greyhounds.

When the new Canon came home, I had to take it back to my roots, back to the dog pictures and be happy with them before I could start moving forward again.

We have, I am and we are.

If you want to see more greyhound pictures, the doggies have their very own blog here: Itsa Greyt Day

Day 232

ISO 100, 70mm, f/29, 30.o sec.

Day 232 - Walk Over the Water

Finished in 1913, this railroad bridge was originally built as a passenger rail line bridge. In the 1920s it was used mostly to transport lumber and other freight. By 1990 the last of the freight trains crossed the bridge.

The City of Salem bought the bridge from Union Pacific and re-opened it in 2009 as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Willamette River.

Day 231

ISO 100, 16mm, f/10, 5 image HDR, 1/250, 1/1600, 1/640, 1/100, 1/40

Day 231 - Going Up

We had some extra time this evening and went for a ride. We ended up in Mt. Angel. Just after entering town we passed by a grain elevator that is no longer in operation.

Day 230

ISO 100, 100mm macro, f/2.8, 1/50 sec.

Day 230 - They went that way

Day 229

ISO 200, 100mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec.

Day 229 - Mushroom Cloud

Day 228 - Highlights

ISO 100, 100mm macro, f/8.0, 1/50 sec.

Day 228 - Highlights

Daily Shoot: Make a photograph of a plant today. It can be a small one in a pot, a big one in the park, or a tree in a forest.

Is this one plant or is it a million plants?

Day 227 - The skinny dog

ISO 100, 200mm, f/4.5, 1/1000 sec.

Day 227 - The Skinny Dog

I love a lazy Sunday morning. We had a few things to do this afternoon, so we just hung out with the hound dogs this morning. The hound dogs and the camera, that is.

This is Flocko, which means "skinny" in Spanish. I picked this boy out when he was 11 months old and when he retired from racing, I flew down to Florida and flew him back to Oregon.

Day 226

ISO 100, 165mm, f/6.3, 1/320 sec.

Day 226 - Modern Day Hovercraft

As a kid growing up, I remember the promise of hovercrafts.

I just haven't been looking in the right places. They are here.

We drove up to the Tualatin Crawfish Festival. It was in the high 90s today, I'm a weenie when it comes to heat, so we didn't stay long.

Day 225

ISO 100, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/200 sec.

Day 225 - Crescent Glow

The moon set shortly after the sun set tonight. I loved the glow on the face of the moon.

Day 224

ISO 200, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec.

Day 224 - Web of Light

60 seconds, that is all I got.

I stepped out on the patio with the dogs, looked up at the maple tree the setting sun was just hitting the spider web.


Someone really needs to invent a pause button for the sun.

Day 223 - The needlenose

ISO 100, 16mm, f/4.5, 1/160 sec.

Day 223 - The Needlenose

Greyhounds are famous for all of their nicknames. My favorite is "the needlenose." Needing some comic relief tonight, Murphy humored me while I played around trying to demonstrate his needlenose.

Note: He really is one hunk o' hound dog, here is an earlier post: Day 115

Day 222

ISO 100, 105 mm, f/8.0, 1/100 sec.

Day 222 - Suspended

I took a few minutes to stop by Deepwood Estate on my way back to work. They had just watered and although the garden was filled with awesome flowers, I was really intrigued by the suspended water drops.

Day 221 - Time to weed the garden

ISO 100, 24-105mm F/4L, HDR—1/125. 1/500, 1/250, 1/60, 1/30 sec.

Day 221 - Time to weed the garden

Who has time to weed the garden? I think for this moment in time I will pretend that it is my neighbors garden and they need to weed.

Yes, yes, that works.

OK, confession time, it is our garden and I was feeling uninspired after work. Thought I would give HDR a shot.

It is really slick now. Set the custom function for the number of shots, set it up, set the two-second timer and it fires off all of the shots on one mere click of the shutter.

Day 220 - Goodbye my trusted friend

ISO 100, 200mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec.

Day 220 - Goodbye my trusted friend

I had planned to keep my 50D as a back-up, but after spending the day on Friday with my new camera, I knew in my heart of hearts that the 50D would sit wrapped up in her original box and probably never see the light of day again.

Yesterday I put her and my lovely 70-200mm F/4 lens up on Craigslist. Today I met a delightful young man at the pond who wants to spend some quality time with them. I only hope he loves them and learns as much from them as I did.

This was the last image I will ever take with 50D and my beloved long lens.

Daily Shoot: Challenge: Sympathy can be difficult to express in words. Make an image suitable for the cover of a condolence card.

Day 219 - Sunset

ISO 100, 24mm, f/22, 1/5 sec.

Day 219 - Sunset

Ran down to Riverfront Park this evening in hopes of catching some color.

Day 218

ISO 100, 280mm, f/4.0, 1/250 sec.

Day 218 - The Endurance Test

The big day to take my new baby for a stroll finally arrived. The stroll was about five miles, a nice level trail through Finley Wildlife Refuge.

The fives miles was easy, the new camera and the 70-200mm 2.8L lens, well, they got pretty heavy. But so worth it. Shouldn't take me too long to make the adjustment to the weight.

The pelicans were sunning themselves just after the first bend. I added the 1.4 converter to the 70-200mm at this point and never took it off.

ISO 100, 240mm, f/4.0, 1/200 sec.

The grass on the trail was beautiful.

ISO 100, 280mm, f/4.0, 1/320 sec.

And for the Daily Shoot: Insects are everywhere. Photograph a bug in your environment (no spiders - they're arachnids).

Day 217

ISO 100, 65mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec.

Day 217 - That Way

This sign intrigues me. Who on earth is it for?

It is bolted down to the railroad ties. Union Station is about 65 miles north, the direction the arrow is pointing. But to read "Union", you have to be facing south on the tracks.

What train engineer is going to be able to read it anyway?

My mystery will never be solved. We were politely asked to get off of the tracks by the cop with the flashing lights and the loud speaker. :o)))

Day 216

ISO 100, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/160 sec.

Day 216 - Sunset Weeds

Not much time to play with my new toy today. I did manage to find the important settings to me, change the ISO and adjust the shutter speed and aperture.

I got home from work in time to go out back to the weed patch just as the sun was setting.

Day 215

ISO 12,800, 65mm, f/4.0, 1/40 sec.

Day 215 - The Learning Curve Begins Again

22 buttons, four wheels, two on/off switches, three windows, four doors and a manual that has 275 pages.

I've charged the battery and set the date and time. I've got to get a handle on the ISO, page 64, 146 and 208.

Yup, there is a lotta learnin' ahead of me.

Day 214

ISO 100, 200mm, f/4.0, 1/500 sec.

Day 214 - Wack 'n' Walk

If someone had told me six months ago that:

1. I would be photographing golf
2. I would enjoy photographing golf

I would have assured them that they were out of their minds.

Today I did go out and shoot a golf tournament. I still don't know the first thing about golf, but I had a great time.

Go figure.

Day 213

ISO 200, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec.

Day 213 - Band of Blossoms

Who knew these evil thistle things would be covered in purple blossoms?