Midwest Tour - 5/2/09

Although Sheila and I have been on the road for two weeks, I'm just now getting a chance to send out a few pictures. I apologize for the delay, but it's been rather hectic. The plan for this trip was to drive out to good friends Bob & Mary's place in Indiana - then fly from Dayton to Manchester, NH, where we stayed at the home of the owner (Lee) of my new consulting company. I'll be helping Lee with his four days of seminars and then I'll give mine the next Monday. During the weekend, we drove out to see one of my Eagle Scouts and an old friend from my elementary school - both in Dover, NH. After my seminar Monday, we'll fly back to Indiana to complete our visit with Bob and Mary - visiting the world-renowned Dayton Hamvention (ham radio gathering). From Bob's, we'll travel to up to Ann Arbor, MI, for the wedding for the daughter of good friends Bob & Joyce, then back to Bob & Mary's and off to Oklahoma to visit my cousin Mike and his wife, Wanda - then head back to Colorado in time for our regional ham radio convention in Estes Park! Confused? I had to record a detailed itinerary to be sure we were in the right place at the right time!

The picture below is of a black-headed chicadee sitting next to a fake bird on a birdhouse. This was just outside the visitor's center on I-270 just north of St. Louis. We ended up staying the night just east of here. Otherwise, it was "the rolling hills of Kansas" most of the day.

Picture of the Day - 4/1/09 (END)

We overnighted at the Great Sand Dunes NP and it was cold and windy. The lighting was quite flat, due to the overcast, so we passed on the photography and just enjoyed the warmth of the trailer and did a little cleaning up in preparation for our return home. It's been a lot of fun having you all share our Southwest Safari this year! I appreciate all your many comments and hope you'll join us next time. Sheila and I enjoyed the challenge each day of selecting just one of the many images captured - well, sometimes there had  to be two! Pictured is our dog, Foxie, dozing on my camera as we were homeward bound on I-25. That kind of sums up the trip for us as well. We all had some fun with family, relaxed a little, were fulfilled beyond measure, photographed a lot, had some great experiences and after six weeks on the road, were looking forward to returning back to the ranch - just ahead of a snowstorm! Until next time - adios!

Picture of the Day - 3/31/09

Last night, I hired a Navajo guide to take me around to the "restricted" areas of Monument Valley Tribal Park early next morning. While I was waiting for him to arrive I had a chance to capture the Mittens during the sunrise. This was the view just outside our trailer. The sun was just peaking around the West Mitten and causing a circular rainbow artifact that encircled the Mittens. Although artificial, I thought the effect was pretty striking. The lens used was Canon's 70-200 / f2.8, set to f22 and 1/100th second in manual mode and ISO 200 When shooting directly at the sun, I keep the depth of field preview button pressed (at f22, or higher) while composing in order to protect my eye. This will dim the viewfinder image to relatively safe levels. Take your eye away before releasing the button.

Picture of the Day - 3/30/09

Today, we left Page area for Monument Valley Tribal Park, administered by the Navajo Nation. After paying the entry and camping fees, we left the trailer parked on the edge of a plateau overlooking the valley below. Nothing like finding the best view of the Southwest and parking your "house" there! We were treated to a gorgeous sunset. In fact, there are two dates each year when the West Mitten casts its shadow in the center of the East Mitten and today was the day! These days fall in March and October. I also met up with several members of the Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers (www.naturephotographers.net, then click on "Forums" and "Rocky Mountain"). I oriented this shot in the vertical so it could possibly be used as a magazine cover shot. I also captured a number of terrific panoramics of the sunset, which I'll post on my Web site once I return.

Picture of the Day - 3/29/09

That's me standing next to Balanced Rock near Lee's Ferry, Arizona. We're staying at Wahweap Marina Campground tonight and were exploring the Vermillion Cliffs area between Kanab and Page. The day today was extremely windy - gusts of 55 mph at Paria BLM Ranger Station. It was kicking up a lot of dust, making the scenery in places pretty lousy. Tomorrow should be better as we head towards Monument Valley.

Picture of the Day - 3/28/09

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (UT). These little-known dunes are located west of Kanab, UT. We're camped here tonight - having arrived just before sunset. Since the last time we were camped here (several years ago), the park has now essentially turned it into an off-road vehicle playground, so photographically, it's not as good any more due to all the tracks running around. However, I tried to take the best of the situation and photographed intimate landscapes (close-ups) to give you the essence of the dune area, but just from a smaller area. These "dunes" are really footprints - but you still can see the various color tones as the sun was near setting. The little twig gives the eye a place to "rest" in the scene.

Picture of the Day - 3/27/09

{Note: you might want to click on each of these images to view the larger version} A second double-header today... The first image was actually taken last night where we stayed at Red Rock State Park, north of Lancaster off California 14. This was a 30-second exposure at f4 and the ISO was set to 1600. I then increased the exposure about a stop in Photoshop. The rock was actually lit by the neighboring campfire. I also tried light-painting with a large flashlight, but it didn't come out nearly as good as the natural firelight. The second image was taken at the sand dunes in Death Valley, where we're staying the night. Taken well after sunset, this was one of the few that didn't have footprints! Shadow/Highlight was used to brighten the foreground slightly in Photoshop in order to create a better balance with the background.

Picture of the Day - 3/26/09

A double-header today... From reports we received from my sister, Susan, the wildflowers this season were spectacular along the Sierra foothills. I've always wanted to photograph the California Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley at the extreme southern end of the Sierras, so we headed out that way, and although very windy, we were not disappointed. This first shot was taken by Sheila and what drew my eye were the bands of color - orange, green and yellow. The picture below that was taken with a wide-angle lens from underneath the poppies and a square crop was applied to eliminate some distraction.

Picture of the Day - 3/25/09

This was our last day for our visit with Jack and Irene in Orange County. Sheila and I decided to have dinner on the beach during a bicycle ride from Seal Beach to Huntington Beach and back - a bit over 10 miles. This was the scene on the way back. Tomorrow, we head to the Sierra foothills and then on to Utah.

Picture of the Day - 3/24/09

I spent a bit of time here at Garden Grove's Crystal Cathedral, as I love to photograph architecture. The largest glass building in the world, the Cathedral was built by Rev. Robert Schuller, who started his ministry in 1955 by preaching from the rooftop of the concession stand in a local drive-in movie theater to a "drive-up" congregation. Pictured here is the 400-foot long main sanctuary building with the stainless steel Crean Tower and carillon, which regularly chimes the time. My brother, Jim, is buried in the nearby Memorial Gardens.

Picture of the Day - 3/23/09

OK, here's a first! The "photo of the day" acclaim goes to my sister, Susan Langley, who sent me a picture today of the poppies blooming off Dry Creek Road in the Southern Sierra foothills. What really caught my eye in this photo was the subtle color patches - orange, yellow, green and white - almost painting-like, throughout the composition. The soft muted colors truly make this a "killer" shot! It appeared to be taken in overcast weather - perfect conditions for the delicate detail seen here. Full sunlight would never have worked as well.

Very well done Sue!

Picture of the Day - 3/22/09

This morning, we had a heavy rain for a while, but just after sunrise, we were treated to a full rainbow. According to the Bible, the rainbow was a sign (and promise) from God that he would never destroy the inhabitants of the Earth by flood again (Genesis 9:13).

Picture of the Day - 3/21/09

Another from Jack's flower garden - a white freesia (Iridaceae). What caught my eye was the train of buds flowing off to the left, which a tried to keep in focus as best I could. The eye first sees the white flower and stamens, but later, the buds give the eye a place to wander in the composition. A white subject over a dark background can be a tough shot, as many auto-exposure systems will try to expose the dominant background causing the white subject to overexpose. In this case, it behooves the photographer to check their histogram and adjust the exposure compensation as needed to keep the bright white within bounds.

Picture of the Day - 3/20/09

A bucketful of posies. Sheila's brother, Jack, is a master at gardening and I spent some time with my compact Canon SX 110 IS camera in "macro" mode in his garden. Where we live in Colorado, it's tough to grow decent "garden-type" flowers due to the cold dry climate, so we always enjoy photographing botanical gardens as we travel. Jack's backyard is a mini-botanical garden that's always fun to photograph. When searching for subjects to shoot, I'm always on the lookout for strong color and found it here with this collection of hybridized asters.

Picture of the Day - 3/19/09

Sheila and I look forward to shopping at the local Fry's Electronics store in Fountain Valley during our visits to California. The warehouse-sized store provides us hours of entertainment and we usually walk out loaded with goodies found nowhere else. One display gave me pause, though. Although Orange County doesn't strike me as any different than most other upscale metro areas as far as street crime, apparently Fry's thinks otherwise with this display of Tasers in multiple colors for the fashion-conscious.

Picture of the Day - 3/18/09

Happier news today, as nephew Greg Cheatham married Alyson Murray today at the historic Orange County Courthouse. Family and friends joined together that evening for food and merriment. Best wishes to the happy couple!

Picture of the Day - 3/17/09

Kind of a happy/sad day today, as we held a private family memorial ceremony for my brother, Jim, who had passed away earlier in February. In avoiding a drunk pedestrian back in July last year, he crashed his motorcycle into a fire hydrant causing paralysis from the neck down and requiring him to breathe using a respirator. After several bouts of infection, pneumonia, etc. his earthly body finally went to be with our Lord, Jesus, February 12th - just shy of his 53rd birthday. Praise God he was a Christian and is resting pain free in a new body in Heaven!

While he chose to live on the street, he also lived to serve others who were less fortunate. He served in the various soup kitchens six days a week, collected cans to earn money to help others with transportation and to find jobs and helped keep his friends vehicles going through his skills in auto mechanics. He became a railroad fan and enjoyed watching the trains come and go at the Fullerton Station with a group of fellow rail fans. He became so well-known by the conductors, they often allowed Jim to ride the train to San Diego or Los Angeles gratis. Shown in the frame is a picture of the Fullerton Station with Jim out front, taken from the book, Orange County - Then and Now. He was also active for quite a while in the local BMW motorcycle club, attending rallies and breakfast rides on occasion. While Jim will be missed by family and friends, it's also good to realize he's no longer in pain and that we'll get to see him again once we all go home to Heaven.

Picture of the Day - 3/16/09

This week is a work week for me, as I'm finishing up a presentation for an upcoming engineering seminar in April and May. Thus, little in the way of photography lately. So, I'll dip into the archives for some pictures that didn't quite make the cut for "picture of the day" earlier, but that I wished to show eventually. On the way from Tucson to Organ Pipe Cactus N.M., we stopped in at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, southwest of Tucson. The air was clear and markedly colder than the Sonoran desert below. Pictured is the facility from the observation deck of the 4m telescope - the largest one there. In the distance to the left is the well-known solar observatory, which I was able to tour. Unfortunately for ham radio operators - no sunspots yet! Note: It's the solar energy from sunspots that highly ionizes the Earth's atmosphere and allows radio signals to "bounce" further. We're currently in a sunspot "minimum" - cycles that repeat every 11 years. The second picture shows the 2.1m telescope. The Web site for the Kitt Peak observatory is at: http://www.noao.edu/kpno/

Picture of the Day - 3/15/09

This afternoon, we decided to bicycle down the Santa Ana River bike trail, which cuts right through Orange County. Here's Sheila with her new bike. Foxie is all ready for the ride, also!

Picture of the Day - 3/14/09

Here's a good reason to carry a small camera with you everywhere. We were driving through downtown Santa Ana yesterday and Sheila found this bird of paradise she wanted me to capture. The first shot had a background that was too cluttered, so I tried moving more to the left to include more of the building. I also chose to photograph partly into the sun (didn't your mother tell you never to do that?) so I could get some backlighting on the flower. Cropping out a bit of distraction on the left side yielded this shot of the flower. A native to South America, the flower is pollinated by birds, which perch on the spathe (blue part) when visiting the flower. The weight of the bird opens it to release the pollen onto the bird's feet, which is then deposited on the next flower it visits.