Up before the sun

Anyone that knows me will find the fact that I was up before the sun to be strange and possibly the seventh sign. But alas lately I haven't been able to sleep in on the weekends since before Thanksgiving. So on the 23rd when I woke up at 6 AM I decided well I'm up anyway maybe I can get a decent sunrise shot. It was a pretty chilly morning for the weather we had been having, but for late December it was pretty normal. 32 degrees with a windchill of about 24. I selected for my location the north east side of Lake Jacomo. Needless to say the windchill at this location was probably well below 20 and after 30 minutes of shooting my fingers were screaming at me for a hot cup of coffee to just hold on to. I got a few shots that weren't too bad for my first attempt. With out any more rambling, here they are.

quick update

Nothing new to post really. With the weather cooling off and the trees completely bare now I haven't had much luck finding anything worth posting. If I come up with something I'll definitely post so check back (the 2 or 3 of you that read this) to see what I have. Hopefully I'll be getting some additional equipment to help me out so who knows.

Have a great Holday everyone

Let It Snow

Well as many of the people that bother with blog know, yesterday was the first snow of the year for KC and it was a pretty good one depending what part of the city you are in. In my area it as between 6-8 inches. Took me an hour to shovel the driveway this morning but I got it done then headed into work...what was I thinking? I got a couple of shots that were OK on the way in. People don't like it when you stop in the middle of the road to take pictures lol. Here's a couple that I didn't think were too bad. I just wish I could have taken more time to find stuff, and set up the composition. Oh well, there will be other snows I'm sure.

Long over due

Well I've been pretty slack lately in posting anything. The reason is simple, I haven't taken any new pictures the last 3 weeks....until yesterday that is. I'd been on vacation for about a week and didn't really feel like doing much of anything so I didn't. I slept late every day and it seems to me the morning hours tend to be better for some of the pictures I try to take. So yesterdayI didn't head out until about 11 or so and didn't bother with the nature trails since all the leaves are gone. Instead I went down to the Plaza. I don't have much I liked out of this set, but I did do some work with a single picture. I envision it as a set of 4 perhaps staggered down a set of stairs.









This one is actually from one of my first sets of pictures but I like it and I had a chance at a different, possibly better version I am still kicking myself over. First the picture and then the story.



This is a gate at the top of the stairs by Mc Cormick & Schmick's. I took the above shot from the north side, facing the south. Well yesterday I was at the bottom of the stairs leading to this gate and was waiting for a large group of people to go by. Just as I started up the stairs I saw this attractive young woman in raven black leggings, a bright red dress that came to mid thigh, a white turtle neck under it and raven black hair. My initial thought was this would make a great shot. Alas she was on the phone and any of you that know me, know I am much too shy to talk to strangers on the street so it didn't happen. I envisioned taking the shot in color with her under the gate, then converting all but the dress to black and white and leaving the dress in it's brilliant red. Oh well opportunity missed.

Hopefully we'll get some decent snow between now and Christmas and I can combine that with some Christmas light shots to fill up the next couple of weeks. Not sure what I'll shoot in January, but in February I'll be looking for opportunities to get shots of eagles along the river if I can find some decent vantage points. Not sure when I'll post again but rest assured I haven't forgotten about this project, I just got a little side tracked, and I'm having trouble coming up with subject matter...I need to find a model or something lol.

You've Been Mooned

Well I recently discovered my camera has an additional zoom. Yes I'm aware reading the manual would have clued me into this little fact a month ago, but if you know me you know, "I don't need no stinking instructions." In any event last night I set the camera on the tripod, and did a full zoom, plus the 4x zoom on the camera. I was merely trying to figure out if I could get this shot without spending $300 on a tele-converter lens which is how I have always seen this done. The shot wasn't great, but considering I didn't spend the extra cash I thought it turned out pretty good. I'll have to play with settings a bit more to see if I can get a sharper image.

Nothing new

Well for the first time since I got my camera I wasn't able to go out on the weekend and shoot. Saturday I spent a little too much time sleeping in. Sunday was spent doing more mundane tasks like getting tires for my car, and doing some remodel work for my parents. I might post some pictures from previous weekends later in the week, otherwise I hope to have some new stuff next Monday.

PS Congrats to Cagey on expecting baby v2.0.

The Windy City (not Chicago)

I went with a photo group Monday night to the Liberty Memorial to do some "city by night" photography. Oddly enough the first shot of the night was one of my favorites.









This next shot is of Union Station. The one thing that amazedme all night was that I never used a flash. Sure on the long shots it wouldn't do any good, but even on the short ones it was all shutter speed capturing the limited light.
















This one took me a few tries to get. My first attmept I was battling a gale force wind coming up the west side steps that almost knock the tri-pod and camera over. To top it off, I couldn't see the other photographer in the shot, I was having a little trouble seeing him in the low light through the view finder. Finally I got a tight shot of the Sphinx with the KCTV 5 tower in the back ground that I was satisfied with.
















What I liked about this one, was that with the high winds we were having (and dear God it was cold that night), the smoke was blowing off the top of the monument and being illuminated by the coals creating it.




















Finally, just playing around with the long shutter times, and trying a technique called zooming I got the following abstract of the Western Auto sign that is a landmark here in Kansas City.

Return to 1855 - with color

Someone recently reminded me about Missouri Town, a small destination in Jackson county with barns, houses, and a school house from around 1855 (may be modelled after that era). Not far from this location are captive elk and bison so I figured I'd give it a shot. The bison and elk didn't turn out as they are behin 10 foot high chain link fences and that just isn't the feel I was going for when I set out this morning.

But I was able to get some color in the trees.

There were several barns on the property but I think I liked this one the most.
















This farm house with the trees in the background seemed interesting enough, but I thought I'd try a technique I had recently heard about - specifally shooting with tree branches, and in this case a fence in the foreground. There's something I like about it.
















I took this one just because a story my sister told me about - she seems to have a phobia of chickens and I'm a mean older brother hehe.




















These next 3 are just of some maple trees in full color that I thought looked good.

Wet, Wild and (T)horny

A few weeks back I went to Burr Oaks for the second time. This paticular week I wanted to try out the habitat trail. A couple hundred yards into the trail I came across a body of water dubbed poetically (ok uncreatively) "The Watering Hole". While there I sat and relaxed searching for subject matter. I saw a red squirrel squatting to drink on the far bank, and several birds (I don't know the types) flitting around the banks and overhanging branches. Just sitting on the bank put me at peace and after an indeterminate period of time and taking a few so-so shots of the critters, I moved on. The path wound around to the other side of the pond and opened up giving me a shot I rather liked.















A little further up the trail while scanning the woods I caught a slow movement out of the corner of my eye. I slowly turned to see not five feet from me two wild turkey crossing the hickory covered trail. As they re-entered the wood I slowly moved up to where they were, while attaching the monopod to the camera. They slowly picked their way through the woods, pecking and scratching at the ground and periodically checking my location. I got a couple of shots, one that stands out, before the usual loud "walkers" came rumbling up the trail. (You may have noticed this becomes a theme at this paticular location).



















Moving on I came to a place marked by one of the many informational signs. The sign indicated the terrain was called a Glade. Now in my life the only "glade" I had ever heard of was the Everglades in south Florida. The definition of a glade is, a south facing, dry, rocky region. Typically home to cactus, tough vegitation, lizards, and of all things RATTLE SNAKES! Ok, I'm not a fan of snakes that aren't behind a very thick glass wall in a zoo so I was a tad nervous in this area (Yes, I know great woodsman). Luckily it was late enough in the year that the snakes weren't moving around. Back to my point (do I really have one?), if a glade is dry and rocky then how can they call that swampy area across south Florida the Everglades? I mean I drove across it on Alligator Alley once and it was anything but dry - and dear lord the alligators I saw. Sorry sidetracked again, you'll notice I do that alot. At anyrate I was suprised to find cactus in Missouri, especially in the chilly air that was starting to linger in mid October.
















Well there you have it, the Wild, Wet and (T)horny. Yes bad pun I know (is there any other kind?) but I'm in a silly mood, and the other titles I've come up with so far seemed so boring.

Quick 16 from Powell Gardens

This post is just a collection of pictures from my excursion to Powell Gardens. I took about 130 pictures this day. Here are 16 or so that I liked.

Dear deer,

First let me cover a little bit about me, your amateur photographer and even more amateur writer. I have attempted to learn photography in the past, with my father's old film camera during my college years. It was too expensive to learn on a film camera for a starving college student so I soon gave it up. In the past year though my dad purchased a new digital camera and I saw what he was doing with it. He used to be both a hobby photographer as well as a wedding photographer and he never really lost the taste for it. Digital just makes it cheaper to shoot more pictures, try different things till you get what you want. So this past September I decided to make another attempt at it.

I got a Panasonic DMC-FZ50. This is a little more than the a point and shoot, but not quite the DSLR you see the pros using. It is a good mid range camera for learning on in my opinion and one I can grow with until I am ready to spend the big bucks on a Canon or Nikon system with multiple lenses.

I'll have to thank Cagey of Rancid Raves for getting me thinking of this blogging thing. But between her humorous blogs and pictures of her son I just thought this would be a fun way to display some of my early photography.

Ok enough with the history lesson lets get on to the pictures and the real reason for this blog.

For those that don't know, I am not typically a morning person and I seldom talk about it being a good day before noon, but that is what today was. I woke up at a shocking 6:30 and was out the door by 7:30. It was bitterly cold with frost on roof tops and shaded grass and leaves. My destination was Burr Oaks Woods, a wild life refuge in Blue Springs Missouri. After a quick breakfast I headed on to the park and got there just as the gates opened. As I reorganized my pack and got the camera set, I was thinking I had to be crazy to be out this early and in this cold but I said what the hell.

As I started off on the trail I didn't hold much hope of finding color nor wildlife. Unfortunately this park sees alot of walkers and joggers, ussually in conversation scaring the critters. Missouri foliage doesn't hold color for long and the rain from yesterday and the cold today made me think I wouldn't get much.

About 1/4 of a mile into the short 3/4 mile trail I was passed by a group of 5 walker and talkers. I cursed to myself in annoyance (I am so my father's son). With them ahead of me I heard one of the women shout, then I heard a crash and rush in the bushes across the small watering hole where I was photographing a maple along the water line. Then I saw them, a group of 3-4 deer springing through the brush, white tails flying. Again I cursed thinking these loud excersise nuts had ruined my chance.

I pressed on around the bend to about where I heard the woman shout. I moved slowly and quietly watching to the right for the skittish creatures, and there she was, peering back at me, curious yet nervous at the same time.

I started to move on up the trail a bit to see if I could capture the others. Further up the hill I saw they had moved across the small valley back in the direction I had just come from. I slowly moved back to that corner of the trail where a service path intersected it and moved a few feet down that grassy path. I heard something directly to my left and begin scanning the brush listening intently. Then I heard a tiny sound, barely noticable above the bird song to my right, as I turned I was startled by the quick movement of 3 deer. One bounding back the way it had come disappearing in the brush. The other two leaping into the tall grass field to my right until they were about 100-150 yards away where they sat and stared at me again both curious and nervous at the same time, snorting as they watched.




While in this area hoping for another shot, and tracking them a bit longer I counted up to roughly 10 deer. In one flash of movement, I thought I saw the buck, but with their speed it was hard to tell if it was a rack or just a trick of the light as it blurred by.In utter shock at what I had been lucky enough to capture I turned to go back to the real trail and came across a small oak. In 33 years I have never seen oak leaves any other color in the fall but dirt brown. But there in front of me was a small oak that appeared to be on fire with its red and orange hues.



Suprised for the 2nd time in my short excursion I moved once again back to the original trail. Just as I reached it I found something my parents would be both proud I had noticed and suprised I had found. You see both my parents are bird watchers - their backyard is like a wild kingdom of backyard birds and some of it was bound to rub off even if I never had an actual interest in it. Perched just a few feet from me, atop a small tree was a bluebird, probably one of the last in the area before winter moves in.Eventually this little songbird moved on and I proceeded back on the trail.



The rest of the trail was uneventful, but that first 1/4 mile made the trip, and the frost touched fingertips worthwhile. I did manage to get a few more shots of some color - red maples, and a type of fern I do not yet know the name of and an old farm/silo on a hillside I'd been planning to photograph for a few weeks but the above were my favorites of the day. I returned home rather pleased with myself - even to the point I felt the need to write my first blog about it. Hopefully there are more to come.

Until next time, keeping shooting (put the gun away that isn't what I mean).