Sleepless in Seattle!

FAVORITE ORNAMENTS

This morning Randy from Santa Fe Daily Photo asked his readers if there were any favorite ornaments which we hung on our trees from year to year. My reply was, as his, there were to many to list. As most of the ornaments on our tree were created by my wife and her Grandmother, all have a special meaning to our family.

Hand painted scenes from my Charlotte are my most favorite! 



She has always told me that the kids were her inspiration for these decorations.

Adding a special touch for the elegant tree are numerous ornaments that were created by her Grandmother in the 1950's. She would take Goose Eggs and carefully trim a window  where she would create Holiday scenes with tiny characters and background color. The outside of the egg was adorned with pieces of old jewelry and cloth. These are Charlotte's favorites.

As the Days are counting down to Christmas, I will show more along the way.

for those that would care to look. Santa appears in the archieves from december,2010!!

Beach pictures as promised

In my last post before my wife and I went to Hawaii I said that the next beach pictures I post would be from a much warmer location... Well here they are!

Couldn't resist such a cute picture...

Except for resizing all of these pictures are right out of the camera and as shot... After I get reorganized I will go through the 1200+ pictures I took and clean some of them up for posting here.

ORDINARY BIRD

The Common Sparrow. We have seemingly hundreds of these birds flitting about our place throughout the year. Every bush and bird feeder seems over run with these winged invaders! In the spring and well into the fall they try and fill all the birdhouses with grass and straw, and usually succeed. They are not bashful during mateing and nesting time. Nothing like being in the backyard with the G-Kids and having to have a Birds&Bees conversation started by this Ordinary Bird because of some game they decided to play!

I decided it might be time to take a closer look at this little common and overlooked creature. Caught this little bird as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky. The colors and markings on this avian friend seemed to come alive in the setting sun. All of a sudden, what was hardly noticed and thought to just be common, took on a whole new character in this light. This is not an Ordinary Bird! This is a Beautiful Bird!

Is it spring yet?

Maybe I'm just being a wuss but I'm already tired of the cold. I like it cold and snowy for Christmas but then I want it to go away and be sunny and warm, not hot, just warm. I guess I'm getting picky in my old age!

I'm going where??

I have learned that the longhorn cattle and the buffalo on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in SE Oklahoma are being moved this winter. Apparently, because of the fires this past summer, there is not enough grass on the 60,000 acre refuge to sustain the two herds through the winter. They are being moved to the adjacent land on Fort Sill, an artillery base.

 Let's hope they will be kept out of harms way on a range they aren't currently using.

Wind Power.

Color Filters

The back country.

Cobble Stones....

... and maybe just a little bit of blue sky and prairie.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

Sometimes in Life we are all confronted with a situation that takes a little time to figure out. We have a Daughter in law, one of our kids, that requires some attention from the confines of the hospital. She is in good spirits and has the best of care. We all believe in the best outcome as does her doctors! The Faith is strong. In my mind, I will go to this mountain top where this pic was taken to offer my prayers, little knowing this pic would ever have a purpose!

Running with the pack

I took this shot about a year ago while in the restricted area so my equipment was limited. I was a long way off and these girls were moving fast so I couldn't use the Q method of shooting with a tripod. I did have a monopod attached to the Sigma 150-500mm lens which made holding the lens steady a little easier.

I'm guessing these elk were about 250-300 yards away and this was shot at full zoom with the Sigma and then the photo was cropped about 50% in CS4.

HIGH TAILING

Spotted these girls on the other side of a canyon while taking a morning hike. I  just sit down and watched them for a good while when all of a sudden they began staring intently behind them. Some percieved danger had their full attention!

Using my binoculars I was never able to locate what had them so nervous. This activity went on for a good ten minutes before I stood and gave a loud whistle. All eyes and ears, even the two headed doe, were on me!

A couple of arm waves and the whole bunch were High Tailing it to the top of the ridge and out of sight in just a moment or two!

Pics were taken at 200mm focal length and all were extremely cropped! Poor quality photos but were lots of fun taking!

Spin Me Around!

The top picture it was 20 min. exposure with half Moon night, and  30min. exposure no Moon, and 2 min. spot light at the farm equipment.

Dallas Galleria Mall.

About 27 years ago, I used to work in a restaurant located in the bottom left corner of this picture.  Well, the restaurant have been closed for years now, and a lot of business comes and goes during those years.  But, there's only one thing that I have not seen gone away yet, is that this Christmas tree is always here every year during the Christmas Holiday.        

Merry Christmas Everyone!

ROPED

October fog at Sunrise, seemed as if a lasso with a large loop had been thrown around these mountains. Tightly holding them together as if they were going to get away! The noose held firm while I captured my shots.

In honor of Paul

Sun, sand and the ocean. Just a few things that will keep you going back to the islands.

Hopefully he can sleep on the long plane ride there (and back). It's the only "bad" thing about going to Hawaii.

This was taken with a Sony point and shoot on Ka'anapali Beach on Maui. The Sony was my first digital camera and I jumped straight to a Nikon D80 after that. I can't wait to take the D300 to Hawaii this time to see what I can capture with it.

Port Hardy Waterfront

Took this picture a few days ago near the Government Wharf in Port Hardy looking North. The next beach pictures I post will be from a much warmer location... Heading off to Oahu in the morning!

Is that a reindeer?

Nah, just an elk!

I took these about a year ago with the Sigma 150-500mm OS lens, hand held.

Fire on the horizon

I actually went out at sunset last night (I was awake after all) and took some real photos! I didn't get the sunset I was hoping for so I started looking for alternatives. On the way back to my car I saw it, a half way decent shot. So I stopped and set up my tripod, yes, you heard right, tripod, and I fired off about twenty shots at different f stops and shutter speeds to see what I could get.

This was shot with the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle, 10mm at f18 and 1/3 second (at about 34 degrees temperature and a 20 mph wind I might add). The moon overexposed just a touch but I did get the color in the sky I was looking for.