Paint Daubs, and Angled Strokes In Corel Painter X3 Software.  Due to time consuming, I hardly converted my pictures to canvas painting.   But, you going to have a lot of fun from this software if you have a lot of time play around with it.

The first two minutes

I'm back!

 

We arrived in the mountains on Monday afternoon and Q came to visit Tuesday morning, arriving at 0-dark-thirty. After having a cup of coffee and giving him the ten cent tour of the camper we were off to the lake to shoot ospries.

 

Just as we got our equipment set up one snatched a fish from the lake and flew right by us. I was walking to the shore with the bazooka lens and stopped and took a few shots. I'm not sure how I got lucky enough to get a shot but I did.  This isn't the best of the shots but I wanted to get something posted since I'm back. I spent another two mornings and one evening trying to get some better photos of the ospries fishing, shooting almost 3000 frames. I think I should have 8-10 good ones!

You can't see me...

Every time we take Sunny hiking he heads for the muddiest mud puddle and gets as black as a white dog can get! I guess if he looks and smells like forest then he's invisible... Must be a wolf thing!

seen " A South Breeze"

South Breeze

A misnomer of sorts. Everyone knows you can't see the wind! You can feel it-you can hear it-you can even be blown over by it! This morning the invisible movement of air coaxed this feathery seed plume to point in a northerly direction.

Adding A Soft Touch

Ornamental grasses have been used in some of the landscape offerings in our city park. Sparingly, but with great affect I think?.

Bend With The Breeze

I would have preferred natural growing and native species of prairie grass for these plantings. But then again;

Our clime in Oklahoma supports these South American ornaments so well. They take me back to my youth when I used to dream about the Pampas Grass of Argentina. Raising cattle and riding my little paint pony through the Pampas! One never knows what may be blowing in a breeze!

"SEENS"

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Boom Boats

The other morning as I drove past the Coal Harbour waterfront I saw these three "Boom Boats" all lined up on the boat ramp waiting for the tide to come in and refloat them.

So what is a Boom Boat? These rugged and powerful little boats are used to push logs and bundles of logs around inside a booming ground which is an area of water for sorting logs. Generally speaking these logs and bundles of logs are made into rafts or log booms so they can be towed by much larger tow boats to other locations.

"Seen" A Climbing Tree

American Sycamore

Symmetrical, standing alone, room to grow. A young tree! A safe estimate of height would probably be 40' feet. Just a mere measure of it's potential of a 100 feet plus.

An Invitation To Climb

What young boy or girl with an adventuring spirit could resist these accommodating smooth steps to the Heavens?  (Admission!) Just had to climb a few limbs up because I could!

  

Almost To The Top!

When climbing all one sees is the bottom of leaves. Coming down from a climb the next foothold or handhold takes precedence! I wonder what the tops of the leaves look like?

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A most interesting insect...

A few days back I was out cutting some firewood to top off the already full wood shed. Just as I was about to split this one particular piece a rather large insect landed on the side of it. When I saw what a unique insect this was I got the camera out of my truck and took several pictures.

Any idea just what kind of insect this is? All told it is almost 3 inches from the tip of it's antennas to the tip of its rather long tail.

Swamp Thing 2

Awhile back posted a image very similar and was wondering what a three shot bracket compared to a 5 shot bracket would look like. The top photo is the one I took using a three shot bracket. 

This is Ron's 5 shot bracket that a stole from his original post. I am not really sure if makes a difference if you use use more images for the bracketed shot or not. I think some of it depends on how the image is edited in post processing. Below are couple more images I took the same morning while laying on the bridge that crosses the pond.

Nightly news from Port Hardy...

Several weeks ago Global News the main news provider for the Provence of British Columbia announced that it was going to broadcast the nightly news from various locations on Vancouver Island beginning with Port Hardy...

Sure enough on the day of the much anticipated news broadcast the weather turned normal... Normal for Port Hardy anyway... The skies opened up and the rain bucketed down! A light rain for this part of the world.

What a production, people scurrying here and there in their rain gear with plastic covered equipment in one hand and an umbrella in the other getting everything setup. Us North Islanders don't use umbrellas as we like to use both hands and the silly things just turn inside out and blow away anyway...

After taking these pictures I headed home,  lit the wood stove and sat down to watch the evening news. I must say I was impressed with the broadcast. Not one single slur about the North Island weather or the numerous rednecks that kept dodging behind the news anchor to get in the picture and mouth the words "Hi Mom" while waving furiously. All in all very professionally done, and their tent didn't even blow away!

Sunflower "seens"

"Stages"

Walking off the paved park path alongside Turtle Creek I found a colorful patch of wild sunflowers growing at the edge of the treeline. I suppose I should say they found me because their bright flowers got my attention from a block away.

Spider Friend

Towards the end of summer and lasting through fall is their time to show off their golden beauty. The first frost will be the show stopper.

Phases and Stages

Some were in prime bloom while others were past. Many were standing just off stage getting ready for their big performance of showy color.

My Best Side

I wonder how many ways there are to photograph a sunflower or any flower for that matter? Each year seems the colors are brighter, the petals more perfect, and the amount of blooms are more numerous. I suppose as long as we have cameras and flowers, we will always find and try a new way to present our finds.

"Spilled Sunflowers"

Reaching over eight feet high; the weight of the many flowers became too much for the slender stalks that supported them. A natural occurrence that provided a photo-op. It appeared to me that the tumble of flowers was spilled from a gatherer's basket.

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I'm outta here!

Vacation time has arrived and I'm headed for the hills. The hills of SW Oklahoma to be exact. There is no phone service and no internet so I won't be posting anything for the next week. Hopefully I'll come back with a few good photos.

Fishing for salmon

The fish are still waiting for enough rain to fill the rivers so they can go up to spawn. So in the mean time people around here are filling their freezers with fresh salmon!

Most people around here fish with "Buzz Bombs", a brightly colored, vaguely fish shaped lead lure with a 3 prong hook on a casting rod.

I found this fellow fly fishing for salmon off the beach so I took a few pictures, he made it look so easy... Don't know how effective a method fly fishing is, but for the few minutes I watched he didn't catch any fish though he looked like he was enjoying the challenge!

Sunrise on a rain storm

I'd like to say I worked really hard to get this shot however, I was sitting on the lanai of our condo in Maui so the hardest thing I had to do was put down my coffee and pick up the camera. I even used the P7700 on auto so I didn't have to tax my brain so early in the morning!

 

The rain shower is over the isalnd of Moloka'i just across the channel from Maui. The sun was coming over the mountains on Maui and lighting up the tops of the thunder clouds.

Looking Up

When Aaron and I were at the lake last weekend we had a couple of these birds fly directly over head of us and I tried to take a few photos. Since they were almost straight above us I couldn't get below the camera to look through the view finder fast enough so I used the old "spray and pray" method on the shutter release.

 

They aren't the best photos because of the lighting but it gives you an idea of how fast the 600mm lens will focus and shoot, even with the teleconverter on. I may never take the teleconverter off!

All shined up...

Over the past number of weeks Jake and I have taken advantage of the nice September weather and gotten the landing craft all scraped and painted, top to bottom. Good thing we got everything finished, today the rain started... Probably won't see the Sun again until next May. Ha ha!

Green "SEENS"

Small Green Cluster

Green seemed to be the eye catching color along this section of walking path.

Large Green Cluster

Early morning shadows with sunlight just beginning to peek through, highlighted the color.

A Lonely "Snow on the Mountain"

Growing at the edge of the treeline was this Ghost Weed. The only one I found in the Park.

Green Reflections

The play of light and shadows produced a nice contrast to the shades of green! This little neck of Mulvey's Pond had the feel of Ireland this morn!

"SEENS"

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Mooning you at 840mm

There was a big full moon last night so I grabbed the camera and the new "bazooka" lens and stepped out into the yard to take a couple of photos. I was still working so I didn't want to take the time to set up the tripod so this is actually a hand held shot. I could only take a few shots before my arm got tired.

Hey you two, Knock it off!

Must be married. LOL

While we're waiting for Ron have some free time to shoot some more pictures on his new 600mm lens, I'm going to post these old photos from the West coast in B&W.

Fireweed fluff

This time of year on a sunny day the slightest breeze launches great gouts of fireweed fluff in to the air. A close look at a fireweed seed pod reveals how this comes to be. First the sun dries the outside of the seed pod causing it to open, then the slightest breeze sends the individual seeds on their journey through the sky. Simple yet elegant design.

"SEEN" In The Park

The "Eyes" Have It!

Here lately it seems that the City Park is my "go to place" for capturing a few shots with the camera. Oh well, a guy could do worse! In fact the "Seens" I've been finding while on my morning walks have been pretty interesting for me. September always brings new players to the table! My next few (or many) posts will explore and show my found "Seens!).

Seen! An Early Arrival!

Started to name this pic "On My Way To Mexico!"  What a journey this Monarch is on. Godspeed and thanks for being one of my "Seens!"

I will call this post three. My last posts of the Kites and Locust blooms and beans, were one and two!

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