Water, water, somebody give me some water!

I took this photo near Mesa, Arizona about four years ago while out hiking. There was one time in May of the same year that I really thought I was going to run out of water. It was already 105 in May and I was carrying a little over three gallons of water and Gatorade with me and I sucked down the last sip of fluid about 100 feet from the car.

Yea, I know, I could have gone three days without water but why? It's a lot easier to go to the bar and get a beer if you're already hydrated!

I guess I could have named this photo "Where's Waldo?". If you look closely you'll see my hiking partner in the photo.

MORE YARD ART

Two more characters from the Artsy village of Medicine Park,Oklahoma.

Nordic Pearl

Fishing ususlly gets quiet just before Christmas. Then around this time of year weather permiting it starts again. The Seagulls sure seem happy to see fishing boats back! The Nordic Pearl is one of the larger "Draggers" that deliver to Port Hardy.

Counting down!

Four months, and 7 days until I see this place again. We have another winter storm again today, so I thought this picture could take our mind off from the cold.

"Freeze" Frame

Here are a few more from my venture into the frozen tundra. This one and the next you will recognize from earlier posts I made this past summer.

Look, I got the water to have that running effect and I didn't even have to use a neutral density filter! LOL

Just one more reason you don't want to be lakeside on a windy day when it's cold outside.

Risking life and Limb

OK, so it wasn't quite that bad but I was pretty uncomfortable!

We got hit with a winter storm Monday night. It started out as ice pellets and then went to freezing rain and then back to ice pellets and was topped off by about three inches of snow. We didn't get the brunt of the storm but it was enough for me to slip and fall on my butt, totally screwing up my upper body and neck for a few days.

I had planned on staying inside where it was warm and comfortable to recuperate from my fall until Aaron sent me an e-mail saying he bet the moutnains looked good covered in snow and I was probably out taking lots of photos.

Kids! I just hate it when they're right!!

I had to get out to go to the post office anyway so I took my camera and one lens thinking I might see something from the road. After getting out of the car several times in below zero wind chills I finally got some decent photos and decided to head to the house, cussing Aaron the whole way! LOL

More yard art

I believe Parker threw down the guantlet with a challenge for yard art photos. This one is from the same little town as the Preying Mantis. It sits at the entrance to a very nice edition of homes at the base of a small moutain. The artist who made this statue made several for places all over the country before his death last year.

PREYing !

In Medicine Park, OK. yard art is very active competition! These folks know how to put on a show!

Highly detailed and painted, this rendition of a Praying Mantis in Jurassic proportions is an eye-catcher and makes your lense smile!

( I've heard that the Roving Reporter of The Mountain Gazette has a few pics from a drive by" Photo on the Fly " adventure that he and Nana made of several more " yard art examples " )

Lonely Photographer!

I took this shot in a cold morning, after an hour hike from our camp site. I don't understand why this photographer have to stand in the freezing water to take the shot in wide open area like this. I guess he or she calculated the angle aspec then decided to stand in the water instead. If that is the case, I need to learn something new from this person.

BULL CANYON HIKE

Enjoyed a nice hike last summer while camped at Copper Breaks State Park. Nothing like exploring places I have never been!
Normally a two hour trek at best, somehow I managed to spend five hours dawdling around.

The hike starts at a high hill on the east side of Bull Canyon. This canyon follows a south easterly course before joining with the Pease River. Untold years of erosion has formed this canyon and the higher ground containing it.

Copper was mined and processed here in the early days. Is this an outcropping? Showings of this green cast material were evident and numerous on the hike down into and coming out of the canyon.

Views from the east and west canyon rims covers alot of scenery! The Pease River which flows below the low hills on the southern horizon, plays a large part in the Indian history of Texas and Oklahoma.


A remote and out of the way place to visit. Just my kind of place!!!

Staying with the theme

I took this one a few months ago when the water level of one of the lakes out here was "low" and the birds were looking for fish.

"Ardea Herodias" (Great Blue Heron)

Not so easy to get a good picture of these birds as they are quite shy and will fly away squalking loudly if they suspect you are stalking them with a camera.

I borrowed the NG style frame from Q for this picture. Just need to add a title and whatnot and you have a magizine cover!

Sledding turned photo oppurtunity!

With the recent snow storm that we had I decide to take my son sledding at our local lakes dam. After 15 to 20 trips to the top and being totally worn out we decide to leave.

After packing everything in the truck I walked down the spillway and much to my suprise found this sandhill crane using the outlet walls as a wind break. I spooked him and he took to the air, luckily I had brought along the camera and had it at the ready.

The leftovers

I went for what I thought was going to be an easy, short hike the other day. It turned out my hiking partner isn't good at judging distances or knowing the meaning of "easy". After walking for two miles we had to climb up and over a small mountain to finally get to where we wanted to be. I was told this was the "easy" way to get to where we were going. I guess I should be glad we went the "easy" way! By the end of the day I thought I might end up like this elk skull.

I came across the elk antler on the far side of the mountain and the small elk skull was on the near side of the mountain.

As you can tell, I haven't been out taking many photos. I missed my chance and one of the best sunsets ever a couple of weeks ago because I was in town without my camera. I'ts starting to warm up again and I'm feeling the need to get out and shoot. I may have to put off some of my other hiking activities on hold just to take some photos.

POINTED SUBJECT

FULLY ARMED PAD of A PRICKLY PEAR


Taken at Copper Breaks State Park in Texas, while visiting last summer.

Eh? What's that again!

Been having problems with the Sigma 120 400 focusing properly on a consistant basis so I asked this eagle if I could use him as a test subject but he was so far up that he couldn't hear me... LOL

From what I read on the internet there are a number of these lenses with focus issues... Lucky me I bought one of em. Fortunately the Sigma comes with a 10 year warranty in Canada.

Somewhere in Utah!

These are the pictures that from my previous trip in couple months ago. I forgot to do voice recording for these picture, so I'm not sure the exactly location. I think it's time to invest in a GPS for my camera.

I'm going back school now to get my degree in Network Administrator. I feel such out of place being a college student again. Since, I'm busy with the school, and other things in my life, I'm not sure when is my next photography expeditions. Therefore, I'm going to try to dig out some of my old photos, and work on it.

Elvis has left the building

I ran across this guy in the special use area on Sunday. I was told his hair-do is a limited edition so to speak. These are known as "Elvis Bulls" just because of the way the hair stands up. There are only about 18 out of 600 buffalo on the refuge that have this "do".

Shooting eagles

I was able to get onto the Special Use area of the refuge yesterday, this is an area that is normally closed off to the public, and I went for the express purpose of taking photos of eagles. They migrate here for the months of December through February and then they head back north.

I know Paul is laughing at my photo of these eagles but this is as close as I could get all afternoon. And this was taken with the Sigma 150-500mm at 500mm! I only saw four eagles as it was and two of those were young, immature eagles that hadn't gotten their white feathers yet.

Since I couldn't get any closer to the eagles I had to resort to taking a photo of the moon. It cooperated more than the eagles!

Wet lens... No problem!

I took some fellows out on the landing craft today to do a video inspection on an underwater pipeline. Normally they have to carry all the equipment in their truck down to a boat before they can use it. They were totally thrilled that they could put their truck right on my boat and work from there!