All aboard!!

Which way do I want to go?

This passenger train has been sitting on a piece of unused track for over a year now. I guess they are just waiting for it to rust away. When I saw this it reminded me of the toy trains that they make.

All of these photos were taken with the Sigma 10-20mm. I was only about two feet away from the front of the train when I took this one. That still amazes me how close you can get to things with that lens.

Pretty little wild flowers

Spring and Summer here on the West Coast has been cooler and wetter than normal which has caused some plants to do better and others not so good. Usually these little flowers are hard to find amongst the other plants but this year they seem to have come into their own!

Sorry to dash your hopes for me Q, but I took both of these pictures one handed while walking allong with my camera and big mug of coffee...

RED INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

Captured these close ups in early June while camped out in the Wichita Mountains. One of my goals is to document every Wildflower that I can find growing in this Wildlife Refuge. Although several images of this specimen has been recorded, these from this year seemed so new and fresh.

Paul in an earlier post a couple of weeks ago did a wonderful job showing this specimen growing also in the wild on Vancouver Island. A long ways from the Plains of Oklahoma. As the saying goes, "Beauty has No Bounds".

Kauai, Hawaii.

Kalapaki Beach.

I spoke to one of the local, he said those wood debris you see on the beach are from Tsunami in Japan.

Wailua Falls.

This is a famous water falls on island. If you could remember a show in the 70's Fantasy Island, this water falls it was on the show introduction.

I forgot to take picture on the warning signs in this area. If I could remember, it said something like DO NOT CROSS THE RAILS, OR ATTEMPTED TO CLIMB DOWN THE WATER FALLS. PEOPLE HAVE DIE HERE, AND FATAL INJURED.

To be honest, I did plan to climb down to the bottom of the water falls. To make sure, I have asked to one of the local boy just came up from the bottom of the water falls. He's nice enough offering his helps to take me down to the bottom to take picture, but he said the trail is very slippery, and it's very hard to get back up on the trail. If I get hurt, I need to figure out the way to get out without the authority helps. Otherwise, I will go to jail, after I got my treatment in the hospital.

You don't know how disappointed I'm not to get down to the bottom of the water falls. May be one day I will get this picture for you.

It's only easy way to get down if there no rain in the area for a week. Yeah right! you are talking about the wettest place on earth.

Kauai, Hawaii.

Cast away from Kauai.

This is where we stay every time we visit Kauai.

Caught this tourist enjoying the Sunrise.

Sandstones

Found this interesting pair of sandstone rocks while out hiking last week. Taken with the Sigma ultrawide at 10mm.

I am finding that I get way better sky and less blown highlights if I set the camera to an exposure of -0.3 or -0.7 then brighten up the picture as needed when I get it home. This picture is taken at -0.7 and barely needed any brightness adjustment at all.

103 and rising!

I figured as long as it was going to feel like a desert I might as well put up a desert photo.

This was taken near the Superstition Mountains in Arizona with the Nikon D80. I converted it to black and white in Nikon's Capture NX2 and put the frame on it and cloned out a couple of dust spots in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I think the NX2 software does a better job of converting to black and white than photoshop does.

Dog days of Summer

I'm pretty sure this picture has most of the right ingredients to qualify as a "Dog days of Summer" picture.

The white dog's name is Buster but lately since his rusty choke chain has been staining his neck we have been calling him Ruster! But Ruster dosn't care what we call him unless of course we call him late for dinner... LOL

I've got my eye on you

Go ahead, put that canoe in the water. I dare you!

I took this one at the St. Louis zoo a few years back with my Nikon D-80 using the Tamron 18-250mm lens. It was just like I was standing in the water with the hippo. Something I would never do, I might add. LOL

As an FYI for our photographers. I just wanted to let you know I've been watching the stats for the blog the last few days and we have been getting hits from all over the world including China, Germany, France, Spain, Indonesia, Australia, Canada and Maylasia to mention a few.

One of the big search phrases that is bringing people to the site is "Hawaii" and "How to photograph Hawaii". We've also gotten some hits from searches on "reviews of equipment" (specifically Paul's review of his backpack), "camera equipment" in general and as a special mention, Parker's Rain Dance photos and article has gotten several hits just this week from the search engines.

Keep up the good work guys!

Big wheel!

This is the last of my pictures of the remnants at the old Suquash Mine site.

The cast iron wheel origionally used at the top of a headframe for hoisting coal cars in and out of the mine is about 10 feet across and in very good condition considering it's 150+ year age.

This is another HDR combination of 3 photographs using Photoshop CS4, the Sigma 10 - 20 at 10mm and a tripod.

LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

Also known as the Dog Days Of Summer in these parts. By early afternoon all activity is usually halted . Everyone, including the Dogs, are laid up in the shade. Hundred degree temps take a toll unless one practices this ritual. Late afternoon, when the shadows start to get long, Man and Beast again will begin to stir. Canoes will be uprighted and easily slid into the water where paddlers of all ages will once again become active after their long midday break from the heat. Laughter comes easy. We all know that the best time of day, from now until after dark is before us. Taught by generations before us, we know how to survive the Dog Days!

Sunrise on Poipu, Kauai

This place is a most favorite spot on Kauai from my wife. Everyday, after her morning walks, she sat here watching the surfs crashing against the rocks. It's hard to see the scale of the surfs in these pictures, but what I can see the water could shoot up about 50' on the average. This is one of the main reason she wants to go back Kauai every year. For me, I like to go back for more pictures, and the fresh air while enjoying my Mai Tai. Anyone here want to join me in June 2012 or possible next March?

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Salton City, CA.

I have posted the top 3 pictures before, and I just want to re-post again with other 2 bottom pictures. I found this article about the history of the Salton Sea, when I got to this area, I wonder how the hell this lake begins formation.

The story of the Salton begins with the formation of a great shallow depression, or basin which modem explorers have called the Salton Sink. Several million years ago a long arm of the Pacific Ocean extended from the Gulf of California though the present Imperial and Coachella valleys, then northwesterly through the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Mountain ranges rose on either side of this great inland sea, and the whole area came up out of the water. Oyster beds in the San Felipe Mountains, on the west side of Imperial Valley are located many hundreds of feet above present sea level. Slowly the land in the central portion settled, and the area south of San Gorgonio Pass sloped gradually down to the Gulf.

If it had not been affected by external forces, it would probably have kept its original contours, but it just so happened that on its eastern side there emptied one of the mightiest rivers of the North American continent the Colorado. The river built a delta across the upper part of the Gulf, turning that area into a great salt water lake. It covered almost 2100 square miles.

How could a river cut a gulf in two? The watershed of the Colorado River covers 260,000 square miles, from the southern edge of Yellowstone Park to the Gulf of California. It held in suspension and carried down to the sea millions of tons of solid matter as it scoured out such natural wonders as the Grand Canyon. It deposited this vast quantity of silt into the Gulf opposite its mouth and the deposits eventually reached clear to the opposite side, from Yuma to the rampart of the Cocopah Mountains. The delta was ten miles wide by thirty in length. The river then chose for itself a route on the southeastern slide of the delta plain, discharging its waters into the Gulf of California. Under the blazing sun, water in the upper Gulf evaporated, leaving an and basin incrusted with salt in its deeper parts. The depression was about one hundred miles in length by thirty-five in width. It had a maximum depth of 1,000 feet.

Looking up or Looking down?

I thought the deep blue contrasted well against the clouds so I took a photo. Once I started to play with this in CS4 (cropping and the frame) I thought that this could be looked at either way. Was I in the sky shooting water or was I on the ground shooting sky?

Just stare at the blue area and see what you think. You are getting verrry sleepy. :~)

More from Suquash

The top photo is a large steam winch for lifting the coal cars in and out of the mine.

The bottom photo is a steam donkey a more portable steam powered winch usually used for logging back in the day.

Dallas World Aquarium.

After I saw Ron underwater shoots, I just want to try it out without getting wet. Boy, it's not easy to get correct exposure on the bottom picture. Now I'm really appreciated our old friend Ron have to works hard on those underwater pictures.

Dallas World Aquarium.

These pictures are from indoor facility, and there's no room for my tripod. This is the best I can do on handheld with 70-200mm lens. Man, I can see I'm getting old. Just couple years ago, I can hold this lens with one hand, and shoot a wedding all night.

Still digging and sorting

Now I'm on a mission. I am going to try to make the last underwater photos I have last as long as possible. I won't get a chance to get any more until January.

A trio of honu's resting in the coral.

Oops! There's actually four sea turtles there. I think I need to clean my glasses.

Suquash

A short drive from where I live are the ruins of an old coal mine from the 1850s which never really came into production.

Not much is left there as evidence of the mine but some of the old steam powered equipment and what not on the surface can still be found in the forest which has grown up around the site.

The mine managers house is long gone but it's two chimneys still stand tall and straight where the stone mason put them so many years ago. Truely a testiment to the mason's abilities.

Each picture is actually a combination of 3 pictures taken at different exposures and processed with Photoshop CS4s HDR feature. All pictures were taken with the Sigma ultrawide at 10mm on a tripod believe it or not... LOL

"EL GATO"

Gato is a re-purposed cat. Fancy name for "found at a yard sale for a dollar". He came attached with strings. A 'Puppet" by trade in his former life. After trimming the strings that controlled him, he now gets to sit and keep watch over the screened porch. Staring at Josey, the House Dog and making her bark, is his other job. Sometimes at night he gets to be repositioned with his hips high in the air and front legs flat on the table. A mouse wouldn't dare come by Gato in his stealth position and his ever watchfull eyes!

The blue perch that Gato calls home is handmade from twisted and bent limbs from willow trees that grew along the creeks of early day Oklahoma. The top surface from discarded wooden crates. Bought from Gypsies that were traveling by horse drawn wagons and camped along a creek outside of town. It was a side or end table that was part of a set that occupied a part of the large front porch of my wife's Grandfather. Doctor, as we called him told us that he purchased it in the 1920's or early 1930's.

So, now we have a re-purposed cat making use of a re-purposed table. We are frugal around here. I don't think either one minds!