Daily Image - Jun 2017 Archive

01 Jun 17 Traveling this year to Yellowstone and back had us taking several new routes and finding things we've not before encountered. I guess that makes obvious sense. One exit before the one we generally take at Cardwell, exit 256, we were directed off the freeway due to work on the overpass one exit prior, exit 249. At the stop sign at the base of the exit it mentioned Virginia City, a place we have wanted to visit for several years but always saw a sign saying closed, indicating we could get there by following Hwy 55, simply by taking a right turn at that stop sign. There was a motel at the intersection so we inquired about the drive and were encouraged to go. So we did. About a 45 minute drive down the road we came to Nevada City, a historic mining town which is now an outdoor historic museum which is open between Memorial and Labor days. Since we were a few weeks early we couldn't get in but we really wanted to see it. However, we could walk around some of the outskirts and I took a few shots where I could. A couple blocks further along the road is a tourist attraction where you can pan for gold, and another 1.5 miles gets you to Virginia City which is open year round. More about that in another mailing. There were several old buildings we could get next to but we couldn't enter, so I just took some photos of the exteriors. This is one of them which dates to before the War Between the States. There was a famous hanging here in 1863 of a nasty hombre named George Ives. The town is famous for this hanging which was the beginning of the Montana Vigilantes. I took the base image and after doing a bit of distortion correction, cropped the result, and added some contrast adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/100 sec @ f /10.

02 Jun 17 The wet winter/spring that we experienced had its effects not only in Yellowstone but here as well. The same explosion of wildflowers we enjoyed on the trip were to greet us upon our return home. In the past the culverts on the side of our driveway and the adjoining road have presented us with a display that was hit and miss and although nice to see, nothing overwhelming. On our return we were amazed to see the sides of all the roadways literally carpeted with wildflowers, wall to wall wildflowers. On a very nice day last week I decided to shoot a few shots of every kind of wild flower that I could find blooming along side the roadways. To date I've captured perhaps a dozen different ones and there are more just starting to bud out. Once I get them all my plan is to make a composite and show them all off a once. Meanwhile, here is one of the shots, this of wild Bleeding Heart. You can get an idea of why I use the term carpeted from this single shot. This is straight from the camera. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/80 sec @ f / 9 .

05 Jun 17 Some of you long time "subscribers" to these mailings may remember an image of God rays I shared in 2009 from one of our visits to Glacier National Park. It actually got recognition in a national contest several years ago which was nice. Those of you who have more recently joined the mailings might recall that I have been sharing a God ray image for several of the past Januarys taken just a couple lots down the road but that I didn't this year. I wanted to so do but this time around the conditions necessary for the picture never occurred when I was passing the location. Whether or not they even occurred this year I cannot be certain, but I do know that we never saw any God rays this year anywhere near where we live. Today in church our pastor touched on both the importance of light and that no art of any kind can compare with that of God. The two elements together reminded me of one stormy early evening we had at the condo this time around and of a roughly 5 minute light show of God rays that I almost missed but which Jan noticed and thankfully brought to my attention. The almost totally blown out portion of the image is the sun and shooting in these conditions is a bit tricky - this storm it worked but with another it didn't - but I always like to try my luck. Obviously this was far more dramatic in first person, but I think this will give some small idea of what we experienced. I'm constantly awed by these shows; some may understand that comment, other may find it a bit simple minded. Nonetheless, I always see them as a message from above as a reminder of the awesomeness of our Creator. I've given this a bit of contrast enhancement to delineate the bands of light and balanced the lighting a small amount. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/8000 sec @ f / 8.

06 Jun 17 About a year after retiring and moving back to the PNW we attended a herp show where Jan became enamored with a small tortoise, actually a hatchling, and felt that she just had to have it so I thought she might as well get two so they could keep each other company. Now we knew absolutely nothing about the critters and common sense would have said no, you don't need more critters. But common sense did not prevail that day and we brought home two baby African Clawed (or Spurred) Torti, more commonly known by the name sulcata tortoise although that is the species name, their full name being Centrochelys sulcata. The two hatchlings were perhaps an inch in diameter and weighed maybe 3 oz. We were told what to feed them ( turned out to be incorrect) and to keep them warm, clean, and weighed regularly to make sure they were growing properly. Jan kept a log of their weight for perhaps 18 months before she decided they were doing all right. Over the past year it was becoming apparent that these guys were starting to outgrow our quarters for them and that we either needed to start thinking about building them a large permanent enclosure or finding them a good home. Jan was in favor of the former and I the latter. Today we accomplished the latter and re-homed them with the Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society. The location was not far from where Jan's parents lived at the time we left for active duty so it was not hard to find but it was a considerable drive. We met with the director for perhaps a hour chatting about these guys - turns out they are gals - and several more of his stable of torti. One of them whose name I've forgotten and weighed in the neighborhood of 70 pounds took quite a liking to me and literally wouldn't leave me alone. That was sorta neat!! I must admit that if our two had showed the attention to us that he showed me I would likely have caved in and built them a big enclosure. Truthfully I'm glad it didn't happen considering how much they eat and what it would cost to heat such an enclosure! Another member of the group was Tico, now around 25 years of age and weighing over 150 pounds on his way to 250 pounds. He was found wandering around one of the islands in Puget Sound (they don't swim) in 2001 and has been with the Society since. He is expected to live for another 100 - 125 years. He is very friendly and loved having his head and neck scratched. Not something that is an everyday occurrence for most of us. I thought you might like to meet him and so he is the image for today. There is a cute song called All God's Creatures Have a Place in the Choir (if you are not familiar with it the group The Celtic Thunder have a great version available on the web); Tico sings base! This is straight from the camera. D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /10.

07 Jun 17 Turn to the back portion of any photographic magazine and I'm willing to bet you can find an ad for a guided tour of the Palouse region of SE Washington. If such is not to be found it is likely that you are not looking at an American publication. The second day of the trip was to be a visit to the Palouse region for the first time. We got a much later start than desired as we had spent the prior evening visiting with good friends from our church and it was difficult to say goodby so we got there about 3 hours to late to get the good light. So we shot what we could, did a bit of exploring even seeing what may well have been a recent WSU graduate ( a cougar) crossing the road in front of us, and determined that we definitely had to make a return visit spending some time there. That might happen in the fall, at least for me. My goal was to shoot from Steptoe Butte, which we did, and today's submission is from there, but we arrived two hours too late to get the best light so I spent my time getting a feel of where the best shooting would be found as well an playing with several different panoramas. Today's shot is one of those, a 5 frame sequence. While we were taking some of the photos a bright yellow crop duster was making several passes over the area. Departing the Palouse and heading for Haugen, MT, we came upon the hanger holding the very same plane. Something of an interesting coincidence. The Palouse is characterized by endlessly rolling hills of very richly colored dirt alternating with sections of boldly colored crops. This is accentuated by farmers intentionally plowing and mowing their fields in lovely designs. That, combined with brightly colored farm buildings, is simply irresistible to any photographer worth their salt. If you are a visitor to eastern WA in the late Spring or early Autumn you owe it to yourself to visit the area! As I mentioned above, this is a five frame pano which after cropping for best composition I applied a series of layers selectively adjusting color to get it properly balanced but otherwise this is straight from the camera. D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f /11.

08 Jun 17 This is another of the shots from the Palouse. It's hard to imagine seeing scenes like this just driving along the highway, but that's how it is. Just to the right edge of this image is an old barn but I didn't get it showing well so I've cropped it off. I'm literally standing on the edge of the road taking this shot which is actually a pano consisting of four frames. It seems as though you can't drive around that area without seeing stuff like this everywhere. Since it is Theatrical Thursday I've increased the saturation and contrast by maybe 5% at most to simply better bring out some of the more subtle colors such as that on the hill just to the left of the trees. I have no idea what the colored crops are in the image, just knew that I was blown away by such beauty. I'm told that it just gets better, up to a point, as the crops mature and some bloom in a multitude of yellows and golds. If you have the time, make a couple day trip and go see for yourself. I adjusted the contrast and saturation a bit as mentioned above, otherwise save for some cropping, the frames comprising this pano are straight from the camera. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f /11.

09 Jun 17 About three years ago while traveling to Yellowstone in the Spring we noticed a lovely yellow flower that was seen in large groups alongside the road and up on the hillsides. We didn't know what it was at the time, but at some point along the way we noticed it was the cover shot of the current MT map we had in the vehicle. So we scoured the map until we found the credit for the photo and learned that the plant was called Arrowleaf Balsomroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata). Every year since we've enjoyed seeing it and this year it was in its glory!! Once we reached the eastern side of WA state it was with us all the way to Yellowstone. It was just one of many flora treats we experienced but without a doubt it was the best if for no other reason than we got to see so much of it. Some of you may recall my earlier comments about one of my favorite photographers, Kathleen Clemens, whose specialty is artistic flower photography. In my mind she is the best flower photographer out there, period. I have attempted to learn her technique, which she willingly teaches, over the last couple of years. In truth, I haven't spent anywhere near the amount of time I should practicing what she teaches, but for today's submission I'm sharing an image which I took using one of her approaches to flower photography. Kathleen likes to employ flowers surrounding the subject flower(s), either in front of the subject or behind it. The in front approach she calls "shooting through" and results with the main subject being sharply in focus with flowers out of focus in front that in some ways give the impression of looking through a sheet of water spotted glass. The background is fully out of focus. I found a nice grouping of Balsomroot on the side of Steptoe Butte and tried to get the desired "shooting through" look. What I got isn't going to get me a guest lecturer spot with Kathleen but it will serve to give you an idea of what I'm trying to describe with words and perhaps get me motivated. This is straight from the camera although I've cropped it a bit for best composition. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f /11.

13 Jun 17 You guessed correctly, there was no image for Monday. I'll explain. A colleague and good friend from USUSH days arrived in town from VA on Saturday afternoon and is staying with us until the 20th when I take him into Seattle to board a cruise ship to AK. In the interim we are showing him a "bit" of our neck of the country and in some cases, such as yesterday, the days are very long. As it turned out on Sunday we didn't get home until nearly 2300 and today we didn't get back home until 2030, so it isn't leaving much time to work on images. Yesterday's jaunt was basically to Hurricane Ridge but we made several side visits along the way so it wasn't a simple Hurricane Ridge view and back. We almost considered paying our Pastor and his wife an unexpected visit since their abode is very near that area but figured everyone deserves a little time off away from parishioners. Especially this one! Our time at the visitor's area allowed us to see some lovely waterfalls, a bit of snow, a dozen plus Black Tail Deer, and an interesting storm. I had had hopes of a magnificent sunset but the storm had another idea so we stayed until 2100 hoping for something to develop while playing with it and observing the deer. We had several opportunities with the storm as it played with the sun and painted all kinds of interesting shadows across the mountain ridges. The selection for today is of the storm as it looked to fully envelope the peaks but this was as low as it would get while we were there. At one point off to the right of what you can see it developed a rather large ball of very dark gray and left us expecting a serious thunder storm but such never developed. Workers in the gift shop mentioned that the day before the clouds brought a snow storm, so one never knows exactly what to expect this time of the year. We left the visitor's area a couple hours after this shot was taken under lower light levels and more clouds although they were somewhat more elevated and traveled to Sequim for an evening meal. By the time we left the restaurant the sky was streaked with bright pink clouds. We could only wonder what we might have seen at the visitor's center had we elected to remain another 2.5 hours. I've cropped the base image a very small amount and given the entire image a slight amount of contrast enhancement. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f /10.

14 Jun 17 Today's touring of the area was to visit two of the three forts, Forts Worden and Flagler, both on this side of the pond, that were part of the Triangle of Fire. The third fort, Casey, is on the other side located on Whidbey Island. (A portion of that property is owned by my Alma Mater, Seattle Pacific University.) These three forts provided protection from non-friendly marine traffic on Puget Sound from 1897 - 1953. They have a very colorful history and for those with the time to visit all three make for a very interesting lesson in modern history. It is basically a two day excursion if you plan to spend any time at all in the parks, all three forts now being state parks. In addition to the forts themselves, there are several interesting sights to capture your eye along the way. On top of all that, Fort Worden is located just outside the town of Port Townsend, a day trip all in itself. I had planned to spend some time in the town but as we pulled up to a parking spot in Fort Worden, a gentleman in the spot next to me, upon seeing the camera draped around my neck, asked if I had come to shoot the boats. I had no idea as to what he was referencing so I asked him what he meant. He said the Tall Boats were sailing to the fort, should arrive around 1400 and were going to put on a show. No longer using a watch, removed mine in 2004, I got back into the SUV to see the time. It being about 1330 we decided to stick around and see what might transpire. While we waited we walked the shoreline taking in some brightly colored grasses and wild flowers accentuated by some showy storm clouds. Also found some time while walking the beach to get a good position for watching the ships to look - unsuccessfully - for some beach glass. Our wait was worth it and we got to see two nice Tall Ships as well as several smaller sail vessels. They even treated us to a few booms, which Miss Maggie frowned upon, with billowing smoke just to make it seem a little real. Had we timed our travels different by even one minute today we would have missed the whole shebang. I've straightened the horizon appropriately, adjusted some of the color to remove the blues in the island in the background, and added a tiny amount of micro contrast. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO500; 1/3200 sec @ f / 8.

15 Jun 17 We have a couple pairs of Anna hummingbirds that stay with us year round that we feed and enjoy watching. Being just a few birds, they are an easy to please group. Then comes June and the annual migration of assorted hummers come our way and settle in. This year, so far, it looks like we have a couple dozen who have decided to stake a claim to both portions of our trees and our feeders. Last year at this time we had three feeders like the one in the photo and we were refilling them twice a day. Later in the year at one of the home shows we attended Jan's eye was captured by a fancy new feeder at a fancy cost that was "guaranteed" to be the best feeder ever invented. So she bought 4! We now have all four of them hanging outside our porch along with the old one in the photo. Guess which one the birds are using and which ones they are not. We are already refilling this one at least once a day and I'm thinking it won't be long before it's twice a day. Now she is looking to purchase more of this older type since the birds are flocking to it. Last year it was feeding two at once at best, but this year the birds seem to be more willing to share and we've seen up to a dozen feeding at once several times today. I took perhaps 50 shots of them throughout the day and I'll surly be trying again tomorrow. This is my favorite shot of the day and it being Theatrical Thursday I've "printed" it on a piece of acrylic. This is straight from the camera save for a small amount of straightening and cropping. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1000; 1/400 sec @ f / 5.6.

16 Jun 17 When we landscaped the property in front where we have the pond, we told the lady from whom we were purchasing the plants to make the initial selections for us but when doing so to make certain that we had year round color of some type. She did her job well and now we are filling in with some stuff that we particularly wanted. Among the plants that she selected is a plant called 'Moulin Rouge' Masterwort. Last year the plants were rather small but this year has been a different story and they have really taken off. As I have been watching them they budded out and then the flowers stayed mostly closed looking more like a cone than anything else. Then about a week ago they began to fully open and I was amazed at the complexity of the flower. Today's submission shows the flowers in both stages. They apparently come in many colors but primarily in the red family. Ours are mostly of a magenta hue but the link above shows many shades of reds and purples. If you don't have something like this in your garden this might be a plant worth considering. Other than cropping for best presentation and a small amount of distraction removal, this is straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/400 sec @ f / 6.3.

19 Jun 17 A little background for today's submission. Jan and I have been watching a few series about the 14th - 17th century Europe the last few months part of which has dealt with naval power. Those of you who can remember back to jr hi / sen hi / college world history classes may also recall a bit about the naval powers of the time. Last week while we were visiting Fort Worden as I mentioned on Wednesday we had the opportunity to watch a couple of the tall ships put on a very short skirmish and the firing of a couple of rounds at each other. It was fun to see them up reasonably close and more so to hear the booms and watch the smoke. But MUCH more impressive was to observe them, along with a few other sailing craft, as they approached form the distance as small dots only to get continuously larger as they neared our location. There were a few moments as I watched them that I couldn't help thinking of how such a sight might have been experienced by our forefathers as they stood on the coast watching an approaching group of ships initially knowing neither their origin or intent. It might just have bit a bit unnerving. I did a little straightening and cropping of the original but otherwise this is straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/5000 sec @ f / 8.

20 Jun 17 When we began getting the pond cleaned up from the fall/winter collection of debris I noticed that we had acquired a frog as a new addition to the livestock. Initially I could find just a few of the fish that we had been watching throughout the summer and I blamed the seemingly apparent decrease in numbers of fish on the frog. Jan said I was nuts but I stuck to my guns and blamed the frog accusing him of eating them. Then we slowly began to see more and more fish but still not the total number we had observed, and purchased, during the summer. The frog continued to be seen now and then so I wasn't fully convinced. About three weeks ago we purchased 5 new fish, two larger blue, cream, and orange guys and three much smaller cream with orange dots. Plus a large water lily that occupies a fair amount of space. Amazingly, with an hour of adding the fish and lily to the pond, ALL the fish started making an appearance together putting on a very nice display of color. Since that day we have really begun to appreciate the pond. So has the frog! Late last week I was taking some shots of the duckweed covering the water's surface with water droplets floating on top. When I was looking at them on the computer for one to share I noticed an odd brown blob in one of the frames. When I gave it a closer look it was the frog looking right at me but whom I hadn't noticed when taking the shots. When I went to feed the fish on Saturday who was there but the frog sitting BOLDLY on a water hyacinth just defying me to take his portrait, so that's just what I did. As the fish population hasn't been decreasing I guess I am nuts and it wasn't the frog's fault that we lost a couple of the fish over the winter. In any rate our $.39 fish are now growing rapidly and are much too big for the frog even should he decide to prove me right. This is straight from the camera but severely cropped. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/160 sec @ f / 8.

21 Jun 17 During the past couple of weeks I've been shooting individual foxglove flowers as I've found them here and there, including in our yard. Yesterday as we were completing our touring of the area with our good friend from VA we happen to pass a couple of hillsides that were literally covered with foxglove. This was to the best of my (failing) memory the largest concentrations of the flower I've ever seen. So I decided to take a few shots of the stuff to see what I might be able to do with it. Several of them came out acceptable and today's submission is one of them. Although the day started out nice, and in fact gave us the best viewing of Puget Sound from Mt Walker we've experienced to date, as the day progressed the weather moved in and by this morning we were for the most part socked in. At the time we encountered the foxglove yesterday the skies were turning a dull gray, and for the most part looking very boorish, so I had to help the sky in this composition a wee bit. During the last couple of months several areas very near to us have been clear cut, something I really hate to see happening, but in the case of this clear cut area and the other close by, the foxglove have done a delightful job of hiding the ugliness for at least a few weeks. Plus, by getting down low and letting the plants on a mound of dirt take center stage, I was able to hide most of the carnage. And no, I'm not against harvesting trees for lumber, just find the clear cut approach not only ugly but potentially destructive with all the plant life holding the soil removed. There are much better ways. I used selective color to grab the white of the sky area, converted that to a sky blue, and brushed in the clouds reducing their opacity to get the proper blend for the light in the sky. Otherwise, this is straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1000; 1/320 sec @ f /11.

22 Jun 17 By now you've likely decided that I've given up sharing the Yellowstone images but such is not the case. The day of the annual meeting we woke up to light snow showers that built up to intermittent almost blizzard conditions throughout the mid day and then tapered off as the afternoon wore on until giving up around suppertime. NONE of it stuck to the ground, but it did make for some fun photography during the short period I was able to work with it. As we were approaching the "Y" for our side of the road we encountered a small number of the bison herd peacefully grazing by the side of the road. At least it was peaceful for the adults. That wasn't so for all of the red dogs as some of the moms wanted to eat first then feed the chillins. This is a shot of one youngster just after being kicked by mom when he tried to have supper. I tried to get the complete story in a single shot but she managed to get her leg back at ground level before I got the shutter pressed. I did however capture juniors response to being kicked away. This is straight from the camera save for some cropping. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/640 sec @ f / 8.

23 Jun 17 On our rear deck Jan has a number of container gardens of various sizes and shapes. One smaller square type holds a grouping of lilies which never grow very high, maybe 15" in height at most, but which produce an intense orange to red colored flower depending upon the light in which they are viewed. Every year they offer me an opportunity to play with them and each year I try to get something different, albeit the differences are sometimes small. Today they were simply gorgeous in overhead light and I tried to get some subtle shadow and color patterns to play with on the computer but didn't quite achieve what I wanted. Last week we paid our first, and likely last, visit to the Tacoma Glass Museum and while there spent some amount of time watching a glass blowing demonstration. Part of the equipment used in the blowing of glass is a hot furnace and if my memory serves me correctly I believe the moderator said the ones being used were at 3,500° F which when viewed with the naked eye was just a brightly glowing circle of red surrounded by cream brick! The red/orange of the flower reminded me of those ovens, so not having captured what I wanted I thought I'd convert my flower into how I think it would have looked if it were a glass flower in the furnace. In my rendition the stamen have cooled just a little and so they are darker than the rest of the flower. Probably not as creative as a Chihuly, but I do believe a lot nicer than some of his stuff we saw on the Glass Bridge! The base image was given a small amount of contrast adjustment but applied only to the stamen, then I changed the blending mode to linear light to get the desired effect on them. Nikon D500; 105mm Macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/640 sec @ f /10.

26 Jun 17 Back in 2013 during our first visit to the National Bison Range, we were stopped at the gate prior to entering and while Jan was doing something I don't remember, a lone bull bison walked nearby, maybe 50 yards away, and just stopped as if posing. I took several shots of him and as it turned out one of them was among my all time favorite photos. I worked up a couple versions of the shot and liked one well enough to print for the wall over the couch in the condo. [Now before anyone gets worked up over that comment please understand that in as much as I see my stuff ALL the time, my tendency is to put the work of others on our walls. I can look at my stuff any time I want without needing to print it out.] It hung there for a while, then got moved to a prime spot over the fireplace. Shortly after that move a neighbor and friend commented off hand just how much he liked that framed print so I gave it to him. I never reprinted it. However, since that time I've been on the lookout for another that might replace it. I saw the perfect replacement during our next to last day in Yellowstone this last trip but the traffic was heavy and there was no easy place to pull off so by the time I could stop it was too late. This was a very large bull strolling through the snow with the absolute perfect lighting. Oh well was my thought. Then the next day on my last trip into the park, Jan having elected to take the day off and just relax, on my way out I came upon another nice sized bull, albeit somewhat smaller than the one on the previous day, who was slowly but steadily making his way along a strip of new grass aside the Madison River. I followed him for several minutes in the SUV, then stopped when it looked like he might pause a bit, and started shooting. At one point he acted as if he knew I was taking his portrait and just stood very still looking a bit downward but in my direction. I'm sharing my favorite of those shots today. Much of his winter insulation has been shed but there is much more to rub off. Oddly, in all our visits to the park, as well as observing those around here on farms, I've never seen one completely devoid of the winter coat. This is generally straight from the camera save for some cropping, the application of a vignette which I hope you couldn't tell, and a localized adjustment for the greens that didn't record as I saw them. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 800; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

27 Jun 17 Graduating from HS and having been accepted at 5 universities I thought I was on my way until my parents said move out or pay room and board. Not having a job in my hip pocket that made things a bit challenging but one thing was obvious, further education was not in my immediate future. A girl friend's - read as friend who was female - father who happened to like me then was a barber and suggested that I might consider such an occupation as a means of earning the funds necessary to continue my education. Now at that time the job of barber was next to the bottom on the social ladder of professions and that wasn't going to be good enough for me, the aspiring physician! But when two of our three family physicians said rethink it, as they had barbered their way through school, I did just that and with a set of used tools from the friend's father, I entered the local barber college located literally in the dregs of downtown Seattle and run by a retired boxer. For the next 6 months I got to see first hand a different form of life working with the down and out - for many reasons, some of them of choice - in the worst part of the city. [Incidentally, the building that was the barber college then is now a 5 star restaurant whose menu I can't afford to even read.] That decision to go to barber school and become a barber would turn out to be one of the most important decisions I ever made and could serve, and may well, as the jumping off point for many stories! Interesting to me now is how this was just the first of many turns in my life that were not of my planning, somehow bringing to mind the old adage of "Man Plans; God laughs!" In retrospect I must have given Him many a side ache. The barber part of me has never completely disappeared so whenever I see something reminiscent of those formative and wonderful 14 years behind a chair I take a little time to observe. Walking down the main street of Virginia City what was I to find but a barber shop with one customer in the chair about to get a shave and another waiting his turn. So of course I had to press the shutter a few times. So here you have it, a 1890s tonsorial artist practicing his craft. This is straight from the camera save for a bit of straightening and cropping. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 5.6 with full flash.

28 Jun 17 The day prior to our friend's departure for Alaska we spent the time visiting several sights that are easily missed if you don't know the area. These included a couple of water falls, a mountaintop view of a large portion of Puget Sound, a few fields of wild flowers, and even looked at a potential property for summer residence. On the last leg returning home I suggested we take a short detour to see Mt Rainier from the port of Kingston as it was a beautiful evening and the mountain was in all its glory. The next morning crossing would have been another opportunity but one never knows what awaits on the morrow and as fate would have it the departure was socked in. So our visit on the last evening was fortuitous. This is what the camera saw, NOT what we saw. Had I seen clearly that evening what I saw after getting the captures into the computer I would have stayed for a while and shot many more frames. Look closely at the left hand third of the image. You will notice several buildings in Seattle including the Space Needle and the box it came in, a few of the Cascade Peaks as if they were just a few miles distant, and of course Mt Rainier as if were hovering over the entire area. Large telephoto lenses in the neighborhood of 600mm + can create some of this type of distance compression, but this was shot with my normal 18 - 200 lens so I cannot account for what you are seeing. That said, it does make for an interesting composition and this shot gets put into my collection of favorite Rainier photos, another of which I sent in mid January. Always nice when you can send a guest off with a view like this. Of course the downside is that's how this place is remembered and makes it difficult to then appreciate my reliable complaining about our weather. BTW, did you see the two birds? This is basically straight from the camera save for some cropping and straightening. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/800 sec @ f /11.

29 Jun 17 Wasn't thinking too clearly today in that we both had annual eye appointments that involved the dilation of the pupils which resulted in not having very good vision for the rest of the day. Problem was not having constructed the DI submission prior to the appointment which meant that I wasn't going to be able to produce something for today's mailing. As I write this the eyes are approaching normal but aren't there yet, so I'm gonna use a duplicate of yesterday's submission. Just days prior to reporting for active duty I was supposed to be climbing to the summit of Mt Baker which was going to be exciting because I could watch it releasing material into the sky from where we lived in the Ballard area of the city. That would have been a wonderful challenge and experience but it didn't happen. At the time most folks were expecting that Mountain to blow any time. That didn't happen as everyone knows and just under 4 years later Mt St Helens blew her top!! That combination sparked a little interest on my part in volcanoes. As you travel along the course of the Snake River Plain you pass through the town of Arco, ID, just 18 miles distant from Craters of the Moon National Monument. Here you can learn about the many volcanic eruptions that supposedly created the Plain and the river. According to the information there, the Mt St Helens eruption pales in comparison to those that created the Snake River Plain. Of interest is the suggestion that these series of eruptions caused by hot spots in the earth's crust have moved eastward since they began erupting and that the newest and latest of these hot spots is called Yellowstone National Park. Now it is clearly apparent if you visit the park that there is such and its center is under Lake Yellowstone. This hot spot is claimed to dwarf those that preceded it and it is said that when it blows it will totally transform the four states surrounding it. Two years ago "they" discovered another underneath it said to be 10x bigger and that when the combination blows it will reshape the entire western 1/3 of out nation. (That'll be an interesting form of redistricting!) While I was working on the image I sent yesterday these thoughts were running through my little pea brain and so I created my concept of how things could look just seconds before the big blow if it were to occur with Mt Rainier as the next in succession in the Cascade chain. BOOM!! Same info as I shared yesterday save for applying the oil spill filter from Topaz's Impression 2 plug-in. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 500; 1/800 sec @ f / 11.

30 Jun 17 As quickly as our humming birds arrived they departed. Since they were here in force last year through most of July I'm blaming their early disappearance on my having mixed their artificial nectar too concentrated and they found it unhealthy and left. Jan, being the kind soul that she is, has suggested their departure is due to some other reason, but I think otherwise. So, with no tiny nectar drinking birds to photograph, how about a tiny nectar sipping insect. Bees come to mind and since I've yet to share one for 2017, how about one such image for today. Captured this bumblebee crawling all over a cone flower and thought it might make a good subject. This one was making its way around the entire flower and I had an opportunity to shoot it in many different positions, but I liked the combination of the insect, the petals, and the background best in this shot. This was shot "indoors" in an open air section of a nursery so the lighting is totally natural and it was the lighting of the flower plus the bonus of the bee that initially caught my eye. A couple minutes after I took this shot the light had shifted, the effect was gone, and the flower was back to looking its normal self. The bee meanwhile oblivious to it all just kept scouring the flower. Except for some very minor cropping this is straight from the camera. Nikon D300s; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f /5.6 .