Daily Image - Feb 2018 Archive

01 Feb 18 It being Theatrical Thursday, and as it's been a while since I shared anything creative, I thought I'd go with something a bit over the top for today. Although the amount of graffiti we saw during our cruise was minimal, mostly on the walls containing the Danube and in rural areas, there were a few locations in-city where there was some. One of the more prominent sites in Praha was along any of the walls and sides of buildings in the park areas south of Charles Bridge - there's that bridge again - on the west side. This string of graffiti was on a wall separating a grassy treed area from the business street behind and above it. Many of the shops on that street also sported significant graffiti. Of course we couldn't read a word of it, so we have absolutely no idea what it says, so it was just "art" for us; I thought this string particularly suited for manipulation so that's what I did. If you are the curious type, you may find yourself looking for young Alice and perhaps the Mad Hatter, if not the Cheshire Cat. I've given the base capture some contrast enhancement and then converted to what you see using the Impasto Fingerpaint preset from Topaz Impression 2. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/250 sec @ f /10.

08 Feb 18 As I mentioned Monday that I might share with you the creative version of the river and lock, I am doing so today. My plan earlier in the day was to share something different but a combination of several events robbed me of the time necessary to produce something new so I'm falling back on this painting look of the Moldau. For those of you who didn't find either the seagull or the MG on Monday, now you have another opportunity. You'll need to zoom in to 100% to do it but even in this "painted" look they are both clearly evident. Nothing much to add to what I said on Monday other than to suggest that for any of you who like putting together triptychs give me a "ring" and I'll provide two more versions from which to chose. Same info provided on Monday but this time I modified the original using the Topaz Impression 2. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f /10.

05 Feb 18 Traveling as we did down the Danube from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary, we passed through 16 locks which, if I heard correctly, serve three different purposes. The first was to keep the Danube from flooding the towns nestled along its banks, the second was to keep the water level at a depth appropriate for ship travel, and the third was for the generation of hydroelectric power, in that order. We saw only two of them in daylight so I didn't get to photograph much of the system, although I did get a few decent shots of one of those two. None were comparable to the Ballard Locks in Seattle of which I've share many photos, but it was interesting to go through so many in a distance of only 550 miles. While we didn't see or photograph locks of any particular beauty on the Danube, such was not the case on the Moldau in Praha. The shot for today was taken one bridge south of Charles Bridge and is a vehicular bridge with pedestrian walks on both sides. From what I could tell, at this point in Praha, the buildings on the river bank were either apartments or businesses but I'm leaning on the side of apartments. Along this side of the river were several small locks allowing, I'm assuming, for small craft to exit the river for either mooring or repair. On the right hand side of the photo you can see the buildings along with autos parked along the bulkhead. Immediately to the left of that you see one of the small locks with the proximal floodgate open to the river and the distal floodgate closed. No vessels are in it. There is also a separating wall between the river and the lock entrance with a lovely statue at the end closest to the floodgate. True to form, there is a bird on it doing what birds seemingly feel obligated to do. On the other side of this bridge is a beautiful little park situated on a tiny island in the middle of the river. Jan preferred the creative version of this shot which I may just share on Thursday but I thought you might need this straight one first in order to appreciate the artsy look. This is a composite of 10 frames. I've cropped and straightened it a small amount for best presentation. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f /10.

28 Feb 18 Our transport from the Moldau in the Czech Republic to the Danube in the Republic of Germany was via a luxury coach which it seems was the mode for all the coaches we rode in during the visit. We departed Praha around 1000 arriving in Passau around 1630. By the time we had all boarded the boat, received our luggage, and attended the mandatory safety & more briefing it was the beginning of a memorable cruise initiated with a lovely autumn sunset albeit not a dramatic one. We pushed off, enjoyed a little time on the deck, well perhaps 15 of us did, and then, as the sun began to play games with us, settled in for our first of many delightful dinners. Dinner seating turned out to be somewhat more lackadaisical then implied but as it turned out much of the cruise was to be that way and that I rather enjoyed as it gave us plenty of leeway in how we spent our time. So it will come as no surprise that I did my best to make it as much a photographic tour as was reasonable. I was going to provide a lot of photos to the group but we had a "pro" photographer on board with us and I decided to leave all that up to him. At the end of the cruise he provided all who wanted it a disc of selected photos with text so that was extremely nice of him. More than most folks would do! The image for today was from that first group of shots I took from the top deck of our boat, the Amadeus, which for most of the cruise I had almost to myself except for a couple of mornings and one or two evenings. About the only times I didn't have to wait to get my shot. That was nice. This shot was taken a few minutes after pushing off and starting our journey down river. As I was taking the photos the thought ran through my mind, 'how hard would it be to live here?" Or for that matter, how difficult it would be to have to make that drive daily! When I worked this up it was showing much brighter on the graphics box, but once again on this mail box it appears somewhat darker. Depending on your box you may have to adjust it some. I've replaced the dull gray sky, adjusted the contrast just a wee bit, and removed a couple of distractions. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1250; 1/320 sec @ f / 8.

20 Feb 18 Arriving in Salzburg we departed the bus, walked over a small river on a bridge loaded with love locks, just like the one I shared from Praha, took a short walk to enter a lovely garden resplendent with statues - perhaps 40 - strolled through the shopping area where I took the shot of the McDonald's sign, and then into the courtyard of St Peter's Monastery, Archiabbatia sancti Petri Salisburgensis in Latin if you like, a Benedictine monastery and former cathedral. It is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the German speaking lands and is the oldest monastery with a continuous history dating back to its founding in 696. If you are curious you can read about it here. In the afternoon we were treated to a beautiful presentation by a pianist and violinist duo in the refectory of the monastery, the most unusual setting in which I've ever heard a musical performance. But the acoustics were excellent and we very much enjoyed their playing. In between arriving in the courtyard and attending the performance we had a couple hours of free time to have lunch and take photos. We made the most of both but as far as I could tell everyone else just concentrated on eating. This shot of the monastery highlights the twin steeples as well as several of the statues adorning the building. I've given it some contrast manipulation to try and provide some separation between the steeples and the other buildings. At the top of the scene is the Hohensalzburg Castle of which just a small area of the base is included. More images form this spot to follow. Other than giving the image some contrast manipulation as mentioned above, this is what the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/640 sec @ f / 8.

Our first morning in Praha found us still a bit dazed from our flight so as we began to embark on our first solo day in the city we took a bit of refuge in having our first meal out on the town at McDonald's. It was better food than we have ever had at a McDonald's prior so we were sorta able to "justify" it for our outing. Our third morning there was our first guided tour of the city and as we passed that same McDonald's building our guide informed us the the locals refer to it as the American Embassy due to the fact that so many Americans meet there to eat. We had a good chuckle and I tucked that bit of trivia away for a DI mailing. Leaving Praha our next city was Salzburg where we started off our tour walking through the main shopping area and what did we come across but another McDonald's. This time however you needed to know the exact location in order to find it as there was neither a big store front nor a easily visible big yellow m. There was to be sure the yellow m but it was a very small part of the store identifier. Quite cleverly done and in such a manner as to blend in with all the other store signs. Considering the historical setting time-wise (1700s) that the store fronts were trying to emulate, we would have missed it had the tour guide not gone out of his way to point it out. It being Theatrical Thursday, I thought I would share it with you as though it was something taken from a Harry Potter story. Ive cropped the original some for presentation, straightened it, and then converted it using the Fractalius 3-D Magic fractalius plug-in. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/250 sec @ f / 8.

20 Feb 18 For those of you who were fans of Downton Abby today's submission will seem somewhat familiar. You may recall the bell system that was used to let the staff know when their presence was required. Different bell for each location in the house. I often wondered just how long those wires were and exactly how the were channeled through the walls and floors. It would be interesting to see an actual system as it was back in the 19th century. During out tour it seemed as thought we were never far from something Mozartian, almost to the point of being annoying. Sorta reminded me of all the places Washington slept. This is a shot of the doorbell system in place at the time Mr Mozart lived in the building. They, well rather one of the bells, still work and is used to announce that you would like to visit the museum that was at one tie his residence. It look closely you will see the sign for the middle bell reads museum. The authenticity of the site is obviously marred by the placard which both identifies it for the self walking tour and of course the always in your face cell phone. I thought about both removing the sign and repairing the walls and door but decided against it so you could see things as they actually are. I've straightened the original a wee bit but that's it. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/160 sec @ f / 8.

22 Feb 18 The view today is of the courtyard of the monastery. In the foreground is a stature of St Peter and in the background the art on the monastery wall is that of Christ on the cross being attended to by two angels. Though the arched doorway is the path to the refectory where we attended the concert. Our group disbanded from here to spend the two hours of free time. Directly to the right in the image was a recommended restaurant at which the majority of the group went for eats, but we decided to try something not so touristy and wandered around taking photos and enjoying a delightful lunch at a local pub. I had one of my two beers there and it was noteworthy. If I could find similar fare here in the states by beer consumption would increase significantly. One of the selling points of the cruise/tour was to be the sampling of the local beers and wines. I apparently misunderstood things as it never happened as a part of the trip. I guess that was to be an on your own thing. In any event, the two I did sample made for a very nice meal both times. While I don't remember the names of the brews I do remember the pub/bar. Since this is theatrical Thursday, and as I couldn't successfully remove the detracting tourists, I thought I'd go with a creative version of the shot. I've given the original a wee bit of straightening, removed a couple distracting leaves, and converted it using the Topaz filter Simplify 4. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 320; 1/160 sec @ f / 8.

07 Feb 18 Today we return to the Skagit River where it runs past the Bald Eagle Interpretative Center at Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport, WA. The center maintains a web page where the daily eagle counts are recorded. Those wishing to visit to shoot photos of eagles can access the site to get an idea of the number of birds they MIGHT have an opportunity to see should they visit. To date we have found absolutely zero correlation between the listed counts and our sightings but it is fun to see the numbers of sightings recorded by others. Our last visit garnered us a total of three birds one of which was on I-5 fifty miles away. But no one said we could only count the sightings in Rockport. This is a view taken one mile east of the interpretive center at a location where river rafting is available for viewing the birds from mid-stream. It is one approach to finding the birds but very cold and not stable so you need a fast shutter speed and a fair amount of agility to pull it off. Or you can just take the trip to enjoy the serenity of being on the river with the birds and fish. As the rafts are not motorized, the only sounds are those provided by nature or rude raft mates. The mountains in the photo are called the Diablo Range and I've shared other photos of them closer up in prior years, 2017 being the most recent. This is basically what the camera saw EXCEPT that I've removed two power lines that ran horizontally across the image. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority;ISO 250; 1/800 sec @ f /10.

27 Feb 18 You may recall my mentioning that when we traveled south for the wedding in January I did some waterfall searching and found several nice waterfalls in a very short distance of one another. The shot for today is of the first falls we encountered, Shepherd's Dell. This one is nice in that although it doesn't have a parking lot like a couple of them, the spill flows under the road and there is a cleared area on one end of the bridge where you can park. Just room for a couple cars at most, it wasn't apparently intended for this use, but use it we did and it worked well. You can only safely shoot the falls from one side of the road and on our visit the path from the road down to the falls was closed off, so I had to shoot from the bridge above where one wasn't supposed to be walking. To capture this falls properly you need a wider lens than I had with me and while I could have made multiple shots and merged then together, the wind was such that even having the camera tripod mounted wasn't providing for very sharp images so taking multiple vertical shots wasn't working. The falls extends in both directions at the top and bottom but this was the best capture I could make. Of all the falls I've seen to dates, this spillway is the most torturous I've encountered. Worth visiting especially since it is literally on the roadside. Other than a bit of contrast adjustment, this is what the camera saw. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/60 sec @ f / 8 on a tripod.

06 Feb 18 Thinking about yesterday's image, how many of you found the seagull pooping on top of the stature? And how about the MG-A (auto) floating down the river? If you recall Friday's mailing it was of a small nurse log with licorice ferns growing on it behind which was a small stream of cottony water. Today we are standing in the same location but looking up at what was providing that water. This is apparently not a year round sight although I'm betting that today there is even more water flowing the edge of this hillside than there was the day I took the picture. Since it has no name and isn't always there I can't tell you how to go see it except for traveling along the length of the Historic Columbia River Highway and looking for it. In the process you will get to visit several other waterfalls that are year round residents so even if you don't find it the drive - or walk as it is roughly only 3 miles long if I recall correctly - will be a rewarding one. Aside for some small contrast and lighting adjustment, this is what the camera and I saw. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 64; 1/2 sec @ f /22 on a tripod.

02 Feb 18 The highway I mentioned when I shared that first waterfall image is called Historic Columbia River Hwy and is perhaps 3 miles long but it sports five waterfalls along its length. While we were there we came across one that was unnamed and when we described it to locals they suggested it was just one that likely comes and goes with the rainfall. At one point at its base there was a small section of runoff flowing in back of a fallen tree now playing nurse log to a number of licorice ferns. I shot it at both fast and slow shutter speeds for varying looks of which this is perhaps my favorite being somewhat in between the stop action and pure cotton looks. With the continuing rains we've been experiencing I'm betting that this phantom waterfall is still making an appearance. Other than removing a few distracting twigs, this is what the camera saw. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/13 sec @ f /10 on a tripod.

09 Feb 17 Around this residence it is considered Spring when the pussy willows bloom, and each year Jan has a location not to far from here where she cuts off a few twigs and brings them home. Then it is my turn to try and get an interesting image or two of them to share. We've had a couple jars of the twigs sitting in the kitchen for the better part of a week and today I thought I would try my hand at getting an acceptable rendition of at least one bud. The one I've chosen is a macro shot of the tip of just a single bud. I've shot it to emphasize the pollen contained on just one of the tens of thousands of buds on a single tree. I'm just taking a swag at it, but I'll venture there are more pollen spores on the tree from which this twig was cut that all the population of the Earth from day one. We are looking at perhaps 10% of the spores so you can imagine how many there must be on the entire bud of which there were several on the 8 inch twig. A rather impressive approach to ensuring the next generation of forest! This is exactly what the camera saw except for my cropping off some black background on the right. Nikon D500; 200 mm micro Nikkor; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/60 sec @ f / 22 with fill flash.

I frequently receive comments about all the trips we take to capture the images I share. It's true that we frequently take day road trips to shoot, in addition to our annual Yellowstone jaunt, but it is also possible for me to just work the neighborhood, with neighborhood equating to anywhere from on our property to a 5 mile radius. One of the most popular places to visit on this side of the pond is the Olympic National Park, but we can get similar shots just walking around our 10 A. Today's submission is a bit altered for impact - Jan's choice of the 6 versions - but is just a view of northernmost piece of the 10 acres. If I were to place this side by side with a shot taken in the Olympic National Park you would not be able to tell which was taken where. A one mile stroll south will take you to the shore of Puget Sound and a few more miles stroll north along the beach will bring you to the confluence of Puget Sound and the Straights of Juan de Fuca where you can enjoy watching some extreme atmospheric turbulence. By vehicle you can do all this in ten minutes. So while we like to go out and explore as often as we can, we don't have to go far to get a vast amount of material with which to play. Couple that with the studio approach and I can generally keep myself busy, if not out of trouble. The dense vegetation of ferns, cedars, and firs is how all the surrounding property looks. For perspective, the fronds of those ferns are approximately 30 inches in length. The perfect habitat for a family of sauropods or maybe even bigfoot I removed a bit of distraction from the original capture, employed a bit of cropping for composition, and added the bold outline for impact. Nikon D500; 12-24 zoom; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/50 sec @ f /11 on a tripod.

16 Feb 18 Today's close up is taken from the other side of our road and about two feet distant from where I took the shot shared on Wednesday. This remnant of a tree is hollowed out and full of detritus from years of leaf deposit and annual mushroom colonization. Each spring, or rather, as soon as the temp start to hit 50F along with the annual monsoons, what remains of the old stump bursts forth with an abundance of little mushrooms. I've tried to get a shot of them I liked for the past several years and this year I think I succeeded. With a little creative effort I can see this as a Hobbit House holding a large family gathering. You may likely create something different. I've cropped the original some and given it a touch of contrast enhancement. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/8 sec @ f /16 on a tripod.

12 Feb 18 During the past six months or so it seems like there has been an unannounced county ordnance released suggesting that everyone should clear cut their properties leaving nothing but devastation behind for all of us to see daily. It is almost sickening to see some of the transformation taking place. I realize that trees are a crop, that wherever we live it is likely that prior to the building we occupy the land was covered in trees - around here that is practically a given, that the vast majority of forest around here is actually second growth, and that all will be forest again in a relatively short period of time, a twinkling of an eye glacially. For now however the contrast between forest and formerly forest is a bit stark. But, as in everything, there is always something new or beautiful in the change. One section of newly clear cut is on a road we travel frequently and it wasn't until the clearing that we observed a tired old building literally right next to the road. We saw it for the first time a few months ago and each time we passed it I would comment that I needed to capture it but somehow it just didn't happen until this past Friday. There is actually nothing special about this old derelict except for its roof. Sitting atop a still very good asphalt shingle roof is a layer of moss, perhaps three inches thick. The wind has peeled back one corner of this blanket of green revealing the red shingles beneath. A Christmas card in the making. The photo shows things just as they are and as such isn't a spectacular image, but I thought the blanket of moss would make for an interesting and a bit unusual photo. I made several versions of it and may share Jan's favorite, which this is not, on this Theatrical Thursday. This is a tight crop of the original with a replacement sky as what was present on the day of the shoot was a bright solid flat gray ugly sky. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f /11.

13 Feb 18 With a much needed break in the weather Saturday we decided it was time for a trip somewhere in the local area. So off we went forsaking all others, literally, as I forgot I had promised to provide some tonsorial artistry that afternoon and didn't get back until much later. The decision was made to do a road trip around the eastern side of Hood Canal just to enjoy the beauty of the countryside, which, if you are familiar with the area, or even if you are not, is rather spectacular!! In the process we managed to miss a most important turn and wound up traveling along the side of a hill to us but likely mountain to those of you on the right coast on a narrow dirt road for just over 7 miles of curves, switch backs, and hairpin turns. We likely didn't travel much more than a mile as the crow/seagull/eagles fly, but it was a good 7 miles via SUV! But a beautiful 7 miles it was of trees, ferns, and SUNSHINE. Driving to and from the location the Olympic Mountains were as lovely as we've ever seen them beckoning us to divert from our destination and drive west. The shot for today was what we enjoyed for many miles of our adventure. This is a composite of 8 images which I've cropped just a wee bit on the edges but nothing else. I've converted it to B&W as I think it even more striking in this medium than in the original color which is no slouch. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f /11.

19 Feb 18 Growing up in the 50s it was typical to get our winter weather (snow) during the months of January and February so when the weather guessers said snow for Sunday and Wednesday we just laughed since we haven't had a February snow in ages. But today was to be different. As I took her majesty our for her morning ablutions a flake of snow hit my head, then another and shorty a few more. By the time I made it to the street it was lightly coming down and about a minute later it was a full blown snow. Now nothing could make Maggie happier but it gave me thoughts as to how it would affect our church attendance and the concert we were planning on attending in the afternoon. With the congregation at less than 1/3 normal I got that question quickly answered. As the morning passed into afternoon the snow kept falling and reached about 2.5 inches before we left for the concert. About 1/3 of the way there we were turned around due to road closure and had to take a different route which took us under an estimated 18"+ diameter tree angled across the road supported only by the power wires on the side where it was growing. By the time we returned from the concert it had dropped another 15 - 20 feet closer to the road, now maybe only 20' above the road and looking like a problem in the making. Roughly 15 minutes later they closed that road. But we got to enjoy the concert in spite of it all. When Jan and I were dating and into the first 2.5 years of our marriage (pre children) we used to attend something like today's concert, the theater, or similar at least twice a month. We both really enjoyed it and I do believe we will now return to doing so again. At the concert today there were two performances we enjoyed in particular: Eric Ewazen's Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra which we had never heard before and Cesar Franck's Symphony in D minor with which we were vaguely familiar. For those of you who love classical music I can highly recommend both and for those of you who "subscribe" to the annual Christmas Show series you can anticipate a strong likelihood of hearing at least one of the movements from either of these two pieces as the music for one of the shows. The snow falling throughout the day was sort of the frosting on the cake with the concert being the cake. As such, I've selected a shot of today's snow falling on some of our cedars. This is straight from the camera just as the camera saw it. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/30 sec @ f /11.

23 Feb 18 Another 3 inches of power snow blessed us late Wednesday decreasing our Lenten Soup Supper participation by 60% and cancelling choir practice. But it was a beautiful snowfall and we awoke Thursday morning to a beautiful blue sky and sunlight filtering through the trees and bouncing off the snow. Truly reminded me of the 19 winters we enjoyed on the east coast that I've so missed since returning to the PNW. Even though we had lots of winters to mimic this in my youth, this one is different as we get sunshine after the snowfall vice just gray skies like I experienced as a kid. If the weather guessers are correct we get one more shot before it all returns to our constant gray and rain. We went out walking with her majesty this morning to try and capture what I could of the surrounding countryside taking as many different types of shots as I could; among my favorites was snow blowing off cedars. With the morning "breezes" I had a couple of nice opportunities. In addition were some nice shots of a partially frozen pond and a few bushes and evergreens decorated with interesting patterns of snow. Just down our road one property resides a bush coated with red berries almost year round. When covered with snow it presents in different ways depending of course on the snowfall. Today it looked like something from one of the monster movies of my youth with the berries serving as decoration. I made several creative versions but decided on sharing the straight one. This is straight from the camera save for some color balance as it recorded a bit blue due to being in the shade under a blue sky. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

26 Feb 18 With another day of potential sunshine presenting itself we decided to try again to successfully make the drive around the outer bank of Hood Canal. As you recall we tried this two weeks ago, made the wrong turn, 1.5 miles as it turns out from where we should have turned, and drove around the inner bank of the canal eventually driving around a mountainous dirt road for several miles. Today we made the correct turn and followed the canal for most of the drive and were treated to lots of lovely mountain and tideland views. At the bottom end of Hood Canal are to be found lots of oyster beds and it is in this area where most of the small, highly favored at least around here, Quilcene Oysters are harvested although the town of Quilcene is many miles north of this area. One of the things we wanted to see along the way is an old waterwheel in the town of Darby that at one time was part of a hydro electric project. Now it is just a small roadside attraction but one in which the wheel still turns when water is flowing over it as was the case today. At the time of our visit the sun was in the worst possible position relative to the wheel and the water flowing over it so getting a decent shot was next to impossible. The obvious solution to this problem would have been to just wait for a while for the sun to simply move out of position but as we weren't sure about how much time we needed to complete our trip I just captured what I could and we drove on. I didn't fully appreciate just how much the sun was interfering with what I was trying to do until we got back home and I saw the shots on the monitor. So I had to do a bit of work to get something worthy of sharing. What I wanted to share was how much the buckets on the wheel as well as the spokes have been taken over by moss. And even though this shot is far from ideal, I think it will convey the moss message. I've done a fair amount of cropping, contrast manipulating, and masking to get the final output. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1000; 1/100 sec @ f / 7.1.