Daily Image - May 2020 Archive

02 May 20 As some of you may recall my thoughts on Adobe are best not put in print. Today Adobe took that a step further when I was unable to use their programs unless I was connected to the internet where I guess they can spy on me. So I decided to take some time today and do some serious playing with another piece of software, Skylumn's Luminar 4. (Should this entice you, you can gt a $10 discount here.)This is a nice piece of software I've been considering as an Adobe replacement for some time and now in ver 4.2 it is quite powerful. Priced at $89 it is yours to keep, works perfectly offline, and once purchased it is yours for the life of that version (the 4 number to the left of the decimal). Today's mailing is my first effort using the software. First observation is it is a bit slow, second observation is I'll need to be spending considerable time learning it as it is quite a bit different from what I'm used to using, and the third observation is that it is VERY capable. A bit about what I did with the image I'm sharing. The original image is of chunks of ice on a beach in Iceland. (I'll be sharing a couple more images from this beach in a few days so I'll fill you in on all that then.) To that I added a milky way sky to replace the awful sky that we experienced the day we were there. Part of this was a test of the software's highly touted ability to replace skies. In this image there was no delineation between the sky and the sea, so the software had nothing to use for a horizon. So we had to work as a team to put all this together. Once I got it to a reasonably acceptable piece, I made 6 other versions of it. Jan picked out two of the 7 and we settled on this b & w. The original was slightly cropped and then the sky added; again, this was an initial effort with a new piece of software. Scaylea-Like Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Manual; ISO 200; 15/sec @ f / 9 obviously on a tripod.

07 May 20 One of the things I most remember from my time in Antarctica was the time spent in New Zealand. As a group, the New Zealanders (Kiwis as they call themselves) I met had the greatest sense of humor of any group of people I've encountered. The folks from Iceland have to come in a close second, or at least all those not living in the "big" cities, although the city folk were also very friendly. But I didn't encounter the same sense of humor as I did with the folks in the hinterlands. A prime example of such was the signs on the rest rooms identifying whose was which. Today's submission for Theatrical Thursday was the first set I saw, but there were many others and I intend to share perhaps a couple more, one for sure. It was very dark as we made our way to a restaurant for a hurried meal before retiring for the night in anticipation of an early start the next morning for our drive to Vic to sit out the storm. We were to spend two nights here but the weather changed all that. This is what greeted us as we finished our hurried Wednesday and walked into the waiting area of a relatively packed restaurant. As soon as I saw the signs I cracked up and knew I had to get a photo of them. All I had was that crummy phone camera so I grabbed a couple of shots for reworking later in the computer. I have no idea why just one of these offered handicapped access; I just recorded what I saw on each door. Kind of a fun way to end a long day. I had to seriously manipulate these lousy cell phone images to try and get them looking at least a wee bit similar. They are now looking far better than the originals. Quite Cute No exif data available from the phone originals.

Decoration Day "By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died “in defense of their country during the late rebellion.” Known to some as “Decoration Day,” mourners honored the Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. The 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances that had taken place in various locations in the three years since the end of the Civil War. In fact, several cities claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, including Columbus, Mississippi; Macon, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois. In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon B. Johnson, declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo–which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866–because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. By the late 19th century, many communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day, and after World War I, observers began to honor the dead of all of America’s wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Today, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. It is customary for the president or vice president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. More than 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually. Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day." -- History.com. Today's Image was taken on the grounds of the Evergreen Washelli Cemetery which hosts a separate section just for veterans. The tower in the background is for Medal of Honor recipients. The grounds are very impressive and are immaculately kept. Each Decoration Day there is a moving service in remembrance of the fallen but this year it was cancelled. The flags are placed on all the graves usually the Friday proceeding. While it is most moving over this holiday weekend, the grounds are worth a visit year round. A grateful thanks to all of you veterans!! Other than a small amount of contrast enhancement, this is straight from the camera. Lest We Forget Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/250 sec @ f /16.

04 May 20 On our way to the Londranger Cliffs I shared on Thursday we first made a stop at Arnarstapi to see some other rock formations. One of the most popular of them is this particular arch but to be honest it isn't all that special considering all the similar rock formations around the world. "Arnarstapi was an important trading post in the past and had a much bigger population than it has now. Columnar basalt, ravines and grottoes surround the Arnarstapi pier. There is good anchorage for small boats. There is quite a large arctic tern colony in the village itself. A walk along the coastline is recommended to watch the birds and the magnificent lava formations. The seaside and the cliffs between Arnarstapi and Hellnar were made a Natural Reserve in 1979. A very interesting old path follows the coastline where you can see old lending places of fishermen, lots of birds like the kittiwake, the Arctic tern and the fulmar and pass through a lava field. If you take a guided tour, you will also hear a ghost story." We were not able to take in any of this due to the storm which cut our 2 days in the area to roughly a half day. It was a very expensive storm for us!! This is basically what the camera recorded save for a little dodging and burning and some slight contrast enhancement. Through an Arch Brightly Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/125 sec @ f / 9.

05 May 20 Another shot from the Gatklettur Cliffs today but this time one which shows the basalt columns far better. This shot shows them both as vertical and horizontal columns, the latter perhaps being not exactly what you might expect when talking about columns. The most interesting part of the shot is the middle so zoom in to 100% and take a good look. You get a better appreciation for the columns, the sea life growing on them, and the wave action. This is definitely not a location where I would want to be SCUBA diving unless the tide was a lot gentler! Other than some minimal contrast enhancement and a bit of dodging and burning, this is what the camera saw. Horizontal & Vertical Columns Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

06 May 20 Our last stop on that Wed of our first day out was to Djupalonsandur or the Black Lava Pearl Beach. By this time the light was failing, the storm was beginning to make it's intentions known, and my back was really acting up! So as the rest of the group hurried from the parking lot to the black pearl beach (never did find Capt Jack Sparrow) I slowly limped my way to the path that would take me down to the beach. By the time I made it there the storm was starting to have its way with the ocean and we were being treated to some very impressive waves. While the others were down on the beach next to the water, you can see 6 of them in the image, I was watching from afar above them. Fortunately for them the waves were breaking quite a ways from where they were standing; it could have presented a very different outcome. The waves at this point in time were beginning to remind me of the perfect storm and I was imagining what it would have been like to have been out in the water. Some of you may be familiar with Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia where they have multiple postings warning everyone about rogue waves that appear without warning that are simply enormous and take everything in their path out to sea. We have similar type waves here on the west coast of WA and OR and you may have read in the paper a couple months back about a father and his two children who were pulled from the rock wall and swept out to sea; only he survived. There were warning signs there also but since they were perhaps 100 feet from the water he didn't think them relevant. The interesting thing about these waves is that they seem to appear out of nowhere without any kind of warning and they are singular. We encountered something similar but on a much smaller scale while we were shooting at Diamond Beach but I'll address that in a future mailing. As you look at this image, zoom in to 100% and look at the height of the waves. This is totally undoctored so you get an inkling about how big these rogue waves can be. By the time I made it down to the shoreline this series of big waves had subsided and I didn't get to get any photos of them up close; I can only imagine how magnificent they would have been 24 hours later at the height of the storm when we were hunkered down in Vic. In addition to the waves, take a close look at the lava formations. In this specific location the lava tended to the red and you can see it in this shot. Would have been nice to observe it fully lit to see how many different colors were present. Other than a wee bit of contrast adjustment, this is what the camera saw. Preparing for the Perfect Storm Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/100 sec @ f / 9.

08 May 20 For today's close-up we will return to the Djupalonsandur beach. I left first so as not to hold the others up and as such had a fair amount of the beach to myself. Recall I mentioned the red of the lava cliffs on Thursday saying I would like to have seen them in good light. Well I did get to see a wee portion of them as I returned to go back to the van. Close to where the beach met the trail were a few pieces of the lava just lying on the sand and as I approached them a little sunlight broke through the clouds nicely illuminating that small section of rock. Fortunately for me I shoot in RAW as I had been bracketing the waves shots and forgot to take the camera off bracketing when I finished working with the waves. This greatly over and under exposed the last shots of that day as well as those on the following day until I realized what was happening and reset the camera. But with RAW I was able to recover these final shots and the only ones I got of the lava. The colors you see, black sand and red lava, are accurate but they look much different when the sun is shining on them than they do in the shade. The lava had a very textured surface, at least where I found it out of reach of the wave action. Although I don't recall seeing any jewelry made from this rock I can't help but think it should make for some very interesting and beautiful broaches, pendants, and earrings. Other than having to adjust the settings to correct for significant over exposure, this is straight from the camera. Ground Level Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/20 sec @ f / 9 (evening was fast approaching).

14 May 20 We'll step back from the serious shots for Theatrical Thursday and go with something a little fun. This is one Jan selected as being among her favorites of the Seljalandsfoss series of images. This in a way overstates the icy condition but only to a degree. Not a lot to say about it that I haven't already other than I think it is missing a maiden, a yeti, or some other snow creature of your imagination. I'll share another next week in a portrait presentation that I'm wagering will remind you of a 1965 epic romantic drama film. This one is straight from the camera with a tiny amount of contrast enhancement and obviously converted. Cartoonish Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

12 May 20 We haven't done anything in B & W for a while so I thought we'd do so today as this one looks reasonably good in monochrome. This is one frame of a many frame vertical pano of the falls taken from the bridge that takes you across the runoff. The water is perhaps 18 inches deep so one could just as easily be standing in the water but the little bridge was there along with some ropy things "suggesting" you stay on the trail/bridge. However, standing in the water might have been the better choice as the bridge was very icy in places, and particularly so at both ends where it sloped down to the ground. The path on which I'm standing takes you quite a ways down a slightly sloping hillside where there are several more smaller falls, smaller in volume but not height, and some nice countryside. Had we had a couple hours to play I would have taken that trail to the end as I'm rather certain there would have been many lovely views to take in but the storm was dictating our "free" time and such wasn't possible. Comparing this image to the one from yesterday, and concentrating on the two sets of stairs, it is easy to determine the direction of the prevailing winds. However, while we were there the wind was basically still. That wasn't the case for several of the falls we photographed, but for the two we did on this day it thankfully was. This is straight from the camera save for a tiny amount of contrast enhancement and a bit of light balancing. In Mono Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

11 May 20 According to my in-house critic I need to show the big picture before getting into the weeds, so that's what we are doing for today. We arose early Thursday morning, got our breakfast, and got on the road to race the storm to Vic. Along the way we made two stops before the weather said that's all folks sans Woody. Our first stop was to see the Seljalandsfoss waterfall although I think the "foss" part of the name means waterfall so adding waterfall is likely redundant. This is one of the must see waterfalls on every list as you can actually walk behind the fall and shoot and/or look through the water to the landscape on the other side. Of course to do so you get a bit wet so not everyone elects to partake of that view. On our visit it wasn't possible as the path was closed due to ice. If you look closely at where the waterfall meets the land on the right you can see a portion of the rock that looks totally flat on the top. I believe that to be part of the path the leads behind the waterfall. Looking further to the right you can see one of the approaches to that path, an ice covered set of steps. On the left side of the frame is the opposite set of stairs. Normally I leave out humans in my photos but in this case I thought that they provided some nice perspective as well as showing how stupid people can be. That stair was covered in ice and virtually none of the folks walking up there had anything on their feet, like crampons, to keep them from slipping and falling as several of them did. To be fair, had my back not been acting up to the degree that I was having trouble keeping my feet in place, I likely would have been one of those fools. But at least I would have had crampon over my boots! We'll spend the rest of the week getting a bit more intimate with this place. For those of you who may remember that small shapely piece of ice I shared a few Macro Friday's a while back, it was from here that I took that shot. Other than a small amount of contrast enhancement, this is what the camera saw. A Little Icy Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/1000 sec @ f / 9.

15 May 20 This will be the last Iceland image for a few days as I think it time we take a break from the cold of winter and enjoy a little of the warmth of spring. Once again we do a close-up, or reasonably so, this time of a mound of ice. Walking along the path paralleling the wall of falls very close to where I photographed that small piece of ice in the outflow of one of the falls that I shared several weeks back was this mound of blue ice. One could say if you've seen one mound of ice you've seen them all. But this one was different; it was light blue. During my months in Antarctica at the Wed night scientific meetings one of the things I learned - or at least I think so - was that old ice was blue ice. I've heard it said elsewhere so I've come to believe such is the case. But this mound of ice is certainly not old, likely not even 6 months old. Thus my interest and curiosity in it. So I did a search on the web - where you can find anything true or not - and found this on Wikipedia: "Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of the glacier. During compression, air bubbles are squeezed out, so ice crystals enlarge. This enlargement is responsible for the ice's blue color." Don't know the veracity of this statement, but based on ice less than 6 months old and being light blue it just may be the correct explanation even if it wasn't part of a glacier. Either way you get to see some lovely blue ice. The original was cropped for best presentation and given a slight amount of contrast enhancement. Blue Ice Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority;ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

13 May 20 Today we'll exit the bridge to the parking lot side and shoot a bit tighter than yesterday and from a slightly different angle. This will give a very different feeling image and one in which I imagine you can sense the cold. In reality it wasn't all that cold, perhaps 26°F, and many of the folks there with us were not wearing gloves as you may have observed in Monday's picture. The most challenging aspect of shooting Seljalandsfoss was deciding what to shoot in the time allotted. My perspective of this series of falls, of which only Seljalandsfoss is given any recognition, is that one would need a minimum of three hours to capture it all. This one falls alone can be presented in many different ways, and as you walk down the trail you encounter another half dozen smaller falls. In addition there is much to photograph on the ground or along the side of the runoff (stream) of each falls. Directly behind me and extending the length of the mountainside from which these rivers cascade is a large open area that I'm thinking is farmed for some grass variety likely used for feed for cattle and horses. There were none present while we were there that day but considering the impending storm they just might have been inside safe and sound. I had to do a little lighting adjustment for the snow at the diagonal lower right and gave it a small amount of contrast enhancement, otherwise this is what the camera saw. Appearing Cold Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

May Day We lead May off with a close up of the Lantern Plant which goes by various names such as Chinese lantern,which is how I grew up hearing it called, Japanese lantern, bladder cherry, strawberry ground cherry, or winter cherry. We used to have a real nice grouping of them in a large container on our deck that I've shared shots of prior. Two years ago Jan transplanted it into the garden and it appeared that it didn't make it. Then last year it came back with gusto and is now growing bigger and bigger each year. This is a branch with three of the blossoms with most of the shell decomposed leaving just the structure around which it was formed. The red fruit inside from which it gets the berry name has fully dried up but can still be seen as the dark brown spot inside each lantern. I've shot the branch against a black velvet backdrop in the studio and then selectively lightened the backdrop to get the mottled grey background. I removed some of the branch from the original that was very distracting. Three Lanterns Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /14 with fill flash.

18 May 20 We're taking a week off from the winter weather scene and having a go at some spring weather stuff. I had a flower worked up to share but after looking at it for a while decided it wasn't good enough to share and so picked a landscape to share instead. This is a shot from a site roughly walking distance from our home, about 2.5 down the road. One of the prettiest non-locals around here in my opinion is the scotch broom, a pronouncement that could get me on many hate lists as this aggressive species, planted by the many of our govt depts of transportation as a ground holder, is now on the must remove list for several reasons, the main one being it isn't a natural species, something the tree huggers are going overboard on. That said I still think it a lovely flower, especially the reddish variety. One of the big complaints is that it is extremely hard to get rid of once established, a "fact" I haven't found to be true based on my experience with it and that of a neighbors whose field until 3 years ago was full of it. She simply mowed it down right to the dirt and now has a lovely c5 A field of grass, one of Maggie's favorite play places. This shot combines the plant, a few "beaver lodges" and the Olympic mountains in the background. Not a sight you often see. A few hundred feet from here is a hillside of lupine, literally hundreds of plants, some of which I'll share this week. I've cropped the original for best composition, removed most of the birds, and added a wee bit of contrast enhancement. Swedish Colors au Natural Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/1600 sec @ f / 9.

28 May 20 We bought our first home 5 months after the birth of our daughter. It was in an old neighborhood but Jan fell in love with the kitchen and so, after days of agonizing thought, we bought the 1,100 sq ft, functionally 2,200 sq ft because it had a full basement, house in Ballard for $18K at 7%. Toughest - and best - decision we ever made. When we eventually sold the property it had increased in value 25X. Should have bought 6 of them. The first thing we did was to tear out all the "landscaping" - well, at least the plants then in the ground - and re-landscape. One of the plants we put in the ground was a CA Sequoia. When we sold I believe it was the tallest tree in Seattle. The entire yard was terraced, barked, and planted with flowering shrubs and trees with colorful leaves in the fall. No grass! We also planted the little terraced space between the steps leading to the enclosed porch and the driveway. Right next to the house was a Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) and next to that, a few feet lower, a Golden Chain. The Sourwood had deep green leaves in the spring/summer that turned to a burgundy in the fall with delightful little creamy white flowers in the summer. Oddly, the only one I've ever seen was that one and it is an east coast plant. The Golden Chain (Laburnum anagyroides) had long strands of yellow Lupine-like flowers that seemingly flowed out of the tree trying to reach the ground. These two trees were by far my favorites of all the landscaping we did. There are a large number of them adorning the main road we now take to go anywhere. Interestingly, and I didn't know until I began writing this, "that it is a poisonous plant, so it is not a livestock-friendly, pet-friendly, or child-friendly plant choice." Nor did I know it is a very fussy plant that grows in very few places. So my first tree in my yard with a very young child and dog was a big no-no. Sure was beautiful though. I thought you might like to see what one looks like so today's offering is of one such tree. However, it being Theatrical Thursday the image I'm sharing is a creative one picked by Jan. The two blue colored links will show you unaltered shots; do take a peak. I've cropped the original and obviously applied a creative effect courtesy of Topaz' Simplify 4. Patterned Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority;ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

21 May 20 For this Theatrical Thursday's submission we'll switch from lupine to lily. Calla lilies are among my favorite flowers and for me present a challenge photographically, at least to the extent that I've never been able to capture one to my satisfaction. I debated sharing this shot primarily because of the large leaf directly behind the flower; depending on your perspective it may or may not be in the proper position. A case could be made either way. Interestingly, in both of the monochrome versions, the B & W and the coloring book page, it works perfectly. We visited one of our local nurseries a couple days back to get a few plants to finish a tiny patio garden and came home with a lot more than we had planned on purchasing, among them purple, magenta, and yellow varieties of these lilies. They now make up their own barrel garden in a prominent place in the landscape; now all we have to do is keep them coming back year after year. A few less deer might be in order. Other than some cropping, the removal of a few distracting elements, and the obvious creative change, this is what the camera saw. With Feeling Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

22 May 20 Today's close-up is another of the lupine, but this time also a creative image. In looking at what to share yesterday Jan found two she liked, so sharing the other one today. This is another from that same hillside so not much more remains to be said. Side story. Back when we were stationed at Warminister, PA, we had an annual Art Auction which was combined with a dinner if I recall correctly (40+ years ago). One year we bought an acrylic of a street scene in Williamsburg, VA. It still hangs in our home although it was cracked during one of our moves years ago. Ever since I've tried to make an occasional one of these images look like an acrylic; sometimes the results are exceptionally close to mimicking an acrylic, sometimes not as close. This one I feel comes pretty close. For the record there are 15 individual plants in the scene. This was straight from the camera save for some mild cropping, a wee bit of contrast enhancement, and of course the creative effect achieved with Topaz Glow 2. On Acrylic Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

20 May 20 Considering the spring blast of color we are having this year it would be easy to spend a couple of weeks just sharing same. This is the first year since moving here that I've caught the hillside of lupine at its prime and the weather has been such that almost all the plants are displaying at the same time rendering the hillside in, dare I say it since I don't care for pro sports, Seahawks colors. Along with the lupine the scotch broom is strutting its stuff as well, and when you can combine that with a blue sky all in a single shot, which this particular one isn't, it is quite the show. I took this shot a couple days ago with the sun at about 11a.m. standard time and at an angle and somewhat filtered such that it was casting a bit of a yellow color cast on the scene. I thought that rather beautiful (the tips of the flowers are actually more of a bluish tinted white) with the sunlight painting the tops of the flowers a lovely pale yellow. The light didn't last for more than a few minutes, but while I had it I did my best to make the most of it. Other than some cropping, and a tad bit of contrast enhancement, this is straight from the camera. At Attention Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/500 sec @ f /9.

19 May 20 Today's mailing is the result of another mix-up. I had prepared 7 versions of this image with the thought of it perhaps becoming the first triptych for 2020. My plan was for the B & W today with a wee bit of secrecy followed potentially by the color for Wed and a creative image for Thur. But I just now realized I messed up the B & W and so can't share it. So I blew the surprise and now probably won't do the triptych. Perhaps 2 blocks at most from the location of yesterday's picture is a hillside that is covered with lupine. The plants are in their prime right now and are simply beautiful in both sunlight and overcast with the overcast really showing off the multiple hues of purple. This one is obviously on the blue side and has a visitor which is what initially caught my eye. In the B & W I wanted to share today I'm wagering that the majority of you would never have seen it, it is very subtle, but now that you are aware of it you would have no trouble seeing it. It would have been a fun exercise as I wasn't going to mention it in the B & W write-up. My apology for having messed things up. This is straight from the camera save for a small amount of cropping. Spider in the Mix Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1000 sec @ f / 9.

26 May 20 Changed my mind; gonna finish out May with local spring time images and return to the Icelandic stuff in June. One of our neighbors mentioned a few days back that they had gone to Pt Townsend to celebrate their wedding anniversary and noted that the beaches were virtually empty and that beach glass was to be found everywhere. Now collecting beach glass is high on Jan's favorite things even if it wasn't in the song. Being nice weather wise on Sunday we thought we'd go visit one of those empty beaches and collect glass. So we did except when we got there the beach wasn't empty and there were no places open in the parking lot for us or the line of vehicles behind us. Not being able to do as we had planned we just made a day trip out of it part of which was to visit Pt Townsend. As we entered the main street - there is really only one road through town - I noticed a totem pole that I couldn't remember having seen before so I took a couple of shots of it. In trying to decide what to share today I decided the totem pole would be a good choice. It was only while I was working it up that I realized the reason for my not having seen it before was because it wasn't "before". Turns out to have been erected in 2019 and we hadn't visited downtown for a couple years, after a shop that Jan loved quit carrying carvings of Ravens, one of her favorite birds it not the favorite. So here is a shot of a brand new totem pole that now adorns the end of the town. Other than some cropping for composition, this is what the camera captured. Cicmahan Trail Totem Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

27 May 20 I debated with myself about sharing this shot but as it was all I had I did my best to render it acceptable. Returning home from Pt Townsend Jan thought we should take a scenic route about a mile from the Hood Canal bridge that runs parallel to the main highway and the water. It traverses a delightful neighborhood of nice homes and farms with beautiful landscaping on one side and Hood Canal on the other. I never thought of it at the time as we turned off but we were visiting it for the first time during a moderately low (-1.8) tide. Much to our surprise we saw a couple oyster "farms" uncovered due to low tide. Also visible were boats resting on the sand, folks walking out to their boats to tend to them, and of course an abundance of winged critters enjoying an easy meal. Sharp eyes will find seagulls, a Great Blue heron, and a Bald Eagle all out enjoying the day. As did we. The shot I took includes most of the above - sans boats - plus a nice view of the floating bridge. The only thing missing during our visit was a passing sub with the bridge open. I've given the original capture a small amount of cropping, some straightening, and some contrast enhancement. Low Tide Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

29 May 20 Today's close up will conclude the spring break in the Iceland images; we return to them on Monday, June 1st. With the warm weather of summer closing in on us if not already raising its head, the cool of the Icelandic winter may be appreciated, at least by some, or so I've been told. One of our neighbors raises dahlias for a living, selling them at various functions during the year. With all the shutdown stuff this year she wasn't able to sell at our Eglon Spring Sale this month so last weekend so did a private sale locally. I had never been to the location of the sale and was blown away at the garden she has there. While chatting she mentioned she had just finished planting 3,500 tubers, one at a time. Her plants are absolutely top dollar and she markets the tubers at $5 each or 6 for $25 which I understand is a very fair price. Part of our chat was about her going commercial on-line and I volunteered to shoot the flowers for her for her web page, something I do for another local dahlia grower who does have an on-line presence. In exchange for photographing her flowers Jan gets her choice of as many tubers as she wants. So far this year Jan has planted 50 tubers so I should have some nice stuff to photograph and share between what Jan grows, the two ladies grow, and the two local displays of the Dahlia Club of Kitsap County. But even the most extravagant display of dahlias pales in comparison to the neighbor's garden we visited last week. This is a shot I took from that garden of a flower whose name I do not recall. Now any good photo critic will tell you there are several things wrong with this image, and I can name them all, but I don't care because I like the "sense" of it, sorta like a big virus about to attack the unawares bee feeding on the flower. You may experience something different; I know my sister will for sure! This is straight from the camera. Mealtime in Another World Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.