Daily Image - Aug '21 Archive

26 Aug 21 La Push, or 1st Beach, lies directly across from Rialto; the shore line isn't exactly straight. You can see one from the other looking either left or right depending on which beach you are standing. I was asked about possible sharing a shot of all the driftwood and thought that might be a fun thing to to. So I did a search through all my ocean beach shots only to realize, much to my surprise, that I hadn't taken any really good shots of that pile of logs. So, it being Theatrical Thursday, I found a shot from 1st Beach that incorporates a goodly amount of the driftwood partially illustrating its contribution to the beach along with a couple of sea stacks and some nice light. The driftwood barrier at La Push isn't a large as is that at Rialto but it serves to give you some idea as to what is there to play on or in or simply navigate. These beaches, facing due west with nothing to get in the way, offer some spectacular sunsets; when you can combine them with a nice cloud setting and a bird or two they can make for the perfect way to end your day. I've enhanced the colors a small amount in this creative offering but not much; a slight under exposure on many nights can easily give you just these colors. Other than the conversion with the Topaz plug-in Simplify 4 to this painted look, this is what the camera captured. The vignetting occurred in camera. Painted Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/40 sec @ f / 9.

31 Aug 21 In the front of the main building as well as in a dedicated section of one of the local nurseries is to be found a lot of artsy stuff in various forms from sculpture, to hangings, to pottery, to boxes, etc but all vividly decorated and designed to make the garden a bit more interesting. We happen to have a big rooster along with some old / used tool "creatures" scattered in the garden. Today I'm sharing a hanging that reminded me of something along the line of Aztec art but I'm likely way off in my description so the picture will have to say it all. This was lying on top of several other arty things but it caught my eye. I can't think of any use for it in our setting but as a glazed piece of metal I thought it rather pretty. Maybe it is just what your yard needs. This is straight from the camera. Sun God Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/640 sec @ f / 4.8.

24 Aug 21 Near the town of La Push can be found a series of beaches with very unique names, namely First, Second, and Third Beach. With all the Indian names adorning everything around this state one would think that we could come up with something a bit more interesting than First, Second, and Third. But that's how they are named and known. Today we have a shot taken from First Beach on an unusually calm day. We haven't visited these beaches in quite a while and I'm thinking it is time to pay them another visit. This is a shot taken just under 4 years ago as the tide was going out and the seagulls already circling around looking for a nice meal. When the weather is calm as it was on the day of this visit it is a very idyllic spot but not nearly as interesting as it is on a stormy day. If you've never visited these beaches I highly recommend you try to do it on a stormy day; it will be an unforgettable experience! This is straight from the camera. Idyllic Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

25 Aug 21 Picking up from where I left off yesterday. There are actually 4 beaches but in reality it is all the same coastline. From two of them you can see each other; the other two provide for a different perspective. If it is large waves/breakers you want Rialto Beach is in my opinion hard to beat in this part of the state. You can get a much bigger display further south where the Columbia River slams into the Pacific Ocean, but Rialto Beach is hard to beat up north. From our house it is just under a 3 hour drive to get there but well worth it. You do need to bring all your "stuff" with you as you won't find any of the conveniences you may be accustomed to at the beach. The ONE restaurant nearby is several miles distant, has minimal hours, and an equally minimal menu. Since a picnic on the beach is part of the fun the eateries aren't all that important. Rialto Beach proper is separated from the parking area by a high pile of driftwood, some of it very large. You have to make your way over, under, and or through the line of driftwood before you get to the actual beach, but it isn't all that difficult and part of the fun. Once there the roar of the waves will be something to remember and for those of you on the right coast perhaps one of the highlights of the visit. Much better than placing a snail's shell over your ear and listening to the sound. Do plan a visit to one of these beaches if you have the chance; better yet, make the chance happen and enjoy a lifetime memory. Note the green breaking wave. This is what the camera captured save for a little contrast enhancement. Breakers Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/2,500 sec @ f / 8.

11 Aug 21 Hanging on the wall in a corner of the condo, right next to the fireplace, is a photo of a very nice waterfall. If you should happen to be traveling north towards Mammoth Hot Springs you will pass it on your right about 8 miles from the hot springs. In all likelihood you won't even know you've driven past it. On the return leg the chances are still quite good that you'll overlook it - pun intended. Should you notice it, and stop to read something about it, your effort won't be rewarded. There is no info about it nor even its name. After having taken photos of it on a couple of visits I realized I didn't know its name and tried to find out what it was. I eventually did but not without some effort. I accidentally came upon it in one of the many books we have on Yellowstone on the bookshelf. But in all those books only one shot and that was where I learned its name. In the summer and fall there is not much of a fall at all as the body of water which flows over it is perhaps 4 feet wide at most and maybe a foot deep, if that, but during the spring runoff it can provide somewhat more of a show. Our shot of it for today is at the beginning of the runoff and not fully on display, but it still looks rather impressive in spite of the small amount of water actually flowing over it. Look at the stream below it and you'll understand what I mean. This is what the sensor captured. Spring Break Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 500; 1/200 sec @ f /10.

18 Aug 21 Last Wednesday I shared with you a shot of a small falls that I mentioned was easy to miss, wasn't named at the location, but that I had found a photo of it in one of our Yellowstone books but failed, I just realized, to name it. It is called Rustic Falls. I also mentioned that driving by it on your way to Mammoth it was easy to miss. The falls is located in an area called the Golden Gate but you will only be made aware of such should you stop at the pullout just below the falls and read the info display. Leaving that pullout and driving another quarter mile you will come upon an area full of boulders with a narrow cut - the road - going between them. This you won't miss although it you just concentrate on negotiating the road between the boulders and not stopping at what is nothing more the a wide shoulder to the road you might miss the view I'm sharing today. Like the falls photo by the fireplace, there is a B & W of this area hanging over the bed. The view is spectacular as you stand on the rocks and gaze over the valley in the direction of Lamar Valley. I see few vehicles stopping in this location but should you make the drive between Norris and Mammoth I highly recommend it to you. This is straight from the camera. Rocky Mountain High Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/2,500 sec @ f / 9.

03 Aug 21 Centurylink has once again started censoring my mail so I don't know if you will get this. They have blocked my account since early Monday morning. It would appear that if they don't like what you share your account gets blocked. Today we are looking at a couple dozen of our local herd that stopped for a quick lunch one of the days of the last visit. No breeding bulls (never seen one on the grounds), just cows and both yearling and two year olds - both genders - in the group. Throughout the course of the day then are generally on the grounds, sometime for breakfast, sometimes lunch, and often dinner. Amazingly the young nurse for two years. Numbers vary by day with some days having only a few; other days the grounds are crowded. I took this with a 22 mm focal length which should give you and idea as to how close they get. My very first day at the condo years back I was quite closely followed by an adult cow who had me a bit nervous as I wasn't yet used to such behavior. Turned out we were going to the same place and I wasn't moving quite quickly enough for her so she felt like moving me along; I complied. Now I would just let her pass by and take a snap or two as she did. Off screen to the right and just behind me was a young bull, I'm guessing 3 years old at most, who wasn't having a good day of it. He kept suggesting that he might want to get aggressive so I did my best to simply ignore him so as not to give him any ideas. After a while he settled down and just ambled off to be on his own. None in the group seemed to miss him at all. I didn't either. This is what the camera captured. Lunch Time at the Condo Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,250 sec @ f / 9.

23 Aug 21 Six weeks back I shared an image of the area where the Quake Lake landslide occurred. It was taken from the visitor's center looking directly across at the side of the mountain which is no longer there. Today we are on the roadway downstream from that displaced mountain side by maybe a half mile. I'm standing at the very middle of the shot dead center just off the road a couple of feet. The image is a 23 frame pano and since I wasn't using the correct equipment for such a shot there is a fair amount of distortion at both ends. You would have a better idea as to how it all looks if you were to grab both sides, left and right, and rotate them each about 60 degrees towards you. Of interest to me is that while my brain didn't pick up on it at the time I took the shots, the camera did; the river was reflecting a fair amount of the green from the trees but the old brain saw it as white as that's the proper color of water rushing over rocks. The water flowing out of Quake lake - assuming the lake isn't being drained for some reason - should equal the amount of water flowing in. Take a good look at how little water is flowing in the Madison River and then think about the size of Quake Lake. One has to wonder for how long that river must have been empty while the lake was forming. Probably a lot of less than happy trout for a considerable period of time. You can observe the bare mountain at the left hand side of the pano. This is a 23 frame pano. I've cropped it some due to my poor technique at holding things straight and level plus given it a wee bit of contrast enhancement. Just Around the Bend Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

10 Aug 21 Today's submission is one where what I wanted to share is the S.E. quadrant, but without the other three quadrants it would lose too much meaning. So after looking at the entire picture, put your attention on that lower right section. The Madison River is famous for the fishing it offers, and generally when we are photographing there we will see the fishermen being successful. The day I took this shot there was a group of three fishing and they were successful to some degree for certain as I watched one individual bring in a nice sized catch. Shortly after arriving they left and went on their way leaving the fish to me. This shot is actually of a couple of them, but one in particular. You won't likely see it but IF you either mentally crop the shot or actually physically crop it, the critter will at the center of the left hand side. There were three playing in the very shallow water and I'm thinking they were looking for dinner. I watched then for several minutes hoping one or more would break the surface but none did just rising enough to disturb the surface of the water. This location is just below the outflow of Hebgen Dam and I've shared several photos of it prior, all of which provided the full view. The grass at the top of the shot is that little "island" in the bend of the river. This is what the sensor captured. The One that Got Away Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

54th Anniv Ed About the time you make it mid way through ID heading east you start seeing poles with platforms on top. The platforms aren't all that large, and they vary from something as simple as a half sheet of plywood to a similarly sized box. The first time you encounter them if there is nothing else above the platform you'll likely wonder what they could possibly be. But once you see them doing their intended job you'll always remember it. The platforms are there for Osprey and they use them as the base for building their nests. After seeing the first occupied one, if you are anything like us, you'll keep an eye out for them as you travel. Between here and the condo we pass a couple dozen each year. Most of the time in the spring we'll see one bird in the nest, and on rare occasions both birds. But usually while one is out hunting the other is keeping house. There is one generally occupied nest located almost directly across from the condo on the Hebgen lake edge of Hwy-287. On one of the days we were driving on the road in May both of the birds were in the nest. I got to shoot them for maybe 4 - 5 minutes until one of them said enough and flew off a distance but not so far as to not be able to keep watch on me. This is a shot of the pair with them both in the nest. Osprey generally are monogamous and mate for life. Thy share responsibilities of chick raising but the male selects the nesting site and provides the bulk of the sticks while the female constructs the nest. In a way sorta like us humans. I thought I'd use this one of an osprey couple for the Theatrical Thursday submission as one looks back on 54 years of marriage and some of the theatrics that have gone along with it. Happy anniversary my love! This is straight from the camera save for a lot of cropping. Mom & Pop Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

12 Aug 21 Today we have a pair of cranes passing overhead. While we were at Beaver Creek we could hear the squawking of the birds long before we saw them. When they did come into view there were maybe a dozen total if my memory serves me right. Only the pair I shared a few days back landed while the others either flew directly past or did a circling maneuver, likely deciding if they want to land near us naked apes, before flying on. These two offered an opportunity as they flew past us at maybe 75 feet overhead verbalizing the entire time. In some ways they almost look prehistoric. Fun to watch whether in flight or doing their thing on the ground. This is straight from the camera save for some serious cropping and of course converting to black and white. In Mono Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; 1/2,500 sec @ f / 9.

02 Aug 21 Returning back to Beaver Creek for today's offering. While we were there several pairs of Sand Hill Cranes made their appearance. Interesting birds that mate for life, they are identically colored, almost equal in size with the male being just a wee bit taller, and tend to vocalize in unison. Not that that is such a good thing as their vocalizations are not something one would equate with music. Plus they are loud. But they are fun to watch, especially so if you can catch them in the males courting dance. They are big birds, roughly 5 feet tall, but a bit shy. They are abundant in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and frequently found in the park. We used to have several pairs that nested behind the condo but developers put an end to that. They were a nice addition to the bison, fox, and song birds and raptors that are generally present. These guys were the only pair that alighted while we were shooting but several more passed overhead; I doubt they were very distant from where we were, but we couldn't see them. I've cropped he original significantly and adjusted the colors as the light was such that the yellows were blown out in the capture. Arriving Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

16 Aug 21 About 15 miles Yellowstone side of Ennis on Hwy-287 we came across a herd of elk. Not your normal herd of elk mind you, but a herd just the same. At first I wasn't sure what I was seeing when they initially appeared in the windscreen, so I slowed to a stop and got out. Couldn't believe my eyes as I've never seen elk in these fields. Lots of pronghorn and frequent deer, but never elk. But sure enough, what we were seeing was a long line of elk, and I'm just guessing, but likely well over a hundred critters. Took a few shots with my short tele (200mm) for a pano deciding that was a better approach than a long tele for a close up as I have lots of nice close-ups of elk. So for today you get to see the entire entourage grazing under a beautiful blue MT sky with majestic clouds overhead the shadows of which decorate the grassland. This is what the camera recorded in 11 consecutive frames. Not Hunting Season Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/2,500 sec @ f / 9.

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04 Aug 21 There is a phrase with which I'm sure you are all familiar which goes something along these lines: you can take the "x" of the "y", but you can't take the "y" out of the "x". Thus for me I suppose it might go you can take the dave out of the barbershop but you can't take the barbershop out of dave. Earlier, by a few years, I shared a shot of the barbershop in Virginia City from our first visit there. You may recall the shot of a couple in the waiting area and one getting a shave. The shop in Virginia is always open and to see it all you need to do is walk down the street and peek in. That in Nevada City just 2 miles away is accessible only during the summer season when that "park" is open. Unlike the free access in Virginia City the Nevada City shop requires admission. I've shot it previously and on my last trip I gave it another go. Only got a couple usable frames and today's offering is one of them. It is always fun for me to see what those old shops looked like. They seemingly were as different from the shop I worked for 14 years (60s - 70s) as is that shop with the barber shops of today. The only real similarity between the three time periods is the chair which, to my perspective, has changed relatively little. So here we are, peeking down Main Street with its barber shop and smithy prominently displayed. Take a number gentlemen and wait your turn. I've straightened the original capture some as it was a bit out of whack on the left side and added a tiny amount of contrast enhancement. Main Street Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

05 Aug 21 We are going back to Heronswood for this Theatrical Thursday. I wrote some about this garden back in early July so it should still be reasonably fresh in your minds. The garden has several sections but two major areas, the larger being a planted garden and the substantially smaller just native forest with "things" placed in spots as you walk around. One of the more interesting "things" is an old upright piano which is now well on its way to collapsing. It rather catches your eye when you first see it as it is not something one normally expects to see in the woods, unless of course it is part of some musical doing as they used to do around here until 2020. This one definitely is not something of that accord so seeing it up against the trunk of a large red cedar was simultaneously a surprise and a treat. Let's see how it strikes you. The original has been cropped some, given a little lighting balance, and of course made into something creative this time using the Topaz plug-in Simplify 4. Stand Out Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/30 sec @ f / 9.

06 Aug 21 The dahlias in our garden this year height-wise are only about 2/3 the size they been in previous years. As I look around the local area that seems to be the case everywhere. We've heard it said that our 3 three-digit days in July are the cause and finding anything else to use to address the cause I guess that will have to be the answer. It does make the tall plants easier to reach but on the other end it makes the shorter ones a bit more challenging, at least where the back is concerned. In spite of the heat interference, our first flowers made their appearance about two weeks back and we now have all but one row blooming away. This individual made its presence known last Sunday and is now fully opened. I liked it more as a bud, sorta like roses, but it is also nice fully opened. I was concentrating on the bud aspect when I took the shot and didn't notice the blemish/bug/virus on that one leaf until I was working with the image. Thought about removing it but decided it was a part of the flower and left it as it was. It would have been nice to have included some form of insect along with the flower but none were visiting or in residence that day. This is what the camera captured. Debutante Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

20 Aug 21 I think I've talked about this before, but, just in case I didn't or you missed it, I'm of the belief that you must have a good color image before you can convert it to a good B&W image. None of this "if it doesn't look good in color converting it to B&W will fix everything". On Tuesday I shared a B&W of one of Jan's garden dahlias. Here today for macro/close-up Friday is the original color image that I converted to the B&W. I thought it turned out rather well considering having to shoot it in a breeze and slight drizzle. This is what the camera captured however I did drop out the shadows (background) in processing to achieve the black background. Blue Ribbon Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

17 Aug 21 Back to the dahlias for this B&W Tuesday's presentation. This is the same plant I shared on Friday, but this time it is the full blossom and converted to B & W. In doing the conversion some of the background didn't quite drop out as I would have liked, but had I not mentioned it you likely wouldn't have noticed. Either way it is the flower that I wanted to share and not the background. Perhaps the colored version for Friday. This is basically straight from the camera save for the conversion to B &W plus my having attempted to drop out the background which was just some competing leaves. High Contrast Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

13 Aug 21 It's that time of the year when dahlias get center stage for the Friday close-up / macro offerings. Unlike the extreme temps we are experiencing this weekend, last weekend was cool and wet. As such, Jan's dahlias presented a few days of macro delight. The blossom was coated in small drops of rain and was beckoning me to try and capture it all. My goal was to get most of it sharply in focus but that was compounded by two aspects, one of the short focus distance normally experienced in this type of photography, and the other a slight breeze accompanying the rain. I could have used a tripod with multiple exposures to counter the first challenge, but with the flower moving up and down, left and right, that wasn't going to solve the problems. So I just took lots of shots and let Jan pick out her favorite. The actual flower is roughly 6" in diameter so that should give you some idea as to magnification. Lots of tiny drops on violet petals one with its own magnifying "glass." This is straight from the camera save for some serious cropping for composition. Magnified Nikon D500; 105mm MicroNikkor; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 9 .

09 Aug 21 There were two really nice photographic opportunities over the weekend, one of which I missed but would have really enjoyed, a raptor show I didn't learn about until it was virtually over, and my second rendezvous to which I made it twice. On the first day I got to shoot black powder for the first time and it was a blast. Really fun and hitting the target almost dead center on the first try was a gas. Second day out was no black powder shooting but shooting with the camera. Not as many folks at this rendezvous as the previous one in May, so I spent some time at the feet of a couple old geologists turned knappers who provided me with a wealth of information on rocks (suitable for making cutting implements), mountains, and things geologic. REALLY a couple of interesting old guys who were of course all decked out in the appropriate regalia for the occasion. While one of them was knapping a large piece of obsidian, the other was making arrowheads out of the shards. One of them commented that the edges of the shards are 3x as sharp as a razor blade. Watching a shard fly off and slice through another individual's hand who was learning how to do it convinced me that they were probably correct. The individual making the arrowhead in the photo was using a piece of microwave glass as his material and said it worked as well as the obsidian. Spent about 90 minutes listening to them as I watched them at their trade. Hope to see them again at another rendezvous and learn a lot more. This is straight from the camera but highly cropped. Arrowhead Factory Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/1,250 sec @ f / 9.

27 Aug 21 Been without internet connection since early Thursday afternoon so writing this for sending when centurylink decides to provide service. It's now 0900 and it appears too be back. While I constantly complain about the rain and not doing any shooting during such times even though you can get some wonderful images in that type of weather, I occasionally break my own rule and shoot in it. The rain does provide for some wonderful opportunities if you don't mind getting wet which I do! But right after the rain stops is a time that I do love to shoot and today's Friday macro/close-up is from one such occasion. About 8 years ago one of our neighbors who had a Japanese Maple Tree farm closed shop and sold out their entire stock - hundreds of plants - at outrageously low prices, so we bought several. We planted them around two sides of our garage and when we ran out of room in various places in the garden. Like most Japanese Maples they have been slowly growing -- until this year. For whatever reason they really took off since last summer and now are putting on a nice showing. One of them has decided it is already Autumn and has begun displaying some lovely color on a few of the newer branches. Today's submission is of one of those branches immediately post rain! This basically straight from the camera save for a little cropping and some shadow adjustment. Water Droplets Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /13 with fill flash.

30 Aug 21 Out driving around Sunday afternoon in beautiful weather looking to just enjoy the rest of the day and see what new we might encounter. One turn off Hwy - 101 on the back side of Sequim led us to a road called Lost Mountain Road which I think may be named after a peak in the Olympic Mountain Range, but that's just a guess. We drove along the road until it unexpectedly ended without any warning in front of a huge farm. So we turned around and headed back from whence we had come. Driving in I noticed an old falling down barn and I like to shoot these; Jan mentioned that I missed another so on the way out we stopped and I shot them both. As I got back into the SUV Jan mentioned a tree I had missed that she thought worth considering; she was correct. I took a few shots of it but had to do so from the road which prevented me from properly composing it as I couldn't - well, probably could have but I would have been flagrantly trespassing and I don't like doing such - get in a position to prevent a lot of distracting material. So I've elected to go with a creative version that clearly presents what I wanted to share. The tree in discussion had either been chopped down or snapped in half by weather some time ago but simply refused to die. At the bottom right you can see that whatever happened has totally toppled the trunk and almost completely severed it but apparently just enough tissue was connected to the root system to keep it alive. The tenacity of life is just simply amazing. Thought you might appreciate what we saw. This basically what the camera captured save for the deleting of unneeded mater and converting with the Topaz plug-in Impression 2. Turnerized Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 8.