Cloud Watching

I always love to watch big fluffy clouds and recently photographed them every 8 seconds with my camera on a tripod. Here are 6 from the first 60. I still haven't found out how to make a video of them but every 12th shot will show you how really quickly the clouds change formation. I use to think they were the same for a long time but this shows that they are in constant change.

A few minutes watching Dragonflies

When I got home from work last night I decided to go for a little walk about in the yard again. I am finding it to be quite relaxing and fun at the end of a long day. 

Anyway I saw a Dragonfly, or at least that 's what I was always taught to call them, flying around by my swimming pool. I wanted to photograph it but it wouldn't stop long enough for me to get a shot. Finally as I moved around my small orchard I went to the peach tree and after sitting there for a few minutes realized that the same little fellow kept landing on one of the top branches and eating the bug he had just caught. So with my 70 - 300 mm lens stretched clear out to 300 I took a picture the next time he landed. I was sitting on the ground so it was some distance from the branch in the top of the tree where he was sitting and made for a rather long shot. I slowly stood up hoping not to scare it off and took several more shots each time inching closer. 


Then I noticed a second one on a lower branch. I took a shot of it and then finding it busy eating and not paying a whole lot of attention to me I moved around the tree and got closer. It would fly off for a second and I would think it was over and it would then land back on the same branch. So I moved even closer and was facinated as I watched it eat each time and then move it's head around as though trying to get a better look at me. I must have been there for 15 minutes as the two of us were watching each other with ever increasing curiosity and I of course kept taking pictures.

Needless to say I had fun and was simply stunned at the fact that it stayed there for so long but was glad that it did and allowed me to capture some different shots of it.

A TUMBLE down memory lane

My nephews daughter had this on her blog and suggested I put it on mine so here it is and have fun.

Here are the instructions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. (It can be myself, Marie or any of our 6 children, or any of their children. Yes I am a Grandpa and proud of it). It doesn't matter if you knew me/us a little or a lot; anything you remember.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's fun to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you provided I can find the time to do so. (I'll try, but this was just part of the original instructions.) Please leave the name of your blog in the comments so I know where to go, I am not as good at this as these children of the computer age.

Wedding image fun

Sometimes it is just fun to see what can be made from a couple of pictures or what can be done to other pictures. That is what I have put here today. 

My wife and I always go to the weddings together and really enjoy it. I am able to concentrate more on the camera and the settings while she concentrates on the wedding party and the couple and how they look and everything else that goes into getting them just right. We also love to have fun with the couple and do crazy things so that they are at ease and having fun as well since the stress of the day will usually block everything from their memory later anyway. So below is one of the shots we always like to take and of course it is to show who the boss will really be in most situations, just kidding of course, but it is always fun to see their reaction to the picture when all they could see was straight ahead and not what the other ones was doing and not realizing in the photo they would be face to face rather then 10 to 15 yards apart.
Yesterday though I decided for the first time to take and separate them from the background and put them into an entirely different one. It would make it look even more like she was actually holding him in her palm.
I didn't like the first one since it was too busy and way not realistic, as though any others might be more real.
So I tried just a solid white background, (not shown), but the bride blended in too much just as the groom blended into the black background here. So that is when I went to my images from my Oregon vacation earlier this summer and after looking at several possibilities decided on this one. It almost works even though the lighting is a little too rich on them compared to the actual image and there is an obvious "two light source" situation  but it is still fun. The reaction from my wife was, "but we were not at the beach" and I simply said "no we weren't" but I am sure the couple wishes they had been.
The rest of these images are just some others that I had taken of them in the course of the bridals and the reception. They were a fun couple to work with and her theme with the fairies made it a lot of fun as well since I had some more things to play with in photoshop. I have a couple of ideas there also but that will have to come later.

Another friend you might not want to say Hi to.

Saturday I was irrigating my lawn, like we do out here in the desert when we don't want to use culinary water to keep things green, when I discovered a visitor to our yard. I think that it must have sensed the water and was wanting to cool off a bit by taking a slithering swim. Anyway I went and grabbed my camera and for the next few minutes played with him rather than tending the water. It kept trying to move in a direction across the lawn away from me and so I would move in front of it and take another picture. Finally it must have decided to end the game and just started sliding straight toward me. I could get it to stop but each time it started again it would come straight for me. Well it's tactics worked and I gave him a little more room. I must admit it was a little unnerving to have it not try to get away but rather to challenge me instead. It was a four foot long blow snake so I wasn't scared of it even though it would put out a pretty good hiss each time I touched it. I quite like this particular snake since I understand that it likes to eat Rattle Snakes and mice, two creatures I would love to have non-existent around my yard.