Mary Ann's View

Central Texas Fires

2011-09-05T01:07:00.000-05:00

I'm a little shell shocked tonight. The images I've seen online from the Bastrop Fire are apocalyptical. Flames so high they make the cars look tiny. It is hard to grasp a fire that has burned 16 miles long and at least 4 miles wide, and leaped the Colorado River.

I've spent a lot of time over the years at Bastrop State Park. 2,000-3000 acres out of 6500 have burned. I took my Master Naturalist training at the Lost Pines Chapter. I have friends and family in the Bastrop area. One I've touched base with told me the fire was 2 miles from their home and they were packed and ready to go. I know that people I know are losing their homes tonight. While I grieve over the loses at Bastrop State Park and the potential loss of the historic CCC buildings there, that pales with the thought that early in the evening over 300 homes had burned. Homes with treasures, memorablia, family pictures, heirlooms, memories . . .

I also have friends in the Steiner Ranch area. I'm hoping their home is far enough to the east that their home will be spared. But tonight cannot be an easy night for them, not knowing what is happening to their home.

I have other friends that live in Spicewood, another area that has fires tonight.

I am grieving for what is lost, but praying that the winds are not as bad as forecast tomorrow and that God protects the firefighters as they battle through the night, that they are able to get these fires under control and . . . that God comfort and strengthen all those who have lost everything in these fires.

Tomorrow I'll try to post links to some of the more amazing footage and still photos that I've seen tonight.

Cape Pine Light

2011-09-03T22:30:00.010-05:00

Cape Pine Light is at the southern most point of Newfoundland. Located along the scenic Irish Loop, it is a 5 mile gravel road drive off the main road to get there, but we were rewarded by seeing the only caribou on this trip. With gray cloudy skies, shooting for High Dynamic Range (HDR) was a must. I shot multiple exposures and hoped that post processing would give me a useable image. I used Photoshop to merge the images and then Photomatix to do the tone mapping. I then used Topaz products to brighten the reds and make it a more vibrant image.

Cape Pine, built in 1851, is still a working lighthouse. It flashes white every 5 seconds and is visible for 16 nautical miles. Michigan Tech has been using it as a pollution research station with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation.

Just north of Cape Pine Line, we spent the night in Trepassey at a lovely hotel, the Trepassey Motel and Restaurant, that included a dining room with views of the sea. With friendly owners, good food and comfortable rooms, this would be a good place to spend several days and spend more time along this lovely coastline.

Ferryland Light

2011-09-02T22:30:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite memories from my Newfoundland trip was my hike up to the Ferryland Lighthouse. While it was an uphill hike of 2 kilometers, it was pleasant.

But the views at the top were amazing. I had to walk alone because Henry's knee was not up to the 25 minute walk. When I got to the top, there were so many people who were taking advantage of the picnic lunches. It was hard to get a photo of the lighthouse without people in the frame. There were couples and families scattered on the green carpet of grass eating what looked to be wonderful picnic lunches. There were kids romping and exploring. A minke whale even surfaced near the shore close enough to hear the blow.

Ferryland Light was built in 1870 and manned until it was automated in 1970. After being abandoned for about 20 years, Lighthouse Picnics began serving picnic lunches and also began restoring the lighthouse. Today, the menu boasts food made fresh each day - molasses oatmeal bread, fresh made scones, orzo and fresh mint salad, and freshly squeezed lemonade. Coffee and specialty teas add to the charm. They use local and organic products as much as possible. The cold water shrimp, salmon and crab are harvested from Newfoundland waters.

The town of Ferryland is also interesting to visit. The Colony of Avalon was founded in 1621 by George Calvert who later became Lord Baltimore. The settlement ruins were undisturbed for centuries, but are now being excavated. Archaeologists have found over a million artifacts. An Interpretation Center and a walking tour give you a sense of what life in the 1600's was like.

Ferryland is about an hour's drive south of St. John.

August 2011 Weather in Central Texas

2011-09-01T00:22:00.000-05:00

A week ago tonight I had been watching the weather radar and knew we had storms in the area. When I finally started hearing thunder at my house, I knew I should get out and try for some storm photos. Henry joined me and began using his phone to track where the storm was. I was driving, heading in the direction I could see the flashes. While the radar indicated storms between Taylor and Hutto, I saw no flashes so I kept heading east and south.

Just north of Elgin, I was seeing clear enough flashes that I found a place on a country road where I could set up my camera with my window mount and be at the right angle to attempt lightning photography from the safety of my car.

I began to notice that I had a utility pole that was obstructing some of the bolts of lightning, so I began to move farther south past Elgin.

The amazing thing about these photos is that this lightning was really not close to where I was. I was just south of Elgin and these storms were at La Grange and Halletsville, many many miles away. The tops of the clouds were very tall and the lightning strong enough to be seen from 50 miles away.

According to the local weathermen, August 2011 was the hottest August ever recorded at Camp Mabry as well as the hottest month ever with an average temperature of 91.6 beating the old reacord of 88.4 in the summer of 2009. A new record for the consecutive number of 100 degree days at Camp Mabry was 27 compared with the old record of 21 days set from July 12-August 1, 2001. As of August 31, 76 days of above 100 degrees. To put this in perspective, an average summer in Austin yields only 13.5 days over 100 degrees. Last but not least, August 28 tied the all time record high of 112 degrees at Camp Mabry.

The worst drought in Texas history was between 1951 and 1956 when I was a small child. I do remember dust coming in the house under the closed windows. Throughout the state, October through June has been the driest 9 months on record. We've had very little rain since then.

On my way chasing the storms, I did drive through enough rain to have to turn on my windshield wipers for maybe 5 minutes. When we returned home, the ground was dry, but the deck was wet and the air at home gave the hint of the fragrance of rain.

I've been telling people that I'm a believer . . . I believe that the weather WILL cool down this fall. I believe that it WILL rain again. We have a cold front with possible rain this weekend. It is sad that I am thinking that 99 degrees as a high is going to feel so comfortable! I've gotten a little used to these high temps, sweating everywhere I go. But with the turning of the calendar page, I'm looking forward to the first hints of fall.

Texas Bridge Bats

2011-08-31T00:09:00.000-05:00

I've been fascinated with bats for a long time. I've gone down to Town Lake to see the bats emerge from the Congress Avenue Bridge. I've been to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area and seen the bats emerge a number of times.

If I'm on I-35 in Pflugerville or Round Rock at dusk, I've seen bats emerge from the Wells Branch Bridge, the Howard Lane Bridge, and the McNeil Bridge.

I've gone out a couple of times to try to get some good bat photos. The first time I tried, I couldn't get the right angle for the shot I visualized - the silhouettes of the bats against a colorful sunset sky. I've been helping with the bat interpretation at the McNeil Bridge, but if I'm talking to people, I'm unlikely to be taking time to photograph.

But Friday night things came together, the clouds in the eastern sky took on a pinkish hue, the bats were a little later than normal coming out, and another picture that I had visualized looked promising. When the bats emerge from the bridge, they fly to the east to forage over the agricultural fields and pastures in eastern Williamson County. They make beautiful patterns in the sky as they disperse. I wanted to capture those beautiful and actually mathematical patterns.

It takes over several hour for the 1.8 million bats to leave their roosts. But it is an amazing spectacle.

It is amazing to me how the flow of bats weaves itself across the sky, at times almost moving as though there is a common intelligence guiding the patterns.

Late summer is a good time to view the bats because this year's pups have joined the flow.

My article about the free-tailed bats is in this week's Hutto News.

Henry has a new app for his phone, Radarscope. He came into my office near sunset asking what time the bats come out. It turns out that you can see the images on the radar from this app that show the density of the bats emerging from a number of places around us in Central Texas. Check out his blog and see the video he made of the radar images this evening.

Couch's Kingbird vs Western Kingbird

2011-08-08T00:20:00.000-05:00

With a Couch's kingbird in my neighborhood, I wanted to get better at distinquishing the Couch's from the Western kingbird. I knew that I had western kingbird photographs from an Amarillo trip. I wanted to compare them side by side.

Western Kingbird

This picture of the western kingbird was taken at Lake Tanglewood in Amarillo. These birds swarm the area behind lawnmowers catching tons of insects. In comparing the two species, the western kingbird has a dark, blackish square tipped tail with obvious white outer feathers. While it is a beautiful yellow bird, the yellow is not as bright as the Couch's kingbird and the top of the breast is more gray. The beak is smaller and thinner than the Couch's kingbird. The western kingbird is found throughout the western United States during the summer and winters in Central America. It prefers open habitats of grassland, desert shrub, pastures and even urban areas.

Couch's Kingbird

This photo of the Couch's kingbird was taken in Central Texas in Hutto. The Couch's kingbird is a vibrant yellow, much brighter than the Western kingbird. The yellow extends all the way to the neck. The bill is stouter and larger and the tail is lighter in color and slightly forked but without the white tail edges of the western kingbird. The Couch's kingbird has a gray head with a dark eyeline.

The northern range for the Couch's kingbird is the far southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley and it extends south through the eastern coast of Mexico down through Central America. It prefers woodland boarders and brusy streamside thickets but is also found in abandoned overgrown agricultural fields and urban areas.

This sighting in Williamson County is only the second record for this species in the county. The first sighting was back in 1993. It is the first record of nesting Couch's kingbirds in Williamson County. This summer there are nesting Couch's kingbirds in both Williamson County and Bastrop County.

Couch's Kingbirds in Williamson County

2011-08-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

I am grateful to a local birder who gave me a head's up about the nesting Couch's kingbirds in my neighborhood. I went out a couple of days ago and located them easily, but it was mid-day, not the right time of day for photography not to mention the heat.

I got out tonight with my big lens, hoping they would be cooperative. Henry and I saw them immediately upon parking. One was even in good position for a photograph, but before I could get it located in the lens, it flew to the top of the tree. The adults were vocal when we first arrived, so I was glad to hear their call.

These birds are listed in TEXBIRDS on the Austin Rare Bird Alert. This is only the second record of this species in Williamson County. They are normally found in Texas only in the Rio Grande Valley.

I had another opportunity when one of the birds landed in the interior of the tree. I suspect this is near the nest, although I have not seen the nest itself yet, although I have looked for it.

I have pictures from the Texas Panhandle of Western Kingbirds so I am anxious to dig them out and compare so that I will be better able to distinguish between the two species.

Bird's nest

2011-07-10T21:33:00.001-05:00

Henry pointed me to this abandoned bird nest. There was a broken egg underneath it. I'm hoping someone will be able to identify which bird built it.

Bird's nest

2011-07-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

Henry pointed me to this abandoned bird nest. There was a broken egg underneath it. I'm hoping someone will be able to identify which bird built it.

Light Painting

2011-06-27T10:05:00.000-05:00

I like to try new techniques with my photography. For a long time I had been wanting to try light painting and star trails. Last night, the moonrise was going to be in the early morning hours, the stars were out, so we drove over to Lake Granger. I was hoping to find an interesting tree with a clear area around so I could get star trails.

I found my tree and set up my camera. As I started "painting" the tree with my flashlight, I noted the windy conditions and how the branches with leaves were moving too and fro. I figured that was probably a sign that this was not going to work well, but since I was experimenting anyway I kept going. Since I was using long exposures, I didn't take that many shots. I was using an older, much used Canon 5D and the noise level and "hot" pixels were excessive in my longest exposures. I went ahead and bumped the ISO to 1600. With some noise removal, this was the best of the lot.

While this is not the image I had visualized, I find that I like it. The wind action through the leaves creates almost a watercolor look.

Perhaps I'll go back again soon and try again.

Recovery

2011-06-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

My back surgery occurred on April 20, 2011. I went in to it with an optimistic attitude. I was blessed that I had a number of friends who had been successful with back surgery to encourage me. While I knew that things don't always go to plan, I believed that this was something I need to do for my quality of life. If it needed to be done, then God would be with me, guiding the surgeon's hand and strengthening me during recovery. I was mentally at peace about doing this procedure and was disappointed when I had to wait until April 20th - almost three weeks or so at the time.

Awakening from surgery in the recovery room, there was the immediate initial pain from surgery which was quickly dealt with by the medical staff. Pain medication is a GOOD thing. I was pleasantly surprised that yes, indeed, I would be able to lie on my back even with the incision there. They kept me two nights in the hospital, but I started walking the hallway the first day after surgery. Getting out of bed the first morning had a different pain than before, but it was EASIER!

I went home on Friday. My first walk at home was up to my mailbox - about one tenth of a mile. I regularly extended my walking paths until I had made a mile by my two week visit. My six week visit was this week and I have walked 1 3/4 mile as my greatest distance so far. Granted I'm not walking that far without my "pauses" or enjoying park benches along the way. But I am gradually increasing my stamina and aerobic capacity.

I had some momentary discouragements as I felt like that my stamina was so slow to return. Back pain and knee issues weren't slowing me down, but I was getting winded (still am). But this past week, I've noticed a positive change. When I walk somewhere I haven't walked in the last week or so, I'm walking it BETTER! I walked at the Georgetown Rec Center on Tuesday. I hadn't walked there since before my surgery - what a difference! Before the surgery (but during physical therapy) I had to pause on the first lap and then pause more frequently as I tried to continue with more laps. On Tuesday, I made three laps before the pause and two more laps. I had limited walking time because my daughter and I wanted to swim as well. But I walked almost half a mile and then swam laps.

When I went in to the doctor for the 6 week checkup, I left euphoric. Music to my ears: "You are ahead of the curve!" Since I had already been to physical therapy, he told me to get started back on the exercises I had been given without overdoing at first. And . . . he sent me to a knee doctor so I can get off naproxen! I've had my first knee injection and will get the gel injections in about three weeks.

I visited a friend in the hospital yesterday. She was in the far building and I made the entire long walk to and from her room at a brisk pace and no pain! And then, yesterday, for the first time I walked all the way around Hutto Lake Park. I had been having Henry drop me off at the dam and doing a partial walk. While I still had to pause and catch my breath, and yes cool off as well - I walked earlier in the evening when it was hotter, each time I walk a longer stretch in an area is a victory!

Getting back my stamina to do the bird walks and photography hikes will still require a lot of endurance training and consistent exercise, but now many things seem SO possible that were not before!

God is good . . . all the time!

A different kind of journey

2011-04-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

Many of my blogs are about our travels. I really like to write about the places we visit.

However, since December, I've been on a different kind of journey - a spiritual and a physical one.

On December 23rd, I was doing an ordinary, daily task - feeding the horse. Because it was a bright moonlit night and I was feeling good, I walked up to the barn rather than driving up with the car (which I usually do because it gives me light to see what I'm doing.) Gambler was acting a little edgy as I put the feed in his trough. And then . . . in a quick moment in time . . . he was in my space . . . I was falling . . . I was looking up at the roof of the barn, flat on my back.

When I fall, I tend to lay still for a few moments, to let unexpected pain sensations die down to a dull roar so I can access if I've just gotten the wind knocked out of me or if I am truly injured. While I lay there making these accessments, I noticed that Gambler was over by the fence, nowhere near his trough and grain, head down. I brought myself to a sitting position and Gambler immediately got on to what was most important in his mind . . . dinner!

I pushed myself up to a standing position and truly went OOOEEEYYY-OUWEEEYY all the way home. My wrist hurt and my back muscles were most upset with me. But I was happy to have gotten back to the house on my own steam.

A trip the next morning to minor emergency gave me a wrist brace for a hairline fracture and muscle relaxants for the back.

Within a few days, the back pain had dulled and I thought I was well on the road to recovery. With each passing day, movement was better, the wrist was doing well. I was in good spirits. And I started the year with ambitious plans of getting many things done both on a personal level and a professional level.

January 6th was a particularly productive day. I worked at my desk all day, happy with what I was getting done. But at the end of the day, my back started speaking to me. A visit to the hot tub didn't dull the increasing discomfort. By the next morning, I knew another trip to the doctor was in order.

X-rays showed deterioration from L-1 down. That didn't surprise me a lot because I had fractured L-1 when I turned 40. Falling through your ceiling from the attic to the ground floor is not a prudent thing to do. Physical therapy was ordered and I went gladly and with optimism.

The first few weeks were painful. I hobbled when I walked. I kept up with much of my routine, but even short distances seemed excruciatingly long. However, if I had responsibilities, I made sure I fulfilled them. Other things had to be put on the back burner. We bought a new heating pad and we already had a good ice pack. I alternated heat and cold. We used our inverter so that I could drive to and from my obligations with the heating pad. Fortunately, most of my responsibilities could be done sitting which I could do with minimal discomfort. I was doing well with therapy, but the one area that I couldn't make work was walking 15 minutes a day . . . Standing or walking even a short period of time left my body demanding that it was time for me to sit.

By the end of February, I was thinking longingly of the things I could do before the fall in December. It seemed such a long time and far away.

Balsam Mountain Road

2011-01-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Henry and I make a practice of driving all possible roads when we are in a National Park. However, sometimes roads are "hidden" and off the beaten path. On our 2008 trip to the Great Smokies we discovered the Balsam Mountain Road. It is a one way, gravel road and we took our time stopping for photographs and in camera motion shots.

I loved the way the sun was highlighting the yellows in the background, HDR processing helped even out the exposure.

On our fall trip this year, we went back to Balsam Mountain Road, but even though we were taking it a couple of days earlier in October than in 2008, the foliage was more advanced. More leaves were on the ground. Even so, this road is quiet and peaceful. While we are not the only ones who drive it, we have the road to ourselves most of the drive.

Sunset at Klingman's Dome - Practicing Patience

2011-01-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Discipline is a part of every professional photographer's habit. One of my disciplines is to get myself into position at the right time of day, hoping that the lighting will be "magical." One evening a couple of years ago, I headed up to Clingman's Dome. The sky was mostly cloudy and not promising. But because my time on location is limited, I put myself into place.

I saw a number of other people in cars, photographers I was assuming. Since it was cold and the sky was uninviting, we were just there, waiting, hoping that as the sun traveled below the horizon, that a slit would open in the clouds. Truthfully, I wasn't hopeful, but discipline had me out with camera and tripod, just in case.

The time for sunset was past, but there it was, the beginnings of an afterglow, lighting the colors a subtle pink. All of a sudden the photographers in the cars were leaping out, grabbing their equipment and trying to find their spot.

The color started spreading across the sky.

The colors got brighter and brighter, filling the sky with a beautiful crimson glow. The sidewalk was filled with photographers trying to capture this magic moment.

As I worked the images later, I put multiple exposures together to try to recreate the beauty of that sunset with the amazing sky color and the beautiful ridges of the Great Smokies.

While I am not always rewarded when I wait out a dull looking sky, it is always peaceful and tranquil to be on location. And, many times, it is worth practicing patience when the sunset or sunrise exceeds your expectations.

Sunset at Clingmans Dome

2011-01-05T09:22:00.000-06:00

A favorite sunset place for photographers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the summit of Clingman's Dome. Photographers begin to gather and line up to get the "best" spot an hour or more before sunset. It is the tallest peak in the park, the tallest peak in Tennessee, and the third highest peak east of the Mississippi. At 6,643 ft on a clear day you can see for 100 miles! It is a wonderful place to catch the multiple ridges. When I visit the Great Smokies I try to be there at sunset at least once.

Each evening will be different depending upon the clouds, the natural haze or air polution.

This pair was shot the same evening, seconds apart but with different compositions.

I used my new HDR software to create this version to capture the sky, the sun and the ridges.

Musings for a New Year

2011-01-04T12:53:00.000-06:00

As I say each year, a new year is a new beginning. A time to reflect on what went well in the past year and what needs to be done better. While any day can be a new beginning, the change from one year to the next is symbolic. The tradition of New Year's Resolutions helps give us the push to work on the things in life that we know we need to do better.

As I reflected back on 2010, my first thought was that I didn't work my plan. My feeling was that I did not accomplish what I had wanted, that as the old year closed, I was not where I had wanted to be. Because I knew that feelings can be deceptive, I knew I needed to look back at my written goals to evaluate 2010. I needed to know whether my feelings reflected the reality of what I had accomplished.

There really are some advantages to writing down your goals, your plan for the year. Writing things gives ideas form and structure. The act of writing helps clarify in your mind what is important. Thinking about the year ahead and visualizing what you want to accomplish gives you goals to work toward. If you don't think, plan, and visualize, you are less focused and you may not live up to your potential and your dreams may not become reality. Planning makes the seemingly impossible become possible.

Evaluating is also very important. Looking at what worked and what didn't gives you insight and wisdom for future planning.

Yes, I am biased. I value myself based upon what I accomplish. While I know there are flaws in that thinking, I think that as humans we are here on earth for a reason. What we do, how we spend our time, what impact we have on the world around us . . . these are very important. Life needs to be lived consciously.

I was pleasantly surprised when I looked back over the goals I set last year. While I was certainly accurate in thinking that I fell short of the mark of what I had dreamed, I had made progress on some of my goals.

Some examples:

Goal: Go through my entire house, organize, throw away, get rid of clutter. I can choose to see all of the things I didn't get done . . . or . . . I can see that on a monthly basis, I had made some small dents - clearing small areas, making small, but noticeable progress.

Goal: Art Shows - I did three shows last year. While they were not stellar successes in terms of sales, they were each valuable learning experiences. The important thing was not how many things I sold, rather the fact that I made the effort. (And, in some cases, I sold more than those around me . . .) Sometimes the action is more important than the immediate results.

An accomplishment that was not specific on my goal list was redoing my web presence at my Mary Ann Melton PhotoShelter site.

The other thing my evaluation showed me was that I spent a lot of time on a project that was not on my written plan at all. While I was not the only one working on the project, the end result is something that benefits many people and the world around me. This was my biggest, most positive effort for the year.

Today's reading from the Artist's Way Every Day - A Year of Creative Living, by Julia Cameron sums it up quite well:

Growth is is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself . . . Growth occurs in spurts. You will lie dormant sometimes. Do not be discouraged. Think of it as resting . . . Marathon runners suggest you log ten slow miles for every fast one. The same holds true for creativity.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T14:12:00.000-06:00

Wishing you a
Christmas Season
filled with
peace and the beauty
of God’s world.

May you be surrounded
by the love of
family and friends!

My 2011 Calendars

2010-11-18T16:36:00.004-06:00

I am doing three calendars this year. The cost per calendar is $15.00. The shipping and handling starts at $2.00. If you are a Texas resident, there will be sales tax added. If you are a friend that I see regularly, I will hand deliver your calendar and waive shipping fees.

Here is my Texas Wildflower Calendar:

To get a better view of the sample pages, click on the image:

To purchase my Texas Wildflower Calendar, click here:

Here is my Lighthouse Calendar.

Click on this image to get a better view of the monthly pages:

To purchase my Lighthouse Calendar, click here:

Here is my Waterscapes Calendar 2011:

You can click on these, to get a larger view of the pages of the calendar.

To purchase my Waterscapes Calendar, click here:

Great Smokies - Planning your photography

2010-11-06T22:40:00.001-05:00

When you are traveling through the Great Smokies, it is always so tempting to stop at every overlook. They are all so breathtakingly beautiful, regardless of the time of day. But photographing that beauty can be challenging. This 2010 trip had given us unusually good weather - sunny, cloudless days for the most part. But great weather doesn't always make for great photographs.

Here are a couple of photos from this year's trip taken at either the same or a very similar overlook. Late afternoon sun, most of the composition is shaded. The shrubby growth in the foreground is showing its color and is backlit, but this is just not a great image.

I changed my composition and this one is a little better, we can see the colorful hill on the left and the exposure is dark enough that you can see the mountains in the distance. That horizon line is a little too centered though. But then again, I don't think the shrubby growth is that photogenic for a foreground.

Two years ago, I photographed this from the other platform, different time of day, when the weather was provided that magic lighting. I did use HDR techniques on this one, but it all came together. To me, this is a much more pleasing image.

Also two years ago, we caught what I think is the hill that is shadow in the first two. Different weather, different lens, different time of day . . .Plus, I think the foliage two years ago was closer to peak, this year so much was past the peak. Oh, what a difference these seemingly little things make between an ordinary photo and a "magic" one.

There are definite advantages to visiting one location over and over. Each day will have different weather and different lighting. Some days, the photos are mundane . . . snapshots. But some days you get lucky and end up with images to be proud of. But at the beginning of any photography day, you never know if the light and weather are going to cooperate. The discipline is to get yourself out there on location regularly, because you sure won't get the beautiful images if you aren't out there making the attempts.

Water Studies

2010-11-06T11:46:00.000-05:00

I like to sit at streams with my camera finding different compositions with the water. Fall is such a great time because the leaves land on the rocks, blanket the banks, and flowing down the water.

I've learned to photograph streams when they are shaded. The least bit of sunlight blows out the highlights in the water. The other nice thing about shade is that it requires longer shutter speeds that give the water a soft, silky, flowing look.

I accidently left one of my lenses at home, so I played with using my 300-800mm lens to try to get "intimate" landscapes of the streams and leaves.

These last two are the same scene, just different compositions.

North Carolina's Outer Banks

2010-11-01T18:45:00.002-05:00

As we started our drive along North Carolina's outer banks and I studied the map on the iPad, I realized that I was geographically challenged again this trip. I knew that there were barrier islands off the North Carolina shore, but I didn't realize how far out they curved from the mainland. To my defense, when you are looking at a big United States map, that set of islands is so small as to be virtually invisible. Earlier in the trip, Henry and I had noted that we had never seen the Outer Banks and put that in our mind as a possibility for this trip.

At this point in the journey, the Great Smokies with their fall foliage, beautiful mountains, and rocky streams had begun its pull. But we kept to our plan to see the Outer Banks, an exploratory trip so we could better plan an extended trip later.

We entered the Outer Banks from the north where it is really a narrow strip of land with good sized dunes and lots of houses. We stopped briefly at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. They had references to otters - my mind immediately thought sea otters, but no, in the freshwater ponds there are river otters. We were at the refuge in the middle of the day with too much of an agenda to be able to do more than get the information and promise ourselves another visit.

By the time you get to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, you have a wild natural area that is lovely.

We started our day at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. It is a long way to Cape Hatteras.

We checked out the ferry schedules, hoping that we could take one of the 2-3 hour ferries to get back to the mainland. The Ocracoke Island-Cape Hatteras Ferry departs regularly throughout the day with a 40 minute ride. However, to get back to the mainland, there are two different North Carolina Ferry Routes.

The Cedar Island-Ocracoke runs six times a day from May until November, but when I called to make reservations, the schedule was full. The Swan Quarter-Ocracoke runs four times a day, but it was also full. We had lunch and made it all the way to Cape Hatteras. It was interesting to see the old location for the lighthouse and how far they moved it.

Looking at how long it took us to drive to Cape Hatteras and how long the ferries were to get back to the mainland, gave me a new perspective at how difficult it must be to evacuate this area when a hurricane threatens. The protective dunes are large with many sand fences to keep the sand in place.

There are warnings everywhere about staying on the boardwalks crossing the dunes to protect the fragile dune plants.

Sometimes it helps me to have several days in a location to figure out what time of day and how to photograph it to bring out the natural beauty. The beaches are wide and featureless and peaceful - the iconic images here include the rustic sand fences. I knew I didn't have time to wait for the right time of day or to study where would be the most interesting composition here on the Outer Banks - so I settled for some "snapshots," with the hope that some day we'll be back.

My first impressions were that this would be a great place to come and relax - to sit on the beach and read a book. There is also some great kayaking, bird watching and fishing. There are areas where you can drive the beach in your own jeep or dune buggy or rented ones. We were there in the quiet season, but I can picture these beaches crowded with people during the summer months.

But for this trip, the call of the Great Smokies and fall photography was now very strong, so we headed back up the islands and took the first bridge to the mainland.

Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge

2010-10-31T16:41:00.001-05:00

I visited with a lady at Cape May who recommended Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. It is located just north of the amazing Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. There are actually two wildlife refuges here - Eastern Shore and Fisherman Island. Because of their location at the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, it is an important place for migrating songbirds, monarch butterflies, and raptors.

I was up and out for the sunrise and my first priority was to choose a sunrise spot with reflecting water. Unfortunately the place I chose had restrictions I wasn't familiar with - and I was told by the person in charge that I had ten minutes to do my sunrise photography. I had chosen the boat ramp area that apparently is exclusively for fishermen - commercial and recreational.

I did the best I could with my ten minutes and went on to the bird blind at the top of a small rise. It was a beautiful morning. I saw a sharp shinned hawk and a bald eagle. I saw small unorganized flocks of songbirds finishing their night migration flight. I saw another flock with more organization that I thought might have been blue jays, but they never got close enough for me to be sure. The photography blind was great, but I'm not sure the openings were large enough for my Sigma 300-800mm lens to fit through.

This area deserved more of my time, but the need to have time in fall foliage before the trip was over was weighing on me. So after spending some quiet time at the blind we moved on south.

Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge

2010-10-31T08:37:00.000-05:00

I first heard of Chincoteague when the North American Nature Photographer's Association held two regional events there. I knew I wanted to visit and this trip was my first trip anywhere near coastal Virginia.

I had heard that the auto route was only open after 3:00 P.M. so we planned for that. It was cloudy when we arrived and lighting was not good for photography.

When I saw the ponies, I wanted memory pictures at least so I set up my big lens. This great egret was feeding and gave me a good opportunity to get a portrait.

I'd been seeing yellow rumped warblers so when this one started hopping around the bushes where I was standing, I attempted to get his portrait as well. He never gave me a clear shot.

This double crested cormorant also swam by.

The ponies were grazing peacefully, seemingly oblivious to the people on the road. They were fenced into their pasture and separated by a canal of water as well.

I heard something and looked up and saw a drama. At the time I thought perhaps a predator had spooked these two. But when I looked at the pictures later, I realized that it was horse politics.

One pony was chasing the other trying to bite it.

And it was determined to get the other horse, both were racing.

Their hooves were pounding.

The horses closer to me raised their heads in curiousity and I suspect to see if there was reason for them to take flight as well. However, they only paused a moment before returning to their grazing.

There are two sets of wild horses here - one on Assateague Island and one on Chincogeague. Legend says the horses arrived when a Spanish galleon carrying wild mustangs sank nearby. Perhaps they are descendants of horses turned loose by early settlers. Through the years, penning became an annual event with historical records dating from 1835. Pony Penning is still an annual tradition with the ponies being herded up to swim the Assatague Channel. Beginning in 1925, a carnival was held and colts sold to raise funds for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. This tradition continues each year in July when over 50,000 people watch the horses swim and colts are still sold to keep the herd at manageable numbers.

Marguerite Henry wrote three books which made the Pony Penning known throughout the world. I read the first after I got home. "Misty of Chincoteague" is a sweet book about two children who do odd jobs to save money to buy the pony of their dreams, Phantom. There are two others in the series that I'm going to order from Amazon as my local bookstore only had the first.

I would like to have had more time to spend at Chincoteague. There were many trails that beckoned, a lighthouse to explore, a beach to enjoy, but we were beginning to run out of time and I had more places that I wanted to explore this trip.

Bombay Hook National WIldlife Refuge

2010-10-29T23:59:00.000-05:00

Our first visit to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge was in April of 2003. One of the first sightings was a pair of ring neck pheasants. As I rounded the bend to the first pool, the air seemed filled with flying egrets, herons, etc - giving it a primeval feel. The ponds had many varieties of ducks and wading birds. One of my favorite sunset sequences was shot on that visit:

Our first destination after leaving Cape May this fall was to Bombay Hook. While we weren't there in time for sunrise, we were there early in the morning.

When we were there in April, the snow geese had already left, but for this October visit, the snow geese had arrived! It is amazing to be there when the snow geese are flying. The patterns they make in the sky are beautiful, and they are all calling to each other, so it is a beautiful cacophany of sound. We paused and watched with wonder as they flew directly overhead.

We drove the Auto Route, but most of the other birds that I was expecting had apparently already flown south for the winter. Different season, different feel - much quieter, except for that first flight of geese overhead.

I want to come back to Bombay Hook again in the spring when the other birds have returned, but since I had new places to visit, we regretfully said "good-bye" and headed on down the road.

Cape May Sunsets

2010-10-29T16:02:00.002-05:00

A cape is a pointed piece of land jutting out into a body of water. Therefore, you have opportunities for both sunrise and sunset on the water. Sunset Beach is on the western side of the cape and is a wonderful place to enjoy the sunset. There are some lovely benches set up on the beach as well as the Sunset Beach Gift store and The Grille.

Also at Sunset Beach is an interesting shipwreck. During World War I, about a dozen ships were constructed out of concrete because steel was scarce. One of these ships, the S.S. Atlantus, was docked at Cape May after the war. A 1926 storm ran her aground at Sunset Beach. What is left of her hulk rests out in the water.

As I was waiting for sunset, I chatted with folks sitting on the benches with me. One of them introduced me to Cape May "diamonds." She even gathered some for me from the beach while I was photographing the sunset. I realized after the fact that I had captured some of these "diamonds" during my sunrise shoot. These "diamonds" catch the light of the rising or setting sun and when they are wet, they glow. The reality is they are water polished quartz about the size of pearls. You can buy polished ones at the gift store at Sunset Beach, but I treasure my gifts from a generous stranger.

I shot different angles and exposures trying to capture the setting sun and the waves whipped up by the wind that day. I suspect other days have much smaller waves hitting the beach, but I had a beautiful, tranquil sunset to capture with my camera and to enjoy.

A Prayer for Travelers

2010-10-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

At our hotel today, I read this poem that was on the desk in our room. I thought it worth sharing - it was a great way to start my day!

To Our Guests

In ancient times there was a prayer for

"the Stranger within our gates"

Because this is a human institution to serve people and not solely a money making organization, we hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under our roof.

May our place be your "second" home.

May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams. Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own house.

May the business that brought you our way prosper. May every call you make and every message you receive add to your joy. When you leave may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers. From "birth 'til death" we travel between the eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you meet and a joy to those who know and love you best.

Author Anonymous

Cape May - Raptor Banding Demonstration

2010-10-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

Certain days of the week there is a raptor banding demonstration near the Hawk Watch at Cape May. I found it most interesting. Since they started banding hawks, they've banded over 132,000 and gotten data back from over 2000. One of the more interesting stories was of a chick that was banded in the nest Greenland and captured at Cape May a mere three weeks later! Amazing!

Most of the time, the birds are captured, banded and immediately released. For the demonstration, the raptors are put in these tubes because it calms them down. They are only kept in these tubes a very short time, long enough for the visitors to see these amazing creatures up close and to learn about them in a way that would not be possible otherwise. The birds are released unharmed to continue on their journey south.

In order to capture the raptors to band them, you must set a trap using bait birds. The bait birds used are pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows. However, it is amazing how these bait birds are treated. They have flack jackets tailored for each size bird. The pigeon's protective gear is made from Lexus leather car seats.

The sparrow's is made from leather jackets. The sparrow one was so tiny and actually cute.

We got to see sharp shinned hawks,

a Cooper's hawks,

and a peregrin falcon.

He showed us how their feet are specially made to capture their prey and how their heads don't move during flight so they can find their prey easier.

The crowd was fascinated, as was I. I hadn't brought my big camera, but I couldn't help myself - I pulled out my iPhone and was shooting snapshots for memories.

Middle Creek Wildlife Area

2010-10-21T21:05:00.008-05:00

Fellow photographer, Cynthia Sperko told me to be sure and include Middle Creek Wildlife Area Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania on the Lebanon-Lancaster County line as a place to take bird photos during spring migration. Middle Creek is in Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania. According to one website, the snow geese show up the first week in March. They are always an amazing spectacle to watch as thousands of them take off simultaneously. The state website mentions the beautiful tundra swans that stop by in the fall in November and in the spring in late February and early March.

The Visit Lebanon County website mentions nine walking trails. Are We There Yet website also has a good article about Middle Creek.

The tour road is open from March 1st to mid-September, weather permitting.

It turns out that as we drove through Pennsylvania, we stopped for lunch at Lancaster. If we'd only known, Cynthia works very near where we stopped. I missed a chance to meet one of my online photography friends. Sounds like I need to go back into her neck of the woods during fall or spring migration. Check out Cynthia's website to see more of her beautiful photography.

Thanks, Cynthia, for the heads up about Middle Creek!

Cape May - Sea Bird Watch

2010-10-21T06:19:00.002-05:00

The Cape May Bird Observatory counts many different kinds of birds during the fall migration. Up at Avalon along the seawall, they have a sea bird count. They have a presentation at 2:00 where they show you how they identify these birds from such a great distance.

This is Atlantic City in the background. This image was taken with my 300-800mm at 800 mm. That bird in the center is a northern gannet. I've left this as shot so you can see what the bird counters are seeing. Yes, they identify these birds when they are just specs. It is amazing!

I've cropped down so you can see it better. To identify northern gannets here you look for large white birds with these black tips on their wings. The body shape is much more elongated and sharp both the body and the wings than a white pelican would be. The smaller dots are greater black-winged gulls (which are the largest gull), so you can get an idea of how large these gannets are.

Double crested cormorants fly by in large flocks. They are identified by the patterns the flocks make. While they sometimes do get into a V shape, they never maintain it. They are always rearranging the pattern and snaking out.

Here is a closer look as they flew overhead - note the elongated head and still a different pattern in the sky.

I did crop this one down so you could see the three birds in the distance - they were surf scoters. You really need a scope to make the id between white winged scoters, black scoters and surf scoters. The sea bird counter has a high powered scope to see more detail on the wings and face to make a good id for the count. They have a different counter for each bird that they click as they see them.

This young gull was hanging out, not bothered by the birders nearby.

I spent about an hour two different days at the Sea Bird Watch and saw:

Double crested cormorant
Black duck
Sanderling
Black bellied plover
Ring bill gull
Great black-backed bull
Black scoter
Surf scoter
Herring Gull
Northern Gannet
Greater Scaup
Brown pelican

Cape May - Songbird Morning Flight

2010-10-20T07:32:00.000-05:00

One of the daily events at Cape May during migration is the "Songbird Morning Flight." There is a tower at Higbee Beach with an interpreter and on top of the nearby hill is a person who is counting the songbirds. Officially Morning Flight begins at 8:00 A.M. Songbirds migrate at night, so they fly in and get ready to forage and rest for the day.

I got up and out twice for morning flight. The first morning was right after the front had come through. It was pretty and sunny, but the wind was fierce. There was only one other person besides me and the interpreter on the platform. A few other people came and went Because of the wind, the interpreter was not expecting us to see much. The small songbirds were just getting bounced around too much. However, the large great black-backed gulls seem to sail with ease through the gusty wind. The smaller hawks were visibly fighting against the wind. The first morning I saw the greater black-backed bulls, yellow rump warbler, sharp shinned hawk, cooper's hawk, and a peregrin.

The second morning was a much calmer day in terms of the wind. I got to the tower at 8:00 A.M. and it was filled with people. There were definitely more small birds in the air. We had two interpreters in addition to the counter on the hill. I was actually a little relieved to see that even these "pros" couldn't identify all the little birds as they went zipping by. They did identify a blackpoll warbler by its call as it went by. The counter on the hill is expert at identifying the warblers, but apparently even so the count includes large numbers of "unidentified" warblers. We saw a number of northern flickers, a flock of kildeer. and a lot of yellow-rumped warblers. Crossing along the bay were double crested cormorants and a brandt. I especially enjoyed seeing the common loon fly over us. Two bald eagles passed over when I first arrived. Good sightings of sharp shinned hawks and cooper's hawks.

People came and went from the platform during the hour or so I was there the second morning. One group was an Audubon society tour from New York City.

My bird list for both days:

Warblers

Yellow-rumped warbler

Black poll

Hawks

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Peregrin Falcon

Kestrel

Merlin

Northern harrier

Sparrows

Dark eyed junco

Swamp Sparrow

Kinglets

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Golden Crowned Kinglet

Double crested cormorant
Great black-backed gulls
Brandt
Common Loon (in flight)

Great blue heron

Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Robin
Mourning dove
Killdeer

Cape May

2010-10-19T22:57:00.002-05:00

We spent 4 nights at Cape May. I was enchanted from the first day. We started the first morning at sunrise at Cape May Lighthouse.

The lighthouse is tall and stately, and the beam still shines brightly.

I always try to look around at my surroundings when I'm photographing. I noted the sky away from the lighthouse was filled with these lovely pink tinted clouds. So I'm playing with a composition taken before the sun was up, with the light shining and the pink clouds. All true to what was there that morning, but I think this version still needs work.

After taking care of trying for dawn and lighthouse shots, I headed over to where the Hawk Watch was going on. For several years, I've heard and read about hawk watches. During the fall migrations, people pick places with high numbers of passing raptors and count them as they go by. Some are volunteers, some are paid. It was on my list of things to attend sometime because you can learn so much about identifying raptors when you have so many passing over you in one day. But more importantly, you are surrounded by folks who really know how to identify hawks even when they are far away and only specs in the sky.

While the day started sunny, there was a cloud bank coming in.

You could see getting larger and larger and filling the sky.

Before too long, it was dark and hard to see the hawks.

I did have a couple of people who were helping me identify the hawks and other species flying by. I think the most amazing thing was when the gentleman next to me spotted and identified a flock of blue jays just by the way the flock was grouping as they flew. And . . . I had NEVER seen a flock of blue jays - only individuals. The tree sparrows also came by in large flocks and looked ever so much like a swarming bunch of gnats as they crossed the sky. The raptor identification was still hard, but I saw a sharp shinned hawk, a Cooper's hawk, a merlin, and a peregrin that morning.

Cuttalossa Mill

2010-10-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

I have had the opportunity to meet some of my online photography friends this trip. We stopped in Doylestown, Pennsylvania to meet Ruth Taylor. She does beautiful images of her home county, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She and her husband also run the BytePhoto.com Photography Contest.

While I was really just planning to meet her and have a short visit, she took me out to Cuttalossa Mill where I got a chance to take some photos of this lovely mill. What a great way to spend the afternoon!

Minister Creek

2010-10-16T22:11:00.003-05:00

We've been seeing some beautiful fall foliage as we go along, but I haven't been finding those ideal photographic compositions. We chose to go through the Allegheny National Forest as we crossed Pennsylvania. It beautiful, but a little past the peak of color. I was so glad to find Minister Creek, I could hardly wait for the car to stop to hop out, grab the camera, and rush over to the creek. At first glance, I was concerned, because I could tell it was going to be challenging to get a good camera angle. My first try was looking down on the creek:

I didn't like this camera angle, so I started looking for a way to get down to the creek level. After finding a spot where I could sit on one rock and work my way down, I found that I had an old grapevine hanging down into my composition as well as a leaning tree. Luckily I was wearing my river sandals and the water was shallow. I waded in and removed the offending, unattached, dead grapevine and put it on the bank. Taking my next shot, I still wasn't happy with that leaning tree:

The water was shallow enough that I could wade in a little more. My feet and the bottom of my jeans were definitely wet, and my toes started getting cold quickly. But I wasn't about to rush out of the water until I had done my best to capture this lovely place.

Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania

2010-10-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

When I was walking the Magee Marsh, I ran into several people and we chatted about other birding areas. One of the recommendations was Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania. I was intrigued because Michigan has a Presque Isle River in the Porcupine Mountains that is a wonderful place. So as we planned our route south and east, we chose to visit Presque Isle State Park.

We arrived late in the afternoon and after looking at the map on our iPad, we chose to drive the perimeter. Once again, we had found a place with many opportunities. Near the city of Erie, it has many opportunities. We saw joggers and bicyclists. There were opportunities for sailing, canoeing, and kayaking on Lake Erie. There were both shoreline, pond, and forested areas for birding. It is the only surf sand beach in Pennsylvania. Because of the many habitats, it contains the greatest number of the state's endangered, threatened and rare species than any other similarly sized area in Pennsylvania.

To my delight, we discovered a lighthouse! It was late in the day and the sun was obscured by clouds. I knew the lighting wasn't the greatest, but I try to be disciplined in my photography. So I shot both horizontal and vertical, changed positions, and shot for HDR.

Here is one of the original in the sequence I shot for HDR:

Nik has just come out with new HDR software, HDR Efex Pro and since I do a lot of HDR, I bought it the day it came out. This was my first chance to play with it.

HDR Efex Pro program is a photoshop plugin. You choose which images and it combines them. There are 33 preset choices as well as manual choices so you have a lot of control as to how your final image will look. Here is my first attempt. I liked the stormy day look and I wanted the sky and clouds to be dark enough that the light from the lighthouse would show. This is how the image emerged from HDR Efex Pro:

I usually play with my Topaz plugins: BuzSim and Topaz sharpen. Here was my first attempt and I think I went too far with the BuzSim:

Here is my second attempt using the same HDR conversion - less strong effects, but still enhanced with Topaz BuzSim & Topaz Sharpen. I didn't add the lens flare on this one that made the other light shine more.

Since I like to play with several choices when I'm doing HDR, I went over to Photomatix and used a different set of images, vertical this time and created this image. Once again I went beyond the Photomatix and used the Topaz BuzSim and Topaz Sharpen for artistic effects.

Here is a different version on roughly the same original images, using Efex Pro but without adding Topaz.

I don't know yet which of these will be my finished images. I suspect when I get home with my larger calibrated screen and more time, I will revisit these and perhaps start over until I decide which ones I like the best. I suspect that I'll have more than one finished product - a dark brooding look and one with a bluer sky.

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge & Magee Marsh

2010-10-15T21:34:00.002-05:00

I headed to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge because I was wanting to visit as many National Wildlife Refuges as I could find along our route. As we left Detroit, I knew I wanted to revisit Bombay Hook in Delaware, and I knew I wanted to visit Chincoteague in Virginia. Since we didn't have a set itinerary for this trip, we could stop and explore new places. But because we didn't have a planned itinerary, I hadn't done much research about places we would be visiting.

We got to Ottawa NWR later in the afternoon. I was excited because the following day was the one day of the month that the auto route was open and I was looking forward to viewing parts of the refuge that are normally closed to the public.

When we arrived, I learned quickly that Ottawa is a refuge where you hike to get to the best parts. There are also two adjoining state wildlife management areas. I stopped and chatted with other people walking the refuge. I was asked, "How does this compare with other refuges you have visited?" I must confess I didn't have a good answer, because I had just gotten there and because I hadn't done the research to know what was the best "season" to visit. One of my favorite wildlife refuges is Bosque del Apache. If you go in the winter, it is an incredible places with thousands of geese, ducks, sandhill cranes, and many wintering raptors. In the summer, the Bosque is quiet. On my first fall afternoon visit, Ottawa seemed quiet - lovely, but quiet. I got to see a bald eagle soar by a couple of times, the ducks were apparently on a pond a farther walk than I had time for. My bird list was short, because my walk was short: white crowned sparrow, blue jay, golden-crowned kinglet, ruby-crowned kinglet, Canada geese, Great blue heron, great egret, American robin, and red wing blackbird.

We drove over to Magee Marsh Wildlife Area right at twilight and I found the marsh boardwalk. That would be my dawn destination. Magee Marsh is owned and managed by the state of Ohio.

We got up early enough that I was on the boardwalk as the sun was coming up. I was traveling light - my iPhone, my binoculars, and my Sibleys.

As I walked the boardwalk, I could hear skittish waterfowl relocating. I was pleased to see and identify a swamp sparrow in the brushy area by the waterline near the boardwalk. A downy woodpecker was working his way up and down a nearby tree. The redwing blackbirds were on the reeds across the water. I saw another bird working its way up the tree - after looking in Sibleys - a brown creeper. I finally caught a glimpse of the waterfowl I was spooking - a winter plumage wood duck.

The wonderful thing about this boardwalk is that there are plenty of benches - places where you can sit, wait for the birds to come check you out and where you can savor your surroundings. I saw another set of birds that I don't usually see - so had to look them up - thrushes, both Swainson and Hermit (I'm pretty sure I saw both species.) As I scanned the boardwalk in front of me, a house wren appeared to check out who was coming. In the one of the water pools was a great egret and I could hear Canada geese in the distance. Another bird appeared along the boardwalk, a wren for sure with that upright tail, but oh so small. When checking Sibleys - a winter wren - a life bird for me. And it stayed around long enough for me to get a good look see. Another bird appeared requiring another search in Sibleys - a juvenile yellow bellied sapsucker. As I finished my walk, I saw a ruby crowned kinglet and a Carolina wren.

I spent so much time savoring the boardwalk that we were later getting to the auto route at Ottawa. Even so, my list: blue jay, great egret, white crowned sparrow, great blue heron, Canada geese, redwing blackbird, northern harrier, pied bill grebe, coot, mallard, greater yellowlegs, white throated sparrow. At one of the ponds was a mix of waterfowl, too far for me to make good id's with just my binoculars.

We headed back to Magee Marsh and I added dark eyed junco, ring billed gull, trumpeter swan, and brown headed cowbird. What a wonderful day it had been!

In the evening I was researching Ottawa NWR and Magee Marsh and found this incredible article from the American Birding Association: "Magee Anatomy of a Migrant Hotspot." I knew I had found another "magical" birding spot. It had been wonderful on my fall walks, but it is a place I really MUST come back to during its high season in May.

I went back a second morning to Magee. At the first bench area, I found myself surrounded by golden-crowned kinglets and ruby crowned kinglets. I got another good look at a winter wren (I think my favorite bird here.) And farther down, I was surrounded by thrushes eating the berries.

iPhone4 Camera

2010-10-14T16:53:00.001-05:00

When I went bird watching at Magee Marsh, I knew it was a long boardwalk and I wanted to concentrate on seeing the birds without hauling camera and tripod. I was carrying my iPhone4 to make notes on what birds I was seeing. But, being a photographer, the morning sunrise and the boardwalk seemed to cry out for me to take their picture to remember the beauty here.

I'm really impressed with iPhone4's 5-megapixel camera. While technically a point and shoot, it has features that let you go beyond. With the tap to focus, the camera can changes the exposure as well as the focus, allowing you to capture the beauty in lighting situations that need thought as to exposure. And, the live view gives you an idea of whether you have tapped correctly to get the finished look you were hoping for. In addition, they have built in a HDR (High Dynamic Range) function that shoots multiple images and combines them at the time of the capture. How cool is that?

This image was taken at Burlington of the Mississippi River at flood stage from the restaurant. Note the blown out details in the trees along the river and the sky.

Using tap to focus, the exposure adjusts and I got the view of the river with the tree in silhouette which was my goal.

At Magee Marsh, the sunrise was beautiful. Using the tap to focus I was able to get the details in the sky to capture the delicate colors of sunrise.

I was pleased to even get the "rays,"

The fall colors along the boardwalk were also memorable. Here is an image taken not using the tap to focus. Notice how the sky and foliage and foliage are blown out, because the lighting is so different between the shaded boardwalk and the sunlit foliage.

Here is the same image using the tap to focus and the built in HDR. What a difference!

Then taking the image into photoshop:

While the iPhone4's camera doesn't match the quality of my Canon 5D MKII, it is still a great way to capture moments when I'm walking, doing bird watching or don't have the big camera with me.

Detroit Articles

2010-10-12T09:59:00.000-05:00

Having just visited Detroit, I was interested when I saw this news article on Yahoo: Time Magazine: Real Moms of Grosse Point.

Links in that article led me to an amazing sequence of photographs: The Remains of Detroit. Photographer Sean Hemmerle did a project photographing buildings in the rust belt. These photos from Detroit show some of the beauty that was once there. I found it poignant and worth sharing.

To see more of Sean Hemmerle's Rust Belt project click here.

Detroit

2010-10-10T21:38:00.001-05:00

I had to go over to the Canadian side to get this vantage point of Detroit. Silly me, I had never really looked up Detroit on a map. I knew it was in Michigan, but I didn't realize it was right on the border with Canada.

We spent part of two days driving around Detroit, only seeing a small spectrum of the big metropolitan area. We drove through one area where there were buildings and houses that had burned, buildings that were boarded up & unused and then just a few blocks later we were in Grosse Point, a very wealthy lakeside community. What a contrast!

Downtown Detroit is also full of contrasts - beautiful, new buildings, the Detroit People Mover, and other older buildings empty. I know that the economy in Detroit is especially bad right now, but many of the buildings we saw throughout the Detroit area that are empty, unused, decaying, show signs that they have not been used in many years. It is a town of many eras - and it made me wish I had seen it when some of those older buildings were new and occupied.

Belle Isle Park is also lovely, sitting on the American side of the Detroit River - ponds, fountains, zoos, etc. We were there when they were doing the Breast Cancer Walk. But it also has a neglected feel.

Here are some snapshots from driving around:

Lampstand decorations:

The story behind the plastic bags:

A building I thought was beautiful as we drove by:

These have seen better days:

The People Mover just circles downtown. It looks like it would be fun to ride:

Seney National Wildlife Refuge

2010-10-09T07:59:00.001-05:00

We've been fortunate to visit Seney National Wildlife Refuge several times. Our first visit was in September 2003. We knew it was going to be a great place when we saw sandhill cranes foraging right by the entry sign. We were thrilled to see bald eagles, trumpeter swans, northern shovelers, loons, green winged teals, glossy ibis, American bitterns, beaver, and muskrats, etc. We've also learned that by October, most of the birds have already flown south.

But we were "in the neighborhood" and couldn't resist making one loop through the auto trail. There were still trumpeter swans, a pied bill grebe, assorted sparrows. The ranger told me that river otters had been spotted - we didn't see those.

But even with most of the birds gone, Seney is still a beautiful place, especially at sunrise or sunset. The clouds were especially lovely this evening.

I never tire of seeing the subtle colors God paints in the sky - unique every day.

Milwaukee

2010-10-07T08:30:00.001-05:00

I wanted to stop in Milwaukee and capture something that would be representative, iconic. I knew I didn't have much time. I found the lighthouse, but I also wanted a cityscape. As we drove the lakeshore, I enjoyed the park with the lovely weeping willows. I saw a spot that might work with a reflection, but when I walked over with the camera, the angle didn't work. As sunset approached, I knew I needed to make a decision. The area near the Art Museum looked the most promising.

While I tried many things, shooting multiple images to merge for a panorama, I ended up happiest with these two wide angle shots.

I like to pick a spot and start near sunset and photograph for 30 or 45 minutes to get the changing colors from sunset, dusk, twilight and dark.

North Point Light, Milwaukee

2010-10-06T22:30:00.001-05:00

As we were studying the map as we explored Milwaukee, I saw North Point Lighthouse. Since I am fascinated with lighthouses, naturally I had to go find it and try to photograph it. Over time, trees have grown up around it, making it a challenge to photograph, especially since we weren't going to have a lot of time in Milwaukee.

I figured that I would need to combine multiple exposures to get something I would be happy with. The "front" up able had the deep shadows from the western sun filtering through the trees. The "back" below was backlit.

The original lighthouse was built in 1855. Shore erosion in the 1870's required a new lighthouse to be constructed. Finished in 1887, it was first lit in January, 1888. Beautiful Lake Park was being planned around North Point Lighthouse. As the trees grew in the park, they obscured the light and the U.S. government discontinued funding in 1907. In 1909, money was funded to raise the tower and the work building an additional 35 feet was finished in 1913, making the tower 74 feet high.

I went back after dark to see if the night lights would create still another view, but at least the night I was there, the lighting wasn't dramatic.

This lighthouse is in such a pretty setting, I felt it well worth my time to stop, photograph, and enjoy seeing it.

Great River Bridge

2010-10-06T12:37:00.001-05:00

The Great River Bridge connects Burlington, Iowa with Gulf Port, Illinois. Bridges over the Mississippi are always impressive because they must be wide enough to span the mighty river and tall enough for the barge traffic to pass under. The Great River Bridge is a newer bridge, built in 1993 replacing a much older, narrower bridge. The one tower cable stayed construction makes it very elegant.

This image was taken when the river was at flood stage due to heavy rains in Minnesota, Iowa, and western Illinois.

For more information:

Gros Morne National Park

2010-08-24T10:30:00.006-05:00

August 20, 2009

We enterted Gros Morne National Park from the north. So our first views were of these spectacular mountains and beautiful glacier carved fjord at Western Pond. Sadly, we arrived too late in the day to do the BonTour's Western Pond Boat Tour. It is a 1.8 mile walk to get to the boats. The tour lasts 2 hours and costs $52.00 for adults and $25.00 for kids. It is on my to do list for the next time we make it to Newfoundland. BonTours also has boat tours of Bonne Bay.

The scenic town of Rocky Harbor is the place to stay to enjoy Gros Marne - good hotels and restaurants as well as beautiful ocean views. Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse drew me because I love lighthouses.

The rocky beaches west of Rocky Harbor made a great sunset vantage point.

The next morning we headed south and drove through the mountains of Gros Morne.

We knew we hadn't given this park the time it deserved, but we got a wonderful taste of the beauty and wonder here.

The Arches Provincial Park

2010-08-17T15:58:00.003-05:00

August 20, 2009

As we headed south from St. Anthony, we came across this small provincial park. Lighting wasn't great with the cloud covered, sunless sky. I shot for HDR hoping I could create a good memory photo since I knew we couldn't stay around this location long enough to get a sunrise or sunset setting.

While the main attraction is this wonderful set of sea arches, the rest of the beach is also lovely.

These wind sculpted, dead trees tell the story of strong winds and a harsh climate.

Newfoundland's Crown Land

2010-08-06T14:52:00.008-05:00

I was fascinated by the small gardens that we saw along the roads in northern Newfoundland. These gardens were not next to someone's house our field, rather they were right next to the road. When I asked local people, it turns out that the best soil for gardens is where soil was brought in to build the roads. This land is "crown land," land owned by federal or provincial governments. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia only 11% of Canada's land is in private hands, 41% is federal crown land and 48% is provincial crown land. Newfoundland has the highest percentage of crown land with 95% being owned by the government. Among the permitted uses in northern Newfoundland are these gardens that provide needed produce during the short growing season.

Picturesque and well kept, the primary crop seems to be potatoes, but some of the larger plots had a mix of garden vegetables. In a place where it is not easy to get fresh produce, these gardens are an important part of the food supply here.

There also seems to be a certain amount of wood gathering permitted.

I suspect that it takes a lot of hard work to live in northern Newfoundland, but I really appreciate a lifestyle that manages to find ways to live off the land using the resources available-fish, wood, native berries, and these lovely gardens.

Whale Watching at St. Anthony, Newfoundland

2010-08-04T10:25:00.011-05:00

August 20, 2009

Being fascinated by whales and marine mammals, I take every whale watching tour I can find. In St. Anthony, Newfoundland, Northland Discovery Boat Tours offers iceberg, whale, and seabird tours. We were too late in the season for icebergs, but we headed out on a foggy, misty morning. As we headed out to sea, there was Newfie music playing over the loud speaker - lovely, jaunty Irish sounding melodies. As we left the harbor and headed out to sea, these stark, rocky cliffs were amazingly beautiful.

As we reached the choppy open water, we began to watch for spouts.

Whale watching is exciting to me even when it is just watching those sleek bodies gracefully surface and submerge again. Sometimes you are lucky enough to see the tail as they begin their deep dive.

We were seeing humpback whales and they were consistent with their surfacing and deep dive timing. So we got good regular sightings.

We also got to see Atlantic white beaked dolphins. Whales come up and surface with a slow rhythmic pattern, giving you time to capture the experience with your camera. Dolphins zip right past the boat making photographs more a matter of luck than skill.

What with the gray day, low lighting, I didn't expect great shots, but I couldn't resist trying to catch these playful dolphins.

It continued gray and foggy even as we returned past theSt. Anthony Harbor Lighthouse and into the harbor. There's a great restaurant at the lighthouse, the Lightkeeper's Cafe, and a great view. We found the cafe and lighthouse area a great place to end our days at St. Anthony, Newfoundland.

I am grateful I don't get seasick easily, because it was a choppy day on the water. But even with gray skies, swells, and seasick visitors next to me, it was still a great way to spend the morning!

L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

2010-07-29T08:36:00.008-05:00

Time to get back to finishing my blogs about our Canada trip last year.

We entered Newfoundland from the North via a short ferry from Blanc Sablon, Quebec to St. Barbe, Newfoundland. We headed to St. Anthony to get our accomodations. We had learned about L'Anse aux Meadows from the Americans we met at Manic 5. The site of the Viking landing in North America, it is both a National Historic Site in Canada and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Naturally, it was on my must see list.

It was a gray, rainy day for our visit and lighting didn't look promising., so I left my good camera in the car and set out to enjoy my day in spite of the weather. These pictures are courtesy of Henry, as he carried his smaller camera with him on our tour.

As you begin your guided walk through the excavated mounds, you pass through this amazing sculpture, The Meeting of Two Worlds. Designed to celebrate the meeting of the European culture with the Aboriginal people who were Newfoundlands first peoples.

The site is grass covered and there are still a few houses in the distance along the sea that will be removed as the original owners have been allowed to remain for their lifetimes. Ultimately the goal is for this site to look much as it did when the Vikings arrived.

We took the guided tour of the site and were so fortunate that our guide was intimately involved - his grandfather had led archaeoloists Helge Ingstad and his wife, Anne Stine Ingstad to a mound on his farm that turned out to be Leif Erickson's Vinland colony. This 11th-century settlement is the first European presence in North America. The excavated ruins are similar to the wood framed peat-turf buildings found in Norse Greenland and Iceland. In some ways the construction is like the sod houses originally built by settlers in the Great Plains - wood timbers with blocks of the peat bog creating thick walls with a sod roof.

Time to get back to finishing my blogs about our Canada trip last year.

This long house is still under construction or they are redoing the peat sod roof, but it gives you an idea of the size and construction of these amazing buildings.

The Vikings only stayed here somewhere between three and ten years, but the archaeologists found a soapstone spindle whorl, a bronze-ringed pin process and toerh iron, bronze, stone, and bone items. I learned that you can get iron ore from peat bogs and the Vikings made nails from the iron found in the peat.

We were lucky to be visiting on a day when public school teachers were visiting for training - so there were hands on demonstrations of making nails, knitting with one needle, and story telling. They have recreated the long houses and the site is a living history with people dressed up as Vikings and showing how the people lived and retelling the ancient stories.

As the day was cold and rainy, I enjoyed sitting by the fire and soaking in the stories and the ambiance of life in the 990-1030 AD time period.

Today's Adventurous Jeep Road

2010-06-28T23:21:00.009-05:00

We're not going to be in Breckenridge long this trip, so I wanted to get out and enjoy the mountains this afternoon. We headed up over Boreas Pass, a nice gravel road that we've travelled many times before. We turned off to look at the Selkirk National Forest Campground near the south fork of the Tarryall River. We retraced our steps and found another road to the Tarryall River and decided to see if it lead over the mountains back to the Breckenridge side. The road started pretty much like most jeep roads, calm at first, then getting rockier where you had to be careful where you put your wheels so you don't bottom out. We were doing good . . . until . . . we came to a place where you went up before you went down and you couldn't see what you were doing. Then we weren't moving . . . stuck!

The front wheel had rolled over a steep hole, the center was bottomed, and the passenger rear tire had no traction and just spun.

Our jeep has a winch, but the Trailblazer doesn't. We were wishing for the winch!

We tried rocking it back and forth and while we got a little movement, the hole in front was too large to roll the tire back up.

Henry jacked the car up and put rocks and fallen wood to improve traction - no go.

We had started such that with no problems we should have gotten back to the main road on the other side before dark, but it was late enough in the afternoon/evening that I was concerned that the other travelers might have already gone home. It was obviously a well travelled road - lots of tire tracks. I knew the worse case scenario was that we would spend the night in the car on the mountain. We had water, sweaters and jackets, and a car for shelter. But I hadn't brought snacks. We would be hungry, but we'd be OK.

We thought about trying to hike back to the campground, but that was quite a ways back.

But I couldn't help hoping and praying that some one would pass by, someone with the right equipment or experience to get us unstuck. I could hear planes overhead. Henry thought he saw mountain goats on the nearby peak. And then I heard it, the sound of engines - not a plane in the air, engines on the ground moving our direction. YES! It was two young men on motorcycles. The working solution - they got on the back bumper and jumped up and down - forcing the back tires into contact with the ground. Sigh . . . we were unstuck, but the very next area had another tricky spot - one very easy to get stuck again. Carefully avoiding the tree on the right and the stump on the left and the bigger hole farther to the left, we made it through the muddy water crossing. The next stretch was a very steep uphill - 4 wheel low in low gear, the Trailblazer had no problems with that part.

Once again we were doing good. But then there was this snow drift. We'd crossed several that had appropriate tracks through them going fairly fast so we wouldn't get stuck. But this snow drift blocked the road with only space for motorcycles to follow the road. There was an alternative route through the trees, but it was narrow - with a big stump in the wrong place. In our first attempt we hit the tree on the right. We backed up and Henry tried to put some wood around the stump so we make it over. No . . . stuck again.

We had cell signal here and I got hold of Debra so that someone would know where we were and if we didn't get back in a reasonable length of time, someone could send the calvary to us.

We knew the motorcyclists were coming down behind us, so the contact with Debra was just for good measure. We waited. More wood around the stump and once again two young men on the back bumper rocking the car. Yes . . . past that part. But we had at least one more obstacle to get through - a bog where we could possibly get stuck once more. Our faithful motorcyclists stayed with us. By this point I would hardly call this path a road - dodging big rocks and deep ruts we bounced along. We sailed right through the blog and the next muddy stretch.

The motorcyclists assured us that we could make the rest. It turns out one of the used to work for River Mountain Lodge and lives next to the Resort Quest manager that used to be in charge at River Mountain. I told them that they were guardian angels for us this evening. They told us that they just couldn't leave until they knew we had gotten past the places where we could get stuck.

When we finally got to the gravel road at the Blue River area, I started texting Debra so she'd know we were back in civilization. As I texted her, she called me . . . the Melton telepathy at work. In short order we were back on a paved road and back at the condo!

Now - I'm unlikely to ever take that particular route unless I have the jeep with better ground clearance and winch, or 4 wheelers that are light enough to push out of trouble, etc. But I am so grateful that God always provides for us when we get ourselves stuck somewhere. We've never yet been stuck out in the middle of nowhere having to spend the night in the car unprepared. But next jeep road trip - I'm packing more water and snacks . . . just in case there is a first time to be stuck overnight.

By the way, while we were eating our dinner back at the condo, the front desk called. Andrew, the Resort Quest director, had called them to make sure we had made it home ok. Even far from home, God places us in good hands with caring people.

A Survivor's Tale

2010-06-15T09:31:00.003-05:00

I met Julie Zickefoose several years back at the Festival of the Cranes at the Bosque del Apache in New Mexico. She and her husband were tour leaders. She is an expert birder, an incredibly talented artist as well as a talented musician. I've followed her blog ever since.

She has run a series of posts that I want to pass along to my readers. There is a tale here that needs to be read in order to be fully appreciated.

The first post: Meet Debbie Kaspari introduces us to another interesting and talented artist.

Julie had been in Oklahoma as the keynote speaker at the the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival in Woodward, Oklahoma. While in Oklahoma she visited the Alabaster Caverns, the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. and her friends, travel writer/photographer, TIm Ryan and artist Debby Kasapari.

Julie's next post, An Oklahoma Eden shows an incredibly beautiful paradise that Debbie and her husband Mike had created. Certainly an inspiration for what beautiful natural spaces we can create in our home environments.

I grew up in the Texas Panhandle. In my household, the spring and early summer thunderstorms meant my grandfather came and picked up my mother and I so that if a tornado came our way, we would have access to the storm cellar in his backyard. I have vivid memories of near black menacing skies and a couple of times when we took shelter in that underground concrete shelter. I remember listening to the radio the night the big tornado hit Lubbock and the stories of the people who died when the tornado hit the lake houses near Clarendon. The sister of a friend of mine lost her leg that night. I'm really not afraid of too many things, but I have to say that the thing here on earth that I'm most afraid of is tornadoes.

Julie's next two posts tell the story of the May 10th tornado and how it impacted the lives of her friends. And I think they are worth sharing:

The May 10 Tornado

Aftermath of a Tornado

There are many worthwhile causes to donate money, but I wanted to add one more to your list. The Kaspari family will be struggling for awhile to get their life put back together. Apparently if you live in town, there are services to help you haul off the broken lumber from a flattened home and dead broken tree trunks. If you live in the country, you are on your own. There has been a fund set up to help this family. You can donate via Paypal or you can send a check:

Deborah Kaspari
Dept. of Zoology
University of Oklahoma
730 Van Vleet Oval
Room 314
Norman, OK 73019

Reading this story makes me ponder anew whether we should eventually add a Safe Room or an underground shelter of some sort. Fortunately, we live in Central Texas where tornadoes are infrequent. Because we do occasionally have tornadoes (Jarrell Texas is not that far from us), the idea does appeal to me to have a "safe" place to hide from these destructive storms. Some day . . .

The Butterfly's Demise

2010-06-11T10:10:00.005-05:00

As I sit on my porch this year, we've had more butterflies than I remember from other years. Because we live in the country, we don't do a complete mow until the widlflowers have seeded out. So I've been enjoying watching the butterflies flit from flower to flower. One morning, I saw a butterfly near the horsemint bloom. One minute it was fluttering gracefully along. The next minute the wing beats were struggling and the butterfly was dangling upside down. I knew instantly what had happened, the butterfly had been attacked by a spider. The butterfly hadn't got stuck in a web, rather the spider had somehow bitten the butterfly as it was near the bloom. With my binoculars, I could see the small spider on the butterfly's body. The butterfly went limp and swayed in the breeze held by one strand of the spider's silky web thread. On one level, I should have gone and gotten my camera with a macro lens. It was certainly high drama. I'm pretty sure the butterfly was doomed from the first moment I saw its distress.Once the spider's venom paralyzed it, I'm pretty sure it couldn't have recovered. I don't think I could have changed the outcome even if I had tried to intervene. On one level, I'm ok with the spider getting its needed nourishment. It was amazing how that small spider could conquer the much larger butterfly. The spider was hiding inside the bloom of the horsemint, waiting patiently for its opportunity. How amazing is God's creation.

But another part of me grieved a little, because like most of us, I value butterflies more than I value spiders. I did some web searching and found one article about spiders that said that while spiders are beneficial to humans because they eat insects, that people generally find them unsavory because they tend to lurk in dark places, they often have a grotesque appearance, and their toxicity has been exaggerated. Spiders are also prey for other animals - some wasps paralyze spiders and lay their eggs on the paralyzed body for their young's first nourishment.

I want to value and appreciate all of God's creation. But I have to confess that various critters that invade my indoor space do not always survive to tell about it. When practical, yes, I relocate. But things like mice, wasps on the exterior of the house, little moths invading the interior, scorpions crawling on the floor don't always survive their encounter with me. But it is truly amazing to me the variety of animal species, all with a different purpose and a different diet. Some things I appreciate more in their native environments, but I wonder if there aren't wider applications to this story of the spider and the butterfly even if nothing more than to appreciate something for what it is - even when our first reaction is negative.

One of the things that went through my mind was from the story of Jonah. When Jonah was upset because God was not going to destroy Nineveh because the people had repented. God sent a vine that grew and brought joy to Jonah when he was discouraged. A worm came and chewed the vine and it withered and died. Both the vine and the worm were part of God's creation - fulfilling their intended purpose.

Father, help me to see the world through your eyes. Help me to value all parts of your creation - from the smallest microbes to the largest creatures of the sea - from the beautiful butterflies and birds to the spiders, vultures and hyenas. Help me also to value the people in your world. Some people are like the spider - hard to like or love. Father, help me to look for the good in the people around me and to value them as you do.

A Moment in Time

2010-06-07T22:03:00.008-05:00

This is not one of my "usual" posts. But a newspaper article today brought back memories of an event long ago.

Crime and Punishment after 32 Years

Back in 1978, I was working the night shift, the graveyard shift, for the Department of Human Resources in South Austin. There is one night I remember vividly - at my "lunch" break, I needed to go out to my van to get the meal I had forgotten to bring in with me. The night watchman told me that he needed to escort me to my van because there was an active manhunt going on - a police officer had been shot nearby. When I saw the headline in today's Austin Statesman, I had a sinking feeling that it was going to be about Ralph Ablanedo's killer. I didn't have to read the article to remember the name Ablanedo - it is etched in my memory. It was a brutal, senseless murder and the next morning, David Powell was found hiding in a tree on the school grounds too close to where I worked. None of us at work felt very secure that evening, knowing that this extensive manhunt was going on around us.

1978 is truly a long time ago. The wheels of justice seem to have rolled very slowly to come to a conclusion on this case. Turns out Powell is only a year older than I. It is too easy for me to look back and think, "I was working, productive, sober, and responsible 32 years ago." But, today I'm older, slower, wiser - maybe. Am I a better person now than 32 years ago? Hard for me to know or judge. After so many years of incarceration, David Powell is certainly not the same person he was the night of the murder. I find it sad for many reasons that this case has continued on. Delayed closure for the Ablanedo family . . . prolonged uncertainty for David Powell and his family (and yes, I feel more grief for his family's ordeal of uncertainty and grief than his waiting time in prison.)

I remember another Texas death penalty case several years ago - a woman was executed who had turned her life around in prison. But once again, in youthful folly she was involved in a brutal murder. That story was also hard to follow . . . justice vs mercy for a life that had changed.

In some ways, life today still has moments where brutal murders, random, senseless death still occur. Sometimes it seems like there are more brutal crimes committed in these present years. Far too many young people are making poor choices during their teenage years when perhaps they are too young to fully understand all the ramifications of their actions.

The article in the Stateman is long by newspaper standards. Most people won't read all of it. It manages to cover most of the issues about the death penalty - determent, justice, is the person likely to commit another such crime, closure for the victim's family, etc.

I haven't chosen to listen to the video that goes with the article - an interview with David Powell. And I don't profess to have wisdom as to whether life in prison is a better alternative to the death penalty for this case specifically or for all cases. Too many issues . . . too many points of view . . . with reasonable arguments on both sides.

But I was too close to the action the night that Ralph Ablanedo died. I read the newspaper articles then that detailed how he was shot. While all policemen are not perfect, I want to live in a world where policemen are respected. They should not have to wonder each time they go out on patrol whether they will come home to their loved ones - and especially they shouldn't die making a routine traffic stop.

I also believe that there are consequences - both good and bad for what we do in life. We make choices either consciously or unconsciously every day. Sometimes our choices are good - benefiting ourselves and our families. Sometimes they are destructive - hurting ourselves and others. While I hate to see someone who may have turned their life around punished for something they did long in the past, there is a sense of justice needed here - we need to be accountable for what we do and for what we've done - both good and bad. We also need to get the word out to our young people that the choices they make when they are young can resonate through the rest of their lives.

There seems to be at least one more avenue of appeal for David Powell, I find myself not caring what the final outcome is - God is truly the final judge for David Powell. But this story needs an ending. I just hope that the final ending brings peace and closure for the Ablanedo family and that God gives David Powell's family and loved ones healing and acceptance for whatever the final decision brings.

This is such a lose-lose scenario. Sigh . . .

The Mockingbird vs the Red Tailed Hawk

2010-05-27T10:19:00.003-05:00

I like to sit on my front porch when I first get up. I never know what I'll get to see, but often I get to see something interesting in the natural world.

This morning, I noticed a Red Tail Hawk landing on the utility pole at my neighbor's house across the street. As I was watching him through my binoculars, I noticed that a mockingbird was attacking him. At first I thought the mocking bird was just flying near him to harrass him. But, no, this mockingbird was in full attack mode, nosediving him such that I could see the hawk shudder when contact was made. This went on repeatedly, but the hawk just stayed calm, unreacting as the mockingbird continued the attack. The mocking bird tired and landed within a foot or so of the hawk on the wires. It wasn't long before it took up the attack again. Finally, the long suffering hawk flew down to the ground and stayed for awhile, later flying off low to the ground.

The mystery is why was the mockingbird so determined to fight the hawk. Yes, mockingbirds are very territorial, so perhaps it was just a territory squabble. But it is nesting time, perhaps there was a nearby nest that the mockingbird was defending.

I have to give the mockingbird credit, the hawk was much larger, bigger claws and beak. Whether it was courage or stupidity, the mockingbird was certainly attacking a much larger, more powerful creature. I have to give the hawk some credit to, I suspect it could have easily taken out that annoying, pesky mockingbird, but chose not to act.

This sure reminds me of some human behaviors as well. As humans, we have territory issues as well and we can be pretty "courageous or stupid" when we defend those human boundaries. Sometimes we are like the hawk, ignoring those people trying to peck at us - choosing not to retaliate in kind.

Yes, there are many life lessons I learn by watching the wildlife from my front porch!

James River Road

2010-04-22T22:53:00.004-05:00

I love finding new places to explore. I had heard about the James River Road from several sources. I left early church retreat to try to capture some more Texas wildflower images. I headed first to Llano. Lunch was at Coopers Old Time Pit Bar-b-que! You go straight to the pits outside to get your meat and then inside to get the "fixins." The atmosphere inside is very informal with long benches that you share with the other folk around you. I don't remember eating there before, but I'll be back!

Since I hadn't done the James River Road, that was where I headed next using information from San Angelo Standard Times which gave not only great directions to the James River Road but also mentioned some additional wildflower loops around Mason, Texas.

I'm sure that Henry and I have never been here before. You take 87 south out of Mason and make two turns onto Farm to Market Roads before you finally reach this road. I was enchanted from the word go. The first place I got out to photograph flowers was extraordinarily fragrant from the thousands of bluebonnets surrounding me. The gentle breeze was wafting the scent into the air around me and I breathed in all the peace and serenity from such a wonderful fragrance.

The gravel road twists and curves through the hills with quite a few stream crossings as well cliffs and small waterfalls.

This public road crosses private land with the inevitable cattle guards and traffic impediments. I was the first of three cars going through this batch of cows. They stubbornly held their ground. I got within inches of them before they moved. But . . . the cars behind me had a clear path.

When I got to this stream crossing, there was a couple surveying it before crossing. The gentleman was out of the car trying to gauge how deep the water was and where the crossing was safest. I knew that two other cars had gone on ahead and had to have crossed safely. So after looking at it and the fence posts that seemed to be the guideline, I headed across. I knew that I must keep my forward momentum going, so I kept my foot steady on the gas pedal and went right straight through. It reminded me of crossing the river every day in Africa to get to one of the game preserves. Only I was the driver this time. Knowing that I had someone watching me probably made me bolder, but later I crossed it again coming back. I continued on my way, but began to get nervous about not waiting until the other couple made it across. What if they tried and got stuck - way out in the middle of nowhere? As I headed back, I passed them and we chatted. They had made it safely, but they had thought about it longer than I did before trying the crossing.

This next crossing is picturesque, but wasn't difficult to cross at all.

At the end of the afternoon, the sun peaked out giving me a chance to get some sunlight and a patch of blue sky on the scene. A neutral density graduated filter helped me keep the details in the sky and a good exposure on the bluebonnets.

I have more to work from the day, but this gives you a sample of how much fun I had exploring a new place!

Winecups

2010-04-15T21:31:00.003-05:00

We spent last night in Leakey, Texas. We awakened to another cloudy, rainy day. We headed south toward Concan and a patch of wildlfowers on HWY 127 between Concan and Sabinal.

The highlight of the day was a beautiful large patch of wineups. So often I see one winecup mixed in with a bunch of bluebonnets or other wildflowers, but here it was solid and striking. In working the shot this evening, I found that Topaz BuzSim and Topaz sharpen helped me get the look I wanted for this shot.

I've tried many times to capture the details in a single winecup. Their stems are so flexible, the least bit of wind whips them around, so it always feels like you're trying to shoot a moving target. The fresh raindrops were a bonus on this attempt to capture these delicate wildflowers.

More Texas Wildflowers

2010-04-13T09:17:00.006-05:00

Monday, we headed east and south to the La Bahia road. US 290 always has wonderful wildflowers. These were shot just west of Burton.

I was looking for attractive mixes of wildflowers and found a place where the bluebonnets and the paintbrush were intermingled. I started with the wide shots, getting the full riot of colors.

Then I worked my compositions closer, with more simplicity.

Concluding with a single bloom.

As I worked on these last night, I found myself going the DA route to get what I wanted. A radial gradient filter to darken the edges around the paintbrush and make it stand out from its background. Artistic filters that both simplified and sharpened.

Then I decided I wanted to see how this would look using polar coordinates to create a circle.

Spring in Texas!

2010-04-12T00:23:00.005-05:00

Spring is my favorite time of year in Central Texas. This year has been especially delightful, because we've had two years of drought followed by a wet winter. The flowers are outstanding this year.

Today we headed west into the Hill Country near Johnson City and Fredericksburg. The bluebonnets are thick and beautiful!

I love how they form such a beautiful carpet under the trees and yucca.

I'm hoping I get enough chances to get out and see more of this amazing bloom year!

Red Bay, Labrador

2010-04-08T16:42:00.007-05:00

I was totally charmed by the small fishing villages in Labrador. The small historic towns each had their own charm. To photograph this one, I fought mosquitoes and another biting insect as I tried to bracket my shots and get decent photos to use. The lighting was such that my guess was correct that I needed to be shooting for HDR so I could catch the subtlety of the clouds and still get the town sufficiently exposed.

Red Bay was the 16th Century World Whaling capital. The Basques Whalers hunted whales in small boats called shallops to render into the oil that lit the Europe's lamps during the late Middle Ages. They built a whale oil factory on Saddle Island to produce this oil. The Basinview Bed & Breakfast has accomodations in Red Bay. Nearby Battle Harbor has accommodations in restored historic buildings. At Battle Harbor there are opportunities for boat tours to see whales and icebergs as well as seabirds.

Labrador is in the middle of an extraordinary road building project. These small village used to accessible only by boat. This new road goes from the Ferry Terminal at Cartwright and connects with the ferry terminal to New Fewfoundland at Blanc Sablon. We were amazed at the engineering behind this wonderful gravel road. Built high above the perma frost, it has a base of big boulders and towers above the small tiaga trees.

Southern Labrador is an area worth allowing time to explore and savor the beauty of the landscape as well as the ambiance of the historic villages. On a more extended visit to Labrador I would like to explore the northern village that still require the ferry for access.

L'Anse Amour Historic Site and Point Amour LIghthouse

2010-04-03T20:42:00.003-05:00

As we travelled south along the coast of Labrador, we had seen the L'Anse Amour historic site on the map. Since I am really interested in early man sites, this one captured my attention because it dates to 7500 years ago. As with many early man sites, there is not a lot to see - this was a special burial mound of an adolescent boy - special because there seems to have much ceremony related with the burial: The body was buried in a deep and wide pit, fires burned, food was cooked and weapons and tools were placed as offerings in the grave. A large stone was placed on the boy's back and a large mound of rocks were placed over the grave. The archaeologists believe that the elaborate detail of this burial means that this young man either had a special role or association with the tribe or there was something significant about his death. The site has been excavated and the human remains have been removed. Since the grave has been reconstructed, it loses a little of its historical sense for me - I always marvel when I see things still remaining from human activity so long ago.

I also knew I had a light house to enjoy - the Point Amour Lighthouse.

It was an overcast afternoon, and it looked like there was an event going on in one of the buildings. Lighthouses always need electricity so I explored trying to find a camera angle to minimize the distracting wires. As I was photographing I heard a noise coming from the sea, a harumph! I glanced over and a minke whale was feeding just off the shoreline, gracefully surfacing to breath. I was shooting with my landscape lens, so I didn't try to photograph the whale. Instead, I just enjoyed the magic of the moment, the quiet evening, the peaceful sea, and the amazing whale as it moved off into the distance.

I came back the next morning. The clouds were still covering the sky, but the light and clouds were still different than the evening before. While the whale was no longer hanging around, this lighthouse is still a peaceful and beautiful place to sit and enjoy the beauty around you.

Joyous Spring!

2010-03-17T09:35:00.002-05:00

This year my pear tree was laden with blooms - almost more than I remember from other years. After a longer and colder winter, the signs of spring are especiailly welcome.

Wrens

2010-03-04T22:14:00.004-06:00

Last weekend I went on a field trip to Chalk Ridge Falls Nature Area below the dam at Stillhouse Hollow Lake. Right near the parking area we saw two wrens - a canyon wren and a rock wren. I wanted to go back with my big Sigma lens and see if I could get photos.

We went this morning. At first I was disappointed - no wrens in sight. But I meandered the path below the dam, rewarded by a sighting of a kestrel and a phoebe as well as watching the vultures (both turkey and black) begin their morning soaring, riding the thermals around the dam. As I was heading back to the car, I saw movement at the top of the boulders along the dam slope. Yes, it was the rock wren. But so much farther away than on Saturday. I dutifully took my photos, knowing quite well that I would have a little wren in a big picture. It would still be a good memory, even if not publishable quality.

I came on back to the car, and stopped to study the area where the water was spilling out. It was on these rocks that we had seen the canyon wren the day before. I was about to give up, when I saw movement again. Yes . . . it was the canyon wren, but really far away - a very small bird in a big frame. And there was a swallow as well, a rough winged swallow, I think.

I came home and took a look to see if I had anything and began to play with two of the images. Now one of the phrases of common wisdom in photography: "garbage in-garbage out" which means it is really difficult if not impossble to create a high quality image in photoshop when the original is not good. And, I agree with that statement which is one of the reasons I work really hard when I am working with the camera to capture the best image possible. But sometimes, that is not always possible. These two little birds were a long way away and not willing today to come down and play with me. I'm hoping to go back more than once with the big lens and hope that I get lucky enough that I have the chance to capture them up close and personal with publishable images. But I wanted to have images to share with the group that went birding last week.

I started with the rock wren. I picked the frame that looked the best and did the standard conversion from RAW. Then I used Genuine Fractals to enlarge the image, knowing I was going to be cropping a lot and would need all the details I could keep. Then I chose my crop, knowing that even with the crop, I would not be able to fill the frame and have a decent image. Then I went to Topaz Sharpen which can do a really nice job in bringing out details that are trying to hide in the pixels. I had to use enough Topaz that this really becomes "digital art" rather than straight photography.

I went in with the canyon wren and did things a little differently. I upsized in Camera Raw. I left him smaller in the final crop because there just wasn't enough detail to make him look good larger. Once again some creative work in photoshop left me a a image that if nothing else will be a great memory shot for me of one of the few canyon wrens I've ever seen.

Crab Pots

2010-03-03T10:37:00.002-06:00

One of the main industries and certainly the oldest industry in Labrador is fishing.

I wanted to see what I could do artistically with these crab pots that we were seeing so frequently.

I was hoping to capture both texture and abstract ideas.

The colors are subtle, including the rusty frame.

And I was also trying to find views that would work as marine still lifes.

For many reasons, the fishermen in Labrador and Newfoundland face difficult challenges - declining catches, over fishing, fishing from foreign nations, and recession caused slower demand. I suspect that being a fisherman has always been a physically demanding profession, but for many reasons, I hope that the small fishermen in this area can find a way to continue this traditional way of life.

Bakeapples!

2010-03-02T10:14:00.004-06:00

We had noticed a number of cars parked along the road in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. There were usually no people in sight. We wondered about it, but couldn't think of a good explanation. As we were enjoying our picnic lunch, we saw a lady coming back to her car carrying a plastic container and wearing high topped water proof boots. It was bakeapple season! And she was gracious enough even in a year that was not a good crop of bakeapples to give us a sample. She warned us that they were better with sugar. As we travelled through Labrador and Newfoundland, I took every opportunity to try bakeapples - bakeapple sunday, bakeapple cobbler, and bakeapple jam.

Bakeapples are orange berries in the bramble family (raspberries, blackberries) that grow in bogs, coastal marshes, and moors in far northern climates. In Scandinavia they are known as cloudberries. They grow in the Nordic countries, a few places in the moors of Britain and Ireland, Canada, Alaska, northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, Main and even a few on Long Island, New York. They don't propagate well, so if you don't live near an area where they grow wild, you are not likely to run across them. They require both male and female plants to create the berries from the blooms.

One source said they only produce one berry per plant which would certainly make them harder to get outside their growing areas.

We found them to be mild in flavor, slightly tart. We enjoyed them wild and fresh, but we also enjoyed the ice cream sauces, the jellies, and the baked products.

The Dark Tickle Company carries bakeapple jam that can be ordered and shipped. $15.00 is the minimum shipping charge for up to $25.00 worth of jam.

I brought home some small jars of jelly and jam for some of my friends, but I put them in a "safe" place. I can hardly wait till they come out of hiding so I can pass them around.

South from Cartwright

2010-03-01T07:27:00.004-06:00

While there was a long string of cars leaving the ferry at the beginning of the road south from Cartwright, everyone travelled at their own rate. We were not in a big hurry, so before long we had the road to ourselves. I loved the local greeting!

This fish trap reminded me of one's we had seen on our Alaska trip.

This stretch of road is dotted with small fishing villages to visit. I was amazed at the ingenuity and use of local materials. Note the wooden platform boat ramp. We did not see much concrete up here.

I was fascinate by the nets hanging out to dry.

We were on the Islands and Coves loop. We saw these wooden sleds everywhere. So much of the land is "crown" land. People are allowed to cut wood on crown land and they leave the piles of wood, properly labeled, near where it is cut. Then in the winter, they make runs with these sleds to bring wood back home.

The small fishing villages are just so photogenic! I love the beautiful white frame houses and the small communities.

This is Fox Harbor Labrador.

We were thrilled to see an iceberg in the bay.

Ferry - Happy Valley/Goose Bay to Cartwright

2010-02-28T08:43:00.006-06:00

I love ferries! We've ridden short ones and long ones. I love being outside on the open water seeing what there is to see!

The weather was nice and mild as we left the harbor, so except for dinner time, I spent the rest of the daylight hours on the deck enjoying the clouds, the rainbow, and the sunset.

As we left the doc, the sun was peaking out behind some clouds above the horizon.

The clouds in front of the boat were also beautiful. I was taking photos in almost every direction.

When this rainbow first began to form it was very faint and very small. Henry and I were even debating whether it was really a rainbo

While it stayed small for awhile, it began to grow until it became this beautiful wide arc!

I love the tranquility of being aboard a ship at sunset. No chores are staring you in the face demanding attention. You are free to enjoy the salt air, the beautiful clouds, the vibrant colors as the sun sinks below the horizon - an ever changing scene. My camera stayed glued to my eye as a I tried to capture the beauty I was seeing.

Even after the sun had left the sky, the clouds were still mesmerizing. Henry pointed out this "angel."

As a Texas gal, I was glad to see the road runner in the sky!

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the ferry had wireless internet. I had started playing Farmville on this trip, and it was nice to be able to havest my "crops" before they withered.

We had checked on the possibilities for accommodations. There were 2 and 4 people cabins. While there was a four person one available where we would have both had a lower bunk, I thought it was too expensive. So we chose the dormitory style bunks. Each of these "dormitory rooms" slept 16 people in plywood bunks with mattresses and curtains. There was even a light above your bunk for reading. While some people might find the small cozy bunks claustrophobic, I only spent time there sleeping, so it was fine for me. Henry stayed up much later enjoying being out on the deck looking at the stars. He visited with one gentleman who was taking the ferry to see his village one last time before the ferry service ends. When Henry got back to the dorm room, the lights were out, and he chose not to climb up into a bunk in the dark - sleeping instead on one of the sleeping chairs in one of the lounges surrounded by other passengers who had chosen to sleep there.

It was a calm passage and morning came quickly.

Happy Valley - Goose Bay - Cartwright

2010-02-27T14:46:00.000-06:00

Coming down into the valley from Churchill Falls brought an abrupt change from short taiga, tundra trees to much taller trees lining the valley walls. We entered the city of Happy Valley around lunch time and enjoyed a meal at the local Burger King. I entered the grocery store to pick up some snacks and marveled that there were fresh strawberries from California here. Expensive! Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population center with over 7,000 residents. Arriving at mid-day is not conducive to wonderful photographs, but we were scheduled to catch the ferry that afternoon, so I wanted memory shots.

This broad tidal plain, the mouth of the Churchill River was beautiful even under the noonday sun.

The town began in 1941 during the building of the Goose Bay Air Force Base, the largest military air base in northeastern North America. Interestingly enough, Goose Bay Airport is on the official NASA list of alternate Space Shuttle landing sites.

The Trans Labrador Highwy and the ferry system as well as the airport connect this community to the rest of the world. A new highway is under construction and due to be completed perhaps by the end of last year will replace the need for the Happy Valley/Goose Bay to Cartwright ferry. I'm glad we were visiting while the ferry was still running. There are some other fishing villages north of Happy Valley and Goose Bay that I suspect will still have a smaller ferry in operation. I would love to come back and visit those small villages as well as the Torngat Mountains National Park at the northern tip of Labrador.

My Winter Backyard Birds

2010-02-25T21:48:00.003-06:00

Because the weather was so cold and snowy the birds were flocking to my bird feeder. After driving around to get the scenic photos, I decided to sit on the porch (with the propane heater running) to see if I could get some snowy day bird photos. We were expecting two more bands of snow, so i was hoping maybe I would be lucky and get some snowy branches or birds with snow flakes on them. While we did more snow, it didn't accumulate, but I enjoyed my time on the porch. And I was pleased with the bird photos I got.

We get tons of white crowned sparrows in the winter. The adults are easy to identify with those solid white markings.

The juveniles lack those prominent white head markings and for years I've had trouble distinguishing them from chipping sparrows. I've been sure the ones near my house have all been juvenile white crowns because they are always hanging around the mature ones. Experienced birders always scoffed because chipping sparrows are a lot smaller than white crowns. On this snowy day, I had a lot of different juveniles whose markings differed from one another just slightly. After photographing them, I pulled out both my Sibleys Guide to Birds and my Sparrows of the United States and Canada. After careful comparisons between the juvenile white crowns and chipping sparrows, I'm very confident that the ones I saw were all juvenile white crowns. I noted that chipping sparrows have a darker beak, only one white wing bar, and darker legs. My birds had yellow orange legs, two distinctive white wing bars, and yellow orange beaks in addition to being similar in size to the adults.

I don't know how many juveniles I had, but as I'm going through the images, I have many more juvenile images than adults.

I was especially happy that this Lincoln sparrow visited while i was out with the camera. I'd seen him in the yard and was pretty certain that I had the correct ID, but a picture confirms the identification so much better because you have time to study the markings in detail with a bird that is not hopping around and flying off.

He came back several times giving me several opportunities to get a good shot of him.

One of my favorite winter yard birds is the Harris Sparrow. He's one of the larger sparrows, but I love how the bright browns and blacks contrast against that very white breast. He has such distinctive markings that I find him easy to identify. With the males and females looking alike, it keeps the identification simple.

When I first starting watching the orange crowned warblers in my yard, they were sneaky. They would come in quickly to eat and fly quickly away so fast you couldn't get the details in the field marks. Today, they were hungry and stayed around long enough for me to get some good photos.

The day wouldn't be complete without the cardinals.

Also seen coming to the feeder, red winged blackbird females, northern mockingbird, brown headed cowbirds, and Carolina chickadees.

Winter in Central Texas - A Rare Snow!

2010-02-23T23:25:00.003-06:00

We've lived in Central Texas since 1971. Snow is rare. We can go for years without seeing it even fall from the sky. If we are going to have snow it usually falls in January. By February, there are hints of spring - daffodils beginning to bloom, trees beginning to bud, and even sometimes a few bluebonnets. However, this year, it has been colder and wetter than normal. I do have a plum tree that is trying to bloom. We've had a few days with sleet and a few falling flakes. But today, we had real snow. Big flakes, sticking to the ground, accumulation! WHEEE!

I had other things on my need to do list, but snow is so rare here, that I decided that I had better take the time to go and see what images I could find representing winter in Central Texas.

I headed first to the pond just south of Brushy Creek near HWY 685. This tree with its coating of snow on the north side grabbed my attention.

The ground around Brushy Creek was protected by the tree branches and did not have a lot of snow, so I headed north of Hutto to a couple of places that I thought might have some good photographic opportunities.

I wasn't expecting this one, but I loved the way this little creek meandered through the trees. As I worked this image, it needed a little extra something, so I used my Topaz filters to make the image flow more smoothly and hopefully bringing out the natural beauty.

I was glad I took more than one angle, because the first composition had some out of focus limbs that were annoying and caused me to use a panoramic crop. This angle was much cleaner with only a little cleanup needed as well as the Topaz filters.

I stopped on a one lane bridge for these next two shots. Another photographer passed by, knowing like I did that this would be a good spot for a snowy Central Texas landscape.

I like to shoot a scene many ways and from different angles. I also like to zoom in for a more intimate look, especially when streams and moving water offer such inviting vistas.

I'll try to get these up in larger versions at my SmugMug Gallery tomorrow. I've already got some snapshots of the snow around our yard at my website.

Canada's North Woods

2010-01-28T11:19:00.004-06:00

The road through northern Quebec and Labrador goes through some really pretty boreal forests with bogs, ponds, and streams. As a photographer on a road trip, I found myself frustrated because I was seeing pretty landscapes, but under dull gray skies and unfavorable lighting. We weren't in our camper and there were not many places to stay even if we had had time to linger in this wilderness. But I found myself wanting to capture this subtle beauty with my camera.

I took this first shot more as a memory photo. I suspect it was handheld (if you look close, it slightly motion blurred). The setting was pretty, but the lighting not favorable. But I wanted memory photos if nothing else. I actually think this is at Gagnon, a town that ceased to exist. All that is left are some paved roads, an island dividing the road into four lanes, curbs, sidwalks, and parking lots. The buildings are long gone. Considering that the road is gravel before and after Gagnon, it really makes you wonder what happened. When we got back to Texas, we googled Gagnon and discovered that when the nearby mine shut down, the town was dismantled. In retrospect, I should have taken more pictures around Gagnon, lighting or no lighting, because it was interesting and poignant.

As we neared Churchill Falls late in the afternoon, the sky cleared and I knew I had a chance to get some photographs. We got our accomodations taken care of and headed back along the road where I had seen some ponds that might make good reflecting pools for the sunset.

I could tell that the scene was going to difficult to capture the beauty I was seeing. Straight photography would make me choose between the delicately colored sky and the details in the forest and the pool.

So i carefully shot for HDR - shooting sequences of three or more exposures to capture the beautiful delicate colors in the sky and the beauty of the pond. In post processing I needed to go beyond the Photomatics and Photoshop's high dynamic range mreges, because there was a breeze and the combined images had blurred tamarack trees. By choosing an exposure that was close, I could go in, select trees that were not motion blurred and place them where they belonged in the composition, giving me a scene that was true to what I had seen, but what straight photography couldn't produce.

Finding another possibility in this group of ponds, ordinary photography with one exposure produced this:

Shooting multiple exposures, combining them, some artistic filters from Topaz produced an image much more like what my eye enjoyed.

I was so pleased when we woke up to sunny skies. I finally had an opportunity to capture the feel of northern Canada with this shot at Ozzie's Brook, east of Churchill Falls.

Canadian Shield Images of Mystery & Wonder

2010-01-25T08:26:00.008-06:00

I now do motion blurs as part of my methodology as we travel. I was curious what kind of images I could capture as we drove through areas of the Canadian shield on our way to Labrador. Rocks have interesting cracks, lines, grain, and layers. Add motion and I discovered that you can really end up with some interesting images. Naming these images? That's another story. Everyone sees something a little different. As a photograher, I need to give each image some kind of name. But Henry keeps reminding me that if I give it too specific a name, that it will ruin it. I've posted some of these at the Digital Image Cafe at the Critique Corner to see what other people see.

I do some post processing on these images, deepening shadowed areas, brighting up areas to enhance what I see. But the basic structure comes from the photographic technique of both moving the camera and zooming the lens.

This first one I've worked further from the image I posted at the Cafe based upon what they saw. My original name for this was "Rock Faces." I was going to change it to "Critters," but I think Rock Faces still works.

I've named this next one, "Pet Rock."

The name for this one will be either Rock Spirit or Stone Spirit.

I have been very surprised with this one. I enhanced with the theme, "Rock Warrior." But everyone sees something very different. It may need a new title.

This last one has the working title, "Emerging."

I will be taking these and others from my collection of Images of Mystery and Wonder to ConDFW next month in Dallas. To see larger versions, check out my gallery of Fantasy Creatures.

Manic Cinq (Five) - Wilderness Oasis

2010-01-18T10:28:00.010-06:00

After leaving the St. Lawrence seaway, we were really traveling in an area with few traces of human activity beyond the road itself and the massive power transmission lines. We'd already had a few nights along the trip where we wondered if we would end up spending the night in the car. As it got close to sunset, the map showed nothing much in the way of towns where we were. We began discussing how we'd stay warm in the car since we had not brought camping gear - sleeping bags, tents, etc.

As we were thinking about how we were going to manage our night, how far to drive, etc, we rounded a bend in the road and felt that God had really provided for us. We had reached Manic Cinq, a wonderful oasis for weary travellers. There was a gas station convenience store, a restaurant, and best of all a motel!

My barely adequate French got us a room and ice. We were placed in the upper set of rooms, and the lady wanted to be sure that I knew where to go. Since I spoke and understood French so poorly, she went outside and gestured to let me know how to drive up to our room. I could hear them chuckling about my French, but, hey, I could ask for a room, tell them I wanted to buy ice . . . there was SOME communication going on in French. And since, they knew no English, it was a good thing I knew a tiny bit of French.

We got settled in, ate dinner from our ice chest. Henry had been meeting neighbors in the parking lot. He came in and told me someone wanted to use our computer to make reservations for the ferry. (YES, in this remote location we had internet!!!!!!) When they came in, I started addressing them in French, wondering if we'd be able to communicate well enough for them to do what they needed. They immediately said, "English, English!!!!" Turns out they were from Wisconsin. And it was such a God sent blessing that our paths crossed here. They had been planning their Labrador - Newfoundland trip. They not only had information, but maps and official tour guide books from the provinces. And, they shared some of their resources with us!!!! Since we had not known at the beginning of the trip that we were actually going to go to Labrador and Newfoundland, I hadn't done my homework. We saw and enjoyed our journey through these provinces so much better because we met these great folks from Wisconsin. After talking with them and getting their reservation for the ferry booked, I got our ferry reservations booked as well. We would make the crossing a couple of days before them, because we were on a tighter time schedule.

The other neighbors lived in Churchill Falls, Labrador. They also spoke English. We learned a lot about what life is like in a company town in northern Canada.

Our accomodations were wonderful. The hotel is actually a series of modular units, brought in fully furnished, and ours appeared brand new.

The table and sitting area were great for the evening internet and meals. The beds were comfortable. Even the bathroom was nicely appointed.

In retrospect, it isn't surpising that there would be such a well equiped stop along this wilderness dirt road. This is the only land route to Labrador. It is a long way from the St. Lawrence to Fermont, Quebec and Labrador City. This is a much needed stop for rest, bathrooms, and gasoline.

Our fellow travelers warned us that there were no bathrooms between Manic Cinq and Fermont!

Our Wisconsin friends took a tour of the Daniel Johnson Dam and power generating plant. Regretfully, we knew that our time to see Labrador, Newfoundland and the other maritime provinces was short. But this way station truly out in the middle of nowhere holds a spot in my heart - friendly people, good night's sleep, a tiny piece of civilization in the northern wilderness. What a blessing it was!

North to Labrador

2010-01-15T10:50:00.007-06:00

When we turned north from the St. Lawrence seaway, we entered a beautiful unpopulated area. The clouds had come in, so for the most part we drove the almost deserted road and enjoyed our surroundings. We knew that we would be going by the large Manicougan Crater.

The Manicougan crater has a lake filling the deeper parts. When we were on the edges, the terrain had steep almost mountainous hills to climb. The crater is so large, that you might not realize you were climbing the sides of the crater if you didn't know from the map. Skies were dark, gray and foreboding . . . so I didn't try to get any shots of the rim of the crater. In retrospect . . . I should have tried.

I had a few windows for photography. The scenery is peaceful sometimes flat, sometimes rolling hills, with many lakes that appear as you cross the bends in the road.

I can't resist trying to photograph rainbows. There is just something magic about seeing a rainbow . . . the beauty . . . the symbolism of God's promise . . . the wonder of the phenomenon itself . . .

As we drove along the road, the skies stayed pretty gray, I knew that doing straight photography would leave me with memory photos that wouldn't really show others the beauty of this area. But the in camera motion photography can capture some unique things even when the lighting is less than optimum.

While the lakes tend to look the same as you go down the road and I know that lake photos can also have a "sameness" from one lake to another. I wanted to try something to make a lake image that would stand out as memorable. I think this attempt, a motion blur enhanced in Photoshop with Topaz artistic filters makes a pleasing image of one of those lakes along the way.

Canada's Hydro Power

2010-01-12T11:30:00.001-06:00

As we drove east through Canada we kept seeing these huge power transmission lines - usually three abreast (rather than the two seen here). Huge swaths had been cut through the native forest going up and down over the mountains. We wondered where the lines were going to and where they had come from. As we drove north through Quebec toward the sparcely populated Labrador, these huge transmission lines were still going - even though we were heading away from the populated areas. We were puzzled . . . we couldn't quite figure it out.

At the Anticipation World Science Fiction Convention, there had been a panel about how successful Canada had been with hydro power. We discovered that we were on the road that linked a number of huge dams with this amazing power grid.

The Daniel-Johnson Dam is the largest multiple arch and buttress dam in the world. It is the second tallest dam in Canada. 214 meters (702 feet) and a length of 1,300 meters (4265 feet). (Stretching two miles long, Buchanan Dam on Lake Buchanan is the longest multiple arch dam in the United States. It is only 145.5 feet high))

In doing some research about Canada's hydropower I found this online brochure from Canhydropower.org

From that brochure I learned that:

Canada first used water to generate electricity in 1881 at Chaudieres Falls. In 1965, the world’s first 735-kilovolt power transmission line ever built, about 600 kilometres long, linked the Manicouagan and Outardes generating stations to the metropolitan areas of Québec City and Montréal. It was one of the ten major engineering feats in Canada during the 20th Century, a breakthrough that allowed electrical power to be transferred long distances across Canada.

Canada generates most of its electricity with water for five main reasons:
1. water is abundant,
2. the technology is efficient,
3. the service life of stations is long,
4. the cost is competitive
5. and the electricity produced is renewable and clean.

Apparently, hydropower converts 95% of the rivers energy into electricity, while the best fossil fuel plants are only 60% efficient.

Only China produces more energy from hydro than Canada. The top countries in order of production: China, Canada, Brazil, and the United States.

This brochure says that there is still more potential areas for Canada to produce power from water. At the science fiction convention, the consensus was that probably hydro was already tapped out. The beauty of hydro is that it produces "clean" energy. But, I can see issues with habitat loss along the power grid transmission lines with the need to keep the area deforested. I'll talk more about Churchhill Falls, but they totally rerouted the river at Churchhill. I don't know whether migrating fish go up that tremendous waterfall or not, but certainly placing dams on other rivers can impact fish migration. In Washington state they have fish ladders around some of the dams. In the United States there has been a lot of resistance to building new dams and a lot of study as to what existing dams have done to riparian zones.

These major hydroplants are in areas largely unpopulated - and for the most part I think it is wonderful that this technology is being developed. It is amazing to me that these large generating facilities provide power not only for Canada but also for the northeastern United States.

A New Year - New Beginnings

2010-01-01T11:20:00.003-06:00

I like the psychological boost that comes with a new year: The new year is new, fresh, unspoiled, filled with opportunities. While every day is a new beginning, the first of the year brings the hope that I can accomplish good things. The past year is over, the slate wiped clean. I can be the person I choose to be, hopefully the person that God wants me to be. I can set new goals, knowing I won't accomplish all of them, but knowing that even if I only accomplish some of them, I will be a better person for the effort.

New Year's Day is a great day to contemplate what you want your year to look like, a good day to establish new habits and new routines, a good day to rejoice in the blessings God has given, and a good day to look to the future with hope.

I've got my new planner set up. I'm going to start filling in the calendar. I'm going to set some goals for the year, the month, the week, and even for today. I am not going to let past failures, past defeats, past inadequacies, or past procrastination pull me down. Will I be "perfect" this year? No . . . but I can live in the present, I can do the best I can, and I know that God will help me make this a good year.

I wish for you, my readers, to take advantage of all the psychological boosts that the changing into a New Year can be. Try something new. Try to improve one of your skills. Reach out to someone around you. Set some goals for yourself. And, above all, choose a positive attitude. Believing that 2010 will be a great year is the first step into making it a reality!

Go for it!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:00:00.003-06:00

My wish for all my faithful readers and all my new readers:

May you have a very blessed, happy, healthy, and wonderful New Year filled with boundless opportunities, special family moments, quiet times with family and friends, and spiritual growth! May you find joy, peace, and hope as you go about your daily routines!

Quebec's Road Signs

2009-12-30T09:37:00.006-06:00

While there are international graphic based road signs, we found several interesting road signs as we drove through Canada. I was always amused by this one - warning of moose. For one thing, we've seen moose warning signs in other places along our travels and usually the moose are elusive and we don't see any. So when I see a moose crossing sign or a moose warning sign, my first thought is "Promises, Promises." Because I like opportunities to see moose.

However, one of our fellow travelers was worried about traveling at night, because there have been so many fatalities in Labrador and Newfoundland from car/moose collisions. They are the largest species in the deer family. You have to realize that a moose's antler rack is 6 feet wide, they are approximately 6 feet tall and can weigh 1,800 lbs (almost a ton). So hitting one would do serious damage to a car and its occupants.

We did see moose in a few places on our trip - after dark on the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve and one rainy evening out of St. Anthony, Newfoundland. Fortunately we did not have any close encounters, but there were plenty of these signs warning us of the possibility.

Leaving the St. Lawrence and heading north

2009-12-29T22:59:00.006-06:00

Aug 14 - After the whales we headed east along the St. Lawrence heading for highway 389 that heads north to Labrador. This little park was our last stop before leaving the river. The lighting was bad because the rain was coming in. But sometimes I need to take memory pictures in spite of poor lighting. I was suprised what a little bit of post processing did.

This was a place I would love to have had time to be there in the early morning and before sunset. It is a tidal zone, so it would be interesting to see how it looks at high tide and low tide with golden light and sunset/sunrise glow. But our time was short and it was still a long way to Labrador so we pressed on.

But I couldn't resist photographing this rainbow. There was not a good vantage point for it, but it was so lovely, I wanted the memory.

Too often on this trip, I would be seeing lovely areas, but gray skies and no "magic" lighting. My instincts were to leave the camera alone - knowing that the photos would not be "saleable." But I had to keep reminding myself that there are many reasons to take photographs - even snapshots. They are one of the ways we remember where we've been and what we've done long after we have returned home.

Baie St. Catherine

2009-12-27T21:04:00.012-06:00

Aug14th - One of the goals for the Canada trip was to explore the St. Lawrence Seaway. Baie St. Catherine offers two sets of cruises - whale watching and a cruise up the Saguenay Fjord. I was eager to do the whale watching, so we didn't check the schedule for the cruises - turns out the whale cruises are offered both morning and afternoon, while the Fjord is only a morning cruise. I felt a little bad, because Henry had wanted to do the Fjord cruise and we realized the scheduling after we'd already done the morning whale watching. We tried to guess where to ride the whale cruise from, but it turns out that the boats pick you up from several docks to take you out to where the whales are - the docks are about 20 minutes apart.

But the morning cruise was nice . . . It was a little foggy over the water. The cliffs were really lovely.

This is where the Saguenay Fjord enters the St. Lawrence. A pair of ferry boats transports cars across the fjord here. We took this ferry later in the day.

While I love it when the whales are close to the boat, many times whale watching is just getting to see a species no matter how far away. I'd seen beluga whales at one of the SeaWorlds, but this was my first time to see belugas in the wild. They appear like white spots or white blobs out on the water. They seem to stay in pods as they feed.

Belugas are not large whales, but they are easy to identify in the water because they are so white.

Sometimes when you're whale watching you only see the back and the dorsal fin as the whales feed along the surface and as they surface for air.

You can also take Zodiac cruises. They outfit you with raincoats, because you can end up close to the whale action.

I have to admit, part of me would like to have been on the zodiac that was so close to the breeching whale.

Occasionally you get lucky and the whale surfaces right near the boat and you have the opportunity to catch the tail as the whale makes its dive.

I never know when I take a whale watching cruise whether I will end up with great images or mediocre images. But I always, always enjoy being out on the water marveling at these wondrous creatures.

Parc National Des Hautes-Gorges-de-la Riviere-Malbaie

2009-12-09T16:39:00.001-06:00

Aug 13 - After visiting Grand Jardins, the next major park was Hautes-Gorges. This park is very pretty with a series of valleys cut deep in a range of mountains that are the highest rock faces east of the Rockies. A shuttle bus takes you from a central parking lot up a park road with several opportunities to get off for hikes through the beautiful forested mountains. We were headed to the uppermost stop where there was a lake with a boat ride up one of the gorges. This lake had many people out in canoes and kayaks exploring the area at their leisure. When we got out on the tour boat, we saw lots of people in their canoes and having picnic lunches in beautiful spots around the lake. We didn't have time to do canoeing this trip, but it sure looked like this would be a fun place to explore on your own. The concession had plenty of rental canoes and kayaks.

We wanted to take the 1 1/2 hour cruise on Le Menard. As a photographer, it can be frustrating when you have only a limited amount of time and you can't be everywhere during magic light. But you make the most of it. The dusk cruise would probably have given me better light, but we were very near where the whale cruises were and the whales were calling me. We missed the 11:00 boat and had to take the 1:00 cruise.

We had some extra time so I explored this building and the stories of the 1996 flood. I left my camera with Henry and took his as I went up the stairs and followed the trail to an overlook.

I was glad I didn't take my good camera, becasue not only were the stairs steep, but the trail was up and down over rocks and tree roots. But I was glad I had taken Henry's camera because the view from the overlook was spectacular.

If you look carefully, you'll see Henry at one of the chairs on the outdoor patio. I tried to get his attention to wave at him, but he was busy reading something on his iPhone. This visitor center has a little cafeteria where we had a nice lunch and a nice gift store as well.

While you see inukshuks all over northern Canada, there was an area along the lakeshore that had many of them all in one place.

The light and shadows created by the clouds made for some good pictures in spite of it being in the middle of the day.

A Black Bear Encounter

2009-12-06T08:28:00.008-06:00

Aug 3: On the way to the Chapleau Game Preserve, we had another bear encounter on the side of the road. This bear saw us and came right up to the car, making us think that people on the road construction crew or other automobiles had been feeding him. He came so close that I could hear him panting just like a dog. I don't think I had known before that bears pant. Naturally I was taking pictures up until he was really close to the car (I think I did close the window briefly and then opened it when he turned around.)

When I looked at the photos afterward, I realized that nature isn't always kind to its critters. Notice the flies and other insects buzzing this bear's face!

This bear hung around us for several minutes giving me some good opportunities for portraits.

I also realized that I wasn't getting shots of the bear with good backgrounds. So after the bear had retreated back into the woods, I shot some photos of the underbrush with the thought of doing some DA (digital art) later. One of the advantages of thinking about DA while still at the site: you have lighting at the same angle and intensity as your animal and your vegetation or surroundings are natural for the animal you are photographing. Ethically, if I submit this photo, I will label it as a composite or digital art.

I knew as I was shooting that this bear shot was likely to "work" because I got the whole bear and things looked pretty sharp in the camera. but this background is not that interesting.

I found this underbrush near where we saw the bear.

And then I combined the two images to get this:

I've added some artistic filters to make the background look better and so that it is obvious that this is "art" rather than straight photography. I don't know yet if I will do much more with this composite or whether I will submit it anywhere. But sometimes it is good to practice techniques like this because I learn things by playing.

Zambia's Village Children Calendar 2010

2009-12-04T16:27:00.005-06:00

When we were in Zambia a year ago, my heart was touched by the orphans living at the Namwianga Mission. Inspired by another photographer, Karen Ande, who does calendars each year to benefit a different set of children in Africa, I decided to do calendars to help raise money for these precious children. Life in the rural African bush has many challenges. Children are orphaned when their mom dies from AIDS, death during childbirth, and other health issues. Some of these orphaned children have lost both parents, others only their mom. Some of these children live at Namwianga until they are about three and then a relative comes to bring them back to their village. Others have no relatives to go to and grow up at Namwianga. These precious children often come to Namwianga as infants and some do not survive infancy because of health issues they are born with.

The workers at the orphanage and the medical clinic love these children and give them amazing care. As one small thing I can do for this important ministry, I have put together a calendar whose profits will go to benefit these chidlren.

Here are sample of the images for each month. This year some of the photos were taken by me and others were taken by David Gregersen using my camera while we were there.

To order calendars, click here to go to the "Donate button" at the Zambia Mission Website:

Zambia Mission Donation

Click on Donate and then fill in the form: The calendars cost $20.00 and the cost to mail is $1.73 so enter $21.73 for each calendar and hit Update Total, then log on to PayPal. There is a place to give special instructions, please mark this to indicate that you want to purchase a calendar or how many calendars. Please include the address where you would like the calendar sent.

If you prefer, you may also email me with your name, address, and how many calendars you wish and mail a check made out to Zambia Mission to this address:

Zambia Mission
658 E.N. 21st
Abilene, TX 79601