Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ice Storm

Well, we've been getting a lot of freezing rain over the past day or so...the power has been flickering on and off a quite a bit today and it doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime real soon, at least not until tomorrow afternoon. Actually as I'm typing this I just heard a transformer blow up! I was outside just a few minutes ago and every minute or so I can hear tree limbs crashing down all over town...yep..we'll be VERY lucky if we don't loose power. I managed to get out and take a few shots in the rain, couldn't stay in it long because my camera was getting really wet...Hope everyone stays warm and be careful if you have to travel anywhere!





Thursday, January 22, 2009

Cold and Creepy

Well, a few entries back, I said I was planning on doing a little night photography..last night turned out to be a pretty good night to try it..it was clear and cool...if the temperature outside is kinda cool I usually tend to get better results with my long exposures because it helps keep my processor in my camera cooler, which causes less color noise in my images common in long exposures...Anyway, I got out a pretty good distance from town away from city lights as much as I could, found this old dead tree, thought it might make a decent foreground subject. The shot is basically a 30min long exposure at f3.5 and ISO 6400. I know that might be gibberish to some of you...but thought I'd tell ya anyway...lol While I was out there I kept on hearing things moving around in the dark...and I mean it was DARK!...The moon hadn't come up yet so it took a pretty good while before my eyes would adjust enough to be able to see anything within 10 feet of me. I also did something kinda bone headed, when I left, I left my tripod here at the house, so all I had was a little clamp window mount thing...which works great...the problem is I have to have my window down and my engine turned off to keep from vibrating my camera...so...that meant no heat! It wasn't too bad tho...sitting inside my truck blocked much of the wind, but it did get down into the 20's while I was out there...Only have one pic to show you and I thought it turned out pretty good...Pretty cool how the rotation of the Earth causes the stars to appear to streak across the sky...


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Greg on TV!

Hey everybody, I was watching tv tonight when I saw a familiar face on tv...It was Greg! What happened was one of the photos I sell on iStock, which is a creeepy, dark, scary pic I did of Greg, was used in a commercial for Splatterday on TMC, (The Movie Channel). Here's the pic they used...




And here is the commercial...I just recorded our tv with my camera, so the quality isn't the greatist...It's a pretty quick flash of him a little over halfway through...

Craighead Park

Earlier today I got a text from a friend of mine saying it was snowing outside...I had no idea and really hadn't been up long since I stayed up late last night editing pics from the day before..so I tried to get ready as quickly as I could to see if I could come up with anything...but unfortunately it stopped by the time I got out the door...So, I decided to run out to Craighead Park to see what I could come up with...after driving around a bit I decided to see if I could get some pics of the various ducks and geese they have out there. It was getting pretty late in the day and many of them kind of piled up in the back corner of the lake where many of the park visitors go to feed them...there weren't many people around at this time so I pulled up close to the water's edge. Even thow I had nothing to feed them, they all came rushing in expecting to be fed...so i was able to get some pretty close up shots of them. I have no idea what some of them were, I know a Mallard, or a Canandian Goose when I see one...but a few of them looked kinda strange...maybe some crossbreeding going on?





I don't know what this guy's issue is...looks like a cross from a chicken and a duck...or maybe a turkey...lol

Monday, January 19, 2009

Awesome Sunset

I don't know if any of you noticed this afternoon...but there was a pretty awesome sunset this evening. Wish I had more time to find a good spot with some interesting foreground...but the peak of sunsets actually lasts only a very short time. I am planning on doing some night photography soon as well...maybe some long exposures if we have a good clear night where you can see the stars easily. Well, hope everyone has a good night!




Thursday, January 15, 2009

brrrr!!

Boy is it cold today! I think it just barely got over 20 today and I think we are supposed to have a low of 5 tonight...coldest day this year so far for sure. Well...didn't do a lot of traveling today, that cold air would just cut through you. I did take one shot of this old dead tree that looked partially burned...probably got struck by lightning some time ago...thought it kinda fit with the dark and dismal clouds in the background. Keep warm everybody!


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Cord, Arkansas

Today I drove down to Wynne and picked up Brock and decided to head to Cord, a small town Rob told me about that had several very old and abandoned buildings...which is something I like to shoot because it has sometimes a creepy but historical value. The main point of interest was what appeared to be an old store...it had almost an old west look to it. Would have liked to go in and take a look around but didn't want to get into any trouble for tresspassing. There's been several places I've found in the past that I would have liked to know who owns the property to get permission to explore. It always aggravates me when a building that has a lot of historical value is vandalized or burned down...just a shame. But anyway, got a few shots there, saw several places of interest on the way there too that I'll have to keep in mind and revisit sometime later...Posted a few of them below.
Then I headed back to Wynne to drop Brock off and to head home...but not before visiting a friend of mine, Carrie, to order some yummy girlscout cookies!..lol


Tuesday, January 13, 2009

First Entry...

Hey everybody...this is my first post on this blog. Never done this before and thought I'd see how it would go. It's mainly going to be just a blog about my photography...where I've gone and what I've seen. Feel free to comment on anything I post...
Today I got out kinda late and didn't have a lot of time before dark to get much done. I went down south of town going torward Harrisburg and took a few county roads to the west, not really looking for anything in particular...when it started getting late the sun started shining a nice golden glow over the farmland around there. Stopped and took a few of this farm road with trees lining the sides of it. Later I put on my big 800mm lens to get the shot of the sunset and tree below.
Yesterday there was a pretty nice sunset around the same area which was causing a good reflection in a flooded rice field. The wind wasn't blowing so the water was as smoothe as glass...I like to go to this area whenever there is a good sunset, but it's also a duck hunting club out there so I can't always go when there's hunters out there...don't want to run off the ducks and it can be a little difficult to concentrate on what your photographing when there's random gun fire around you..lol
Well, I'll get better at this as time goes I'm sure...I'll probably post new entries and pics a few times a week...Take care everyone!