Happy Birdy

This Christmas my wife received a gift she has wanted for quite sometime but never would pay for it herself. The Happy Birdy feeder is a bird feeder with a Ring Camera on it. It’s a great way to watch a verity of birds eat with their mouths open.

Kidding aside, the feeder is a great way to see your local bird population up close all the while feeding them. The birds just simply fly up, land on the platform of the feeder and begin to feast. Meanwhile the motion sensor turns on the camera and starts filming. Then when the bird leaves the camera sends the notification, via WiFi, to your phone. Once you click on it, you can watch your own nature show. Best part, Jim isn’t having to wrestle anything while Marlin Perkins is talking to the “native women.”

The only flaw with this feeder that I can see is the fact that it’s not squirrel proof. The weakness is the ease of which the lid can be flipped up. Once the little thieves have worked out this weakness, they exploit it to its fullest.

My first attempt to thwart their efforts was to tie down the lid with a rope. This worked as well as putting a scarecrow up instead. What I needed was a hook to lock down the lid.

I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up a latch/eye hook set. Next I located a spot on the feeder that I could drill into without damaging any of the electronics. Once the holes were drilled and the latch assembly was secured on the feeder, I placed it back on the pole. Hopefully this will keep them out of the bin

I will from time to time, give you videos and updates on how the modification works out. Thanks for your time and share with anyone who would enjoy my content

What I found

While I was waking Stella today I came across these boots on top of a small ladder at the entrance of the park. I was certainly confused by this installation but not entirely surprised by its placement here. See, this park is at the end of the street and is somewhat secluded. Because of this, I have come across a number of people’s clothes, car seats, car keys, trash and now this. Not sure what to make of it or what will greet me on the next walk.

My walking buddy

My walking buddy, Stella. She is always by my side. Today was rather warm so it made it a perfect day for a walk.

Snapshot 2

Stars in the backyard.

Snapshot

A snapshot from today’s walk with Stella

I am looking forward to…

New Year’s Sunrise (1)

It’s the new year and I’m so glad to see the past year end. Instead of looking back I’m going to look forward to things I hope to accomplish this year. I’m not sure if I will accomplish all that I set out to do but I will be happy if I finish half of my goals. Mind you, not all of my goals are photography oriented. Some of them are related to my health both mental and physical in nature. 

This year I’m looking forward to the next photographic experience. I am committed to creating a photo a day just to work on the act of creating and building it up as you strengthen your body in a gym. Doing the ugly work of creating each day will only prepare me for the epic moments I wish to photograph. 

I’m looking forward to the next walk with my dog Stella as I enjoy the walk we are on. I have two dogs actually but Sella is my favorite. She was there at my feet when the paramedics were working to save my life. She only moved when they had me back and were ready to transport me to the Emergency Room. So for most of my recordings and photo sessions in the parks, I will have here with me 

I look forward to having time away from work and spending it  with my wife either camping or just hanging around the house. I had a lot of time off last year but it was spent recovering from the cardiac event. So I didn’t get to enjoy life’s activities like I normally would. I believe that it is important to get away from the daily grind of unappreciated labor to enjoy life that is all to short. I want to experience life with my wife and friends. I want to see as much of the world as I can and share it in photographs. It’s time to live and not suffer under the thumb of people who do not value your time as they should.  

Overall I am looking forward to enjoying life and building a legacy through my photography. Until my retirement, I want to build my portfolio, shoot and develop more film. When I do retire, I want to go to all the state parks I can to create images that could fill a book. I look forward to creating work that says, the world is beautiful, even in your own backyard. 

For right now I’m just going to take it one day at a time and look forward to creating my next image so that I can share it. I’ll get through this year like the last but I’m going through this year with a purpose. We’ll see in 360 plus days how it turns out.

6 months later

Scanning Photos

I have been busy this week and most likely tied up for most of this month. I have been scanning photos of my Mom for her Celebration of life planned later this month. I am rather enjoying seeing my Mom as a child and learning a little more about that side of the family. I should be back soon after so until then, enjoy this photo.

Rehab is finished

As of Friday June 21 I am done with rehab. That means I am completely healed and can go on with my normal life as if nothing had happened…Well no, not true. I will have to go to my  cardiologist every 6 months and I am sure each year I will go through a battery of tests to see how my heart is doing. My life is closer to normal but that is as close as I will get. 

One of the things I thought was kind of cool is the fact I am a walking data point. I mean we are all data points but with me it is a little more internal. Periodically throughout the year the cardiologist will download the data that my device has collected. Because I have an app on my phone that is connected to the pacemaker, the cardiologist then can connect to the phone and download the data. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand I am being monitored to make sure nothing goes wrong. On the other hand I am being watched. If someone wanted to, they could get into my phone and see more than just the data collected from the device. That is being a little paranoid but still, I’m slightly uneasy about being that connected. Shit, the phone is more invasive than the device, it, the pacemaker,  just gives a reason for someone to get into the phone.  

So how do I feel about this whole event now that I have returned to a semi-normal life? Well I have learned that life is short and I have too much yet to do. I’m not afraid of dying, I am afraid of being at the end and having regrets of all that I didn’t get done or experience in life. Dying is inevitable, there is nothing you can do about it. The things that you hadn’t accomplished is all on you. 

I am back riding the bike. I am trying to build up my endurance so I can tour around and create images of Iowa. Then compile the photographs and put them in a book. “Iowa on a bike” could be a good title. Once I have my stamina up then I will start around Linn/Johnson county. Fall is when I want to start with short trips around the county, maybe some mild winter trips as well. In two years I hope to be done with working and then start photographing and creating videos fulltime. That's the plan and hopefully I will be able to stick to the plan.

This week I am starting work on a video of my bicycle commute to work. It won’t be an award winning body of work but it will be an exercise on how to create a video that is interesting to watch. I will probably fail a lot now but hopefully I will learn my craft by the time I am touring around Iowa creating images. I will keep you posted when I expect to have it come out. Who knows I may post some outtakes as I am shooting and editing.    

Before I go I thought I would post an image from my collection that has nothing to do with what I wrote. 

I had a pond in the back of my old house where we had water lilies growing. I spent one summer just photographing them at midmorning when the big Black Wallnut tree would create interesting shadows across the pond. As colorful as the water lilies were, I chose to keep the images  black and white. I wanted to work on form and composition while presenting it in a lower tone of black and white. I didn’t want really blown out whites so instead I did what I could to keep them in the upper mid greys while the shadows are black with little details. I have a whole series of these lilies on this website for your viewing pleasure. 

Thanks for spending a little time with me. If you haven't explored the site, feel free to. And if you are so inclined, share a link with someone you think would like to spend a little time looking at my images. After all, I just want to share my work with anyone who might like it. 

A Story of a Prop

I thought I would change up the posts a bit and tell the story about the airplane prop I hung on the wall of my office “Man Cave” Unlike photographs, paintings, some ceramics or fibor art, a prop blade is, to say the least, unusual. Less of course you’re in a restaurant like Zepplens were the decor is props from zepplens, then it makes sense. However this blade has a story on why it has been collected as well as why the covering of the tip is missing. Quick thinking under the pressure of total castraphy is just part of the tail I am about to tell. And the hero of this story is nonother than my Dad. 

It was the 1960’s and at that time things were so much cheaper to own and operate. Hobbies like flying a plane were so much easier to do then they are today. At the time, my father owned a 1930 Stinson that he would take out on the weekends and do flights to cities around Cedar Rapids. He wasn’t an airline pilot or flew for a private company, but he was an Avionics Engineer for Collins Radio here in Cedar Rapids. Though he never had the same equipment he designed in his plane, I think it gave him a perspective that aided in his designing of flight instruments. 

On Saturday he set out to do a series of touch and go’s at the Cedar Rapids Airport. At that time the airport wasn’t that busy so performing training exercises were much easier. After his preflight checks, startup and taxing to the runway, he got the clearance for the runway and for take off. Throting up the engine he was on his way to being airborne.  

The plane, after achieving takeoff speed, lifted into the air and began to climb, that is when the problem occurred with a kablam. At 600 feet the front end of the plane started to violently shake up and down. Quickly reacting he reached for the kill switch, called the tower and decleared an emergency. Leveling off the plane the prop slowed down revealing the fact there was only one blade of the prop. The engine was completely shut down but his airspeed was good, he was flying dead stick. Tower told him to just ditch the plane into the field but that wasn’t what he rely wanted to do.

With his airspeed still high enough, altitude safe and his distance to the runway close he decided he could make the runway. He called back to the tower telling them of his plans and to clear the runway. Because the airport at this time wasn’t busy he was given permission to land. He slowly turned the plane around, keeping it slightly tilted down to keep the speed up, slowing his descent. Basically working with the airodiamics of the plane to get him back on the ground safely. Lining up to the runway he touched down with enough speed to roll from the runway to the taxiway and park on his spot at the hanger. Once he was stopped and greeted the emergency truck with “All is well.” 

With any declaration of emergency that a pilot makes, a FAA investigation must be done. When they arrived, a lot of questions had been asked and the search for the blade had to be done. It was eventually found in the cornfield a little ways from the runway stuck in the dirt. Once the investagtion was concluded and he was cleared of any wrongdoing they gave his blade back to him. Since I was a kid until his death he had it hanging in his workshop as a reminder of that day when things got a little scary. He still kept flying for a while until it got too expensive and demands of the family got too much.  

Little Manitou

The Little Manitou is far enough down the road from the campsite that you have to dive to it. Which only takes 5 minutes to get to. Once you arrive, there is a parking spot across the road and a trail leading to the falls. The day I decided to photograph the falls was partly cloudy, cool and the trees were near the peak of color. In fact when the sun did come out the warmth of the park glowed from the reflected color of the leaves. I gathered my camera bag and tripod and made my way down to the falls. 

The first time I walked a narrow twisty trail I could hear the rush of water pouring over the rocks, building my anticipation of what I was about to encounter. This being the third trip I was more excited to make the exposures on a day that was as close to perfect as I could get. At the bottom the trail opened up and the first waterfall that was framed by trees clothed in the color of fall. The water poured over the dark grey rock and into the river below splashing and stirring the cool air around the trail. Above the falls is a crown of mixed trees, some in fall color others are pine trees.  The perfect spot to set up and work a composition and exposure. Again I wanted to give the water motion in the image so I set up for a longer exposure so the water’s motion was blurred. 

Because the falls were in the shade of trees behind me and the trees above were open to the sun, the exposure could be tricky. To solve this I relied on my lens filters to bring down the bright areas enough to balance out the image. In making this image I had to experiment quite a bit with the mix of filters and shutter speeds and waiting for the sun to cooperate. I wanted to get as near to a perfect exposure in camera so that the post processing didn’t take forever. In the end I had at least three images to work with, time to move to the second spot.

The next spot was a wider view of the waterfall with the two streams of water falling over the rocks, trees on each side and the wall of color above the rocky outcrop. I am not sure if in times of the melt off of snow or the wetter season if the water covers more area or not. I would like to findout. Once again I set up the camera, tripod and searched for the right composition for this image. I wanted to incorporate the sky but didn’t want to lose the river water the fall was spilling into. Once again to create a near perfect exposure I needed to get the shutter speed and lensA filter set up to capture full range of light. Like the last image I captured three that I knew I would work with in post production. 

Out of the two I tend to like my second image better, but not by much. I felt that both images came out relly well. Better than the Big Manitou image but the second one has more interest in the color and flow of water. When I look at the second image I view  the trees above the fall as a cathedral wall,  curving around to showcase the waterfall making it sacred. As perfect as that day was, I would still like to see this waterfall in the different seasons to see if I could get it at the best time. I would like to see if more than the two streams of water flowed over the rocks in different conditions. 

Overall this was a good vacation. I got to spend time with my wife, toured a brewery and took lots of photographs that I will be coming back to. In fact I have two rolls of film shot in my Dad’s Nikon FM2 that need to be developed. The one take away from this trip that applies to my photography is that the more familiar you are with a place, the better the images. I am happy with what I created but did I capture all that I did at the best time? I think I did with the Red Maple, but did I get the waterfalls at the right time? Being able to visit them on a semi annual timeline  I believe would yield a better image in my opinion. That would mean I would have to live close to the parks and that isn’t going to happen. So I’m going to be happy with the images I got, print a few and who knows print some to sell. And maybe someday I will get a chance to visit the parks again and get another try to create more images. 

Big Manitou

Pattison State Park is 13 miles away from the city of Superior and Lake Superior. Pattison State Park also has two waterfalls, the Big and Little Manitou,  that I was very stoked to try my hand at creating and image. We broke camp, loaded up the dogs and headed out on the 2 hour trip north through Wisconsin. During the drive we got to see the dramatic changes in leaves from a dull greenish to bright reds and yellows. The more north we traveled the more excited we became. Although the weather wasn’t the greatest, that is par for most of our travel and setup days. Once we arrived, we set up camp and ate our traditional dinner. Hotdogs or Brats and chips. It’s easy, quick and goes well with beer.  

The next day my wife and two dogs set out for the Big Manitou which was situated across the road, so it was an easy walk for all of us. We could hear the falls before we saw it, building anticipation for what was a sight to see. We arrived at the falls and were not disappointed. The Big Manitou is huge, standing at 165 feet, the highest waterfall in Wisconsin. All I could think is how do I create an image that gives the waterfall justice? We spent most of the time wandering around and taking a few photos. Each overlook area was a new perspective of the falls but there wasn’t one that was better than the other. This was going to be tough to come up with an image. This was going to really rely on the composition and light being right and even then there is no guarantee. I concluded that I was going to have to view this waterfall at different times of the day in order to get the right light, not to mention the right composition. 

I spent the next several days going back to the Big Manitou at different times of the day. Starting with early afternoon when the sun crested over the fall to evening when the sun was full on the falls. Each time I felt that I couldn’t get what I was looking for. This may be attributed to the fact that the waterfall was huge and I wasn’t familiar with this subject. I knew I wanted motion in the water so a slower shutterspeed was needed, but do I shoot it vertial or horazontal? Vertical I isolate the waterfall but you don’t get the scale of the area. Shoot it horizontally then you get the scale of the area of the waterfall while the waterfall becomes secondary in the image. Compositionally if I shoot it straight on, it becomes a flat image, no depth to it. At the side seemed to be better in this case. I kept thinking, “am I at the right time of year to create the best image I can?  Would it look better in the winter or summer with the sun at different angles in the sky?”  This is when I wish I could live close by to watch the falls for a year to see when it would be at its best. I settled for the best image I could get for the time of year it is. 

I opted for early afternoon when the sun was high enough to give a range of shadows and light areas. It also happened to be the best time for some clouds to fill the blue sky. I always like a few clouds in the sky when I am shooting landscapes. There was one particular lookout spot that showed off the waterfalls and surrounding area the best, so I set up the tripod and camera to work the composition and exposure. I didn’t want really deep shadows  otherwise I would have lost the waterfall but the shadows gave depth to the image so I couldn’t go too light either. I also didn’t want to blow out the sky so I used some lens filters to help hold back some of the brighter parts of the scene. After a lot of experimenting with exposure and composition I came up with the image you see below. 

I feel I got the details in the shadows especially in the detail of the rocks where the water is flowing over right. Not too dark but dark enough to give it texture and depth. The rest of the image and especially the clouds are not blown out including the water of the waterfall. As far as an image I am happy with it on a technical level but not as an artistic, impactful photograph, not so much. Again I needed to be more familiar with the falls and that wasn’t possible given the time of year and the amount of time it takes to learn what this area’s best time is. 

The Little Manitou was next to photograph and I took the same approach to it as I did with the Big Manitou. Visiting it at different times of day to find the best light and composition to create the best image I could. That will be the next post next week. Until then feel free to comment on any blog post you see. Check out the rest of the site and see what all I have created. Thanks for spending time here and hope you will stop by again.

Big Manitou Waterfall

Birch Tree 2 or Maybe an Aspin?

Sometimes, just turning around you will find the next image you want to create. That happened with this image, turned around and there it was. I had passed by this tree to photograph the previous tree,  but because I saw it in the wrong light, I ignored it. Only by changing my angle and seeing this tree in the right light did the tree become interesting. With a short walk up the tree line through some dirt horse paths I arrived at the perfect spot to capture this image. 

The composition wasnt to tough to work out but I did have to do a lot of moving forward, back and side to side in order to be satisfied with it. The bright leaves and white trunk compared to the surrounding trees  is what caught my eye. Unlike the last tree, this Birch Tree had the dark green of the Pine Tree in the background giving the yellow a pop. It's not as heavy a contrast but it does help that the blue of the sky does help bring out the yellow even more. 

A simple vertical composition that will complement the previous image when hung together. Unfortunately I couldn’t find another Birch Tree that I could create an image of and make a triptych out of the other two images. I guess I will have to try again if I am ever back at Lake Wissota. 

The trip to Pattison State Park is coming up and I was really excited to get there. Lake Wissota was a good place to start working on composition and really thinking about the photography I wanted to do. I feel that we had hit this place just a little too early and if we come back again at the right time, it will be later in the season. There was one photograph, however, I did miss it and to this day I think about it. 

It was the morning that I was on my way to Irvine Park to photograph the Red Maple. You have to cross Lake Wissota in order to get to the park. Upon the start of crossing the bridge there is an area where boats are tied to posts that are spaced out from eachother. There are no docks so my guess is you have to have someone take you by boat in order to get you to your boat. On this particular morning there was a light fog that was coming off the lake. Closest to the bridge was a small sailboat that was backlit by the sun and fog coming from the lake. Talk about an image. But I was so focused on the park and the Red Maple that I didn’t stop. I figured that I would have another opportunity to try for another photograph, but I didn’t get one. The conditions to create the fog just never happened again. So my image has been consigned to memory and not to a photograph. I won’t do that again. 

The waterfalls of Pattison Park is next. In the meantime please feel free to explore the images I have created, share the post with a friend and leave a comment. I would like to hear what you think about the site. Thanks for spending time here. 

Birch Tree 1

My wife loves Birch Trees. I think it's because they remind her of the times she had spent with her Grandma Poss. Along with Cardinals, these images and sounds remind her of better times and let's face it, the bright yellow leaves of the Birch is the second leaf one thinks of when it comes to fall. At Lake Wissota the only color you could find was the yellow of the Birch Tree, so I made it a mission to find the perfect tree or trees to create an image of for my wife. Easy right? Well, it took a lot of walking around but I managed to find two. This one and the one I will post later. 

Before I arrived at the spot where I created this image, I was working on a photograph of the larger group of trees behind it. Like a hunter stocking their game I kept moving up slowly to get the right composition, the righ group and the right light. In the end I couldn’t put it all together but in a twist of fait, I came across this group of three trees with a spatering of yellow leaves.  Not what I set out to get but still a very nice image I was compelled to create. This is a simple image so please pardon me if I don’t get too deep in the thought process of creating it. 

First and foremost this image was created because of my need to find an image for Birch Trees for my wife, and truth be told I like them too. What attracted me to this was the fact that the bright yellow leaves and the white of the bark look so stunning framed by the green of the Pine Trees. This was simple to compose and didn’t require too much thought on the composition and exposure. Sometimes you get lucky enough to run across such photographic opportunities that you just have to take them. Not much work for the bigger pay off. This might not be one that wins awards or the best selling, but I like it for the simplicity of it. The color contrast of the white and yellow against the green. The vertical movement of the composition doesn’t overwhelm the viewer with a lot of detail to contend with. Keeping it simple can still draw in a viewer and get an emotional response to the work. 

If you had missed my first image of this fall trip, then please go back to the post “Maple By The River.” There you will get a set up to the fuller story that I will be continuing to write about for the next few weeks. If you have and have not explored the rest of the site, then please feel free to wander around. I think you will enjoy the images I have created. Thanks again for spending some time here.   

Oh one more thing. I am by any stretch of the imagination, a tree expert. That beeing said, there is a possibility that I might be misidentifying these trees. One or both could be Aspin. If you know leave it in the comment.  

Sight and Sounds of Irvine Park

I thought I would leave you a video of the Irvine Park on the day I shot my Maple Tree By The River. It is a beautiful park and would recommend you to stop by if your ever in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin.

Maple By The River

This past year my wife and I took a long awaited vacation to Wisconsin for our big fall trip. This adventure was the farthest we had pulled the camper to a park. This particular trip was over a two week period where we spent time in Lake Wissota and Pattison State Parks near Superior and Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. We had booked this several times over the past two years but with family emergencies,  we would have had to cancel it. That changed in the fall of 2024 when we got our opportunity to go. And go like the wind we did. 

I would say I was a bit nervous pulling the camper that many miles out of state. The myeriod of problems weighed on my mind, not to mention we were bringing our dogs. Stella was the veteran, but other than a few short trips,  Hachi was the novis. None the less we set out to see the fall color, the sights and get away on a well deserved vacation. Overall the trip was uneventful for my wife, myself and the dogs who fared very well in the backseat of the pickup. Well, Hachi chewed through his seatbelt. Bad dog.   

We arrived at the park in the afternoon in a heavily wooded campsite. Shade and solitude. Well as much solitude as one can get with a road next to the site and screaming kids all around. But you can hear the birds in the morning, smell the “fall” fresh air, outdoor cooking, walks in the morning, naps in the afternoon and taking lots of photographs.That is what we were looking forward to and we weren’t disappointed. Well mabe we could have had more fall color but from what we had learned the color was traveling south slowly. That ment the second site for an explosion of color was still in play. Besides, there were a few places around the site where a few trees were in the process of their fall color. 

One such place of color was Irvine Park and Zoo. My wife and I took a morning trip to the zoo where we were greeted by ducks and geese that were roaming around. We got to see a few big cats that my wife wanted to pet and Amercia Bison. We then walked the trails of the park side and saw the waterfall and lake. The lake was still and a few colors had shown through the green of the trees. The waterfall was large but man made so it didn’t have any rocks for the water to fall over making it rather plain. The river that the waterfall fed twisted through the park and was surrounded by trees that were in various stages of color change.  One, a red maple,  was next to the river next to the path and in full red color. At the time the sun was high and not really backlighting  the leaves to give a fiery red flare. To me, the best time to capture this scene would be early to midmorning.   We spent most of the late morning exploring and by noon we headed back for lunch and a nap. 

I went back the next morning early and by myself to create images of the lake, waterfall and that tree. I figured if I went early enough I could be there when the light was at its best on the Red Maple I had spotted the day previous. After stopping at the lake and grabbing a few images, I went to the tree next. I went down the trail and under a bridge to emerge to a sun fueled flaming Red Maple. What I saw exceeded my expectations and I was there at the perfect time. The sun was just over the trees situated on a hill so I had time to get the composition and exposure to create an image. 

The leaves with the sun backlighting them were glowing bright creating an exposure that obscured the details in the shadows. Without those details I knew the image would be only about the Red Maple and not the scene as a whole. That wasn’t the intention. I needed those details in order to make it a complete image.I was also inamard with the river flowing through, the soft red on the opposite bank, the dark and light greens that surrounded the Red Maple. All that detail tells the story of being in that place at that time for me. When I now  look at this image I can hear the sound of the river, smell the fall air and  feel the coolness of the breeze. There is peace in this scene and that was my goal with this image. 

The composition was not hard to come to. The clockwise  roll of the red leaves on the branches to the river. The white on the surface of the river moves me to the shadow details of the bank, picking up color, only to find the light that leads up the trunk of the tree and back to where you started. I believe had I placed the trunk of the tree dead center you would have made the tree the center of attention. By placing it to the side and slightly in shadow gently moves the fewer to experience the scene as a whole. 

Out of all the images I took on this adventure, and there were a lot, this particular one was one of my best. The exposure and composition of this photograph works on many levels. It has great shadow detail without blowing the highlights of the red leaves. My eye moves through the whole image so that every detail of the scene can be explored. There is the warmth of the Red Maple leaves and the coolness of the shadow details. I feel I captured what I look forward to about fall, the coolness of the mornings, the warmth of all the colors and the slow progression to the first snowfall. This one definitely warrants a print to place on my wall. 

I have a handful of images from this trip I plan to share in my future posts and on the photo gallery on this website. Please feel free to explore my site and leave any comments or questions you may have. Thank you for spending the time on my posts. 

Maple By The River

Nine Months of Life

Welcome. Please Explore.

The day has arrived and the work that I have done over the years is now in some assembly of order and ready for viewing. So welcome and please explore the site and if you are so inclined, leave a comment on anything you like or don’t like about the site and I may or may not change it. I’d like this site to evolve as time moves on.

Until the next post…

Two More Days

There is just two more days to the redesign launch. I do realize that this event lands on April Fools day, but I can tell you that it is not an April Fools day prank. I have been meaning to do more with this site and after nearly dying I feel I have a second chance to get busy. The work I have done have stories behind them and if I don’t tell them, then the work just sits here and dies. I create the images for myself but it is nice to have more than just a pretty picture on a website to show for my life’s work.

Speaking of dying; I’m on my third week of cardio therapy and all is well. I do, however, wish I was in more shape but after your heart stops and the reset button is pressed, then you have no choice but to start over. I do have an appointment in April to have my echocardiogram done and with that, a clearer picture of how things are should be revealed. Fingers crossed that I don’t end up with new hardware.

This month I was really hoping that I would have scheduled time to go out and shoot, but that isn’t happing. My cardio therapy, care taking of my Mom, work and still having to move more crap from house to house, there isn’t enough hours. So I have put off my project until the end of May when my therapy has finished. That is if I don’t get the new hardware. It’s ok, with what I want to do doesn’t really have a drop dead start time. “ David, what are you planning??” Well I am keeping that somewhat close but I can tell you this; it doesn’t take plane tickets, long drives or exotic places to make interesting images. Photography can be about more then pretty images.

Until the next post….

Eclipse

Put another eclipse in the books for me. The first eclipse I got to experience with my wife and that one was a total eclipse. This one was a partial eclipse at 90% with my Dad. He is 97 and it is the last he will ever see. The next eclipse in the United States won’t happen until 2044. That one will happen over the Northwestern States. I might try to see that one but I don’t know. I have 20 years to decide.

Out of both eclipses, this one is just a little more special. It wasn’t a total and I didn’t make it home for the peak, but we did get to set up the telescope and see the sun partially blocked by the moon. This is something we have never shared together and I’m glad we didn’t miss that.

My interest in astronomy and photography comes from my Dad. He would get Sky and Telescope the magazine and I would occasionally read it as a kid. Most of it was above my head but it still was interesting. Especially the photos. We would also go out on a clear night and look up at the stars and he would point out the constellations. That was back in the dark age when you didn’t have as much light pollution as you do now. Space was one of the few things we had as a mutual interest. Well that and Monty Python’s Flying Circus but that is a story for another time.

This is the image of the sun and moon projected on to a plate from the telescope.

I’m not sure when my Dad got this telescope but it looks cool. I know he’s had it at least 60 years. That is, of coarse, my Dad zeroing on to the eclipse.