Standing Tall

Bed Head

I am fascinated by these fuzzy red flowers growing in my wife's garden. I believe they are called bee balm. I suppose they are so named because they nourish the bodies and souls of the bees that visit them. I think the flowers are past their prime right now and so they look a little bedraggled. Thus the title today. They look a little like my kids looked when they woke up when they were little - hair all over the place.I took this photo with my Canon 70-200mm zoom and was once again impressed with its ability to smoothly blur things in the background - especially when I'm shooting with a 2.8 aperture.I'm not sure this is a good photograph, but I like the fading red flower. If it had a face, it would probably look a little confused.

Another World

When I took this photo, I saw a single pink rose. But, as is often the case, I saw other things as I began to process it. I don't know how your broswer behaves when you look at my photos in this blog but on my computer when I click on the photo, I get a bigger view. And when I hover my cursor over the bigger view, it turns into a magnifying glass with a "+" sign on it. Try clicking on the photo then and you get an even bigger view.When the photo is fully magnified to full resolution, you might be able to see what I saw and understand why I called this post "Another World." While you are here, how about taking a look at the Crab Nebula and looking for similarities between it and this flower which is no bigger than a US quarter (or a 2 Euro Coin). The Crab Nebula has a diameter of 11 light years, by the way. I guess I've given away one of the differences.Canon 5DII 1/60s f/2.8 ISO320 100mm

Ready To Bloom

Because we typically go on vacation at the end of May and the beginning of June, this is all Deb and I normally see of the Iris that she has planted in her garden. But there is something attractive and stately about an Iris that is ready to bloom.

Sunset, July 4, 2010

Yes, this is just another sunset photo and there is nothing that would necessarily distinguish this shot from a billion other sunset photos. So why post it?Well, in part because it was Independence Day in the US and that night, since we had no fireworks in our supplies on my sailboat, the beautiful, blazing sunset would have to suffice. Also, this photo - a snapshot really - marks a moment in my summer worth remembering. Scott P and I had had a successful day of sailing and fishing. After 15 hours of nearly constant motion, we had pulled in to our anchorage in Mission Creek on Lake Oahe and we had the whole place to ourselves.The wind had died and the only sounds we could hear were the gentle creaking of the rigging of "Wandering Star," the muted sound of birdsong and crickets coming from the shore and the distant call of coyotes flowing down the western hills from miles away. All of that and, to borrow a phrase from Emily Dickinson, the "yellow noise" of the sun. I was in one of my favorite places in the world with one of my favorite people.This captured moment may have little meaning to you. But it will give me sustenance for months to come.

The Happy Fisherman

Most people fish Lake Oahe for its walleye. But my friend Peterson thought finding northerns would be just fine and on day two of our fishing/sailing expedition, this is what he found. I don't have a scale on my sailboat so we had to go looking for a fisherman who did. Total weight: 20.2 lbs. Scott has been fishing in Canada for 30 years but this is the largest northern he has ever caught. And I helped.If you want to see the exact location where we caught this fish, check out the Panoramio link. There may be more.

We Can See Ourselves!

We were packing our rental car and getting ready to leave our little cottage in Aldeia da Mata Pequena, Portugal, when the two resident peacocks walked up and started to look at themselves in the dark reflection. I thought they were admiring themselves, but when they started to peck at our car, I concluded that they thought they were looking at two other peacocks that somehow posed a threat. They moved on amiably when I opened the passenger car door.

Celebrating the Newborn

With billions of leaves bursting into life, who would think that we should revel in the rebirth of photosynthesis? I would.Canon 5DII 1/60s f/2.8 ISO320 100mm

Spring Fern

I was out walking along Iron Creek in the Blacks Hills a few years ago. It was early spring and most of the vegetation still had it's winter colors. But I encountered a small area that was green with new life. I think it was spring fed and that's why there was so much color.These ferns (?) were growing out of a rock wall. I likenthe depth the dew gives the photo. The mile or so along Mission Creek, where I have found so many photos, is one of favorite places on Earth.

Mercurial

I was disgustedly looking out our dining room windows, wondering if the cold rain would end any time soon. But then I saw the silver lining - wind-driven rain had covered the window in beads of water of random size and shape.I like how each drop reflects the color of the greenery in our back yard and how the bright silver of the beads makes them look droplets of mercury. You've never seen drops of mercury? In the 60's it was part of our middle school science curriculum to get to play with mercury! The teacher came around with a heavy bottle of silver liquid and poured globs onto our tables. It was liquid metal.And when the teacher wasn't looking, we took silver dimes and coated them. They stayed slippery for days as the mercury evaporated. Do I have mental problems and other infirmities because I played with what I now know was a highly poisonous material? No doubt.Canoon 5DII 1/60s f/4.0 ISO800 100mm

My Neighbor's Flowers

I shouldn't admit that I've been admiring my neighbor's purple tulips. But I couldn't help it. All of her tulips are purple and, against the green grass, stunning. And so I sneaked over to their back yard and took several surreptitious shots before I made my way back to our yard. Only their dog noticed me: it barked continuously while I was in their yard. Fortunately, the dog was shut inside. So I was safe. And my wife doesn't know I have a thing for my neighbor's flowers.

Relics

On the journey back to eastern South Dakota from a meeting in Deadwood, I decided to take the back way home. In my urge to get home I often drive by things that I think are photogenic. But on this trip I decided to stop when I saw interesting things.This creek bed is about 100 miles west of Pierre. Not everyone finds dead trees photogenic but I do. I debated about posting the photo in black and white but Deb said she liked the color version better. And she's always right.Here's the black and white version.