Saturday, October 31, 2009

Taking Out the Trash!

It's overcast and a lower layer of clouds are moving relatively quickly. I hadn't planned on going out with the camera this morning but I have been wanting to catch some cloud movement. I am trying to do a few long exposures with the 10stop ND filter. I did get a few that illustrate the effect I am going for, but they are not very dramatic. I am posting one of those. Oh well, I'll try again.

Finally, sadly, I got a good view of where our trash goes.  It makes you understand why there is an island of plastic in the Pacific twice the size of Texas.  I don't normally want to take or post this type of picture, but I thought it was relevant. The location is Trammel Creek in Romanza Johnson Park. Click the 'Read More' link below for this entire post including this sad photo.

This was just a scene I saw as I was driving to Trammel Creek.
Barns off of Scottsville Rd, Bowling Green Ky


Trying to catch moving clouds. 30 Second Exposure.
Romanza Johnson Park, Alvaton Ky
Not great, but it's a start.


 We had a lot of rain yesterday and last night, which washed a large amount of plastic and other trash into the river system.

Scroll way down for that trash shot.



Keep scrolling!






Keep going!






Almost there.












Now for your viewing pleasure....


On it's way to the Ocean. We are doing our part!
Trammel Creek, Romanza Johnson Park, Alvaton Ky

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Mooning From My Backyard

I don't shoot the sky much from my yard, as my neighbors have security lights and the yard is not as dark as I would like. The moon looked nice though, so I fired off a few shots. Major cropping going on here.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

'Fall Happens' or 'Trail Kill'

I thought this might be the best weekend of the year to grab some color around these parts. Went to Shanty Hollow Lake Saturday. Got there around 5:30pm, the sun was going down. Took a few shots, will come back tomorrow. Sunday I went up to Mammoth Cave again. Took quite a few photos - not much worth keeping. I did keep one of a hornet's nest. Bumped into one of the guys in the 'SunnySixteen' BG photography club at the pond. Nice guy.

Decided to get to Shanty Hollow early and go back to the waterfall. No keepers of the waterfall. The mushroom shot is really close to the falls. Busted my rear end on a slick rock - ouch. Luckily, I have some padding back there, no damage to me or the equipment - fall happens. I did also break a small log I was sitting on while setting up the camera, got a little wet, knocked the tripod (and camera) over. The camera landed on a pile of leaves. Klutz. (Lucky Klutz)


Sloan's Pond (Yep, again.) - Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky
This hornet's nest is right on the edge of the pond.




Shanty Hollow Lake - Warren County, Ky (all shots below)
A polarizer filter was used on all Shanty Hollow shots except the mushroom, hence the almost-too-blue sky and water.




He almost became 'boot kill', or would it be 'trail kill'? Anyway, I almost squashed him. He was right there at the waterfall.



The crack is around six to eight feet deep. Maybe next time, my waterfall pictures will make the cut. It was downstream from here a bit that I got wet. My depth of field needs to be deeper, the top of the shot is soft.




The sun is going down.




The sun is down.

Monday, October 19, 2009

'I-crop-a-lot' or 'Psuedo-Alone'

Garden of the Gods, Shawnee National Forrest, Southern Ilinois

Met an elementary school classmate and her husband at Garden of the Gods. They live an hour or two north of GOG. Rainy most of the day. The rain did clear out for a few hours around noon, fortunately that was when we were to meet. We stayed there on the Observation Trail for a few hours, then went to find something to eat. The sky was clearing out again as it was starting to get dark. I was still in the area, so I went back for some night shots. Nothing too daring, as it was getting pretty dark.
It was actually a little spooky out there in the dark. As the 15 minute exposure was happening, I made the trip back to the trail several times. Then, on the way back to the camera, I had to re-find it, while trying not to shine a light at the camera. I think it was maybe four crack jumps to get out there. The camera actually takes a second shot of the same duration with the shutter closed to subtract out some of the noise. I decided to let that happen on the way home in the truck. I hadn't planned on staying that late, so with a 3.5 hour drive home time, it was getting late for an old fella who likes to get up early.

I wasn't stupid enough to follow it into a pond or anything but on the way there, my gps took me through 4 or 5 miles of gravel roads! Nice scenery though. On the way home I refused to turn onto the gravel road, so it re-calculated a friendlier route.


Polarizer filter on all but the night shots.


'Pseudo-Alone': I cropped a few people out on the very left edge. I-crop-a-lot. No, that was not a typo.
















5 Minute Exposure


15 Minute Exposure