I’ve taken on a side project lately that I hope may one day become more than a side project. I may or may not tell y’all about it one day. Don’t worry, it’s nothing Earth-shattering, super-exciting, or anything most of you would care about anyway. That side project, however, requires images. And if there’s anything I have lots of, it’s images. Right? You know, pictures.
Hubby makes fun of me because I have this horrible habit of NOT deleting the shots I don’t want. Because I might want and/or need them one day.
Not being a particularly religious person, and having adult children, Easter doesn’t mean much to me.
There’s the grandkids, of course. But their father (my son-in-law) has a pretty big family and they tend to celebrate with large family gatherings. So most of our Easters are spent in West Virginia.
We could do the typical grandparent thing and get them Easter baskets full of candy and cheapo toys. But their parents don’t let them have much candy (which is really a very good thing) and they have lots of toys that more often than not end up being discretely disposed of because they totally clutter up their house.
So Easter is pretty much just another day to us. It would be more exciting if we got Good Friday and/or Easter Monday off of work. But we don’t.
Anyway… after Hubby sent me the bunny pic shown above, I decided to see what other kind of Easter humor was out there.
You did see me say I’m not particularly religious, right? I mention that again because some of these are slightly off-color.
They’re not REALLY bad. But they’re not all sunshine, rainbows and cute little bunnies either.
That’s totally something one of my dogs would do.
That last one is my favorite. Nothing like a slightly humorous joke with a picture of crabby-looking old folks.
Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Those images really aren’t all THAT funny. Besides I’d rather share some pictures I took yesterday that really are signs of Spring.
The Redbud Trees are Starting to BloomNew GrowthMore New Growth and Blue SkiesNew Growth on Another BushThe Lizards Have Awakened From Their Long Winter SlumberThe Forest Floor is Coming AliveNothing Says Spring Like a Motorcycle All Gassed-up and Ready-to-Ride
That’s it for pictures shot yesterday. But it’s not the end.
When I was at my friend Tracey’s house a few weeks ago, I did more than photograph her poultry. I took some pics around her house. One of my favorites is the one I got of her basket full of chicks. She made them. She’s very crafty. In fact, she’s the one who taught me to make hand-tied quilts.
Tracey's Home-made Chicks
She’s got a great eye for decorating, too. This one picture I took in her kitchen makes the perfect Easter banner with which to end this long and sort of boring post. Sorry.
I’m at the WV place with the girls for the week. We’re having some work done at the MD place. Having strange men walk in and out with one particularly barky dog and two bark-followers in the house would not be very conducive to work.
So here I am…
Spring Has Sprung
The weather on Monday was nice for the most part. I was quite happy to see the big bush at the end of our driveway full of green buds. This is the same bush that, a little over a month ago, I was kicking and shaking to clear the snow off of its branches. I don’t know what kind of bush it is, but I like it.
K and Her Stoic Expression
I know I’ve mentioned here before that K, a generally happy dog, almost always has a stoic look on her face. She just always looks so darn serious.
Really. Like in this shot of her and Meg in the truck. Look how serious she seems.
I’m not sure why either. She really is a very sweet, laid back dog. You’d never know that by the expression, or lack thereof, on her face in most of the pictures I’ve shared here.
But things have changed. Finally.
I now know the secret to making K show some teeth (in a good way).
K Looking Sort of Pleased
Okay, she’s not grinning ear-to-ear in this picture. But she does look a bit more relaxed than usual, right?
K Grinning
And this is definitely a grin. Wouldn’t you say?
K Smiling
This picture may be a little blurry, but it definitely shows K smiling.
K Smiling Again
She’s smiling here, too. Her eyes still seem a bit serious, but her lips are certainly pulled back into a smile.
K Almost Laughing
Her smile is so wide here, I can almost hear her giggling with glee.
K's Goofy Grin
And check out the goofy grin in this picture! Doesn’t she look happy?
Wanna know the secret? I’ll tell you. Turn her loose in the woods with no daggone beeping, citronella-spraying electronic collar strapped to her neck. She was, and still is, beyond thrilled. And she stays close by, too.
Now I just have to teach her to keep those eyes wide open when she smiles.
While this next picture is completely unrelated, I just HAD to share it with you.
Meg
It’s a picture of Meg I captured yesterday when the girls insisted I take a short break to walk them down the hill. Meg had just turned to make sure I was following her. There’s just something about this picture that I really like. Which is why I had to share.
Belle is here, too, I just don’t have any good pics of her to share. None taken in the last two days anyway. This next shot, which shows all three dogs running down the hill ahead of me, is the best image I managed to capture that included Belle.
Going "Down the Hill" (something the girls insist I do with them)
I’ll try to get a shot of her today. Hopefully she won’t show up COVERED in cow shit, like she did on Monday morning. Let me tell you, giving a very stinky little dog a bath is just what I wanted to do before I could start working for the day.
While driving home from Pennsylvania on Sunday, I stopped at the Conowingo Dam near Port Deposit, Maryland to check out the Eagle action.
I didn’t know I was going to stop there.
Why does that matter? Because had I known I was going to visit the dam, I would have been prepared. I would have had my tripod with me.
A tripod is important. A tripod is what supports your camera to minimize movement. Minimizing movement matters most when using a zoom lens, when even the slightest movement blurs your image.
Even though I was bracing my camera against a fence, it still moved ever so slightly. And that, unfortunately, was enough movement to blur my shots.
Now, had I used a tripod, I could have had some cool, clear photographs. Instead, I ended up with a lot of grainy/noisy snapshots. Yes, you can see what is in the pictures, but the pictures are blurry. And they’ve all been edited to get them to this poor level of quality.
Normally, I wouldn’t even post images that are this bad. For someone like me, capturing a barely recognizable image isn’t good enough. I want focus. Clarity.
When I do finally get to Conowingo with a tripod, I’ll show you the difference. For now, you just have to settle for what might have been some great shots if only I’d been prepared.
Below Conowingo Dam
This image was captured with my standard lens. It is close to what the average person sees with the naked eye. The two arrows show the areas of focus for most of the following shots. They are pretty far away.
Great Blue Herons
Had I used a tripod, you would have seen a cool picture of seven, yes SEVEN, Great Blue Herons and one Cormorant (on the right in the vertical middle) fishing. You would have been able to tell, without squinting really hard and using a bit of imagination that the bird in the center of the shot has a fish in its mouth. (NOTE: If you click on any of these images, you’ll get a bigger view.)
The Eagle Has Landed
If I’d had my tripod, this might have been a great shot of a Bald Eagle joining the fishing party.
And Then There Were Two
If I’d been prepared, you would’ve seen a clear shot of a second Eagle taking off from this big rock to score himself a fish.
Immature Eagle Chasing Adult Eagle
Having a tripod wouldn’t have helped this shot much. I tried my best to get a shot of this immature Eagle (brown head) chasing the adult Eagle (white head).
Double Landing
This might have been a clear image of the two Eagles landing. Perhaps you would have noticed the Great Blue Heron in the middle of the frame without me having to tell you it is there. Notice all the pigeons sitting still on the rock that Eagle is about to occupy? You know the fishing is good when pigeons are of no interest to an Eagle. In any other setting, one or more of those pigeons probably would have been lunch.
Great Blue Heron In Flight
The tripod wouldn’t have helped this one either. I had to track the bird with my lens while focusing manually hoping for at least one clear image.
Great Blue Heron Landing
This might have been a nice shot of that same Great Blue Heron landing in the foreground while the two Eagles look on.
The Fisherman
Perhaps this would have been a nicely focused image showing the adult Eagle (left) with seven Great Blue Herons in the foreground, an immature Eagle (center) and nine or ten Cormorants in the background with water cascading over the spillways as a backdrop.
One day, when I have my tripod and actually get some good bird pictures, you’ll be able to see the difference. You’ll know why I find these shots disappointing. I’ll even refer back to this post for reference.
For now, I hope you enjoyed those snapshots of what might have been.
Since my life is pretty darn quiet, I found this one pretty easy. Of course, having a house in the woods helps.
You Capture is a project where quite a few other people post pictures each Thursday inspired by a predefined theme. To see for yourself how different people interpreted this week’s theme, CLICK HERE. If you are considering taking part, too, be sure to read the GUIDELINES.
Every now and then Quite frequently, Hubby will come across a picture I have taken and say, “Why’d you take a picture of that?”
He’s an engineer. Things I do rarely make sense to him.
He has a screen saver that cycles through all of the pictures on our network. So I hear questions often…
“Who are these people?”
“What dog is that?”
“Do you really need to keep ten different versions of the same picture?”
I can’t explain what motivates me, really. Because it’s different things. Sometimes it’s color, like with this ham and cabbage casserole I was cooking one night.
Ham and Cabbage Casserole
Once the cabbage cooks for awhile, it loses most of the green coloring. But for a while there, it was a striking casserole.
Dramatic sky colors really catch my eye. Not just the sunrise and sunset shots, either. I also think the sky looks interesting before and after storms.
After the Storm
Don’t get me wrong, I like sunsets, too. A lot. Not just seeing the sun dip below the horizon, but watching as the sky turns a lot of different colors over a very brief period of time.
Most of you have seen the following picture, but I am not sure if I ever shared the story behind it. I was actually standing on the sidewalk in front of our house taking pictures of the sky one afternoon. When I turned around, I saw the girls sitting there looking all cute with this awesome reflection of the sunset visible on the glass.
Go Ahead, Knock. I Triple Dog Dare You.
That will always be one of my absolute favorite doggie pics.
Speaking of dogs, they catch my eye a lot, too. Not because of their coloring, but just because they make me smile. The faces Belle makes, as captured in many of my images, really tickle me. It’s doubly impressive when I get an action shot AND a goofy face at the same time.
Obsessed with Speed
Each of our dogs has different little quirks that are unique to the individual. One of K’s quirks is the way she sits on the steps. Her butt and back feet are usually on one step and her front feet are on a lower step. When Belle and Meg are ready to come in from outside, Belle looks in through the door and Meg looks for a bit, but also scratches. K just sits on the step with her back to the door. The image you see below is a common sight.
Ready to Come Inside
Speaking of Meg, I just love her face. She has one of the most expressive doggy faces ever.
Meg in My Face
I took this close-up one evening when she was sitting on my lap.
I do admit, though, that Meg’s unique coloring has inspired quite a few photos.
There’s that color thing again. I just like colors.
Blue Moon with Craquelure Effect
Colors are fun to look at AND colorful pics make for some great experiments with photo processing software.
Soon, nature will be a riot of color. I can’t wait.
