Author: Ken

Bluejay Blues

A few years ago, tired of the unending job of trimming large Ligustrum trees in a back corner of our yard, I decided to take out those trees and create a tropical landscape, that would look more appropriate behind our large pool.

I had already taken out a number of large Crepe Myrtles that were a year round nuisance, requiring severe pruning several times a year, clogging the pool skimmer with blooms, staining the pool apron, dropping leaves and seed pods, putting out shoots and trying to take over the neighborhood.

The Ligustrum trees were a similar maintenance problem.  Knowing that birds frequently built their nest in these trees, I looked for nests before beginning the removal process, finding nothing but old, abandoned nests.  So with my electric chain saw and pruning tools, I began removing limbs, working my way towards taking down the main trunks.

This process took some time, as I removed limbs, trimmed them to manageable size and dragged the trimmings to the front curb for pickup by our trash service.  I was feeling quite satisfied, when I got to the point of removing the top of the last tree.  My feeling of progress and accomplishment, as the tree top crashed to the ground, was quickly dampened, when I heard the frantic cries of baby birds and spotted their nest from which they had just been ejected.  The babies were very young and did not yet have feathers.  Feeling guilty and responsible for their plight, I gathered them and placed them back into the nest, while wondering how I was going to make amends.

There was a main trunk of one tree still standing with a stub of a branch, to which I managed to secure the nest.  Realizing that the babies were totally exposed to the sun and elements with no tree foliage for protection, I retrieved an old umbrella and fastened it, with zip ties and twine, to the tree stub to provide some shade and protection of the nest.

Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.

I’m sure my neighbors, who could only see the top of the umbrella above the fence line, wondered what craziness I was up to, cutting off the top of a tree and replacing it with a dilapidated  umbrella.  Had the umbrella been visible from the street, I’m sure my aggressive HOA would have demanded that I take the umbrella down.

I waited and observed from a distance to see if the parents would return to the nest.  The parents soon returned, but were very cautious, spending much time watching from a perch on the privacy fence near the tree stub, fluttering near the nest, but not landing.  After an extended period of caution,  the parents finally accepted the new location of the nest and resumed caring for the baby chicks.

Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.

As the chicks grew, I began to take a few photos, documenting their progress.  The photos are not great, but serve to illustrate this event.

Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.

The chicks developed, growing feathers, becoming more vociferous in their demands for food and beginning to venture just outside the confines of the nest.

Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chick in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 220mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.

One day, I found one of the young birds on the ground.  I could not leave it there for fear of neighbors’ cats, that frequented our yard, finding and making a meal of the young bird.  I picked up the foundling, which complained loudly, as I tried to place it back into the nest, while being attacked by the parents, with all the baby birds screaming for help.  While I managed to get the one bird back into the nest, another one was frightened out of the nest and onto the ground.

Bluejay Chick, prematurely out of its nest. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.

Realizing that any attempt to put the second baby bluejay back into the nest would probably result in another one jumping out, I decided that I had to put those that left the nest into something other than the nest, from which they could not easily escape and hope that the parents would still take care of them.

I had several plastic bins supplied by a recycling service, so I decided one of those would by suitable.  I could not leave the bin on the ground, where the baby birds would be easily accessible to the neighbors’ cats, so I secured the bin to the tree trunk.  This arrangement worked – for awhile.

Bluejay Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 145mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 130mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.

Eventually, all of the chicks ended up in the recycle bin.

We lived in an area subject to heavy rains and tropical storms.  Late one night one of those strong thunderstorms blew in and I knew the baby birds were getting pounded by the rain.  The next morning I went out to check on the birds.  Much to my dismay, they had all perished in the storm.  There was standing water in the recycle bin, which did not have drainage holes in the bottom.  There was not much water, but apparently enough that the exposure was fatal for the young birds that could not escape from the death trap that I had unwittingly made.

This was a great disappointment.  Those babies were so close to being ready to take flight on their own and my stupid mistakes had resulted in their deaths.

Such a simple experience, but it  remains with me, in a Bluejay purgatory.

I am reminded of the words of the poet, Robert Burns:

“The  best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!”

Ken

A Saturday in London

A few years ago after a week of business in a London office, I stayed over the weekend to photograph a few of the city scenes.  London is a great city with much history, centuries old buildings and modern architecture.  There are wonderful museums, which take much time to completely enjoy.

I had no firm plans for what to see, but my wife and I had spent a week+ here a few years prior, so I had enough of a conception of the area to just wander about and I was familiar with the subway system.

I was there just a few days after a major riot in one area of the city.  So I knew an area to avoid, at least.  The taxi driver that brought me from the airport to my hotel was quiet talkative and condemning of the rioting.

As usual in a large city, there were lots of local people and tourist out and about on Saturday.  As I was photographing sights along the Thames, a couple of Japanese men stoped near me.  The older one had a Nikon camera, one of the newest D series professional models, and a bulbous, wide-angle prime lens.  I only had my consumer model Nikon D90.  The older man did not speak English, speaking to me in Japanese, emphasizing his camera and lens, via his motions.  The younger man, his son, translated for his dad.  I was complementary about his camera gear, asking humorously, if he wanted to trade with me, offering to include my tripod, since he did not have one with him.  Of course, he scoffed, in Japanese, at that notion.  Anyway, I guess that I did not look like a typical tourist to the older man, with my photo vest and tripod, and I think that impression led him to speak to me.  So if you want to attract attention while traveling, carry camera gear, not a just point and shoot or camera phone.

Earning a few hard earned coins in the sand along the Thames in London.

At one place along the Thames, where the river bank was very sandy, there were local artists creating sand sculptures with tip containers on prominent display. The observers showed their appreciation of the artists’ work by tossing coins at the tip containers.  It looks like very few tossed coins hit the intended target, but one artist had a good idea with a blanket or tarp under the target to make it easier to find the coins that missed the target.

I wanted to get down to the Thames bank to walk along it, but I was concerned about the local tides.  It appeared to be low tide now, but there were limited access points from the tidal wall along the bank and I did not want to get trapped by a rising tide.

At a quiet interval along the river walk, I found a young lady sitting on steps that went down to the river bank.  I stopped to ask her about the local tides.  She did not have any knowledge of the tide schedule, but she said her boyfriend probably knew, as she pointed out a young man walking along the bank.  She also told me that her boyfriend did volunteer archaeological work along the river bank and had found an old cannon and numerous minor objects.

I went down to the bank and approached the young man, explaining why I was there.  He did not know the tidal schedule, but he gave me a good reference that I could check online.  I asked what he was looking for and he pulled a few small objects from his pocket that he had picked up there.  The only one of those objects that I recall was a small button, that he said was from a sailors uniform.  He also showed me a few other items along the bank, broken china and clay tobacco pipes cemented together in the river sediment.  He said it was not uncommon to find an occasional Roman coin.

I thanked him for his information, decided to take a chance and continued walking along the bank.  More aware of the treasures that might be lying around, I scanned the bank as I walked along, not finding anything, other than broken recent China dishes, probably discarded from a local restaurant or dwelling.  As I came back this way, I looked for the clay pipes, thinking I should at least get a photo, but I could not find the pipes again.

Green algae growing on timbers and hardware along the Thames River, London.

Judging by the height of the walls along the river bank, the water level must get rather high at times.

A heavy duty chain on a bank of the Thames River in London.
The remnant of an old pier along the Thames River in London.

As I walked along, the scattered clouds became more organized, threatening rain, so I abandoned the river bank and began to look for a temporary shelter as a light rain began.  It was past normal lunch time and I need sustenance, so I found a restaurant to shelter in, hoping the rain would pass, as I enjoyed a meal.

A modern art sculpture of a knight adjacent to a London church.
London Bridge just after sunset.

After my late lunch, I continued exploring the local area along The Thames.  Near the Tower Bridge, a young man told me of a place on the opposite side of the river where I could get a different view of the bridge.  I walked across the bridge, following his directions, as well as I could remember them, finding a narrow passageway between buildings, going through an iron fence gate, that clanged shut behind me, into a large secluded plaza along the bank behind what appeared to be upscale apartments.  I was alone there in the early evening, with only one young couple coming into the area and they did not linger long.  Maybe I spooked them away.  It was eerie being alone there in the dark and I had seen almost nobody along the streets I had taken to find this plaza.  I could not help thinking this would be a good place for a mugging, dumping a body in the Thames, and I hastened away, perhaps not spending as much time as needed to get the best photo here.

A night view of the Tower Bridge.

I did not like the construction cranes and other industrial features that were more visible near the bridge from this vantage point, but I managed to get a muted night shot of the bridge from a different point of view than the normal tourist would see.  I’m not happy with the exposure, which was difficult with this high contrast scene.  The long red line in the lower right of the photo is London Bridge.

As I retreated from the plaza and approached the bridge, I stopped below it to get this shot:

Tower Bridge from below

I like this image of a portion of the bridge, since it is from a perspective not often photographed.

I continued across the bridge to the opposite bank and began my walk back to my hotel.

London Bridge’s red light and reflections in the Thames River

Stay safe and well,

Ken

 

Once Upon a Sunday in London

A few years ago I had to make a business trip to London, staying in Charring Cross.  When my grueling and stressful business task was completed there,  it was late in the week,  so I stayed over the weekend to photograph some of the city scenes.  I am not really a big city person, preferring wide open space with few people, and city photography is really not my thing, but London is one of the great cities of the world with much history and much to see, so I could not resist this opportunity.

Early on a Sunday morning, after breakfast in the hotel restaurant, I gathered my camera gear and went out to walk around looking for interesting places to photograph.  It was not nearly as early as I would get out for landscape photography, but still the early morning city was quiet and the streets and sidewalks mostly empty.

I stopped a couple of times to photograph the empty street scenes, as I worked my way towards Buckingham Palace.

An empty London sidewalk early one Sunday morning. Reminds me of the phrase “sleeping city sidewalk” in the song “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, written by Kris Khristopherson
Early one Sunday morning at London’s Admiralty Arch.

I walked on through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace, where people began to gather for the traditional changing of the guards ceremony.  The British are big on ceremony and they do them well in a big way, too.

Crowd begin to gather at Buckingham Palace for the Changing Of The Guard’s ceremony.

I shot a few handheld images near the tall iron fence around the palace, before the crowd got too dense, then I retreated in an effort to find a place to set up my tripod in preparation for shooting the ceremony.

A close up of a portion of Buckingham Palace, London.
This is an actual security guard at Buckingham Palace, not one of the ceremonial ones.  I was a little apprehensive as I made this shot, hoping they would not think I was casing the security.

Just a sidelight:  One of the camera accessories that I previously used quite often, before getting a camera with a built in horizon tilt indicator,  is a triaxial bubble level in the camera’s hot shoe.  I was using one this day with the camera on a tripod.  For some reason, this little accessory always attracts attention and many view it as some magical green cube; but a few do recognize it as a leveling device and ask about it.  Today was no different.  A young British man asked me where I got this accessory.  I’m sure it is available from many camera stores, but I told him that I got it via Amazon.  He repeated Amazon in a questioning manner, as if he had not heard of Amazon.  So I reassured him that Amazon was my source, but that he could find it elsewhere.

Landscaped garden area near Buckingham Palace.
Horse Guards in the Changing of the Guards ceremony, London.

It is not easy to photograph during the ceremony, due to the crowd and people moving about so much, so I did not get the quality images that I had hoped for.  Unlike stationary landscapes, people move too much for my photography preferences.

After the ceremony, I continued my walk, heading towards the River Thames, finding this whimsical nautical piece of art in a large mall area.

A whimsical piece of art in a London mall area.

Late in the day I photographed along the Thames at London Bridge, The Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

The Tower of London as seen from across the Thames.
London’s Tower Bridge in late day sunlight.
London Bridge just after sunset.

Since these are all such iconic landmarks in London, I’m sure none of these photographs are unique and these represent a very minor portion of the many impressive sights in this magnificent city.

Thanks for following and stay tuned for the day before in London,

Ken

 

 

 

 

Glacier National Park – Summer 2009

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is preventing me from getting out, I am resorting to blogging about events from years ago.  I have selected a 2009 visit to Glacier National Park in Montana for this post.  I accompanied two of my sons on this trip.

There are two entrances to Glacier NP, one on the west side and one on the east.  Having never been here before, we did not know which side would be best.  We selected the west entrance, since there were more choices of lodgings in West Glacier that were just outside the west entrance.

Even though our lodging facility was old, it had its advantages, with separate cabin like units.  Our unit had two bedrooms with three beds and a small kitchen.

The big disadvantage to staying outside the park is the distance (as much as 50 miles +/-) one has to travel to get to sites within this really large park.  Even staying in one of the lodges within the park would still involve considerable travel time to some locations. There was also construction on the main road, Going to the Sun Road, in the park.  The construction was scheduled for night work to minimize travel disruption, with hours posted for closing and reopening the road.  However, the actual work sometimes ran beyond the posted opening time, which delayed us early one morning, resulting in our not getting to our destination in time for our planned sunrise shoot.

The unplanned delay at the road construction point resulted in an interesting experience.  We were not the only early risers there waiting for the road to reopen.  Another photographer came over our vehicle and chatted with us.  He eventually gave up waiting and turned around to go somewhere else.  We asked the worker with the stop sign about the reopening time, expressing our disappointment that the posted reopen time was being delayed, explaining that we were photographers trying to get to a location before sunrise.  That worker talked to the site supervisor, came back to tell us they would open a detour around the work for us within a few minutes and they did.  So maybe the next time you are held up at a road construction site, you might try claiming to be an important photographer on a critical time schedule!

In the summer the days are long with early morning sunrise and late evening sunsets.  We typically had to arise around 2:30 – 3:00 AM to get to our sunrise destinations.  We hiked numerous trails during the midday hours, then were out late getting sunset shots, returning to our lodging around 11PM.  So one can easily do the math and see that we only got a few hours of sleep each day.  After a few days of this we were so exhausted, that upon trying to arise very early one morning, we all decided that we just could not continue at that pace and decided to sleep in one morning.

The trails within the park are through some amazing scenery.  Most are not too strenuous, but any trudging uphill while carrying a load can be tough, especially for one 60+ years of age and accoustomed to walking on flat land at sea level.  We hiked a total of 60+/- miles over the coarse of about a week here.  Since there are many bears in this park and many bear sightings had been reported by hikers, we carried bear spray, tried to stay fairly close together and make noise to alert any nearby animals of our presence.  We were told that bears tend to move away from human noises and we hoped that was true.  We did not encounter or even see any bears on any of our hikes, so either they were not nearby or we scared them away.

I did walk by a very large female moose on one hike through a wooded area and would not even have seen it had not one of my sons alerted me to its presence, only a few feet from us.

We saw numerous mountain goats, which seem mostly used to human presence, not running away from either vehicles or foot traffic.

I was much more of a novice photographer back then, so many of my photos from this trip are not up to my current standards and I do not have any raw digital images from these early years to improve via editing.  The images referenced here are mostly unimproved jpeg images as they came out of the camera.  And one will have to follow the links to view them on my Flickr page.

I cannot recall all of the trails that we traveled, but I’ll reference a few with photographs.

Avalanche Gorge

The trail along Avalanche Gorge is mostly through a wooded area along a lovely, cascading creek.  This trail is in the Lake McDonald area in the western part of the park.

The hike to Virginia Falls is in the St. Mary area of the park towards the eastern side.

Virginia Creek Cascades

Virginia Creek Cascades2

Virginia Creek Cascades3

I recall a humorous encounter along the trail past the Virginia Creek cascades.  The trail was mostly an easy one and there was a group of teenagers hiking it.  As we (all considerably well beyond our teenage years) rapidly overtook a couple of the female teenagers, they moved over for us to pass, commenting that they were getting out of our way, since they saw we were photographers and we were able to move much faster than they could, too.  We noted that carrying camera gear with tripods got hikers’ attention and they tended to yield to us.  I guess this is one benefit to lugging that heavy equipment on a trail hike.

Virginia Falls

Virginia Falls2

Running Eagle Falls

Running Eagle Falls is on the west side of the park in the Two Medicine area.  When the water level in the stream feeding the falls is high, Running Eagle Falls is a two level falls with water going over two levels.  The second level is at the top of the rock face above the falls seen in the Running Eagle Falls image.

There are numerous falls and cascades that can be viewed just by driving along the Going to the Sun Road.

Haystack Creek

Haystack Creek2

These views of Haystack Creek are from the Going to the Sun Road, where the roadway crosses over the creek.

Lunch Creek

It was a foggy, overcast day at Lunch Creek.  This view is from the Going to the Sun Road.

Hidden Lake

Hidden Lake Trail is near the Logan Pass Visitor Center.

Grinnell Glacier Trail is in the Many Glacier Valley, with seemingly unending scenic views.

Grinnell Glacier Trail1

Grinnell Glacier Trail2

Grinnell Glacier Trail3

Grinnell Glacier Trail4

Grinnell Falls

Grinnell Glacier

A short 1 mile trail leads to Apikuni Falls in Many Glacier Valley, but the trail is very steep, requiring considerable effort to hike up to the falls.

Apikuni Falls

There are lovely cascades along Barring Creek trail in St. Mary Valley.

Barring Creek1

Barring Creek2

At Barring Falls, I found a way to get onto a ledge below a rock overhang to get this view of the falls.  One can see by the wetness on the rocks in the foreground that the spray from the falls reached this location.

Barring Falls

Barring Falls2

After shooting at the ledge, my oldest son took my place there.  The second image of the falls shows the ledge location.

The trail to Iceberg Lake and Ptarmigan Falls are in the Many Glacier Valley.

Iceberg Lake

Ptarmigan Falls

I had to stand on a steep slope just above the falls to get this shot of Ptarmigan Falls.  There was no (safe) way to get below the falls and even the steep slope upon which I stood was precarious.

Ptarmigan Creek Cascade

One of the prettiest hikes in the park is the Highline Trail in the St. Mary area.  It is also a long, almost 12 miles, hike oneway and  is best done as a shuttle hike.  Since we only had one vehicle, when we arrived back at the Going to the Sun Road at The Loop, we either had to hike a long way along the road or hitch a ride to our vehicle.  Since we were all tired from the trail hike, we elected not to walk the roadway.  Instead, my oldest son got a ride with other hikers to his vehicle.

This was an epic trip for me, yet there are many portions of this large park that I have not visited and this post does not cover all that we experienced in this stunningly beautiful national park.

Until next time and stay well and safe,

Ken

 

 

 

 

The Spring Photography Trip That Wasn’t

Happy Earth Day!

Early this year, my oldest son and I made plans for a late March trip into Arizona.  We were initially planning to spend several days in Tuba City, Arizona, photographing at Coal Mine Canyon and exploring the surrounding area.  Then we would travel to Marble Canyon, Arizona and spend several days there, traveling miles of BLM dirt roads to get to locations along the canyon.

I did considerable research via online maps and Google Earth, picking out potential places for photography.  A number of the places that I found promising near Marble Canyon were on Navaho Reservation land.  Knowing that permits might be necessary to access some of these areas, I began looking into permits for those areas and I found that those areas were closed by the Navaho Nation, due to the lack of respect shown to the area and failure to abide by access requirements by previous visitors.  While it would be possible to join an official Navaho tour for some areas, those tours are too restrictive for our purposes.  So I began to look into non-Navaho Reservation areas to visit and photograph.

During this process, my son called to inform me that he had heard from a friend that Tuba City had a very high crime rate and was not safe.  His friend had encountered problems there while stoping at a filling station and had to leave very quickly.  My son researched his friends claim about the high crime rate in Tuba City and verified the validity of that report.  I already had lodging reservations in Tuba City that I canceled and began looking into alternatives.

From earlier visits near Page, Arizona, we knew there were areas of photographic interest nearby.  So I made lodging reservations in Page, Arizona and began researching that area, finding many possibilities, some easy to get to and others that required longer and more careful travel on unmaintained roads.

Links to photos from a 2010 visit to areas west of Page, Arizona:

Hoodoo Area West of Page, Arizona

Toadstools West of Page, Arizona

XXX Hoodoo West of Page, Arizona

When the 2010 photos were taken, I was much more interested in hiking and seeing unusual geological features than in photography, so those images are not what I would expect to make today.

After all this planning, the Covid-19 pandemic became much more of a concern and we decided it best to cancel our plans.  I had not only been looking forward to seeing and photographing new landscapes areas, I also needed new photos for this blog.  So now I have to either dig up old photographs to continue a regular blog or suspend regular blogging, until such a time that I can get out and about safely to gather new materiel.

I am including a few links to sites with information about places we had hoped to get to and a few teaser photographs from the general areas.

Coal Mine Canyon by Jeanny Muller.

Marble Canyon by Dave Coppedge

On the positive side, I have plenty of research on these area and will be prepared for potential visits in the future.

Best wishes to you all and stay safe,

Ken

When there seems to be nothing of interest to photograph

During a stay in a rental house near Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, I took a walk down a steep, narrow road to scout the local area.  According to my map, there should be a portion of the lake within walking distance and I hoped to find a great scenic area to photograph.

As I hiked down the steep roadway, I began to think how glad I was not to be carrying heavy camera gear, since I could tell that the walk back up the steep incline would be strenuous.

There were woods on both sides of the roadway with a steep drop off into a drainage on one side.  As I walked along, looking for anything worthy of a photograph, I began to notice that the deep ravine had been used as a local dumping place for old appliances and automobile tires.  A practice, which I hope is now abandoned.  This drainage goes directly into Lake Cumberland and the pollution from those dumped items cannot be good for the health of the lake or those using it for recreation and as a water source.  Unfortunately, I know there must be many such dumping areas around this lake.

At a sharp curve in the paved road, I could see evidence of vehicle traffic continuing through the wooded area, so I left the paved roadway and walked along that path.  At the end of that beaten path was a circular area that had obviously been used as a campsite.

There was a faint foot path from the campsite downhill through the woods.  I followed that steeply dipping path and came to an area where I could see a wide open area, where I had hoped to find a Lake.  What I actually found was an overflow area for the lake, a broad muddy valley with a narrow stream of water cutting through it, with more evidence of dumped items, a large tractor tire, an automobile tire and widely scattered containers.  This was very disappointing, as I wanted to see a big body of water with interesting surroundings.

Nevertheless, I made a few iPhone photos with trees and rock outcrops in the foreground, hoping to be able to make something look interesting.  Nothing I did worked, until I looked down near where I stood on a rocky ledge at the edge of the overflow area. There I saw gnarly roots, leaves and exposed rocks from which I got this image.

Kentucky Roots
Gnarly roots in a Kentucky forest. iPhone photograph with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

If this were a little later in the fall, the leaves would have been more colorful and made for a more interesting photo, but I still like the pattern of the roots, the color and texture of the roots and the color in the exposed rock near the upper left side.

Sometimes we just need to look down and around to find an interesting photographic composition.

Click on the image to view a better image on my Flickr page.

I hope you are all staying safe and well in the Cove-19 Pandemic,

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Last Post in this Series

This is a continuation of my visits to Indiana covered bridges in October, 2019.  I am including multiple bridges in this post, due to the limited photographic opportunities at these bridges.

The Edna Collins Bridge (follow the link to read more about the haunting of this bridge) is a short bridge along a narrow paved roadway.  I parked on the side of the road, after getting out to check to be sure it was safe to pull onto the steeply dipping shoulder.

Edna Collins Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

There was no way to get down into the creek to shoot a side view.  The bridge is aligned approximately east-west, so shooting from the west side in the late afternoon was best.

Leaving Edna Collins, I drove to Crooks Bridge.  There is much confusion about the history of this bridge.  Follow the embedded link to read about it.  This seemed to be a popular bridge on one of the Covered Bridge Festival routes, as there was a fair amount of tourist traffic that I had to contend with as I looked for ways to shoot it.  My shots from one end at an angle to the bridge, resulted in a very tilted look that I could not adequately correct.  I also attempted to shoot from a low water, concrete crossing beside the bridge, but I could not get anything worth sharing from that perspective, looking into the afternoon sunlight.  Finally, I walked down the steep slope on the northwest corner of the bridge into the creek bed, from which I got this shot:

Crooks Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/400s, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

From Crooks Bridge, I continued to McAllister Bridge.   I parked at a pull off area and began to walk around the bridge checking out various view points before getting out my camera gear.  On my way back to the vehicle to get my gear, another car pulled up and a couple of ladies emerged and began walking towards the bridge.  As they passed me one said, “Houston”.  It was obvious that she had seen my Texas license plate.  I thought that she was asking, if I was from Houston, but she was actually telling me that she was from Houston and went on to say she was visiting relatives in the area.  I had lived in Katy, in the western portion of the greater Houston area and of course she knew about Katy.  Such a small world.

Shooting options at McAllister were limited.  I could see no way to get any interesting shots and I ended up with common views.  This image, shot from the edge of the roadway, looking up at the front and side of the bridge, is the most interesting perspective that I got.

McAllister Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 125, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Continuing on my way, I stopped at Neet Bridge, but I could see no way to get interesting shots today, so I continued to Roseville.  I experienced the same at Roseville, but I did make a few images with my iPhone, drove across the bridge, just because I was there, turning around and crossing it again to head towards Harry Evans Bridge.

Roseville Covered Bridge. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Many of the covered bridges have the “Cross this bridge at a walk” warning, but I saw no vehicles heeding this advice.  Most went much faster than I can walk and I can walk fast.

It was getting late in the day and the settings for the last few bridges that I visited were not interesting, so I did not bother getting out my DSLR and shot with my iPhone.  Some of these might be more interesting to shoot later in the fall or winter.

Harry Evans Covered Bridge. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Harry Evans Covered Bridge. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

By the time I got to the Zacke Cox Bridge, it was very late in the afternoon and time to begin the drive back to my wife’s cousin’s house.

Zacke Cox Covered Bridge. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

This is the last of the October, 2019 covered bridges posts.  Maybe I will get back to this area in the fall of 2020 and have opportunities  to see more of the covered bridges.

Until next time,

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Dick Huffman Bridge

The third stop on day two of photographing Indiana covered bridges was the Dick Huffman Bridge.  I’m including a link to another bloggers site for his coverage of this bridge, rather than my usual links to an official government site.

Dick Huffman Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

As I was making my first shots of this bridge a number of vehicles crossed at intermittent intervals, stirring up dust, which I had to wait to clear.  One pickup truck stopped just passed the bridge.  The driver got out and walked towards the bridge.  As he passed, he said he was going to check the water flow.  I thought maybe he was doing some sort of official survey.  As I walked back through the bridge and was passing him, he explained that the following day was the youth duck hunting season opening and that he was taking his son duck hunting by putting a boat in at another location and floating down the creek.  He had hopped to not have to paddle the boat, but the flow looked very minimal, so he was going to have to paddle down the creek.

Dick Huffman Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The bridge is not really leaning as much as it appears in the above photograph.  Shooting from this angle the wide angle distortion accentuates the tilt and I could not remove it without tilting the roadway in the process.

Back on the other side of the bridge, I walked through the wooded area bordering the creek and found a way to get down into the creek.  It was a little muddy along the creek edge, but I managed to avoid the worst of the mud.  However, I had a limited area in which I could move around in the muddy channel, unless I wanted to get really muddy.

Dick Huffman Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The log makes a good leading line object, but I wish I could have gotten closer to the bridge.

Until next time,

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Houck Bridge

The second bridge I visited in my second day of photographing Indiana covered bridges in October, 2019 was Houck Bridge.  Although Houck Bridge seems to be in very good condition, it has been by passed and is now closed to traffic.

Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 400, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

One can still walk through the bridge, but not drive through it.  Access to the creek level is most easily gained from the west side.  There is also a sizable parking lot on the west side of the bridge, so I am guessing that this bridge is now set up as a prime tourist attraction.  A couple of people did come and go, while I was here.

The interior photograph is an HDR image made from multiple exposures.

Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, multiple exposures, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Houck Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/125s, ISO 640, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Next up: Dick Huffman Bridge.

Ken

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Oakalla Covered Bridge

After a day of other activities, I took another afternoon to visit more covered bridges in an area east of Indianapolis, Indiana.  I started at Oakalla Bridge, just south of the last bridge (Dunbar) that I had visited during my first day of shooting covered bridges.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 22mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I think most of the covered bridges have some graffiti on or around them and Oakalla Bridge seems to be popular with those who like to mark things with graffiti.  I saw some evidence of graffiti being painted over on the exterior of the bridge and other graffiti in the interior.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 18mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

It is also easy to get down into the creek channel from one side of the bridge.  The long log in the creek below the bridge even has graffiti on it.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

There was plenty of room to move around on the wide sandy bank on one side of the bridge.  I made numerous images from this area, but in the end, I only chose a couple of those as most representative of the bridge and its setting to include in this post.

Oakalla Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 100, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

More on Indiana covered bridges to come,

Ken