Colorful Cabin

A cabin in a field of yellow.
(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

Scarey Guy Stands Guard

Not sure what this it is... It's either a scarey looking frog or a real ugly bug. At any rate it is standing guard in a flower garden. It probably works too - I imagine as the birds fly down to pick up the seeds they see this guy and say to themselves, "what is...". And, as they are distracted they fly into a wall. [I just made that up - this guy may be there just to make visitors say, "that's so ugly it's cute."].
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St. Patrick

St. Patrick's Catholic Church, St. Patrick, MN.
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Wind Crop

2nd only to California Iowa's newest crop is wind energy.
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Minnesota Mobile Home

We've been visiting in Minnesota the last several days and I have shot at least 150 photographs. The difficulty is now which one do I use for the photo of the day? I have chosen to go with a bit of levity, so pictured above is a Minnesota Mobile Home (my apologies to any Minnesotan who may see this - but with all the Iowa jokes...).

To view a series of other photos you can visit my Flicker Photos.
(Click on the photograph to view a large image).

Geometric Shapes

Rectangles


Circles
I went to a middle school concert last night where my grand daughter Ania was performing. Since grandpas always take cameras to such events I was ready to take pictures. As I was sitting in the auditorium I noticed interesting shapes in the room. I shot in black and white - just 'cause...
(Click on a photo to view a larger image).

Ania's Artwork

I'm in Minneapolis, MN attending a Credit Union seminar. As a side benefit I also get to visit my daughters and grand daughters (Ania (12), Emily (10), Abbie (8) and Ellie (5)). Now, when you are with grand kids their are tons of photo ops - but, the above art work taped on a door got my attention. Ania showed me several pieces of her art and I do believe she is a budding artist.
(Click on the photo for a larger image).

Spring Color

I just love the color green and add red, white and blue and it's a perfect combination.
(Click on the photo for a larger view).

Grocery Shopping - Robin Style

As I was continuing my safari I had the opportunity to view the food chain at work. Mr. Robin had completed his kill and was standing guard. Right after this picture was shot he took off with a moutful [beak full] presumably to feed his family.

(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

Backyard Safari

I've been roaming around my yard on what I call my "Safari" in search of photo opportunities. The top photo is a photo of a bleeding heart. [As a quick side note - I have not planted these and grown them on purpose. I have a black thumb and if I had planted these and wanted them to grow - they would have died.]

My last attemp to grow something was right after we moved into the house. I thought pampus grass was cool so I bought some, planted it and waited. It grew, grew, and grew. Then one day my sister-in-law came over and asked about the patch of weeds in back. It seems the pampus grass had died somewhere along the line and I was culvating some sort of giant weed. I did think it looked funny - but, I just thought it was going to morph into grass...


Does anyone know the name of this flower? (Don't tell me if it's a weed - just make up a name!!)
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Dandelion

I used to see the "ugly" dandelion. You know - the one that was no longer yellow and was about ready to spread the seeds. But, now looking through the camera lens I see some gorgeous colors.

I had to post 2 photos again. Actually this one was the top photo and I painted it with Corel Paint4 software.
(Click on a photo to view a larger image).

Huey

I made a return visit to the Sullivan Brothers Museum with my new wide angle lens and took some new photos. This Huey is NOT a replica. The back half is missing - but the front half is real - including the caked on bugs...
(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

Changes Over Time

2009
There is a tree behind Trinity Episcopal Parish which we have called "Trini-tree". The parish has watched this tree grow over time -and, die over time. Kind of mirrors life...


2005




Unknown (Photo courtesy of Brandon Nieman)
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Candid Cookie Shot

My brother-in-law Robert passed away last Saturday and we had the funeral yesterday. During a lighter moment after the service my sister-in-law Carol was clowning around with a cookie. [People need to be careful when there's a photographer with a camera in the room]

In Bloom

Note the water droplets...
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Irritated Customer

This little guy came up to the credit union's front door - knocked on the window, waited, layed down, knocked on the window, and then left in a huff when we refused service.
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Music

I was hired to do a photoshoot Saturday night and part of the program was young musicians.




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Wide Angle

I have a new lens in my tool box - a Tamron F/3.5 10-24mm Wide Angle. It works great - but (why does there always have to be a but?) it has been giving me an occasional communication error on the camera. Not every time, but often enough to bug me. So, I am going to exchange it on Monday and hope the relacement works with no hitches.
(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

May Day

On the way home from work the clouds were gorgeous, so I pulled into a parking area and took a photo.


An interesting shape and color.



A remainder (or reminder) of winter.
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Silhouette

A silhouette of a photographer against the sunset.
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Motion

Motion + Photo = video - that is what most people believe. Is it possible to depict motion in a still photo? Yes - take a picture of a 3 year old.



As a follow up to my post about the Robin's Nest. It appears that our Robins failed their course in engineering and their condo collapsed. The good news is that were no eggs in the wreckage on the driveway.
(Click on a photo to view a larger image).

Hands

Some pictures just beg to be taken.
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A Robin Condo

A Robin condo. This is really quite an engineering feat as they have bulit their nest on a round platform. I don't have the heart to knock it down, so I will let nature takes its course. I'll also keep the light off so the eggs don't cook...
(Click on the photo for a larger image).

An Engineer In the Making

"M-m-m-m-, I wonder what would happen if I poked this in there?"
(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

Mini-Reunion

We were in Iowa City wandering around downtown whre there was a small ballet troupe performing and I caught this young lady mid air.
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Spring Is Here - No, Really!!!

Spring Flower


Singing a spring song


New life

Dare I believe that spring is really here? There are signs every where.
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Mount Mercy College

A view of the Administration Building, Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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Sunset on Golf Course

We were driving home from choir last night and I noticed the sun setting on the golf course. I did a bat turn in traffic so I could get a picture. As I was printing this last night I noticed a bird at the top of the tree in the middle - it's probably an Eagle "taunting" me. I'll get a good picture of an Eagle some day...


I was playing around with the photo and ended up painting it with Corel Paint4. It turned out pretty good.
(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

Flower

This is in my front yard - both my wife and I have brown thumbs and if we try to plant it, grow it, or cultivate it, it [flowers, trees, shrubs, vegtables] dies... So, when nature plants it and grows it- in our yard - we must take a picture.
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Quaker Oats

A view of the Quaker Oats Plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I wonder what they're making - cheerios?

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Patriot's Day

Today is Patriot's Day - and in honor of that here is a photo of the Sullivan Brothers Veteran's Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.

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Mount Mercy College Admin Building

The photography club I belong to in Cedar Rapids did a night photo shoot at Mount Mercy College. A college had a staff member take us around to a couple of locations. This shot was taken from the penthouse floor in one of the dorms and is a view of the top of the administration building taken at sunset.

(Click on the photo to view a larger image).

Rural Iowa

This is a photo of rural Iowa taken off of Highway 20 between Iowa Falls and Waterloo.

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In Search of Eagles, but...

...found only a pizza guy... It's surprising, but by carrying a camera around one can get some "different" photos that would otherwise fade into a memory.
(To view a larger image of "pzza Guy" click on the photo).

More Peppers

More peppers - I used Photoshop to isolate each color. Here is the series. I suppose I could have stretched this into 4 days worth of pictures - but, what fun is that? My favorite is the green as it is a crisper black and white. Yours...?

(Click on a photo to view a larger image).