Date: Sunday, January 31, 2010
Day 31 - Winter's Only Bloom
I shot this photograph of a fiber-optic lamp's flower, early this morning while playing around with long exposures on two different digital cameras. I fell back to my trusty Z740, simply because it created a better "star effect" on the ends of the fibers in the photos I shot this morning, although I also liked the focused closeups on the fibers created by the other camera.
Ultimately, I chose this photograph as my daily photo, due to its clarity and contrasting colors.
Actually, I photographed this lamp several years ago, and came away with a similar shot as this one, and I'll probably spend more time with it as a photographic subject in the future.
I think the hardest part photographing this lamp, was catching the timing just right, so it would photograph only the white light, instead of the lamp turning various colors, which is the normal operation of the lamp itself.
I can't believe it has already been a full month, since I started my 365 Project. I would like to shoot more photographs of people for my daily 365, but I'm not that good of a people photographer, plus, most of the people I am around, are loathe to let me post their photos on the web. :-)
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Sunday, January 31, 2010 @ 9:04 PM
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Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Day 30 - Moonlight Mysticism
Since the moon was so bright last night I decided to shoot some long exposure shots of shadows falling off the trees at 4AM. This is a shot of the shadow cast from a huge cottonwood tree, with sparkling snow over the rest of the photograph mixed in with foot/hoof prints of people and critters, where the shadow was not cast. Although I shot some long exposure panoramic photos of the road out front that actually turned out better, I like this one, because of the glitter and shadows, created only from moonlight, so this is my daily photo.
Interestingly, many of these photos, took on an almost purple tone to them.
I love this time of night, as it was quiet except for the sounds of nature. I could hear a mule deer stomping around in the back field, but I could not catch sight of it. That and the occasional popping sound a pine tree makes as the temperatures plummet. After shooting for 45 minutes, as I was coming back inside, I saw the mule deer hop the back fence and I did manage to set up quickly and catch a shot of it, but she moved during the exposure, making her appear as an apparition.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Saturday, January 30, 2010 @ 5:22 PM
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Date: Friday, January 29, 2010
Day 29 - After Dinner Spears
I wasn't really happy with any of the photographs I shot today, so I went ahead and shot even more macros around the house. I shot this image of toothpicks in a toothpick holder, and found it fairly interesting, so I chose it for my daily photo for today. But I just barely made it, since I almost failed to get a decent photograph to post before midnight.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Friday, January 29, 2010 @ 10:33 PM
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Date: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Day 28 - Afternoon Delight
The moon was out in full force this afternoon, and I shot some photographs of the moon, crows trying to roost in the trees and other things. This shot of the moon, shining brightly through the trees this afternoon, struck my fancy, and consequently turned out to be my daily photo.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Thursday, January 28, 2010 @ 8:06 PM
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Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Day 27 - The Man In Black - A Self Portrait
I'm not really known for shooting photographs of people, let alone self-portraits, but I thought I would post a photograph of myself for a change, as my daily photo.
Today was cloudy, cold, the light was fading, plus it was extremely quiet outside, and I wasn't really shooting very many photographs, so I thought I'd shoot a few self-portraits, for posterity's sake. I didn't break my camera lens with this shot, so I thought I'd post it.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 @ 10:26 PM
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Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Day 26 - Fairlead
A close-up of the roller Fairlead and cable, for a winch on an ATV. The winch is used in the winter to raise and lower the plow blade on the ATV and the bottom Fairlead roller shows a significant amount of wear from that particular use.
I didn't have the opportunity to shoot very many photographs today, just around 60, as life interrupted my photography again. I need to set aside a time so I can explore more and expand my photographic horizons a bit. :-)
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 @ 7:34 PM
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Date: Monday, January 25, 2010
Day 25 - Letters
It is absolutely hilarious trying to write a letter via pen & paper, when you've done it for so many years with the aid of computers. It is amusing and sad at the same time, that I have become so accustomed to using a computer for communication, that it is laborious to create a handwritten letter.
Sometimes, mod-cons like computers can take us back a step in "evolution" as in this type of situation.
The quote in my stationery letterhead comes from a letter written by Vincent van Gogh to his younger brother, Theo van Gogh in July, 1880.
"There may be a great fire in our soul, but no one ever comes to warm himself by it, all that passers-by can see is a little smoke coming out of the chimney, and they walk on." -Vincent van Gogh
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Monday, January 25, 2010 @ 8:05 PM
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Date: Sunday, January 24, 2010
Day 24 - Breathless
This Mock Orange bush has been of interest to me lately, as the artwork of ice created by snow melting off the roof, has been extraordinary.
In this photograph, a twig is totally encapsulated in ice. What I found interesting, is the twig appeared to be trying to "breathe," with little bubbles visible in the ice, surrounding the ends of the twig.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Sunday, January 24, 2010 @ 7:06 PM
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Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Day 23 - Blend
Autumn leaves that failed to drop off a Mock Orange bush, fit well into the winter landscape, as they have become an integral, blended ingredient in Winter's natural ice sculptures.
I liked the bokeh on this photograph, as it had just enough focus in the background, for one to notice other branches and leaves on this bush were also coated with a layer of ice.
"Yeah, well, some people meditate, others have massages. I blend." - Robert Clayton Dean, Enemy of the State
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Saturday, January 23, 2010 @ 7:25 PM
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Date: Friday, January 22, 2010
Day 22 - Snow Nose
Again, life almost interrupts my 365 Project. I'm almost late in posting "Snow Nose," a photograph of a "driveway bear" that looks a little uneasy and confused about the buildup of snow on his nose from this morning's snow storm.
This photograph was shot after dark using a little longer exposure and lighting from security lights.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Friday, January 22, 2010 @ 7:59 PM
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Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Day 21 - Idle Time
I'm almost late in posting my daily photo. I got a bit sidetracked today, and had to focus on other things, but I managed to shoot over 200 photos around here, mostly macros of various objects. I settled on a macro of the lens for my Canon 35mm film camera. I had the camera sitting on the shelf in front of my print of Emptiness Of A Winter's Day photo, so I included part of that print in the shot.
This particular camera gathers dust very quickly for some reason, so I had it set out to clean again, as I'll be shooting with this camera in a couple of weeks during the Winter Carnival Ice-Sculpting contest, where I am going to challenge myself to shoot more photographs of people. :-)
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Thursday, January 21, 2010 @ 10:55 PM
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Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Day 20 - It's A Living Thing
Fire: It's a living thing It breathes, it eats, and it loves. I love sitting by a roaring fire, feeling the warmth of the flames during these cold winter nights.
This photo is more abstract than many I shoot, but I like the way the flames appear transluscent in this photograph.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 @ 6:07 PM
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Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Day 19 - Three Minutes To Midnight
Ok, so it wasn't really midnight when this photograph was shot. In fact it was shot in the middle of the day. The Grandfather clock ran down last night, and it quit just three minutes before the strike of midnight. I started out shooting macros of something else, when I looked at the clock, and thought, why not shoot some macros of the clock face and hands, at the time it stopped.
I'm kind of like the "Time Traveller" character in H.G. Wells', "The Time Machine," in respect to being fascinated with timepieces. Not that I fanatically collect them or anything like the Time Traveller, but they have a certain quality to them, that lends them to being interesting to me. So...I chose this particular macro as my daily photo.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 @ 5:03 PM
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Date: Monday, January 18, 2010
Day 18 - Silver Strands
This is a macro of a bench grinder's wire wheel.
Since I haven't been able to make the trip for long photowalks yet, I've been spending time shooting a lot of close-ups of things around me. Sometimes there are interesting things right under your nose, and you don't really think about them, until you macro photograph them.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Monday, January 18, 2010 @ 7:43 PM
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Date: Sunday, January 17, 2010
Day 17 - Memories Of A Summer Dance
This photo of a pair of last summer's Clematis blooms, kind of reminded me of a summer dance, with their stems twining together. I chose this one over some other macros as my daily photo.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Sunday, January 17, 2010 @ 7:26 PM
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Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010
Day 16 - Rolling Memorial
I spent a couple of hours today at the Armory building, photographing the Rocky Mountain Rebels Winter Car and Bike show, which is now part of the Wild West Winter Carnival here in Riverton.
This is a nice shot of a 1950 Willys Jeep CJ-3, which had been turned into a memorial for those who have served in the military. Along with the Jeep, there were many military-related memorabilia items accompanying the vehicle, including very old newspapers from Riverton and Casper.
I was a bit disappointed with my photos from this shoot, as there was plenty of light in the Armory, but many of my pictures just were not of the quality I would have liked. I should have exclusively used a flash and maybe I'd have been more happy with my photographs, as I think the lights in the armory played around with my shots more than I'd have liked.
I shot a half-roll of 35mm film at this event using a full flash, so maybe those photos will turn out better. I won't get those film shots developed until after the winter carnival is over in mid-February.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Saturday, January 16, 2010 @ 9:12 PM
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Date: Friday, January 15, 2010
Day 15 - Crystal Pine
We had a bit of fog this morning, and it left just enough of a coat of Rime Ice behind on this pine, to make it look as though crystals are growing on the needles of the tree.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Friday, January 15, 2010 @ 7:49 PM
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Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010
Day 14 - Through The Looking Glass
A macro shot looking through the fiber optic scope on my Martin Scepter II, 3-D archery tournament bow, with a ton of rabbit, deer and squirrel tracks in the background, closes out the 2nd week of my 365 Days project.
I've decided to try to start shooting archery again. It has been a long while since I've shot in any tournaments (3-1/2 years), especially since our local archery club collapsed not too long after I left my position with the club. Sad the club collapsed, but I wanted to focus more on my photography, than flinging arrows. Maybe I'll try to see if there is room for both...
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Thursday, January 14, 2010 @ 7:28 PM
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Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Day 13 - Wyoming Lineman
A squirrel navigates a power pole in my 13th daily photo.
I used to be have these types of critters eating out of my hands, but I had to start spraying them with water, after I got seriously bit by one of them.
It wasn't the critter's fault. It had been harassed by a Robin and I tried to feed it by hand after running off the Robin, but it chomped nicely on my finger instead of taking the treat I was trying to hand it. :-)
Needless to say, I don't feed them by hand any more, and they don't allow me very close these days.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 @ 5:39 PM
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Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Day 12 - Maker Of Spring
A poppy seed pod glows in the waning afternoon hours on another chilly winter day here in Riverton. I thought the bokeh on this photo was interesting, so I chose it for my daily photo.
Although it was a bit warmer today, it was still too cold to go out and do any real roaming with my cameras, so I'm trying to get the most I can out of garden shots.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 @ 5:22 PM
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Date: Monday, January 11, 2010
Day 11 - I Surrender
A concrete cactus garden ornament surrenders to the winter snow.
The snow continues to accumulate storm by storm, burying anything that can't move. It was a little warmer today, so perhaps we'll get a small respite from the winter snows and icy cold temperatures that have made this winter more rough than recent years.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Monday, January 11, 2010 @ 5:51 PM
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Date: Sunday, January 10, 2010
Day 10 - Scales
I've always been fascinated by pine cones for some reason. Maybe because they look cool, or maybe because they can explode when you throw them in a fire. :-)
It is still too cold to do any serious roaming, but I'm hoping that the weather will soon turn warmer so I can get out and start photographing more diverse subjects. We need a false spring, and it is about that time of year that we might be lucky enough to have one.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Sunday, January 10, 2010 @ 4:27 PM
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Date: Saturday, January 09, 2010
Day 9 - Buck-N-Rail
I shot this Buck and Rail fence heading down into a draw, nearby on my first real photowalk of the year. I covered about 2.3 miles, even though it was icy cold this afternoon, just barely into the double digits.
I don't think my camera enjoys extended periods of time in this freezing cold weather, but it managed to work well today. I'd like to get some better shots of this fence when it is a bit warmer.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Saturday, January 09, 2010 @ 5:42 PM
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Date: Friday, January 08, 2010
Day 8 - January Blues
It was frosty cold on this January afternoon. Even colder getting down on my hands and knees to shoot photographs, so it didn't take very long to get frostbitten fingers while shooting photographs today.
Just before the light started to fade for the afternoon, I managed to get this shot of last year's Chive blooms. When they bloomed, they were an amazing burst of color, but in this this photograph, they reflect January's blues.
The stillness and quiet of this icy afternoon accentuated this photograph for me, which is why I chose to post it for my daily photograph.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Friday, January 08, 2010 @ 5:33 PM
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Date: Thursday, January 07, 2010
Day 7 - Rogue Wave
The drifted snow glistened like an ocean in bright sunlight today, and I happened to spy this small Chinese Elm leaf, sitting on top of the snow, near a snow drift.
While l was looking at this photograph, I noticed the leaf kind of looked like a boat on the ocean, with a rogue wave nearby, threatening to swamp the small craft.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Thursday, January 07, 2010 @ 5:29 PM
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Date: Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Day 6 - Late Bloomer
While out shoveling the new snow we received today, I took a peppermint candy cane out with me to suck on, which I promptly I dropped in the snow and it ended up sticking out of the snow like a flower.
So I thought to myself that it would make a cool concept photo idea. I shot some photos of this hapless candy cane emerging from the snow like a late blooming flower.
Since Christmas has come and gone, I had to title this photograph "Late Bloomer," of course.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 @ 4:28 PM
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Date: Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Day 5 - Embedded
For my 5th daily photo, I chose a macro of a woven wire fence that had become embedded in the bark of a Chinese Elm tree, which had grown through the fence. The elm tree has steadily increased in size over the years, forcing the wire of the fence to succumb or be enveloped by the bark of the tree.
Given a couple more years, I suspect the elm tree will tear the fence completely apart.
This wasn't exactly the quality of shot I was hoping for, but the light has not been cooperative over the past few days. However, this photograph looked interesting enough with its DOF (Depth Of Field) to post as my photo of the day.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 @ 5:47 PM
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Date: Monday, January 04, 2010
Day 4 - The Last Minute
I wasn't feeling very well today, so I waited until the last minute to get my daily photo completed. I skipped all outdoor photography today, and instead focused on this inexpensive timepiece which has seen better days.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Monday, January 04, 2010 @ 9:09 PM
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Date: Sunday, January 03, 2010
Day 3 - Singing The Songs Of Spring
This close up shot of Lilac seed pods, kind of reminds me of a chorus singing songs. The songs of the Lilac are clearly about spring, when their blooms and fragrant smell, fill the air like a gently sung tune.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Sunday, January 03, 2010 @ 5:39 PM
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Date: Saturday, January 02, 2010
Day 2 - The Magic Hibernates
The Magic of Christmas is now in hibernation, as it burrows its way into the backs of our minds for another year.
Fortunately, we can always reach back into our photographs to relive the magic, until the magic finds its way back into our hearts, when the temperature drops, the snow begins to fall and the lights and colors of the season, awakens it out of its year-long slumber.
I used a little longer than normal exposure, and used a Maglite for a bit of reflective light painting within this shot.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Saturday, January 02, 2010 @ 12:08 PM
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Date: Friday, January 01, 2010
Day 1 - Merging - Organic and Inorganic
Well, I thought I'd try another Photo Of the Day Project, so here is day 1 for 2010.
It only took me about 180 shots to get a shot that was good enough to start me off on this project.
In this photograph, some tree leaves still attached to a twig, appear to be intertwined, perhaps even merging with a weather-beaten, woven-wire fence surrounding the field out back. Merging of the organic and the inorganic.
The tree leaves appear frozen in time, having never really reached that lustrous golden autumn color, due to the ice cold weather Riverton experienced during Autumn, which dashed all hopes for a colorful fall foliage photography season.
Categories: 365 Days
Posted On: Friday, January 01, 2010 @ 8:21 PM
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