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This is a shot from the Rim Trail, right outside the El Tovar Hotel.
www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/el-tovar-hotel/
If you've never been to the Grand Canyon the train trip is a great way to see the place. You'll have a 2 1/2 hour trip each way on the train and about 3 1/2 hours for exploring at the Canyon, more than enough time to take in the sights. We took the advice of Jim Frazier and booked the Luxury Parlor car which offers plenty of luxurious seating and amenities (for Niccy) and an outside observation platform (for me).
This is a combination of 4 shots, stitched into a panorama. To be quite honest it would really be a challenge to truly show just how massive the Canyon really is, hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea but the best way to truly experience it is in person.
BTW, this shot is SOOC other than the stitching and a pretty cool feature I found in my software i use to convert from TIFF to JPG called lens correction. For some reason my camera body sees this Tamron lens as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 which it definitely is not. The lens correction actually flattens the image just a bit and makes corrections that more closely represent the Tamron lens. This is also a handheld shot, I used the far rim as a guide to focus on!
1. and now testing another one, 2. IMG_0164, 3. Xristmas is her fave, 4. Learing by imitation
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Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
Now I might be wrong but in my mind LA (and San Francisco) is as far from the Delta as you can get!
Built in 2009, by Nichols Brothers Boatbuilders Incorporated of Seattle, Washington (hull #S-155) as the Delta Billie for Bay and Delta Maritime Services Incorporated of San Francisco, California.
In 2022, the tug was chartered to AmNAV Maritime Services of Oakland, California. A subsidiary of the Foss Maritime Company of Seattle, Washington. Where she retained her name.
Powered by two, Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines, with Rolls Royce US255 z-drives for a rated 6,800 horsepower.
Her electrical service is provided by one, 215kW generator set. Driven by a single, Caterpillar diesel engine. And, one, 50kW generator set. Driven by a single Caterpillar diesel engine. The tug's capacities are 70,000 gallons of fuel, 8,000 gallons of water, and 1,400 gallons of sewage.
The tug's towing equipment consists of a single drum, towing winch. Outfitted with 2.5(in) towing wire.
Got a glimpse of the Delta Billy and had to give her a shot, maybe she'll become Flickr Famous?
At f/8 I must've been shooting in AP mode. I still hadn't become the Master of My Domain!
I was bored so I tried something new...
Thanks to [https://www.flickr.com/photos/150442566@N07] for pointing out that I didn't label these...the original is on the left!
Nothing real exciting to shoot around the house so I decided to experiment with Gradient Masks. I like the way I can lighten the foreground and keep the background pretty much the same.
Two weeks till our next sojourn, planning on coming back with lots of good stuff!]
We were rocketing down the M3 and headed for London.
The bus ride from Southampton to Victoria Station is a little more than 2 hours and it's not very exciting. Lots of countryside with the occasional bunch of houses thrown in for good measure. Not ideal when you're in a new place and you've got an itchy shutter finger!
This is one of the houses we saw along the way. I call it a house in the loosest terms, more like a cobbled together shack. The solar panel is a nice touch but pretty ineffective considering the weather this day.
Unfortunately, I don't think it's creepy enough to make a Murder Shack although it is out in a place that no one would hear you scream and there are plenty of places to dispose of any unwanted visitors!
This was shot in (M)anual with a little lightening of the scene (tinted windows on the bus) and a small crop to remove some bits and bobs.
This is a real photograph taken with a real camera, and not created by AI.
This was a surprise for me, didn't even know I got them!
The storm last night finally brought us a decent amount of rain, at least here at the house. Plenty of lightning but up in the clouds for the most part. At least that's what I thought till this pair popped up on the monitor!
We've got a new Ramada at the upper pool and luckily enough that's where the majority of the lightning was showing up. Can be hard to shoot from since the wind was blowing the rain in under the cover but I didn't get too soaked!
Thanks to Jim Frazier for showing me another way....
This is a REDUX of the previous shot. I was unhappy (and still am) with myself for not checking my settings and winding up with a nice (but very noisy) shot. Jim got me thinking about ways to repair it and this is one way. I suppose it works. the software definitely makes some color changes but it\'s definitely a lot less noisy!
Went out on the balcony and this is what I saw!
Docked in front of us in Ponta Delgada was the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, a three-masted barque rigged sail training vessel owned and operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. It is based in Bergen, Norway and contracted out for various purposes, including serving as a school ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy (using RNoN's prefix "HNoMS").
It was built in 1914 by Joh. C. Tecklenborg ship yard in Geestemünde as a school training ship for the German merchant marine under the name Grossherzog Friedrich August. After the First World War the ship was taken as a prize by the United Kingdom and in 1921 the ship was bought by former Norwegian cabinet minister Kristofer Lehmkuhl (hence the name, which means "Cabinet Minister Lehmkuhl"). Except during the Second World War, when she was captured and under the name of Westwärts used by German forces, the ship belonged to Bergens Skoleskib from 1921 until donated to the Foundation in 1978.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statsraad_Lehmkuhl
The Statsraad Lehmkuhl is once again on an international voyage to promote ocean sustainability. Over the course of 12 months, the expedition will visit ports in three continents.
This shot is both (M)anual and SOOC with no crop needed.
This is a real photograph taken with a real camera, and not created by AI.
Now I can't be sure but I thought I heard her say "#*%&@ you and the horse you rode in on"!
It's that time again, time for the 98th annual Tucson Rodeo Parade!
Our lodge is directly across from the rodeo grounds which means the parade passes right down the street in front of the building.
The Tucson Rodeo Parade is believed to be the nation's longest non-motorized parade dating back to 1925. All the parade entries are horse pulled other than the marching bands and the street sweepers who always end the parade by cleaning up the landmines left by our equine friends.
If you enjoy seeing traditional dance costumes you would certainly enjoy seeing the parade. There are several different dancing groups that participate and the outfits they wear are always quite striking with lots of brightly colored dresses for the ladies and sharp looking suits for the gents.
I would have liked to get her legs in the shot but from where I was shooting they were blocked by the folks sitting on the curb.
One of the few shows that Niccy wanted to see onboard.
Every night onboard there's a performance in the theater. Sometimes It's a comedian, maybe a ventriloquist or magician, or possibly a production show. The production shows aren't too bad for the most part, think way, way off Broadway or maybe Far East End London! This was one that Niccy "thought" she wanted to watch but after a few minutes she decided her time would be better spent at the Adult Arcade, aka the Casino.
This was a good trip in that I really stepped up and out when it came to taking control of my camera. The majority of the shots I got were done in manual (M) and I'm trying to keep any editing down to just a crop or two.
I'm pretty proud of this shot since it was shot handheld in a dark theater with ISO 800, f/5.6 and 1/50s on the clock. Having the stage lit certainly helped with the ISO. I don't like the black piece in the upper left hand corner but it was part of the stage rigging.
This is a real photograph taken with a real camera, and not created by AI.
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
Vessel ST ARUBA is a tug ship sailing under the flag of Panama. Her IMO number is 9366706 and MMSI number is 370120000. Main ship particulars are length of 28 m and beam of 10 m.
If you're a fan of tugs then a trip through the Panama Canal would be perfect for you! It takes a lot of horsepower to keep traffic going and these workhorses are the ones to get it done!
Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!
We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!
Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.
It really is a great time of year to be in the Southwest!
Niccy is on the mend from having some back surgery and starting to get a little cabin fever so I suggested a short trip out of town. We wound up going to Saguaro National Park on the East side of Tucson:
The weather today was lovely, 80 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze that kept us cooled down. The park wasn't too crowded so we were able to drive the 8 mile loop with ease. We stopped about half way through and had a picnic lunch while looking at the desert starting to bloom out. All in all a good day for us (and the doggos enjoyed it as well)!
Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!
Not sure why but I happened to wake up real early this day and decided to do a walkabout up on the deck. Glad I did!
The SUNRISE (YCPTPH requirement) was very pretty this morning and several of us early risers happened to be out and try to catch it.
Now I'm not there for the sunrise, it's been done a million and two times, I'm there to catch the folks who are there to catch the sunrise. These two ladies happened to wind up in my viewfinder so I decided to make them Flickr Famous.
I was going to title this "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4bFqW_eu2I
But Light My Fire by the Doors:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKd6yarfkxA
seemed more appropriate. BTW, I believe this is the one and only appearance The Doors made on the Ed Sullivan Show!
Niccy and I just got back from a transatlantic cruise so I've finally got some shots to post!
Early morning at the dock in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Saw the Oasis Of The Seas:
www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/oasis-of-the-seas
docked and got a shot of her.
Now if you're looking for a floating resort this is what you're looking for. So much to do onboard there's no reason for most to get off the ship!
Seeing this makes me wonder what the pirates of olden days would have thought had they seen this sailing towards them?
It was non-stop action, almost as fun as watching Pro Wrestling!
Had a great storm pass by last Friday night with bolts aplenty! It was about 9:45 PM when I heard the first rumble. Looked on my lightning app and nothing spectacular was showing up so I figured it was a one off. Boy, was I wrong!
Something said to go out and take a look so that's what I did. Once I got outside I saw the sky was flashing to the North, South, and West so I ran in to grab my camera and let Niccy know I was headed out. She was stone asleep so I headed out to my usual spot, hoping for a couple of shots. That was close to 10 PM and I didn't pack it in until it started raining just after Midnight!
This is a single RAW shot with a crop in GIMP and the eradication of a couple of blatant hotspots.
There were bolts everywhere, hard to pick a direction to shoot. I was lucky enough to catch a few which I'll be posting shortly.
PS:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
to the limits of the camera!
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX1 IS
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 5 mm
ISO Speed: 80
AFMode: Single-point AF
Scene Capture Type: Landscape
Canon Image Size: Widescreen
Image Stabilization: On, Shot Only
Auto ISO: 75
Base ISO: 100
Measured EV: 11.00
Target Aperture: 7.1
Target Exposure Time: 1/1002
on explore
6 hours ago: 423
Highest position: #423 on Monday, June 8, 2009
This would be our idea of a "Cruise From Hell!"
"The Marigalante Pirate Ship is an exact replica of the Santa Maria, made entirely of wood. It weighs approximately 700 tons and has three wooden masts with triangular sails.
The ship has four impressive decks with a total capacity of 240 passengers. It is equipped with professional light and sound equipment and 40 five-litre tanks filled with ABC extinguishing liquid. It also has eight ladies' toilets, four gents' toilets and three urinals."
Plain and simple this is a booze cruise for spring break college kids and cruise ship tourists. The same folks who go to Señor Ranas (Señor Frogs) for an "authentic Mexican food and drink experience", nothing more and nothing less.
I get it, this is a tourist area and you're going to have tourist traps. I just have a hard time keeping a straight face when someone tells me that they got to know the real Mexico on this trip and they can't wait to come back and do it again. Sometimes I wish I could just wake up in their dream world and see what they're seeing but every time I try reality slaps me across the head and says not today.
A really pleasant find on our Thursday drive!
NIccy had the day off so we had made plans to go down to the Tubac, AZ Festival of the Arts. We'd gone once before Covid reared it's ugly head and thought it would make for a nice relaxing day. Boy, were we wrong.
I knew that it was going to be a problem when I saw a sign on the interstate saying Festival Goers USE THIS EXIT. The exit is about 2.5 miles from where the festival was being held. Well, we took the exit, went about 1/2 mile and abruptly stopped thanks to the traffic jam on the siding road we were on. We slowly creeped our way down to where the parking area was and once we saw the sea of cars Niccy said "Oh hell no, I'm not paying to park in that mess!" so we went right on by.
We got down past the mess and decided to get back on the freeway, head north and go check out the Historic Canoa Ranch, a place we hadn't (and haven't) been yet.
About that time we came up on the Tumacacori Historic National Park, another place we hadn't been before. Since it's a national part and I've got a national park veterans pass we decided to stop there instead.
They have docent led tours but we decided just to wander on our own. It wound up being pretty interesting looking at the old mission church and outbuildings. There weren't many people when we got there but it did get a bit busy as we were leaving.
I'm glad that Tubac was such a mess, it gave us a chance to check out the mission and have ourselves a really nice picnic lunch!
If you'd like to learn about the park:
If you'd like to learn a bit more about the church:
www.nps.gov/tuma/learn/historyculture/the-church.htm
As a side note the weather was fantastic today, 65 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze!
One of the many ships and boats we saw in Spain.
The vessel MARIA PITA (IMO 9429118, MMSI 224860000) is a Tug built in 2008 (18 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Spain.
This was shot in (M)anual with a small crop to remove some bits and bobs that just distracted from her beauty!
This is a real photograph taken with a real camera, and not created by AI.
.
Every choice you make has an end result.
All i can say is the choices that we make in life alter the course of our lives. I hope and pray that the path they're on leads them to the destination they desired when they made the choice.
No saguaros, but some really pretty rocks!
When people think of Arizona it seems they tend to think about saguaros, deserts, and John Wayne herding cattle amongst and across the previous. As you can clearly see there's more to the state than that, especially when you get up North!
This shot was taken from the North boat ramp on Watson Lake, right outside Prescott Arizona. Spoke to a couple of folks who were hiking the area that told us not to let the dogs get in the water, something about bad bacteria. It did look sort of green and the dogs really aren't into swimming so no worries there.
Really pretty place and easy to get to with a big park and parking lot at the top of the boat ramp.
Niccy and I just got back from a 5 day trip up to Northern Arizona. It's a nice way to get out of the Tucson heat and into the mountains where it's cool, cool, cool. Only a 5-6 hour drive so it's affordable as well.
BTW, I was messing with the camera and came across the LANDSCAPE setting in the menu. Since this is landscape I tried it out and this is the result.
Brushy Mountain is another Youtube rabbit hole that Niccy and I fell down!
A static display of the uniform worn by the prisoners while working in the mine and quarry.
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, last named Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex, (or, unofficially, Brushy) was a maximum-security prison in the community of Petros in Morgan County, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. It was established in 1896 and operated until 2009.
Perhaps the best-known escape attempt occurred on June 10, 1977, when James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., escaped with six other inmates by climbing over a fence. Ray was captured less than 58 hours later in rugged mountain terrain 81⁄2 miles from the prison.
Brushy Mountain was another of our stops on the Tennessee portion of our adventure. Thank you Youtube!
One of the things we found interesting is that the prison was actually built by the inmates using stone mined by prisoners from a quarry on the property. Imagine being forced to build the place that's going to be your punishment. That's some real hard labor and hard time.
The real workhorses of any port!
The storm subsided sometime overnight and we made it back to San Diego. I was up on deck early and got to see a bit of the morning light which sure is pretty.
C-Tractor 10 met us along the way and didn't have anything to do with us getting docked in a timely manner. Cruise ships are extremely maneuverable and usually don't need assistance to get themselves to the dock!
BTW, if you'd like to see her sister, C-Tractor 8 you can find her right here:
Bright lights and lightning on a back road in Tucson.
When I first scouted for my new spot to shoot from I thought I'd try the parking lot of Worldview Enterprises since it was fairly big and if it did start to downpour I'd be on asphalt instead of a muddy field. If you look on the map you'll see that Worldview is right off a road called Aerospace Parkway which is definitely not a main road so I figured it would be quiet, especially on a Tuesday night at 9:30 in the evening. Boy was I wrong!
Evidently this road is used a lot by Boy Racers to do their thing on, especially since it isn't a main road. There was plenty of traffic going by so I decided to find another spot where I'd be a bit more hidden from the road and wouldn't have to worry about any security folks coming by and asking questions.
This shot was 65 seconds in BULB Mode, well over my normal 30-35 seconds. I suppose I left it open for so long on the off chance there would be more than one big strike but evidently there wasn't. Either that or I was just busy watching the show and forgot about the time!
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
MAERSK EL PALOMAR (IMO 9964481, MMSI 563220200) is a Container Ship built in 2024 (1 year old) and currently sailing under the flag of Singapore. Maersk El Palomar has an LOA of 335 metres (1,100 feet), a beam of 51 metres (170 feet), a depth of 27.1 metres (88.9 feet), a draught of 16 metres (52 feet), a gross tonnage of 127,832, and space for 30 crewmembers. The main engine is a Mitsui-MAN-B&W 7G95ME-C10.5 diesel.
Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!
We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!
Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming around regularly offering up cool drinks, sandwiches, and such.
You think your job is hard? Try keeping up with these guys!
In Mazatlan we took a tour that got us out of the city and out into the countryside to see the non-toursity side of things.
Our first stop was a brickyard where they were making traditional adobe bricks for new contstruction. Adobe consists of clay, water, and an organic material, usually straw or in this case dung. The three are mixed together, placed into molds then left to dry for a month or so. On average each worker makes 1000 bricks a day which is pretty crazy since the whole operation is done by hand!
I want to note that this was not a show or staged setting for tourists, this is the every day job of the guys! I sure feel for them when they get older, hopefully they've got some sort of retirement plan.
A small series of photos that I took while driving down the road in Mexico.
Gotta love the independent busimessman. No storefront, just a mobile Raspado stand. For those who may not know a Raspado is shaved ice, made by blending and crushing ice, then topping it with homemade fruit syrup. Very common in Mexico but I wouldn't recommend trying them off the street unless you're interested in learning about Montezuma's Revenge!
In Puerto Chiapas Mexico we signed up to take a tour outside of the port area. We went to a place called Miguel Aleman
GOOGLE MAP COORDINATES:
14.558926371866079, -92.21688314383077
right down on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Miguel Aleman is a company town but the people who live there own the company. Their main revenue stream comes from growing and packaging bananas for export.
Well, when we went to get on the tour van the driver stopped me and told me to stand back. I wasn't sure why at the time but I'm glad he did. Once everyone was in the van he opened up the passenger side and asked me to sit there. He gave me a front row seat and I let him know I appreciated it.
The next few photos are all taken as we drove to Miguel Aleman. They may be a little blurry because I was shooting through the windshield. There might also be some blur on the bottom of the photo because he had his dash full of papers and I was getting a bit of a reflection off them. I didn't want to move them, might have messed up his filing system!
Who knew lifeboats came with such sweet features?
The last stop for us was in Cabo San Lucas. Evidently they're not set up to handle cruise ships so the ships anchor out and ferry people back and forth. It's a quick little ride, not enough time for anyone to get too seasick!
While there are some dedicated boats that will ferry guests it seems that Holland America decided to put a couple of their lifeboats to good use and have the crew ferry us back and forth. Nice for the crew since it gives some of them a break from their work routine and gives them practice should there ever be a need to actually use the lifeboats.
Once again lifeboat 13 comes into my life. If you're curious about what I mean you can see this previous shot:
www.flickr.com/photos/nyalr/52817282619/in/dateposted-pub...
No, it's not the boarding line for some discount airline!
Just a small part of the 5,146 guests aboard the Carnival Panorama headed back to their ship.
I was going to get a shot of the line we waited in to get back as a comparison but there wasn't one. We did have to wait a few minutes in a nice seating area where we were provided with some nice cold face and neck towels and some very refreshing flavored waters (Orange and Lime)
Another one of those small differences that we truly appreciate on Holland America.
She's ready to feed the hungry folks of Mazatlan!
Pretty typical scene in Mexico (and Tucson come to think about it), a roadside kitchen for the hungry masses.
If cooking is the main skill in your toolbox then that's the tool you use. So what if you don't have a fancy restaurant or a commercial kitchen. If you know how to cook the food the people want you can set up just about anywhere!
I have no idea what the type, make, or model is on this engine, I'll leave that to the Train Buffs to fill us in!
We were getting ready to leave the Grand Canyon Station when I saw this engine. I'm pretty sure it's a static display since there are some red stoppers of some sort in front of it to keep it from moving.
NIccy and I took a long weekend trip up to Williams Arizona to ride the Grand Canyon Railway. We've always been fans of train trips and getting to see the big hole in the ground was a bonus!
If you\'ve never been to the Grand Canyon the train trip is a great way to see the place. You've got a 2 1/2 hour trip each way on the train and about 3 1/2 hours for exploring at the Canyon, more than enough time to take in the sights. We took the advice of Jim Frazier and booked the Luxury Parlor car which offers plenty of luxurious seating and amenities (for Niccy) and an outside observation platform (for me).
Had to do a non-standard crop on this shot, guess I was holding the camera vertical when I took it and wound up with way too much headroom!
left : outlook south- west ; ->Freiburg , Madrid
right: outlook north- west ;-> Paris, London
2 ___________......... Nature in blue ...
4 _____________________..coming home .....
two sights:
near and far away
My, how the time (and fur) flies when you're having fun!
It's been 7 months since we brought Casey (now known as Tater Tot, She/Her) here to her forever home.
She has to be the wireiest (is that a word?) dog we've ever had and certainly the most energetic. She's found her place in the pack and is happy to be a part of our family! It's too bad we don't live in the UK, I'm sure she'd get along just fine with Richard Harvey UK's Freddie:
www.flickr.com/photos/bigharv/52905174756/in/dateposted/
She's ready to run and play, unfortunately our Tiffany is a grouchy old fart who doesn't tolerate that sort of nonsense.
I was experimenting with my camera when I took this since I just figured out I could control (somewhat) the output of the onboard flash and give a little fill light to some of the dark areas.
Now is this the shot that's going to send her viral and score loads of endorsement deals? Pretty sure it's not but she's certainly open to any collaborations you might have to offer!
I was going to title this Twisted Sister but I didn't wan to confuse any Metalheads out there!
This is a shot from the 31 July storm that blew through. It was a good storm, stayed in the Southeast for a good long while, didn't make it to the house till after 11 PM so I didn't have to worry about getting rained out. According to the weather guessers things are supposed to quiet down for the next week or so which means downtime for me and the lightning!
Thanks to Jim Frazier this shot isn't nearly as grainy and noisy as a night shot with a Canon T7 at high ISO normally is, unless you're a pixel peeper!
See, I forgot to check my settings in my rush out the door to get the perfect shot, luckily our benevolent admin put me on the right path!
The community in the foreground is where I live, luckily there were no direct strikes in the park!
This was shot @ f/13 with 27 seconds on the clock, ISO 800 and 32mm zoom.
Evidently there was more to this storm than I knew about!
The rains passed through quickly but the lightning persisted. I'm used to seeing it out in front and leading the storm, not following behind like this set.Little did I know there was something much bigger going on!
According to the National Weather Service we had a small tornado (F1) touch down to the North of the house, about a mile away. It supposedly traveled several Easterly before dissipating.
www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/national-weather-ser...
Now I know that those of you who live in Tornado Alley are thinking "F1? We don't even bother to use the sirens for an F1!..." but for us this is a pretty big deal since these things don't happen here and we're glad of it. Guess it's got to be part of that "Global Climate Change" thing people talk about. Personally, I get the feeling that it's just Mother Nature doing a little house cleaning, something that we all do every so often.
PS:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
A series of shots I got during our passage through The Big Ditch!
ADEBOWALE (IMO 7518977) is a Oil service/PSV ship built in 1978 and is sailing under the flag of Tanzania. She has an overall length (LOA) of 66 meters and a width (beam) of 13 meters. Her summer deadweight capacity is 2,646 tonnes. From the looks of her she seems to have lived a very hard life!
Going through the complete Panama Canal was definitely a bucket list item for me. I spent the entire day (8 hours) outside on the deck along with a bunch of other folks, my shutter happily clicking away!
We had a Canal Guide onboard who pointed out all the interesting locations, couldn't tell you one thing he said because I wasn't listening I was too busy shooting!
Have to commend Princess Cruises, they were really nice to us outside in that they had stewards coming aro
"In 2010, Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the United States Coast Guard's most senior non-commissioned officer, proposed that all 58 cutters in the Sentinel class should be named after enlisted sailors in the Coast Guard, or one of its precursor services, who were recognized for their heroism."!
Good job for recognizing the enlisted guys!
Parked outside of the U.S. Coast Guard Base Los Angeles / Long Beach you see 3 of their Sentinel Class cutters with the USCGC Robert Ward (WPC-1130)in the lead, the USCGC Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129)sitting middle of the pack, and bringing up the rear is the USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132)!
All three are good looking ladies and all three are doing a great job of protecting our coastal waters from all the baddies.
My birthday is on the 7th so this is an early present!
Finished watching the local news and it didn't look good. Weatherman said there's only a 10 percent chance of any storms so it looks like another dry night. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Took the trash out and saw a couple of clouds and flashes to the South. Hmm, maybe that will turn into something so I packed up and headed to my regular spot, just in case.
Ran into a guy named Mike who was packing up and heading out. He said it didn't look like a good night, clouds were falling apart as quick as the formed so he was heading home. I told him I was going to stick around for awhile in case something developed, he said Good Luck but the storms just aren't there today. Mike, it looks like you missed the mark on this one!
Set up my camera and waited, waited, waited with little to no luck. Thinking about calling it a night when a huge bolt announced it's welcome with a thundering CRACK!!! Well, thank you very much, may I have another? CRACK!!! Your wish is my command. Wound up being a pretty good show, a perfect present for me that I know my Dad arranged for me.
This is a combo of three shots that just happened to fall in the right place. with a combined total of 130 seconds between the three. These were shot @ f/7.1 with ISO 100 and 52mm worth of zoom. The bolts seemed to be hitting in the same general area so I thought I'd chance the zoom, probably would have been a great place to use my Nifty Fifty!
The lights in the background are a bit blurry since I was fighting with outflow winds and trying to handhold the tripod steady. I can live with a little blur!
No worries young lady, we'll more than likely be seeing them again....
We were in Antigua, along with the Celebrity Equinox and a couple of ferries. It was early evening, Niccy and I were back from our tour and sitting on the back deck when I saw this scene.
The Equinox was departing, on her way to her next destination. People were milling about, waiting for our departure time when this young lady stepped up to the back rail and fired of a couple of shots with her phone. The light was really pretty so instead of a ship shot I decided to focus a bit closer to home and came up with this. She doesn't know she was my model but I thank her for her services.
Niccy and I just got back from a 2 week cruise down in the Caribbean, a trip that was supposed to be in the UK but thanks to the whole covid fiasco that was not meant to be. We were on the P&O Britannia and as we quickly found out we were the only Americans aboard! We had a good time, got to see some new ports and enjoyed the weather.
Looking at the EXIF I see I had the camera set on f/8, must've been using the Aperture Mode. I guess it also may have been in P Mode and I set the aperture myself? That's something I fooled around with a bit on this trip, slowly working my way out of my comfort zone of just P Mode, trying to branch out a bit to get more of the shots that I want to get.
One thing I did notice on this trip is a distinct lack of people with actual cameras. Lots and lots of cellphones though, along with the occasional IPad.
I guess I should thank the sunset for the pink(ish) bolt!
This storm blew in last night (26 July 23) as we were out to dinner in town. It really dumped the water up in the Speedway/Wilmot part of town but nothing out at the house. I was seeing little flashes off to the West on the drive home so I decided to grab the gear and head out once we got back. This is one of the shots that I got.
The lightning was popping all around, not focused in any one spot at all. The clouds were just one huge bank with no real definition to them so I wasn't really sure where to shoot, I just took a chance! This was shot looking toward the Northwest which is the direction the storm seemed to be headed in.
Had to do a weird crop on this since the storm was pretty much just a big monocloud and I didn't want an acre of grey above the lightning. This was shot with 35 seconds in BULB at f/9 with 29mm. I zoomed a bit, hoping to get a little tighter shot but its a pretty futile exercise to be honest. Mother Nature doesn't seem to care where your focus is!
Learned new way to macro, tried at home.
Use 3dead mosquitoes(?). I have a SIGMA 18-200mm lens. Remove lens from camera, set it at 200mm, turned lens180degree, re-connect the lens' object side to camera's lens connector (just tried my best to hold lens stay with camera). Added sufficient light. Pointing the lens' observing side to the objects. Adjusting camera itself (distance) to focus.
The results showed that macro effect was quite dramatic, Bokeh effect also strong and the resolution was great, when consider that hand held taken. Mosquitoes were compared with the reference object in the picture: a red 10mm in diameter button. Foto was not PSed, uncropped.
I will upload the 18-200mm's macro picture, show that it suppose to be as reference.
Kugira means "Whale" in Japanese. To me, it sounds like it should be pronounced in the same tone and manner in which you would pronounce "GODZILLA"!
One of the largest caisson-building docks in the world is the Kugira (‘whale’ in Japanese). This herculean machine from ACCIONA measures the equivalent of an 18-floor building (56 metres tall, 74 metres long and 49 metres wide). A team of between 140 and 200 high specialised professionals work on the Kugira around the clock seven days a week, and it can manufacture concrete caissons weighing up to 24,000 tonnes. This means that it can create a seawall or a berthing dock 200 metres long from scratch in just one month.
Once a caisson is completed, it is launched by being partially sunk until the caisson can float, and then it is taken by tugboats to the place where it will be placed over the platform on the sea floor, where tonnes of material has previously been laid to create a uniform base. Once it is in its exact position, the caisson is secured in place by filling the cells with water, and later they are filled with sand to make them completely stable. Although this procedure may sound cumbersome, it does not interfere with port activity.
www.acciona.com/updates/articles/worlds-largest-caisson-d...
When you're walking down a large dock you don't normally think about the way the dock was built or who it was that built it. Reading about the Kugira gave me a whole new appreciation of the things that go into building a dock!
At first I thought this was just a Jackup Rig for deep sea oil eploration. Boy, was I wrong on that.
A gratuitous tourist shot, I'd be remiss if I didn't include it!
Got the tourist trifecta here, Victoria Tower on the left, Parliament in the middle, and BIg Ben on the right! Damn, I'm good and I know it! (M)anual BTW.
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament and the British Government, and the Westminster system of government commemorates the name of the palace. The Elizabeth Tower of the palace houses the bell nicknamed Big Ben and is a landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general. The palace has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
If you're not from the UK but you'd like to know more you can take a peek at Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster
I'd liken it to our Capitol building here in the US, but much older. We didn't take a tour there, we've no interest in seeing UK politicians pontificating. To be fair though we've no interest in seeing US politicians pontificating so don't expect to see any shots from the District of Columbia any time soon.
Yes, this is a real photograph taken with a real camera, not a Computer Rendered Artificial Picture!
A really pleasant find on our Thursday drive!
Yeah, I took a LOT of Artistic Liberty with this shot. B/W, Sepia, Fuzzy Border, etc. Working toward that Old West feel.
NIccy had the day off so we had made plans to go down to the Tubac, AZ Festival of the Arts. We'd gone once before Covid reared it's ugly head and thought it would make for a nice relaxing day. Boy, were we wrong.
I knew that it was going to be a problem when I saw a sign on the interstate saying Festival Goers USE THIS EXIT. The exit is about 2.5 miles from where the festival was being held. Well, we took the exit, went about 1/2 mile and abruptly stopped thanks to the traffic jam on the siding road we were on. We slowly creeped our way down to where the parking area was and once we saw the sea of cars Niccy said "Oh hell no, I'm not paying to park in that mess!" so we went right on by.
We got down past the mess and decided to get back on the freeway, head north and go check out the Historic Canoa Ranch, a place we hadn't (and haven't) been yet.
About that time we came up on the Tumacacori Historic National Park, another place we hadn't been before. Since it's a national part and I've got a national park veterans pass we decided to stop there instead.
They have docent led tours but we decided just to wander on our own. It wound up being pretty interesting looking at the old mission church and outbuildings. There weren't many people when we got there but it did get a bit busy as we were leaving.
I'm glad that Tubac was such a mess, it gave us a chance to check out the mission and have ourselves a really nice picnic lunch!
If you'd like to learn about the park:
If you'd like to learn a bit more about the church:
www.nps.gov/tuma/learn/historyculture/the-church.htm
As a side note the weather was fantastic today, 65 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze!
Better than any 4th or July show!
Talk about light up your life!
Another shot from the storm that blew in on 3 August 2024. The action really was hot and heavy with bolts popping up all over!
This is a SOOC shot other than a small crop in GIMP to lose some extraneous bits on the side and bottom.
This was shot @ f/10 and ISO 100 with 30 seconds on the clock.
PS:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
If you're a Civil War buff you probably know about Andersonville. If you're not, read on....
Andersonville is home to the Drummer Boy Civil War Museum which has authentic uniforms, both Union and Confederate, and an extensive collection of Union Gen. Thomas T. Eckert. Lincoln conspirator, Mary Surratt’s bonnet and other rarities make this a national gem. Close by is the Andersonville National Historic Site which houses the Andersonville National Cemetery Rostrum and the National Prisoner Of War Museum.
www.nps.gov/ande/planyourvisit/natl_pow_museum.htm
Pioneer Farm (the location of this shot) is a five-acre park that is open daily to the public that offers views of what life was like during the late 1800s with an operating Grist Mill, a 167-year-old log cabin, and a blacksmith shop.
We spent a couple of damp days in Andersonville Georgia, population 237. The county has a nice little RV park there that's right next to a cemetery. Super quiet place, Niccy and I were the only people camped out there. She said it felt creepy to her, I personally thought it was very peaceful. One of those places we'll definitely be going back to visit again!
There's no discrimination down around Trafalgar Square.
During our walkabout we came across a different sort of crossing light, this is one of them.
I'm guessing that at some point someone decided that having a generic stick figure walking was racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, etc, etc so the city decided they would spend the money to have these lights installed. Seems like a silly way to be spending the public funds in my opinion but then I'm an old traditionalist!
This was shot in (M)anual, I did give the light a little color boost because it looked pretty faded in the original. I think it might have something to do with it being LED and the frequency they operate at. May be something the camera had a hard time catching.
Yes, this is a real photograph taken with a real camera, not a Computer Rendered Artificial Picture!