View allAll Photos Tagged Digging
In 8th notch and down to walking pace, G528 and G543 haul their 40 wagon grain train up Warrenheip Bank in Ballarat as 9156 PN Grain from Manangatang
This was my favorite of the plants I added to my very small yard a couple of weeks ago. I got out my Sigma 70 Macro and started taking pics when this first pod opened and it bloomed. I figured it would be a good way for me to get some good florals in a city that is not known for having an abundance of nature.
This was processed in Photoshop Elements rather than On1. I sometimes do this to see which software I prefer for a certain set of images so I can just go with that one. Here, I got some very similar results. On1 has become much faster in its latest upgrades and has a much greater set of native options so have mostly used that. Its major limitation is its rather poor noise reduction feature. So, I brought it into Elements for a trip into Nik Dfine. Not a big deal at all. In fact, I always bring my On1 results into Elements for finishing touches or more significant alterations with my various plug-ins.
With a leased N&W SD45 in the mix, this e/b piggy-back train grinds up the pass at Cajon on July 28, 1979.
I'm not sure if this fox squirrel is looking for some goodies—or maybe planting something for the future! Last summer when I went to replant annual flowers in my deck pots, I found a little cache of peanuts down in the soil!
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Probably an occasion I could have done with a bit more dof so the winged creature could be made out more. However, I am always very disiplined to stay at or close to base ISO for best colours, DR and overall quality.
I hope your quarantine is going as best as it can...
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Digging Out on Highway 2: A Winter Memory
Thirty-three years ago, today. I found myself in an inconvenient situation along Washington State Highway 2, positioned between Hartline and Coulee City. While attempting a U-turn that proved to be ill-advised, my truck became stuck in the deep winter conditions.
Fortunately, assistance was nearby. The section Foreman and the Plow Engineer came to my aid, working together to dig my truck out and get me back on the road.
State Highway 2, Washington
January 12, 1993
©️ 2026 Michael Douglas Sawyer | Photography
All Rights Reserved
Using the same setup as the classic promotional material I shot my own interpretation of the story. Here Captain Red Beard has discovered even more booty in the cave and, as any half decent sea captain would do, has got his shipmate to do all the hard work!
A shameless plug on the Cinematic Street Photography group, where the 3rd Themed Contest is now underway.
The theme is Romantic Couple. Please submit your pictures HERE without delay!
Kenroku-en Gardens & Kanazawa Castle, Kanazawa, Japan
Kenroku-en (兼六園, Six Attributes Garden), located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is an old private garden associated with Kanazawa Castle. Along with Kairaku-en and Kōraku-en, Kenroku-en is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan.
Kenroku-en was developed from the 1620s to the 1840s by the Maeda clan, the daimyōs who ruled the former Kaga Domain.
While the date of initial development of the garden that would be become known as Kenroku-en is rather unclear, one version of the garden's origins can perhaps be marked by the completion of the Tatsumi water channel in 1632 by Maeda Toshitsune, the third daimyō of the powerful Maeda clan and ruler of the Kaga Domain from 1605 to 1639, as this feature would be later incorporated into creating the garden's twisting waterways in 1822.
The garden is located outside the gates of Kanazawa Castle where it originally formed the outer garden, and covers 114,436.65 m² (over 25 acres). It began in 1676 when the 5th daimyō Maeda Tsunanori moved his administration to the castle and began to landscape a garden in this vicinity. This garden was, however, destroyed by fire in 1759.
The garden was named by Matsudaira Sadanobu at the request of Narinaga. Its name was derived from the "Chronicles of the Famous Luoyang Gardens" (洛陽名園記), a book by the Chinese poet Li Gefei (李格非), and stands for the six attributes of a perfect landscape: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, waterways, and panoramas.
Kanazawa
Kanazawa (金沢市 Kanazawa-shi) is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 January 2018, the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households. The total area of the city was 468.64 square kilometres (180.94 sq mi). It is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture.
Kanazawa is located in north-western Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan and is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the west and Toyama Prefecture to the east. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. The eastern portion of the city is dominated by the Japanese Alps. Parts of the city are within the borders of the Hakusan National Park. Kanazawa has a humid continental climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by hot and humid summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. Average temperatures are slightly cooler than those of Tokyo, with means approximately 4 °C (39 °F) in January, 12 °C (54 °F) in April, 27 °C (81 °F) in August, 17 °C (63 °F) in October, and 7 °C (45 °F) in December. The minimum temperature on record was −9.4 °C (15.1 °F) on January 27, 1904, with a maximum of 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) standing as a record since September 8, 1902. The city is distinctly wet, with an average humidity of 73% and 193 rainy days in an average year. Precipitation is highest in the autumn and winter; it averages more than 250 millimetres (10 in)/ month November through January when the Aleutian Low is strongest, but it is above 125 millimetres (4.9 in) every month of the year.
The area around Kanazawa was part of ancient Kaga Province. The name "Kanazawa" (金沢, 金澤), which literally means "marsh of gold", is said to derive from the legend of the peasant Imohori Togoro (literally "Togoro Potato-digger"), who was digging for potatoes when flakes of gold washed up. The well in the grounds of Kenroku-en known as 'Kinjo Reitaku' (金城麗澤) to acknowledge these roots. The area where Kanazawa is was originally known as Ishiura, whose name is preserved at the Ishiura Shrine near the Kenrokuen Gardens.
During the Muromachi period, as the powers of the central shōguns in Kyoto was waning, Kaga Province came under the control of the Ikkō-ikki, followers of the teachings of priest Rennyo, of the Jōdo Shinshū sect, who displaced the official governors of the province, the Togashi clan, and established a kind of theocratic republic later known as "The Peasants' Kingdom". Their principal stronghold was the Kanazawa Gobo, on the tip of the Kodatsuno Ridge. Backed by high hills and flanked on two sides by rivers, it was a natural fortress, around which a castle town developed. This was the start of what would become the city of Kanazawa.
Ongoing resignaling work in South Wales calls for some deep excavations at Cardiff Central , passing by is First Great Western 43005 one end of the 1L55 Swansea - London Paddington.
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Sampo: "What are you doing in the geranium pot?"
Bones: "We are digging for treasure. All pirate treasures are buried underground."
Skull: "And the X on this map marks the geranium pot!"
Sampo "Get lost. There's nothing in the pot except geranium roots."
(Toy Sunday: Underground)
I went to bed our last night in Lake Tahoe knowing that if the storm that had just rolled in continued the entire night, there would be a lot of snow to shovel in the morning. I woke up the next morning to the sound of a snow plow clearing our driveway which luckily saved me a lot of work. For some reason the plow piled all the snow at the end of the driveway so there was still a bit of shoveling to do but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
This concludes the Lake Tahoe Winter 2010 series.
ABOUT THE SERIES
My family loves Lake Tahoe. It's about an 8 hour drive from where we live but it's well worth it. This Christmas holiday, I traveled up there with my family and my fiance for my first winter trip there in 5 years.
This year my parents gave us snow shoes as a gift so we spent a lot of time snowshoeing. Unfortunately (for photography sake), it snowed a lot so I wasn't able to shoot every day but on the plus side, I love the snow and it makes for great landscapes.
I've always struggled with getting correct exposure in the snow. My first year all I had was a point and shoot and my photos actually came out pretty well. The following trip I brought my Canon Digital Rebel and to my surprise, my exposures were off. After much reading I learned that you should generally use exposure compensation since the camera's metering system is usually thrown off by all the white (your camera meters assuming objects are grey). I did a little better with my 7D this time around but I still don't think I've nailed metering in the snow.
If you've followed my photostream for a while you may have noticed there isn't much steam on here. Thanks to the antics that surround mainline excursions I swore them off about 20 years ago. I have a list of reasons to pass on them about as long as my arm. I knew the Big Boy revival would be the hot topic this year and didn't make any plans around it. I was content to follow the action through the impressive imagery by those I follow here on Flickr.
When the 4014 got closer to the Twin Cities I started comparing the schedule of the train to my own. I would be in the same city on the same day as the Big Boy at least twice. With billions of pixels burned on the 4014 this summer I had doubts about the need for me take pictures of the trip. A bigger consideration was simply seeing this beast in action with my own eyes. Last Friday the 4014 headed for Duluth but oppressive heat and poor sun angles dissuaded me from being there.
Monday had a very nice forecast and I brought the camera along to work with plans to nab them coming through Northeast Minneapolis on their way back from Duluth. I tracked the progress of the excursion through the day. There is frequent bus service out of downtown so I planned to duck out when they got close to the Junction at Coon Creek and intercept them for a quick photo. I also kept an eye on ATCS for an indication of the line-up and reroute for the extra when I reached the Staples Sub.
It looked like they made excellent time out of Superior and each time they stopped I hoped for a little more delay for a little better afternoon light. Maybe I got lulled by all the updates, I watched them close in on Coon Creek, still no lineup onto the Staples. Hmmm, they aren't stopped, a couple minutes later and a check of the live map on UPRR, they were on the Staples already, oh no! I bolted out the door and caught the next bus, a very crowded and very slowwww bus. Well I got to my spot but missed the 4014 by just a couple minutes. I cut it too close and could do nothing but catch a bus back to the office (almost empty and twice as fast of course).
Frustrated, I now had a quandry, do I give up on seeing the Big Boy or do I make one more try at it since it was still in St. Paul for the night? The forecast for Tuesday was just as nice and if I altered my commute a bit I could be there to see the departure on my way into work. This alternate route put me on the always exciting I-94 where my car sustained a healthy rock chip crater to my windshield. This casual visit with the Big Boy was not proving to be easy. The bus deposited me right on time near the foot of the Kellogg Blvd bridge. There was a handful of folks waiting on the bridge (much larger crowds along a fence closer to the train). The train started the trip right on the advertised at 8 a.m. but stopped to fuel up before departing the depot. Within a half hour the fueling was done and 4014 had resumed the trip to Altoona.
Watching the 4-8-8-4 swing out of the depot and climb the hill was very impressive and I'm glad I was there to see it at work. Now I'll go back to watching its progress near and far through the lenses of others. A short walk from this spot put me on a light rail train in front of Union Depot for the rest of my trip to work.
The careful negotiation of this curve meant plenty of time for a few photo angles and the opportunity to take in the powerful sounds of this gargantuan of the rails. July 23, 2019.
A man casually digs for gold as the public observes in disgust.
The city oft brings such diverse group of individuals, this man was homeless though. He talked of his childhood dream that didn't come to fruition. He now lives to feed the pigeons in Circular Quay, Sydney Australia.
This photo was shot from the hip.
TIP 1: Don't be scared to take a hip shot, experiment a little. There is no need to be a cookie cut photographer.
TIP 2: Get to know your subject, even if you pretend to be a passing tourist.