Late season flowers, not many of them left. Created for Macro Mondays, theme Flowers.

Using Nikon Z6II and pentacon 29mm f2.8 and 11mm extension tube.

It was almost too warm for crystals - the patterns are completely different to what you get at -5 or less.

Kansas City Southern Railroad's Artesia, Mississippi, to Saltillo, Mississippi, roundtrip local arrives southbound into Tupelo, MS, on a beautiful winter morning. The 24 degree temperature felt wonderful as the long manifest train slowly pulled into town. The Saltillo Turn is a road train that turns cars to and from the north end of the KCS Artesia Subdivision to and from the major yard in Artesia. The Artesia Subdivision stretches all of the former Gulf Mobile and Ohio lines owned by KCS from Meridian, Mississippi, to Corinth, Mississippi, on the northern extremity of the state. The former Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad lines are a geographical outpost of the KCS system. These lines are dominated by older EMD four axle power running (mostly) long trains up and down the profitable Artesia line. Carload business is booming on this end of the line. Today's Saltillo turn would fill out to 66 cars before leaving Tupelo southbound. On this day we were quite fortunate to have wonderful weather and well timed trains. This was our first look at the Saltillo Job returning south. Thanks again to my good friend for helping us out on this portion of the line. More to come soon...

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Cleared for Flight

Cumberland Valley Classic

CSX loaded coal train T090 is seen passing through the pastoral scene at Olinger, Virginia, on a beautiful fall morning. The 45 car loaded coal train was moving right along until Big Stone Gap, a few miles up the road, where the lead engine ran out of lube oil. The scene here at Olinger is beautiful, and somewhat tough to photograph due to the mostly nocturnal nature of the T090 through here. This is a classic location on the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad Cumberland Valley Subdivision. Sadly, seeing more than one train in a trip is a rarity through here. I got lucky with two daylight runs of the T090, but only one shot here. I'll take it.

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A shot I didn't think would be possible a few months ago became reality Wednesday morning as the CPKC Christmas train rolled off the east end of the Huey P Long Bridge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The spotless Kansas City Southern FP9's lead the Christmas train south out of Shreveport at 0500 Wednesday morning for an all day sprint to Laplace, Louisiana, for the public Christmas event CPKC was putting on. The F's and the Christmas train are midway through a multi-week tour of the KCS System for what will likely be the last Christmas train in the current configuration. All the elements had to come together perfectly to chase this train in the conditions we had Wednesday. Sun was not in the forecast, but somehow our group managed sunny conditions at every shot... More coming soon..

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Vue du balcon

The KCS Macon Local is arriving in Meridian, Mississippi, on the former Gulf Mobile and Ohio Mainline. The local is an all timber products affair today, and sports just 8 cars. Three belle GP variants lead the train south to Meridian all afternoon, and made for a wonderful chase through the hilly woodlands of east Mississippi. Fortunately for us the Southern held Amtrak 19 at the diamonds for the local to scoot across, and into the yard. It was a well timed event as soon after stack trains would begin showing up, and the light would disappear.

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Enjoy a walk in nature.

Took my old Nikkor 28mm f/2.8D with my, and still surprised how good the images look with this lens.

Nikon Z6II and Nikkor 28mm f/2.8D

Another great night spent out camping with friends always means more night sky photography. This was the last frame of the night. Pleasant temperatures and low humidity made for a great night. 15 minutes of captured movement here. One of the few cloud-free moments of the day.

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CSX haulage rights train T090 is seen exiting the southern portal of Natural Tunnel. The train is keeping to the 15mph speed restriction through the tight confines of Natural Tunnel. 45 loads of Eastman coal is at the drawbars. This is a bucket list location, and I'm priveledged to have shot it quite a few times this trip.

The stars of a cold winters night are reflected off the surface of Bear Lake in Northwest Florida. Calm conditions and clear skies allowed for beautiful night sky conditions, and this shot was able to capitalize on it well.

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CSX train Q52103 slowly makes its way into Bay Saint Louis, MS, after encountering a stop signal on the drawbridge. The 2 mile long bridge stretches the length of Saint Louis Bay at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday afternoon was pristine along the Gulf in Bay Saint Louis with pleasant temps and calm seas... A great day to be out!

A telephoto lens allows us to peer through the fog of a moody Vermont morning, and view the farms clinging to the ridgelines of Bartlett's Ridge. The last gasps of color have been getting blown away by massive windstorms for the past few days, and winter will soon set in.

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It's a picture perfect afternoon in Green Mountain, North Carolina. We are standing on the edge of Whitson's Branch Road as CSX time freight Q694 works its way up the beautiful, former Clinchfield Railroad main. Whitson's Branch is an iconic shot for northbound trains along the Clinchfield. Fall Colors were at their beginning, much later than normal, but conditions were sublime. If you've ever been you know that the Clinchfield through the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina is a special place. The railroad follows the Toe and Nolichucky Rivers well away from any tourist population centers, and the shots that can be had are wonderful. Case in point here. Thanks especially to Noah Johnson for showing me around this day. It was one for the record books.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!

Altafjord

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!

She’s a good kitty, and I hope to see more of her!

Sunrise over Einsiedel and the Swabian hills

www.redbubble.com/people/mbangert/works/129630321-autumn-...

More amazing and unworldly unique geology at White Pocket, Arizona

A tulip turns toward the sun

Common Snapping Turtle basking in the warm sun of early Spring.

Just some early flower fun Nikon Z6II with Tokina 100mm f2.8 AT-X Pro D

seen from the workspace

Soest 2021

Es saß zuerst auf einem Grabstein und hat mich eine Weile angeschaut. dann ist es heruntergesprungen und in meine Richtung gerannt. Ich dachte zuerst, ich werde gleich angegriffen, aber es hat mir dann ein paar schöne Bilder auf dem Boden beschert und ist wieder abgehauen...

This little fellow sat on his gravestone and looked at me for some time, then he jumped down and ran at me and I thought I was about to be attacked, but he obligingly pulled a few poses so I could take a couple of pictures and then ran off...