The great train saga.

So I spent an afternoon photographing to the topic of 'trains and railroads'.   It was quite fun, my husband even chauffeured me around.  What a treat that was.

I captured one beauty of a train shot.

But then I captured what I thought was a more unique and interesting shot at the end of a line.

The red thing was nice and sharp, the cars were nicely blurred.  I thought it was great.  Not everyone agreed.  I got my usual place in the bottom third of the photo challenge.   I probably would have done better had I entered my first shot, but you know, I tend to go for the unusual and/or abstract and my brain just prefers those. 

But I still have fun.  Taking photos keeps my brain creative and happy.  (And with the blizzard-every-three-days weather we're having, I need all the help I can get to keep my brain happy.)

See on,
Julee

The mink and the fish.

So this started out as the story of me looking for a landscape photo that contained no sky.  I figured I would try one of my favorite spots on the Big Sioux River, there are three trees I just love.   Well I was photographing away then glanced down and saw a great sight.

This fabulous little guy (a mink is my best guess) was walking on the ice on the river carrying a large fish.   He was maybe 15 feet from me and did not seem the least bit disturbed by my presence.  Eventually he found an opening in the water and dove under, taking his fish to the far side of the river and off into the trees.

So I came home with no sky-free landscape picture, but I was enormously happy.  Here's to being at the right place at the right time!

See on,
Julee

A day playing in the trees.

Despite a beautifully bright sun, the day was still cold.  But the snow has nearly melted which means I could once again walk into the grassy areas of the wilderness around Watertown.

Hip, hip, hooray!

For my efforts I found a treat in these two dancing trees.  I rarely title my photos, but this one easily became "The Dip".  Do you see it?

During my walk I also found a few more wild looking, crazy with bare branches, trees that I have become a bit obsessed with this winter.

Then I captured a nice image of a peaceful prairie view.

Spring feels so near, and yet we likely have another two to four weeks of winter.   One thing I have realized about myself this winter is that although I do not love the cold, I do love the all the golds that we see in the fields all winter.

See on,
Julee

Watertown Car Show.

Day  two with my Lensbaby, and a Saturday which means I have free time to play.  Turned out there was a car show in town and while I do not typically have much interest in cars, my father-in-law brought his car down and with all the bright colors and old fashioned cars I figured I could capture something interesting.

I even had one guy who owned a Ford Galaxie ask if I was a professional.  Sorry, nope.  But I had been photographing his car for about five minutes because I loved the color so he asked if I would send him anything I got.  He said he always appreciated seeing his car through someone else's eye.  How about that.  (So I tried extra hard for another few minutes trying to get a great photograph.)

These first three are my favorite Lensbaby shots, although if I hadn't told you I was at a car show, I suspect the content of the first picture would have been a mystery.  (Or maybe it still is?  There was a maroon car next to a yellow car next to a white car.  I kind of blurred everything rather than leaving a spot in focus.  But I really enjoyed the colors and spots of lights that came through.)

There were, of course, tons of people walking all around.  Had there been less people there would have been all sorts of fabulous shots of gorgeous cars sitting by one another, but the shot below was my only shot of a group of cars with very few people.  Awesome colors!

Here is the probably the best shot I got of the Ford Galaxie.  I think this was shot with a 'regular' lens rather than my Lensbaby.  I did not have success creating any shots of this car with the blur of a Lensbaby

 

For some reason I liked this shot.  The gray car was so strong looking, kind of reminded me of Doc Hudson from the Cars movie, although I'm not really sure why.

 

 

The front red car in the shot below is my father-in-law's '65 Corvette.  This was the best shot I got of his car, all of the others shots were just a bad blur.  (Sorry.)  But it's a great car.  Very shiny!

 

 

Wishing you a day filled with bright and shiny!

See on,

Julee