The image is actually a single photograph with layers of different opacities eventually flattened to one … after which I added a filter or two. I did the image years ago, and while I still like it, I like it less than I have in the past because, had I made the final image, say, yesterday these many years later, I would have kept it as its original self.
Don't get me wrong, for all kinds of reasons, understood or even unidentifiable to ourselves, our presuppositions about life and art do change. Ten years ago I probably would have thought I loved the image … the image doesn't care how I feel about … and these years later, I mostly care that it might please whoever views it.
I've seen thousands of them in late March on the Osage River wetlands above Truman Lake. It blew my mind the first time I saw them. Before then I didn't realize they migrated inland like that. It's quite a sight.
Pelicans require wetlands to breed and MO has plenty of wetlands but MO is also a stop from pelicans heading north for the summer and south for the winter.
Either a sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk (I have a hard time telling them apart) standing on one foot. The other is tucked up under the belly feathers. I've read they do that to conserve heat. This one was harassing the feeders the other day. I didn't see it catch anything, but it kept trying and would NOT go away. It wouldn't even fly off when I was walking around under it taking pictures.
If you've ever wondered what gives red-bellied woodpeckers their name, here it is.
Can anybody identify this one? I'm thinking some kind of towhee, but I'm not sure and it's been bugging me. It's not a regular visitor under the feeders. I think I've only seen it this once.
A gray squirrel.
The first flowers of the year. A warm spell last week brought these crocuses out on the day before Valentine's Day, which is early here, even for crocuses. It's freezing out there again so now they've wilted.
The old gal Polly on one of the warm, sunny days last week. Boy, I've got a lot of sticks to pick up before I start mowing this spring, lol.
I enjoy viewing your photos - Audubon Society quality bird photos, great flower shots and as always, Polly. Waiting for the veggie garden series. My wife has been bringing in the vegetables from her little farm for a while now - sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, squash, and some kinds I don't know what they are. I'm looking forward to eating the corn she will be planting soon.
You're getting fresh garden veggies right now, in February?
Thanks for reminding me that I need to order some seeds. It's about that time again. I'm also going to order some milkweed seeds this year and try to put a bunch of it out to hopefully help the Monarch butterflies. I guess they only breed on milkweed, and human activity has been reducing the quantity of it in the wild.
My garden is a wet, soggy mess right now. It's what I call "winter wet," when even just a little moisture sticks around because there isn't enough sun or heat to dry it out. I need to get in there to clear away a bunch of rocks I dug up last fall (I'm still de-rocking the subsoil), but I guess that'll have to wait a while longer.
Chongqing is in south central China, and we are surrounded by mountains. The weather never gets extremely cold and farming can go on all year round. My wife grew up on a farm in a rural area of Chongqing and she knows her stuff.
there's a few videos on youtube with bird feeders where the people that wanted them on camera hadn't realized that they had built a very efficient predatory environment for raptors.
Maybe I spoke too soon about them not staying around too long. I just took these a little while ago, right in the feeder tree. There are marking on the wings that make me think it's the same one from a few days ago.
Standing on one foot again.
Now with both feet down. Look at those talons!
Staring right at me and not even caring that I was there.
Just as I was wondering if I should try to scare it off with a broom or something it swooped down and dive-bombed a little chickadee at one of the feeders. It missed, though, and flew over to the edge of the yard. I lost it after that. I don't know where it is now.
As far as I know it hasn't had any success at the feeders so far. There haven't been any loose feathers from an attack on the ground out there, and every time I've seen it try to catch something it misses. Maybe it's young and hasn't honed it's hunting skills yet.
After a little more searching, I think the bird in the third photo is a female rusty blackbird. They are in rapid decline, unfortunately. Maybe that's why I don't remember ever seeing one before.
I don't know if I've ever heard a blackbird whistle. I've heard the loud cackle of chirps they make when they're flying around in flocks, though. That's what they seem to do here, anyway.
I've been busy getting Mom moved and expect that to be finished this weekend so not much time for fish or photos. I did finally get the tannins package I ordered for the apisto tank. I'll have photos or video of that process next week but here's a little peek.
Canoa pods Mokha pods Banana stem pieces Ichnocarpus bark Live oak leaf litter Zehria pods Dregea pods
So yeah... stay tuned next week for how these get used in my aquariums.
Tannins from botanicals like these bind up minerals to soften the water. It lowers pH, hardness and alkalinity. All fish have a healthy pH range and mine is at the high end for the South American Cichlids I keep. As the botanicals decompose they grow a biofilm that fish and shrimp will eat too. Shrimp especially. They also look interesting in an aquarium.
That's great. If I had an aquarium I'd definitely have to do something like that, too. I have slightly hard water coming out of a carbonate rock aquifer.
I spend a lot of time in places like this … and it's never enough.
I can understand that Mac I am the same when it comes to nature. One must listen carefully because nature talks to you and at times it is the sound of silence.
For the last couple of weeks I have been having a lot of fun trying to recreate antique glass slide style images from some of my photos. Here is an example.
Thank you! If I understand what you are doing with them, I think that you are taking old slides and restoring them so they are more contemporary, and I'm taking recent photos and trying to make them look old. Opposite sides of the same coin.
These are photos of Sun Moon Lake in the mountains of Taiwan. Remote and beautiful, I stayed there three times when I was working since we have two large operations in Taiwan. The Thao (one of the aboriginal people) of Taiwan who was there thousands of years before the Taiwanese or Chinese still have a presence around the lake.
Time to get started.
Beautiful photo, Mac.
A great photo that rekindles memories of peacefully sitting by such a stream - a joy never repeated here.
Arvo Mac...love the photo of the creek and love that damp earthy smell that goes with it..
Looks like spring. I can't wait.
That is really nice. How many images did you use in that amalgamation?
The image is actually a single photograph with layers of different opacities eventually flattened to one … after which I added a filter or two. I did the image years ago, and while I still like it, I like it less than I have in the past because, had I made the final image, say, yesterday these many years later, I would have kept it as its original self.
Don't get me wrong, for all kinds of reasons, understood or even unidentifiable to ourselves, our presuppositions about life and art do change. Ten years ago I probably would have thought I loved the image … the image doesn't care how I feel about … and these years later, I mostly care that it might please whoever views it.
Unrequited love?
Thanks for the information. Were you using Luminar?
Various photos from around Stone Creek.
An excellent collection of photos, Kavika. You're getting to be really good at making me jealous.
LOL, thanks Buzz.
Those are super nice shots. I especially like the pelicans in flight.
The pelican's arrive around the first of December and stay until March or so before they head north again.
I've seen thousands of them in late March on the Osage River wetlands above Truman Lake. It blew my mind the first time I saw them. Before then I didn't realize they migrated inland like that. It's quite a sight.
The largest area for White Pelicans in the northern states is SE Minnesota. There are thousands of them that migrate there for the summer.
I wonder if the Osage wetlands are just a rest stop on the way? I have no idea if any actually breed there.
Pelicans require wetlands to breed and MO has plenty of wetlands but MO is also a stop from pelicans heading north for the summer and south for the winter.
So actually, MO could provide both.
Those are wonderful photos, Kavika. You live in a very picturesque location.
Thanks, G.
Either a sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk (I have a hard time telling them apart) standing on one foot. The other is tucked up under the belly feathers. I've read they do that to conserve heat. This one was harassing the feeders the other day. I didn't see it catch anything, but it kept trying and would NOT go away. It wouldn't even fly off when I was walking around under it taking pictures.
If you've ever wondered what gives red-bellied woodpeckers their name, here it is.
Can anybody identify this one? I'm thinking some kind of towhee, but I'm not sure and it's been bugging me. It's not a regular visitor under the feeders. I think I've only seen it this once.
A gray squirrel.
The first flowers of the year. A warm spell last week brought these crocuses out on the day before Valentine's Day, which is early here, even for crocuses. It's freezing out there again so now they've wilted.
The old gal Polly on one of the warm, sunny days last week. Boy, I've got a lot of sticks to pick up before I start mowing this spring, lol.
I enjoy viewing your photos - Audubon Society quality bird photos, great flower shots and as always, Polly. Waiting for the veggie garden series. My wife has been bringing in the vegetables from her little farm for a while now - sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, squash, and some kinds I don't know what they are. I'm looking forward to eating the corn she will be planting soon.
You're getting fresh garden veggies right now, in February?
Thanks for reminding me that I need to order some seeds. It's about that time again. I'm also going to order some milkweed seeds this year and try to put a bunch of it out to hopefully help the Monarch butterflies. I guess they only breed on milkweed, and human activity has been reducing the quantity of it in the wild.
My garden is a wet, soggy mess right now. It's what I call "winter wet," when even just a little moisture sticks around because there isn't enough sun or heat to dry it out. I need to get in there to clear away a bunch of rocks I dug up last fall (I'm still de-rocking the subsoil), but I guess that'll have to wait a while longer.
Chongqing is in south central China, and we are surrounded by mountains. The weather never gets extremely cold and farming can go on all year round. My wife grew up on a farm in a rural area of Chongqing and she knows her stuff.
That's great!
Great photos and the hawk photo is exceptional.
Of course, Polly was making sure that none of the sticks were dangerous invaders.
When she was younger she would play with sticks. Maybe I should have trained her to pick them up and put them in a burn pile, lol.
there's a few videos on youtube with bird feeders where the people that wanted them on camera hadn't realized that they had built a very efficient predatory environment for raptors.
True enough. Hawks drop by my feeders from time to time, but they don't usually stay in the area too long.
Maybe I spoke too soon about them not staying around too long. I just took these a little while ago, right in the feeder tree. There are marking on the wings that make me think it's the same one from a few days ago.
Standing on one foot again.
Now with both feet down. Look at those talons!
Staring right at me and not even caring that I was there.
Just as I was wondering if I should try to scare it off with a broom or something it swooped down and dive-bombed a little chickadee at one of the feeders. It missed, though, and flew over to the edge of the yard. I lost it after that. I don't know where it is now.
As far as I know it hasn't had any success at the feeders so far. There haven't been any loose feathers from an attack on the ground out there, and every time I've seen it try to catch something it misses. Maybe it's young and hasn't honed it's hunting skills yet.
Great photos as always, Dig.
After a little more searching, I think the bird in the third photo is a female rusty blackbird. They are in rapid decline, unfortunately. Maybe that's why I don't remember ever seeing one before.
Arvo.. that's what I thought but the head is slightly different to the one's we get here..
Can't beat the male blackbirds for whistling though...
I don't know if I've ever heard a blackbird whistle. I've heard the loud cackle of chirps they make when they're flying around in flocks, though. That's what they seem to do here, anyway.
On the Yellow River
Bottom center is that a boat on the water?
I took that photo more than 15 years ago and really don't remember. It does look like a kind of barge but I'm not sure.
It looks like it should be titled "Yellow Object on the River".
Yeah, it does sort of stand out in the centre of the picture, doesn't it.
I've been busy getting Mom moved and expect that to be finished this weekend so not much time for fish or photos. I did finally get the tannins package I ordered for the apisto tank. I'll have photos or video of that process next week but here's a little peek.
Canoa pods
Mokha pods
Banana stem pieces
Ichnocarpus bark
Live oak leaf litter
Zehria pods
Dregea pods
So yeah... stay tuned next week for how these get used in my aquariums.
Does organic material like that add to the healthfulness of the water?
Tannins from botanicals like these bind up minerals to soften the water. It lowers pH, hardness and alkalinity. All fish have a healthy pH range and mine is at the high end for the South American Cichlids I keep. As the botanicals decompose they grow a biofilm that fish and shrimp will eat too. Shrimp especially. They also look interesting in an aquarium.
That's great. If I had an aquarium I'd definitely have to do something like that, too. I have slightly hard water coming out of a carbonate rock aquifer.
Can't wait to see how they look in your tanks.
Had to laugh when I saw the warning "Not for human consumption, Do not ingest."
I spend a lot of time in places like this … and it's never enough.
Mud Run, Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania
© A. Mac/A.G.
I can understand that Mac I am the same when it comes to nature. One must listen carefully because nature talks to you and at times it is the sound of silence.
For the last couple of weeks I have been having a lot of fun trying to recreate antique glass slide style images from some of my photos. Here is an example.
Boat with Umbrella, Zhouzhuang
Looks like you succeeded in your recreation attempt. That's pretty neat.
Thanks, Dig.
Nice job! I have approximately 1000 Magic Lantern Glass slides dated from about 1880 to 1920. You've created an excellent approximation.
Thank you! If I understand what you are doing with them, I think that you are taking old slides and restoring them so they are more contemporary, and I'm taking recent photos and trying to make them look old. Opposite sides of the same coin.
Being ancient I'm going to ask Mac to restore me.
That's probably a good idea, or, if you don't want a complete restoration, maybe an annual tune-up.
I really like that one, G.
Well done.
Thanks, Kavika.
Yep, it does look like a vintage photo, and a very nice one.
Thank you, BotO.
Another example -
View from the Summer Palace, Beijing
The pagoda is a good touch.
I love the pagoda in that photo. I think it makes the photo.
Misty Morning, Hickory Run, Pocono Mountains
© A. Mac/A.G.
Where I am, EVERY morning is misty. Here's an example:
An unnamed rivulet in winter, Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania.
© A. Mac/A.G.
These are photos of Sun Moon Lake in the mountains of Taiwan. Remote and beautiful, I stayed there three times when I was working since we have two large operations in Taiwan. The Thao (one of the aboriginal people) of Taiwan who was there thousands of years before the Taiwanese or Chinese still have a presence around the lake.
Photos from the internet.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
© A. Mac/A.G.
Another Stone Creek sunset.
The boys are out for a swim.
It seems to me that you can never get bored there.
Those open spaces are really nice.
It would be really great if all three day weekends were as long as this one, eh? (LOL I'm really not serious.)
All good things must come to an end … until this coming Thursday.