Picture of the Week 5/11

Happy Mother's Day all! I have to start this post out with that because Maria has our oldest

daughter in STL today because she broke a rod in her back. While the girls are having *fun* with

that, I'm at home filling my time with the Wichita River Festival. Part of the festival is the 'Kansas

Cup' tournament at the Wichita Ice Center, so I caught a few hockey games after church today...

 

Of course, dirty plexiglass is the curse to all hockey shooters, as well as crappy lighting. I tried to

kick a little new school, a little old school pairing up the DA* 16-50 f/2.8 and the Tak-A 70-200 f/4.

Unfortunately, it was really too dark for f/4, even at ISO 1600. I wasn't really impressed with

myself today, but I'll blame the crappyness of my photos on poor light and dirty plex!

 

Most importantly, I had a *little* fun today even though I miss my girls...<div></div>

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OK, that makes one shot from each game. One rink was about a stop brighter than

the other, and the darker one had a light out over the far goal. It figures that 2 of the

three games were on the darker ice....<div></div>

<a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/'><img src='http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9938/sangabrielriver14bo6.jpg' border='0'/></a>

 

<a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/'><img src='http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/994/sangabrielriver12zt2.jpg' border='0'/></a>

 

<a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/'><img src='http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3405/73280020wo0.jpg' border='0'/></a>

 

<a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/'><img src='http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6499/73280005on0.jpg' border='0'/></a>

Amazing, Javier! Try doing that through plexi-glass in a poorly lit arena ;~) The flower is like a Rube Goldberg pollen-dispensing contraption--but it seems to work!

 

It wasn';t a great week of, or for, shooting for me but I did manage to take a stab shooting with extension tubes--this one, with the 77mm ltd.<div></div>

Ok, this one has an almost long story behind it. On I-70 somewhere between

Warrenton and O'Fallon, MO, there is an old church w/ a sign on it that's always

caught my eye. "Historic Village for Sale". HOW do you sell and buy an entire

village? Do they expect you to move all the buildings to the location you wish?

 

Turns out it's some buildings in High Hill, MO. I finally learned this because I finally

pulled off the interstate and doubled back a little.

 

I will admit to being something of a "fair weather shooter." That is: when it's just

me & one little girl, I am NOT inclined to getting out of the car and walking more

than 2 feet away (especially when residents of the village have been seen staring at

me & my car) and I am not inclined to take any little girls out of the car when I've

stopped in the middle of a street. I also don't like shooting when it's raining outside;

i'm not as weather sealed as the camera is (and some hubby who shall remain un-

named kept the sealed DA* lens for himself).<div></div>

Frankly, the "historic" buildings looked more interesting from the interstate. Anyway, in

this 4 block town, I also found this:<div></div>

Shooting hockey sure is challenging, and fun trying to be quick on the trigger with so much unpredictable fast action, 'ay, Matt?

 

Great pics, Javier!! Shot in JPEG? Which camera/lens?

 

Dave, that flower shot is gorgeous!

 

Maria, very interesting buildings!

Salmo Trutta ... Caught and released unharmed.<div></div>

The fly it was caught on...Tied myself thru the instruction of my brother.<div></div>

And a shot of my son, not Brad Pitt ( "A River Runs Through It").

 

He just likes to dress that way.<div></div>

Here's a couple taken today as I dusted off my SMC- PENTAX DA 1:4.5-5.6 50-200mm ED. I don't use this lens very often but I should. It's a fine lens and I'm glad I have it. I just tend to favor the wider end of the scale, sometimes too much I fear.<div></div>

And these fellows contemplating the trials of life on shore. I had to be fast as the boat was zipping along at a good clip and quickly loosing a fairly good composition.<div></div>

Bob, I am so envious! All this time I've wasted on photography and I coulda been fishing--DOH! Wooly Buggers are great aren't they?

 

Maria, FYI, The eastern end of I-70 is not far from my house--they wanted to put it through our park but we stopped it.

Dave, as you can, you can do both fish and photo.

Dave , Javier

 

awesome Photos!

 

javier, stop by my thread "trouble shooting people" I took a picture of a Bird just for you....

 

 

Matt/Maria

 

"Maria has our oldest daughter in STL today because she broke a rod in her back. While the girls are having *fun* with that"

 

??

 

Bob,

 

Nice shot

 

I am not fisherman, I can barely catch a cold but,

 

"Caught and released unharmed"

 

what about the Hook you caught it with?

 

lol

I knew there was a reason I never took my camera to hockey games. Must be frustrating to deal with the plexiglass Matthew. Maria, did you find out how much they wanted for the village? lol. Great photos already for this week.. I love that trout.. looks delicious.. oops, maybe I wasn't supposed to be looking at it like that. The sepia shot of your son Bob is wonderful.. Scot .. I love your dreams :-) I miss the water here in Scottsdale.. Speaking of which, I decided to exercise the 16-45 a little bit with some street photography.<div></div>

Javier: I love the bumblebee making a hasty exit! Great shot :-)

Dave: That's a great photo.. beautiful colors.<div></div>

The lady with the carriage snuck up on me, and at 1/8th of a sec handheld, it was too much for the SR..<div></div>

An Old Adobe Mission under renovation here in Old Town Scottsdale. Unlike Maria, I did not have to brave the elements.. lol<div></div>

At the risk of overloading the thread.. a couple more that I really like <p>

<a href="http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2755834540011358559tXBgRb"><img src="http://inlinethumb38.webshots.com/40613/2755834540011358559S600x600Q85.jpg" alt="4650r"></a> <p>

<a href="http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2652719130011358559KxXgDQ"><img src="http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/41212/2652719130011358559S600x600Q85.jpg" alt="4662r"></a> <p>

<a href="http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2840111250011358559JwlCkb"><img src="http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/2755/2840111250011358559S600x600Q85.jpg" alt="4667r"></a>

Sorry to everyone, but my favourite shot by far is Dave's flower. I had my doubts about the DoF, but after looking at it for a while I think it actually works very well. Great framing too, Dave.

 

Maria, hope your largest little one is recovering well. With a mum like you, I can't imagine how she wouldn't.

Thanks, Mis! I had doubts, too. I'm glad you came to enjoy it.

I've been really busy, and am not likely to get freed up for a few weeks, but here is one shot from a Mother's Day activity at school this week.

<P>

This little girl wept inconsolably as her parents have recently divorced (and she lives with Dad), and this hit home during the Mother's Day ceremony.

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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24750090@N07/2484435537/" title="Comfort by Garry Young, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2419/2484435537_56345e4c87.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="Comfort" /></a>

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It's because of kids like this that I love making students laugh and have as much fun as possible in the classroom!