Album Cover Challenge #120

One of my favorite challenges over at 365project is the Album Cover Challenge, where you create a "mock" album cover, using randomly generated Band name and Album title.  I (usually) enjoy the opportunity to channel my inner Hipgnosis....   I went through a period of posting my entries here, then it fell by the wayside.  I'm trying to post the old ones, to catch up, as it were.

 Check out the TAG to see all of the associated blog posts.

Here's my entry to Album Cover Challenge #120, way back in early October 2020:

The explanation:  Album Cover Challenge

Eagle Watching 01/06/2025

We took an excursion, Alton-Pere Marquette yesterday, our first eagle watching of the year.  A few not great photos, the light was especially tricky:

In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn (0522)

     Another in the series of photos in and around hotels while travelling.  Today is a shot from a trip in early 2022 (05/2024) to Pittsburgh .  Pretty sure this is the Holiday Inn Express, Pittsburgh - Southpointe.  Once again, the post title is from the old Elton John song:  CLICK.

Check out the TAG to see more from the series

Text To Image AI

 I'm not generally a fan of Text to Image AI, but one of the photo sites I frequent is doing a challenge, and I figured why not.  The "game" is to take a couple of prompts, add your twist and plug into an AI Generator.  The prompts were winter, and snow.  My text was: "Winter snow, a large herd of rhinos graze in an Appalachian mountain cove".  Yeah, rhinos.  I figured that would be whimsical, and pretty clearly not reality.

Anyway, here's what the suggested program spit out:

I thought it was pretty amusing, but I'm far from a convert.  Ther were a couple of n0table issues:

1:  Rhino at bottom right is missing a leg

2:  two rhinos have two rears and no front

3: One rhino has a head that doesn't look at all like a rhino

Anyway, a fun diversion, but I won't be retiring my cameras anytime soon.  But it was my only shot to see rhinos in the Appalachians.  

The Cliche

 

"The cliche comes not in what you shoot but in how you shoot it" 

 -   David duChemin

Edit The Stuffing Out Of It - ETSOOI

 One of the challenges at 365project is ETSOOI, to unleash your editing skills.  This is a challenge that I only do sporadically.  But the last round only had 4 entries, so I decided to throw them some support.  So I pulled up a cityscape from November, and played around with it.

Here's the result:

And the unedited, Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) version:

Album Cover Challenge #119

  On 12/31/24, I posted my entry into the Album Cover Challenge #158.  It got me thinking, then checking...  It had been a rather long time since I had posted an Album Cover entry: 10 entries over 40+ rounds of the contest.  So I'm posting those entries over the next few weeks, filling in the backlog

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 One of my favorite challenges over at 365project,  Check out the TAG to see the associated blog posts.

Here's my entry to Album Cover Challenge #119, way back in late August 2020:

The explanation:  Album Cover Challenge

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

I managed a few shots of a Eurasian Tree Sparrow today. First time I've gotten an almost decent photo of this bird that is native only to northeastern Missouri, west-central Illinois, and southeastern Iowa. I was shooting through our bay window glass, at a pretty sharp angle.

More info on the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, see range graph at bottom:

Range:

The joy of Burst Mode

 With our recent snow, the bird feeders have been overrun with European Starling.  Not my favorite bird (understatement).  But I noticed that they fight a lot.  It was sunny and bright today, so I set my camera to 1/2000th second (f/7.1, ISO=1600) and went for burst mode.  I was able to fire off a dozen or so photos in a few seconds, and then pick the best.

There's no way I would've been able to catch this moment w/o burst. 

In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn (1124a)

    Another in the series of photos in and around hotels while travelling.  Today is shots from a trip last fall (11/2024) to Pittsburgh (and other places).  This is the Holiday Inn Express, Pittsburgh - North Shore.  Once again, the post title is from the old Elton John song:  CLICK.

Check out the TAG to see more from the series.

On a drizzly November night

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A couple, walking.  Taken through the window from the breakfast area

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Another drizzly day in Pittsburgh.

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Architectural detail, above the entry

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View of downtown, from our window.

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First Snow of 2025

 We got just over 7", quite a lot for STL.  It really brought out the birds!

European Starlings

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House Finch

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Dark Eyed Junco

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House Finch

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Bluebird

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Song Sparrow

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Cardinal (female)

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Carolina Wren

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A Way Of Feeling...

"Photography is a way of feeling, , of touching, of loving.  What you have caught on film is captured forever...  it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything." - Aaron Siskind

MOLLYS C

I posted this photo to one of the online photo sites I frequent, with the caption:  "Just a little slice-of-life. I drive by this spot about 1/month, had a little time to wander this time. I don't know why I like this sign so much, but I do. Once upon a time there was a convenience store here, but it has been an empty lot for ages."  I received a comment I especially like, enough to share here:

"I know what you mean. I think we like these seemingly ordinary things because maybe they act as reminders of happy times, or they just serve to ground us when we’re living busy lives. I get that."

That made my day.  But I'm easily amused, I guess.

 

A Good Crop - 2024

 Regular readers should know that I usually do a post of my favorite images from the previous year.  Titled "A Good Crop", after Amsel Adam's quote "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop".  

In the spirit of Ansel Adams' quote, I've tried to pick my 12 favorite photos from last year (2024). I don't claim anything I've done to be "significant", especially by Ansel Adams standards.  So we'll stick with favorites)...

Meanwhile, I never got around to finishing / posting my selection for 2023, so that's next on my to-do list.

A Good Crop 2024 (chronological)

Leftovers

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Alton Slough

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Little River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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Horses, Dogwood

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Sparrow Mother and Fledgling

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Bluebird Display

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Straight Lines

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Against The Odds

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Driftwood

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Carolina Chickadee

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Leaves On Picnic Table

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Pittsburgh, PA, USA

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Click the TAG to see previous editions.

 

Album Cover Challenge #118

 On 12/31/24, I posted my entry into the Album Cover Challenge #158.  It got me thinking, then checking...  It had been a rather long time since I had posted an Album Cover entry;  10 entries over 40+ rounds of the contest.  I figured to post those entries over the next few weeks, filling in the backlog

- - - - -

 One of my favorite challenges over at 365project.  Check out the TAG to see the associated blog posts.

Here's my entry to Album Cover Challenge #118, way back in early August 2020:

The explanation:  Album Cover Challenge