Then Came The Last Days Of May.....

They're OK, the last days of May,
I'll be breathing dry air,
I'm leaving soon, the others are already there......

Gone Fishin'

I was looking through my archives for a work related image today, and found this instead. This is my daughters, taken at least 9 years ago (probably more). From a weekend retreat to the Methodist Camp at Lake Little Grassy, Illinois. The younger one (closer to the camera) will be graduating High School next Saturday!.

Get In The Wind, Pt. 2

More from Silver Lake Park in Highland, this one from November 2005. It was a windy day, and most of the leaves were down. Those that remained were dancing around… .

Free Microstock Photos, 5/26/2007

Several of the microstock sites I belong to have "Free Photo" sections. Some are daily, others weekly. Here's a few recent freebies, check out the sites to get your own!

iStockphoto:

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Dreamstime:

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Fotolia:

Been Waitin' For The Bus All Day....

Nothing much to say on this one. A drizzly day in Chattanooga, TN, way back in November, 2001. Somebody getting on the bus…. Yep, I’m still playing in the archives. This is from my first digital camera, the Kodak DC210.

Get In The Wind

Keeping with the recent “oldies” theme. This is from either late 1977 or early 1978, senior year of high school. I’m pretty sure it was spring of 78, but not sure (Maybe MikeW can remember?). This is from a backpacking trip to North Fork Mountain, in eastern WV. We camped in Smoke-Hole area, got rained on, got lost, and had a great trip. This part was a short “no-pack” hike up the mountain for a quick overlook. That’s Greg H. standing in the wind (getting ready to take a photo), and Rob P. (R.I.P. ) sitting to the right. They're looking towards Seneca Rocks....

Vintage

This is one of my oldest (surviving) images. I believe it was taken in 1976, when I was a sophomore in high school. I’m pretty sure it was on a trip to pick up my brother during his freshman year of college. It may have been spring break, but I’m not sure. The Pittsburgh to Richmond route (back then) included a jaunt across Route 17 in Virginia, from Winchester to Fredericksburg. This bypassed Washington DC, and all the traffic. This little place was just a couple miles east of Winchester. It’s been gone for decades, though…. The negative for this is LONG gone, I have 1 poor 8x10 print (from before I learned much about darkroom techniques). I scanned it 5-6 years ago, with my first flatbed scanner. I still like to replay it occasionally…

One Way?

Stickin’ with the oldies, this one’s from early 2004. Taken in Seattle, WA, at a little park about a mile away from the SEATAC airport.

Draw Blood!

A really great album, Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy”. From the zaniness of the title track and “Werewolves of London” to the splendor of “Accidentally Like a Martyr” and “Tenderness On the Block”… And don’t forget “Lawyers Guns and Money"… Still great 29 years later. If you have this one, dig it out and play it... If you don’t have it…. GET IT!

Tree in the Lake

Another oldie, from April 2004. Also from the LS-443, another from Silver Lake Park. This great liitle park was just a couple minutes drive from where I used to work. It made a great spot to spend lunch hours. One of the few things I miss about that job...

Free Microstock Photos

Several of the microstock sites I belong to have "Free Photo" sections. Some are daily, others weekly. Here's a few recent freebies, check out the sites to get your own!

iStockphoto:

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Dreamstime:

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Fotolia:

Growing Season

Another oldie, from May 2005. Back when my DSLR was pretty new! This is the rest stop along I-24 in Tennessee, by Nickajack Lake.

Silver Lake #001

I’m not sure, but I think this is the first image I posted on the internet. Certainly among the first. Taken May 2003, and posted to the “members” page I had with AOL. I used AOL until I switched to Blogger in September 2004. Silver Lake, in Highland, IL, taken with my humble Kodak LS443 point-n-shoot…

On The Run...

Just a quickie, from my son’s soccer game last weekend… I almost really like this one: the similarity of the positions, the 3-green/1grey, even the arc of the chalk-line. Blah, blah, blah. But, I had to clone out some distracting spectators from the background, and cloned in the ball (in the original it is behind one of the kids). Not too bad at this size, but hopeless at full size... Oh well, yet another “almost” shot for the archives…

Grrr.....

I hate squirrels. Thieving rodents, that's all they are.

Looking Up....

Last shot (I promise) form the Philadelphia airport. Just looking up, I was struck by the lines of the architecture, framing the bright blue sky and clouds…

Leavin' On A Jet Plane.....

This is the plane I rode to Philadelphia last week. The days of big, roomy jets (or even big cramped jets) are pretty much gone. I almost always end up on these commuter jets anymore. Even for a St.Louis to Philadelphia flight.

Free Microstock Photos

Several of the microstock sites I belong to have "Free Photo" sections. Some are daily, others weekly. Here's a few recent freebies, check out the sites to get your own!

iStockphoto:

----
Dreamstime:

----
Fotolia:

That big rocking chair won't go nowhere...

Another photo from the Philadelphia airport. It’s kinda cool , they have an observation area between concourses, with rocking chairs, so you can sit-a-spell. BTW: the title is a quote from The Band's song "Rocking Chair"...

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Just a simple shot, out the window at Philadelphia’s airport. Taken yesterday shortly before boarding a flight home to St. Louis area. This trip turned into another horrible airplane commute, which is getting closer to “the norm” than the exception. We boarded on time, backed away from the gate on time, and then got in line. A full hour later, we had worked our way up to #3 for take-off. That’s when the pilot got on the intercom and announced a traffic-hold headed west. We pulled out of line, drove to a far corner of the tarmac and shut the engines. And waited…………

We finally got airborne after another hour, “only” 2 hours behind schedule. At least I didn’t have to worry about connections this time, I had a direct flight.

This is at least the 4th time in the past 5-6 months I’ve spent over an hour locked on a parked airplane. The worst was 4.5 hours. That’s probably ½ of the round-trips with significant delays coming or going. And there’s few things that irritate me more than sitting locked in a cramped airplane, wondering when (or if) we’ll get on our way. This is why I prefer to drive.

Meanwhile, the key to the photo above is the lonely piece of luggage sitting in the middle of the tarmac. See below. About 10-15 minutes after I noticed it, a passing tram picked it up. But I have no idea how long it sat there. Somebody probably had a worse trip than I did!

Rose is a Rose

A close-up shot of a yellow rose, given to my younger daughter at last night’s banquet for soon-to-be-graduating seniors in the local chapter of the National Honor Society. Converted to B&W… Nothing close to Ansel Adams', but hey, I understand my limitations....

Old Tractor Engine...

I’ve been away from the camera (and the internet) for a few days, sorry…. So here one of my personal favorites from May, 2006. This is one of my few entries at microstock that has NOT sold. Oh well, huh?

Renewal

I was shooting “pre-prom” pictures last weekend, and noticed this house across the street from the local Library. It seems to be in the process of being rehabbed. Naturally, I had to snap off a few shots of this, neglecting all the beautiful young ladies in their fancy get-ups. Typical