Palouse Barn, Wide

Last Wednesday, I posted an old barn photo, taken during my recent business trip to the Palouse region of SE Washington state...  Well, I've been thinking about that image, and realizing that it really didn't capture what I was thinking / meaning when I snapped it.  I had fallen into the trap of online posting.  Trying to keep things viewable in a 450x300 type format....  So I digital zoomed in on the old barn.  And the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. 

So I spent a bit of time today, and reworked from the original to match my vision.  And while that makes the barn a bit smaller with the blog size, I like it a LOT better.  And the digital file will allow me to make a much larger print: I'm looking at 12" x 4.5".

What do the rest of you think?

Uncle!

I was listening to Uncle Tupelo today, and it got me thinking about musical Uncles. And I’ve got quite a few songs about Uncles on my iPod:


• Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey - Paul McCartney
• Uncle Charlie – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• Uncle Fred – Blue Highway
• Uncle John’s Band – Grateful Dead
• Uncle Josh – Mike Cross
• Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm – The Shrunken Headbangers
• Uncle Pen – Hank Williams Jr.
• Uncle Remus – Frank Zappa
• Uncle Salty – Aerosmith
• Uncle Son - Kinks
• Uncle Walter – Ben Folds Five

And songs about Aunts? Only 2, and both by the Monkees: Your Auntie Grizelda and Auntie’s Municipal Court.

Hmmmmm…

Old Barn #1242

Last of the Palouse barns....  at least for now.

I went for a desaturated look...  Not B&W but... well, faded.  This barn is just over the border into Idaho, near Moscow.  I've taken another shot of this one, which is quite different.

Old Barn #1223c

Last of 3 shots of the same barn.  Slightly different angle from yesterday, and not B&W!  Better?  Worse?  Whatever??

Old Barn #1223b

Another view of the barn I posted yesterday.  A completey different angle, without the distractions.  Whicg image is better?

I've been really digging the B&W / sepia / film grain treatment lately...

Old Barn #1223

Another from the palouse last week.  This is along Rt 271, just a bit SE of Rosalia, Wa.

I'd really like some feedback on this one, iof you're willing.  I was pretty excited about it when I snapped the shutter...  The lines of the red barn directing the eye to the other barn, which is framed by the tree.....  blah blah blah.   

Anyway, looking at the final product, it seems that it's all a bit muddled. My eye seems to bounce randomly around in a sort of counter clockwise circle.   The red barn is too big compared to the brown one.  The tree overpowers the brown barn...  It's just all TOO busy. 

Or am I crazy?

Old Barn #1218

Over the years I've taken countless photos of old buildings, especially barns.  I even have a lightbox on one of the microstock sites.  I took a few more last week in SE Washington.  Here's one, near Spangle, WA.

Changed to B&W, sepia toned, added film-grain.

Steptoe Butte

Yesterday's post was the rolling hills of the Palouse, from the base of Kamiak Butte.  Today is a shot of the Butte itself:

I've never been all the way to the top of the Butte.  We I was out there in 2008, there was still snow on the upper part of the road well into may.  It's a narrow road. a real drag to try and turn around for a sudden snowbank...  I would've been clear last week, but I was feeling late by then, and pushged on to Pullman.

On The Palouse, Pt. 2

A sister photo to the one I posted earlier, looking more or less east from the base of Kamiak Butte, in the  the Palouse region of southeast Washington.

On The Palouse

I spent last week in southeast Washington State, on a business trip.  I flew into Spokane Monday, and drove south to Pullman.  it was a beautiful day, so I meandered just a bit...  This image was taken from the base of Steptoe Butte, about 1/2 way south.   This is pretty much what the whole drive looks like.  Just like the Window's "bliss" Wallpaper.    Of course, my image doesn't have the super-saturate colors, etc.....

Letters

I found this old letter-box during the scout campout lats weekend.  It doesn't look like it has gotten much use over the last decade or two.

- - -

A close up of the info card.  I presume they still check it?

Leafing

Over the years, I've done a lot of images of fall color cloes ups.  I suppose I'll never get tired of them....

Like this, and this, and this and this and this...

Wow, those photos make me miss BetterPhoto, where I used to hang out.

Fence & Foliage

Once upon a time, there was a plug-in filter for photo effectt call Buzz Simplifier.  The company went out of business in 2008 or so, and I've changed computers and PSE versions since then.  So (for me) the filter is long gone.  But I was playing around in Elements and come up with a reaasonable approximation:

I'm niot a huge fan of "painterly" filters, but they can be fun every once in a while.

That Area

Another from Scout Camp...  In direct contrast to yesterday's post (That Place) is That Area....  The two spots are not too far apart. Actually, this is very close to where Sunday's photo was taken...

That Place

I had a little time to wander around during scout camp last weekend, while my son was learing about knots and fire safety and such. 

Lake Warren Levis

Last weekend was another campout with the scouts:  Family Camp 2010.  This is a view of the lake, from the main lodge. 

Quiet Spot

Taken during our 3-mile hike during this weekend's Family Camp.

Fall Colors Coming...

Starting to get some fall colors in Southern Illinois.  This is from this weekend's scout Family Camp.  This follows last weekend's Scout Rendezvous.  Two consecutive weekends at Camp Warren Levis.  Last weekend was cold (40 degrees in the morning)...  This weekend was hot, in the 80's by afternoon.  But it was dry both weekends, which is the real key.  Still not a lott of fall colors, but it won't be long!

Roots

I've often been struck by the exposed root structure of trees along waterways.  And I've never (yet) been able to ceate an image that captures the spirit....  Here's more failed attempts, taken in the past week at a local park:

 

Neither image is remotely pleasing to me.  I'll keep trying, maybe one of these days something will "click".  I'm not sure if these are any better than one of my forst attempts, from way back in early 1977 or so:

This was taken on a backpacking trip, on the banks of the upper Potomac River, along the C&O Canal.  Thirty + years, and I still can't get it.  Ah well, next time.

Recovery Summer

A couple of months ago, it seemed like I couldn't go anywhere without seeing dozens of "American Recovery & Reinvestment Act" signs.  Kinda made me wish I owned stock in the sign company...    Recently, I read an article talking about the tens of millions of dollars spent on these signs, and I realized I hadn't noticed any in a while.

So anyway, a couple of weeks later, I was driving around, and came across a sign!  unfortunately, you'll notice that there is no sign of any actual work being done (below):

hmmmm....

Hmmmm.....

I saw these bumper stickers on the car in front of me at a stop light.  I couldn't help wondering if there's a coorelation between the person's hobby, and their politcal leanings....    Wonder if Ms. Minton might prefer to not be so closely associated with this person.  but you can't pick your friends, right?

Disclaimer:  I have no dog in this race, Ms. Minton isn't running in my county, I know nothing about her one way or the other.

Old Garage, off center

OK, this is either really cool, or really dumb.  What do y'all think?

World's Largest Catsup Bottle

I've posted this before, but this is a differnt angle..  I was driving around at lunch today, and came on it from a new (to me) direction.  

Darkness, Darkness... No Color, No Contrast

This is a image from the Scout Campout last weekend. Warren Levis Lake...  About 8:30 or so, well after dark.  It looks pretty good on my monitor, it'll be interesting to see how it translates to the blogosphere.  This is actually my son's favorite of all my images from last weekend.

hmmm... looks pretty crappy.  Even the facebook posting looks better.....  But it reaqlly pops in slideshow mode, w/ a black background.   Oh well, I'm not going to do another version just for blog posting.

Cache, Cache (There ain't no bears in there.....)

So...  I spent most of last weekend at Scout Camp with my son.  Lots of fun.  During one bit of down-time, I decided to wander the area.And, a little bit off the main paths, I found a geocache box!  I've read about geocaching, and occasionally thought it might be interesting....  but never actually looked for one of them.  And then I just found this.  I guess it's cool, right?

In a moment of geekiness, I pulled out my Blackberry, found my current location, and sent myself an email....  Which then gave me the coordinates...  see the little green arrow on the image below (screen capture from Google maps)...