Don't Fade On Me...

larger version here

 Yesterday was cold, hovering on the low side of 40.  After a couple of days of rain, it had slacked to mostly misty, with spells of drizzle.  A great day to sit in front of a fire and watch sports. Or, brave the blah and looks for some images!

I spent some time around Miner Park, and Schon Park, and found a few spots that struck me.  Along with the above, there're others here, here and here....

Good Times, Bad Times - April 2015

As an ongoing series:
   The good part of a 365Project is that it keeps photography in the front of the mind, and leads to pushing boundaries.  The bad side is that sometimes you post less that perfect images, just to keep up...  SO:  I decided to take the "favorites from the month" concept, and include "unfavorites from the month". 

We've looked at January,  February, March, and October (good and bad).  I'm trying to roll out a new month every few days and finish by the end of the year.  Today, we'll move on to April.

365 Project - April 2015

The Good

 Helicopters!

 I generally struggle with macro, but am pretty satisfied with this one.  Has been in my Top 10 images rankings at 365Project since April.

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Farmland, SW Illinois

 I know, this is almost stereotypical of my "style"...  Doesn't matter, I like it.

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Sniffin' The Tulips

 Iasked my granddaughter to smell the flowers in their front yard.  This one will make me smile forever.

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The Bad

 Cross & Clouds

This is technically flawed, on several levels.  Bad color, not sharp...  bleh.

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Threaded

Sometimes it is better to not post anything.  I should have posted nothing this day.

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East Of St. Louis

yawn....

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Moon On The Rise

"Why ain't I just passin' by, like that moon that's on the rise" - Ozark Mountain Daredevils

Red Barn

 

Took an hour of two to wander the bottomlands on Saturday, looking for photo ops.   I found a few interesting (run down)  things, like this and this.  On the way back towards home, I decided to take a random right.  I discovered this cool barn, about here.  Call it happenstance.

Larger version here

Good Times, Bad Times - March 2015

As an ongoing series:
   The good part of a 365Project is that it keeps photography in the front of the mind, and leads to pushing boundaries.  The bad side is that sometimes you post less that perfect images, just to keep up...  SO:  I decided to take the "favorites from the month" concept, and include "unfavorites from the month". 

We've looked at January,  February, and October (good and bad).  I'm trying to roll out a new month every few days and finish by the end of the year.  Today, we'll move on to March.

365 Project - March 2015

The Good

Old Chain Of Rock Bridge

This is my Top Rated image for most of the year, based on the magic algorithm

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  Backroads

Certainly a favorite of mine, and spent some time on the "Top Rated" list
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Hurry Sundown

Not every sunset needs clouds in order to be awesome...

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The Bad

 

Tree "C"

Proof that something isn't always better than nothing...

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 Buy The Sky and Sell The Sky...

This has to be a contender for most boring photo of the year

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Whispering Pines

meh... blur, much?

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Fats Express

It was a grey, wet day yesterday, but we had a break at lunch time.  A good opportunity to look for pictures.   I was looking for "clock" pictures, for a challenge on 365Project.  but found this instead. I'm rather satisfied w/ this one....

larger version at 365Project.

Good Times, Bad Times - February 2015

As noted previously:...   The good part of a 365Project is that it keeps photography in the front of the mind, and leads to pushing boundaries.  The bad side is that sometimes you post less that perfect images, just to keep up...  SO:  I decided to take the "favorites from the month" concept, and include "unfavorites from the month". 

We've looked at January,  and October (good and bad).  This week, we'll move on to February.

 

365Project - February

The Good:

This was on my "most popular" rankings through May, so it must be decent, right?

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What can I say, I'm a sucker for tree shadows on snow.....

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Not perfect, but pretty good...

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The Bad:

OK, there's a concept here...  But not much of an implementation...

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I'll hold that this is adequate from a technical standpoint. But...  a little...  boring.  or a lot.

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I will say that this doesn't look too terribly horrible at the small size. But it's a total fail if seen larger.  I wouldn't have posted it except for the 1-photo-per-day goal.

There was more bad than good in February, at least IMHO.  Just the ebb and flow, I suppose.

Bare Trees #3752

Tree trunks in layers and layers....  Bare trees, standing starkly.   One of those subject s that I try to capture often, and fail more than succeed.  (like this one).  This is from the Greenspace behind Schon Park in Glen Carbon.  Taken Saturday.  Larger version at 365Project. 

Taken in the same session as this one:  When The Golden Leaves Begin To Fall.  I think it is fun how dramatically diffenet these two images are in mood and tone, despite being taken only 10-12 minutes apart, in the same general area.

Good Times, Bad Times - January 2015

As noted last week:...   The good part of a 365Project is that it keeps photography in the front of the mind, and leads to pushing boundaries.  The bad side is that sometimes you post less that perfect images, just to keep up...  SO:  I decided to take the "favorites from the month" concept, and include "unfavorites from the month".  I think I'll go back to January, and work through the year, as occasional posts.

Today, we'll look at January, and then we'll move through the year

Three Favorites:

 

Early Morning, Winter Day

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Ain't Never Been Nobody's Pride And Joy...

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Winter Walk

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Three Unfavorites

 

Sunrise, Bare Trees

I don't even know what to say on this...  except "Sorry"

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Power Lines, Prairie

A remarkably flat rendering....

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Album Cover Challenge #40

-I don't hate the concept, just the implementation... 

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American Bittersweet Vine?

Wandering around Moody Park (Longacre) today, and I saw these berries on a tree....  I've never seen anything like it....

Blurred

I suppose I could've titled this "Purple Haze" after the Hendrix song....  but that would've been forced.

Yesterday was an abstract kind of day, between the ICM here, and the intentional out-of-focus on my 365Project post.  What can it mean?

Underture

larger version at 365Project

The leaves are mostly gone, the trees are not intimidating...  But the undergrowth is still quite thick and unwelcoming...  This would be a tough area to traverse, and the gate in the right foreground would be the least of your problems.

I was tweaking this in PSE last night, trying to capture the mood I felt, and the song Underture crept to the from of my brain.  It seemed apt.

Fire In The Sky

Really nice sunset this evening, as I was leaving work.

Good Times, Bad Times - October 2015

So, I've been thinking...  Earlier this week, I had posted a chart of my October posts to 365Project, and listed my 3 favorite images from the month.  Then I posted an image yesterday that I kind of don't like.   The good part of a 365Project is that it keeps photography in the front of the mind, and leads to pushing boundaries.  The bad side is that sometimes you post less that perfect images, just to keep up..

SO:  I decided to take the "favorites from the month" concept, and include "unfavorites from the month".  I think I'll go back to January, and work through the year, as occasional posts.

BUT, since I just posted my favs for October, what're my least favorites?  As a reminder, here's the month in overview:

 

 So, what 3 do I not like?

Bad Company...

A technically flawed photo that I tried to save with effects.

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Can You Surry? Can You Picnic?

I'm not sure I could've caught a worse expression on the young lady....

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 Stretched

 I'll give myself high marks for trying to be creative.  But poor implementation.  Once again, tried to save with effects.

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Through The Looking Glass

Larger Version Here

We still have some fall colors...  though its fading.  I took another photo of this spot back in June, it's an interesting contrast:

Larger Version Here

The post title is an old Monkees song, not one of their big hits.  But I was listening to the album while processing this photo, and decided that it fit with the contrasting photos.  Sort of...  Or close enough.

Morning Is The Long Way Home

Still some color around, this is my front yard.  Larger version here.  The post title is from the Leo Kottke song.  An instrumental, but really fit the mood (IMHO).

Winding Down October

Above shows the images I posted to 365project in October.  An interesting month.  October started with a flourish, as I participated in the Worldwide Photo Walk.  A big step out of my comfort zone, but a lot of fun.  And a bunch of pictures.  And I closed the month by submitting 3 prints to the Edwardsville Library photo contest.  I limited myself to images taken in 2015 (2 from this month), and taken in Metro East (one is from Litchfield).  It will be interesting to see if they're well received.

But, the month closed with a wimper, and I had to backfill the last 3 days with also-rans from the month.  My 3 favorites from the month (from 365project):