Early Spring, Late In The Day

The underbrush is getting green, but the trees' canopy is still bare.  Taken in the greenspace behind Schon Park, yesterday (3/28/16)

Nikon D3200;    1/125,  f/10.0,   ISO-800,   Focal Length  36mm (35mm equivalent)

Ducks At Sunset

Sunset at Schon Park, Glen Carbon, IL  Tes pair of Duck cooperated nicely by crossing the reflection of the trees.

Nikon D3200;   1/1000,  f/4.5, ISO-800, Focal Length: 105 mm (35mm equivalent)

Best Buds - Flashback Friday

Posted this week in 2015 (3/19 <-->  3/25).  This one is from my 365project

Best Buds

New growth, spring is about to explode!

Same As It Ever Was...

A rather eclectic collection of graffiti, seen at St. Ellen Mine Park recently.  I think Coal Chamber is a band...  Hakuna Matata refers to the Disney movie.  My favorite (as evidenced by the post title) is Same As It Ever Was, which is from a Talking Heads song. 

This Month In Music - March 1986

March 1986...  30 years ago!  What was happening in the music world:

There were five Saturdays in March '86, so there the charts came out 5 times. Four different songs topped the charts: Mr. Mister topped the first two weeks with Kyrie, before giving way to Starship 's Sara, Heart's These Dreams and Falco's Rock Me Amadeus.  

Here's the Top 10 songs of the month, based on average chart position over the 4 weeks:

• Song - Artist -  Mar-Ave
• Sara - Starship - 3.2
• These Dreams - Heart - 3.8
• Secret Lovers - Atlantic Starr - 4.8
• Kyrie - Mr. Mister - 5.2
• How Will I Know - Whitney Houston - 8.0
• R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute to 60 s Rock) - John Mellencamp - 8.6
• King For A Day - Thompson Twins - 10.2
• Rock Me Amadeus - Falco - 11.0
• Nikita - Elton John - 11.2
• Silent Running - Mike and The Mechanics - 13.0

Twenty-Three (23) songs made their chart debuts.  Listed below with their peak position during the month:

• Song - Artist - Peak (March)
• Kiss - Prince And The Revolution - 5
• Addicted To Love - Robert Palmer - 13
• Tender Love - Force M.D. s - 16
• West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys - 19
• Harlem Shuffle - The Rolling Stones - 20
• Calling America - Electric Light Orchestra - 21
• No Easy Way Out - Robert Tepper - 22
• I Can t Wait - Stevie Nicks - 23
• Why Can t This Be Love - Van Halen - 24
• I Think It s Love - Jermaine Jackson - 26
• What Have You Done For Me Lately - Janet Jackson - 28
• So Far Away - Dire Straits - 29
• Your Love - The Outfield - 30
• Overjoyed - Stevie Wonder - 31
• I m Not The One - The Cars - 32
• Live Is Life - Opus - 32
• Goodbye Is Forever - Arcadia - 33
• American Storm - Bob Seger - 36
• Needles And Pins - Tom Petty - 37
• Take Me Home - Phil Collins - 37
• Bad Boy - Miami Sound Machine - 38
• For America - Jackson Browne - 39
• Saturday Love - Cherrelle With Alexander O Neal - 40

Abandonded Farm - Flashback Friday

Posted this week in 2015 (3/12 <-->  3/18).  This one is from my 365project. 

Abandoned Farm

Playing around with some effects...

Abstract #8750

Over at 365project, they have a term, ETSOOI.  It's an acronym for Edit The "Stuffing" Out Of It.  This one certainly qualifies.  Started with a simple iPhone image of a birch tree, transferred to iPad (bigger, better screen) and tweaked... and tweaked.... and tweaked some more. And then some more.

I had an abstraction in mind when I took this, but this ended up a bit more extreme than I planned.  I rather like how it ended up, though.

Here's the SOOC version, with the (approximate) crop noted:

SOOC = "Straight Out Of Camera", by the way.  Which is NOT something you'll see often from me.  Most of my images have only minor tweaks (crop, exposure, etc)...  But few have none.  Fewer still have this much massaging.

Better By You, Better Than Me

Two slightly different takes on the same scene.  I go back and forth between which I prefer.  Both were taken from the same spot, at the same time.  

The top one is from my DSLR.  A little tighter view, and more focused on the expanse of water.  With a "standard" 3:2 crop.

Nikon D3200:    1/640 Sec,  f/8.0,  ISO-200

Focal Length - 98mm  (equivalent in 35mm format)

The lower photo is from my Compact Digital, with a much wider angle.  Shifted right included the near shore for perspective, and boosted the contrast a bit more.  An non-standard, semi-panorama crop (1.8:1), but more standard placement of the horizon.

Nikon P340:   1/1250 Sec, f/3.4,  ISO-80

Focal Length - 45mm (equivalent in 35mm format)

 - - -

This is the Mississippi River, looking upstream from a pull-out along the Great River Road.  Between Alton and Elsah.  The island on the left is Eagle's Nest Island.  The center/right is Piasa island, with the Illinois shore in the distance.  Based on Google-Maps, this is about a mile south of Piasa, and 2.7 miles from Eagle's Nest...  The Mississippi river is right at 1 mile wide at this point.

 - - -

Just for giggles, below you'll see the approximate angle of view for the two images:

 Post title is a reference to song by Spooky Tooth

Who Are You?

My son and I were wandering around Elsah IL, yesterday, and saw a sign for TreeHouse Wildlife Center... A short wander down a windy road and we found it. An interesting place, that is "dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of wildlife while promoting environmental awareness through education."  They have a variety of pens holding both birds and mammals.  Injured and orphaned... they even have a gofundme page.

It was a pretty interesting place, we'll have to make it back sometime.

This Great Horned Owl seemed particularly interested in us...

This Month In Music - March 1976

March 1976...  40 years ago!  What was happening in the music world:

There were four Saturdays in March '76, so there the charts came out 4 times. Only Two songs topped the charts, though.  The month started with The Miracles' Love Machine at #1.  The Four Seasons took over in the second week with December 1963 (Oh What A Night), and stayed at #1 the rest of the month.

Here's the Top 10 songs of the month, based on average chart position over the 4 weeks:

• Song - Artist -  Mar-Ave
• December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) - The 4 Seasons - 1.5
• All By Myself - Eric Carmen - 2.5
• Dream Weaver - Gary Wright - 4.0
• Lonely Night (angel Face) - Captain & Tennille - 5.3
• Take It To The Limit - Eagles - 7.3
• Love Machine (Part 1) - The Miracles - 7.8
• Sweet Thing - Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan - 8.3
• Dream On - Aerosmith - 12.5
• Junk Food Junkie - Larry Groce - 13.0
• Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor - 13.3

Seventeen (17) songs made their chart debuts.  Listed below with their peak position during the month:

• Song - Artist - Peak (March)
• Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor - 5
• Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers  - 8
• Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale - 9
• Show Me The Way - Peter Frampton - 18
• Action - Sweet - 23
• There's A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World) - Carpenters - 24
• Boogie Fever - The Sylvers - 25
• Good Hearted Woman - Waylon & Willie - 26
• Only Love Is Real - Carole King - 30
• Love Fire - Jigsaw - 33
• Looking For Space - John Denver - 34
• You'll Lose A Good Thing - Freddy Fender - 35
• I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do - ABBA - 36
• Livin' For The Weekend - The O'Jays - 37
• He's A Friend - Eddie Kendricks - 38
• Lorelei - Styx - 39
• Fopp - Ohio Players - 40

Backroads - Flashback Friday

Posted this week in 2015 (3/05 <--> 3/11).  This one is from my 365project.  

Backroads

larger version at 365project

Backroads

"well I sleep like a feather, I don't worry 'bout the weather
I take backroads, wherever I go
and I can't take no chances, 'cause I sure ain't got no answers
I take the backroads, wherever I go"

- Ozark Mountain Daredevils

R.I.P Keith Emerson

Wow, the bad year keeps getting worse.  I just saw that Keith Emerson has died today, 3/11/2016. 
And I was just listening to ELP today...

As a kid growing up in the 70's, ELP was part of the soundtrack of my youth.  They had several songs that were staaples of "AOR", from Lucky Man to Karn Evil #9. But my real introduction to them was the 1974 live album, "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show that Never Ends".  A massive triple album that broadened my musical perspectives.  It wasn't long before I acquired Brain Salad Surgery (on 8-Track!) and their first album.  Through the years I've picked up a lot more, most of the early 70's stuff...


From Glen Frey (Eagles) to David Bowie to Chris Squire (Yes)  to Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), ...  Even George Martin (Beatles' producer).  Now Keith Emerson.  And we're only 10 weeks into the year.  Well, I suppose that's the way of it, these folk are all getting old, after all.  Still....

Good Times, Bad Times - February 2016

More of the ongoing series.  From 2015, and Jan, 2016.  I still struggled a bitw ith motivation in February, but I'm not really unhappy with the final picture(s)....  So, cutting to the chase:

My Favorites:

Old Ways

- - -

She Took The Katy (and left me a mule to ride)

- - -

 

Wetlands

- - -

 My Un-Favorites

 Banded

---

 On The Rocks

---

Danville Female Academy

---

 

The Edge

From last Saturday, Laser-Tag & Movie Theater in Belleville, IL. My son and some friends were here for his birthday party. This is shot w/ my iPhone, tweaked w/ aps on my phone. I had to do something while I waited!

This Month In Music - March 1966

March 1966...  50 years ago!  What was happening in the music world:

There were four Saturdays in March. '66, so there the charts came out 4 times.  But one song  dominated the top spot.  The Ballad Of The Green Berets, by Staff Sgt Barry Sadler, was #1 all for weeks of March, '66.

Here's the Top 10 songs of the month, based on average chart position over the 4 weeks:

• Song - Artist -  Mar-Ave
• The Ballad Of The Green Berets - SSgt Barry Sadler - 1.0
• These Boots Are Made For Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra  - 2.8
• 19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones  - 5.5
• California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas  - 5.8
• Listen People - Herman's Hermits  - 5.8
• Elusive Butterfly - Bob Lind  - 6.3
• Nowhere Man - Beatles - 9.8
• Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel  - 9.8
• I Fought The Law - Bobby Fuller Four  - 12.0
• Lightnin' Strikes - Lou Christie  - 14.3

Twenty-Eight (28) songs made their chart debuts.  Listed below with their peak position during the month:

• Song - Artist - Peak (Feb)
• 19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones  - 2
• Nowhere Man - Beatles - 3
• Daydream - The Lovin' Spoonful - 6
• (You're My) Soul And Inspiration - The Righteous Brothers - 8
• I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - B.J. Thomas And The Triumphs - 12
• 634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.) - Wilson Pickett - 13
• Sure Gonna Miss Her - Gary Lewis And The Playboys - 14
• Woman - Peter And Gordon  - 15
• Baby Scratch My Back - Slim Harpo  - 16
• Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - Cher - 17
• Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over) - Four Tops  - 18
• Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders  - 21
• Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers - 22
• It's Too Late - Bobby Goldsboro - 23
• This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) - The Isley Brothers  -25
• Husbands And Wives - Roger Miller  - 26
• I See The Light -The Five Americans  - 26
• Magic Town - The Vogues  - 26
• Little Latin Lupe Lu - Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels - 27
• One More Heartache - Marvin Gaye  - 29
• Walkin' My Cat Named Dog - Norma Tanega  - 30
• The Rains Came - Sir Douglas Quintet  - 31
• Get Ready - The Temptations  - 32
• Somewhere There's A Someone - Dean Martin  - 32
• Batman Theme - Neal Hefti - 35
• I Want To Go With You - Eddy Arnold  - 36
• Kicks - Paul Revere & The Raiders Featuring Mark Lindsay -39
• Good Lovin' - The Young Rascals -40

Moon Crazy - Flashback Friday

Posted this week in 2015 (2/27 <--> 3/4).  This one is from my 365project.  

 Moon Crazy

larger version

"Let the night shine on (and on) and on (and on)
Shine on until the feeling is gone" 
- Blue Oyster Cult

Album Cover Challenge #60

So, I'm still active over at 365project, solidly into my second year.  After a bit of a lull, I've just (Today) entered the latest album cover challenge.  The task is to randomly generate a band name and album title, then create re;ated album cover.  More here.

Anyway, below is one of my entries for the latest:

I wanted to add the story (originally posted back in June 2008).

Back in 2008, I spent almost 6 months working from Pullman WA.  My company set me up with an apartment came home about once a month.  A good experience, but by June I was just plain tired of it.  And a little grumpy.  Then one morning, I was awakened early by a call on my work phone, from one of our east cost offices (3 time zones earlier).  More grumpy.  I looked out the window, and saw it was snowing.  Snowing in June.  MAJOR grumpy.  I grumped to the kitchen to make breakfast, and a fire truck screamed by window.  And then turned into the apartment complex!

I actually grabbed my camera and went out, taking this photo (and others) as the fire men were hooking up hoses.

Call it perspective, I got over my grumpiness about my life.