Low Water

Upper Mississippi Waterfowl Area, West Alton, Missouri...  The water was pretty low, this row boat was high and dry.  Except for the dry part, cause I expect a person would sink knee deep in that muck.  I made that mistake once, not far south of here (about 3.5 miles straight line), on the lower side of the Alton Dam.  I was wandering the shoreline on what looked a lot more solid than this, and sank almost to my knee.  Fortunately it was only one leg, or I'd've need help getting out.  As it was, I was afraid I might leave my shoe behind pulling out.

Standing right about here, looking ENE...  more or less.

Love Gets You Twisted

Watershed Nature Center. I've passed this old tree countless times over the years, and considered photographing it often. This day everything was "right", starting with the light. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, but almost didn't post it here. I'm glad I quit second guessing myself and put it up!

This made me think of the Graham Parker song "Love Gets You Twisted" from his 1979 album "Squeezing Out Sparks"

Just Hangin' Around...

Great Blue Heron, standing on a rock at Alton Slough in West Alton, MO.No sure if he was cold, or focused on hunting, but I was able to get a little closer than I usually can.

January 1970

Fifty years ago this month, what what happening on the music charts?

Well, during the 5 weeks of January 1970, there were 57 songs that spent time in the Top 40. Lots of great stuff.

But only 2 songs topped the charts:

• Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, by B.J. Thomas (4 weeks)
• I Want You Back, by the Jackson 5 (1 week, looking into February)

Making Top 40 debut, ranked based on entering position (not peak position)

• Without Love (There Is Nothing) - Tom Jones #29
• Honey Come Back - Glen Campbell #30
• Walk A Mile In My Shoes - Joe South and The Believers #31
• Blowing Away - The 5th Dimension #31
• The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King #32
• Arizona - Mark Lindsay #34
• Rainy Night In Georgia/Rubberneckin' - Brook Benton #34
• Hey There Lonely Girl - Eddie Holman #35
• Winter World Of Love - Engelbert Humperdinck #35
• Walk A Mile In My Shoes - Joe South and The Believers #36
• Baby Take Me In Your Arms - Jefferson #36
• Let's Work Together (Part 1) - Wilbert Harrison #37
• She Belongs To Me - Rick Nelson #38
• Psychedelic Shack - The Temptations #38
• No Time - The Guess Who #39
• She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Joe Cocker #39
• Cupid - Johnny Nash #39
• I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Dionne Warwick #40
• Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin/Everybody Is A Star - Sly & The Family Stone #40
• Let A Man Come In And Do The Popcorn (Part Two) - James Brown #40

Quite a few songs in that list that everybody knows (or should know).  I decided to link to some less known, just 'cause.

Water's Edge

Not Black and White, but pretty close to monochrome....

Another from Watershed Nature Center...  The lake wasn't completely frozen over, but mostly.

The World's Your Oyster??

Funky Fungus found at Watershed Nature Center.. My phone ap was not able to discern the specific species, but identified the genus "Oyster".

I gather they're edible, but I'm not a mushroom fan, so I won't be taste testing.

Still, pretty cool looking.

Downed

This is probably 10' off the groomed sledding hill of Miner Park...  but it gets rough quickly.  This is probably impassable during the summer.

A Good Crop - 2019

I'm a little late with this one, I got sidetracked with the Trending project...  But better late than never.

Ansel Adams is credited with saying "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop". In that spirit, I've tried to pick my 12 favorite photos each year, and post them here.  (I don't claim anything I've done to be "significant, especially by Ansel Adams standards.  So we'll stick with favorite)...

If you're interested, here's previous posts (I missed 2015):

2018 - A Good Crop

2017 - A Good Crop

2016 - A Good Crop

2014 - A Good Crop

2013 - A Good Crop

2012 - A Good Crop

Or you can use the tag:  AGoodCrop

So here you go, my crop for 2019.  I've arranged them semi-randomly, but no "ranking" should be implied.  If you have a favorite (or two), let me know in the comments!  Click though to see larger versions over at my 365project site.

Hontoon Island State Park

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Untitled 1089

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Nothing left but memories

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A Thousand Miles From The Sea

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Angry Bird

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Piasa Point

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Storm Warning

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Old Barn #1314

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Slow Down

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Solitude Revisited

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Frosty

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The Birds

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There you have it, hope you enjoyed!

Through The Weeds

Just a little something...  Taken from the Schoolhouse Trial bike path, not far from Drost Park.  I was thinking black-and-white when I took this, but it actually works better in color.  at least IMHO...

Square Peg

So.... one of the photo challenegs I'm focusing on this year is the 52-week challenge, which presents a different theme for each week of the year.  We're nearing the end of week 3, and the theme is "Architecture".  So, I ran out at lunchtime yesterday and snagged the above photo.  Converted th black and white on the computer, that tweaked to give an "old timey" look.

I've taken a few photos of this site over the years, but I'm confident this is a new take (for me at least!).

In my posting, I noted  "Pretty sure it is (or was) a grain tower."    I decided to do some internet digging and found some more info:  The area was called Mont Station in the late 1989's through 1930's.  This "modern concrete fire-proof grain elevator" was built in 1913, replacing the previous wooden elevator.

Cool history to go with a funky old building.  Sort of surprising that it is over 100 years old!

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame - 2020 Inductees

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame announced its Class of 2020 today, with 6 of the 6 nominees getting in.  Congratulations to the new inductees:

• The Doobie Brothers
• T. Rex
• Nine Inch Nails 
• Depeche Mode 
• Whitney Houston 
• The Notorious B.I.G. 

And condolences to those passed over.  Better luck next time:

• Dave Matthews Band 
• Pat Benatar 
• Todd Rundgren 
• Thin Lizzy 
• Kraftwerk 
• Rufus featuring Chaka Khan 
• MC5 
• Judas Priest 
• Motörhead 
• Soundgarden 

So, My thoughts?  Start with my October post on the Nominees, for my original thoughts.  Then:  

 I'm really pleased that the Doobie Brothers made it in.  They've topped my list of "most overlooked" for several years.  And were the only nominee this year with a big representation in my catalog.  

I'm really surprised that Pat Benatar did NOT make it in.  She was 2nd in the fan vote (behind Dave Matthews Band) and one of the few women nominated.  And the only woman nominated in 2020 that is undeniably ROCK.  (Apologies to Whiney Houston, but she was pop).  

Even as a 70's guy, I don't really get T.Rex being selected.  Especially over Thin Lizzy.  I really only know "Bang A Gong", which says something.  I guess I'll have to dig into their catalog... 

I'm a little surprised that Dave Matthews Band and Soundgarden didn't make it.  Two newer bands wioth styrong fan followings (placing 1 and 4 in the fan vote).

Speaking of the Fan Vote, RRHOF either needs to make this meaningful, or do away with it.  The Top 2 fan favorites were overlooked (Dave Matthews Band and Pat Benatar), and 4 of the Top 5.  The Doobie Brothers were the only nominee to approach 10% of the fan vote (at 9.5%).  

There are also 2 recipients of the Ahmet Ertegun Award, honoring songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, record executives, journalists and other industry professionals who have had a major influence.  They are Jon Landau and Irving Azoff.  I'm a big fan of these awards, as well as "sidemen" and such.  And Both of these recipients are worthy.

Anyway, that it on the RRHOF front until the induction ceremony (May 2).  Hopefully that'll show up on cable a few weeks later.

Winter Woods

Lots of post processing here, I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.  Late afternoon on an grey January day

Mutating Monkey Ball...

Well, maybe not mutating, but rotting? Regardless, I liked the alliteration...

I guess these are also called Hedge Apples, Osage Oranges, and a bunch of other things. The fruit of the Maclura pomifera tree.

2019 Year in Photography... Post 2 of ???- Trending

So, I tried something new this week.  I created a slideshow (in Powerpoint) of images which recived the "Trending" designation in 2019 over at 365project.  I even added some (royality free) music.  Check it out at the project:

https://365project.org/lsquared/365/2020-01-07

2019 Photos - Trending

Or directly from Youtube:



A little more on the process:   This used a "standard" design in PPT. I created two template slides (for portrait and landscape layouts), then copied images from 365project site and pasted to the slides. I had to google to figure out how to find royalty free music, and to remember how to add music to the slideshow. Another google to remember how to export to a video. Uploading to Youtube was pretty straightforward. I worked on it over a couple of days, the whole thing probably took 3-4 hrs total.

Winter of a Broken Heart

"Oh it seems the sun will never shine, The skies are so gray...
and the heart you left broken is lonely" - Alison Krauss

Barren and lonely, grey with a chilling breeze...

This is Green Space East, a small (-ish) natural spot in our area. It is a little isolated, the nearest public parking is just under a mile along the bike trail. Which gets you to a 0.8 mile loop around this open area. If I did my math right, the open space is probably 30-35 acres. In the past, I've seen deer, coyote, lots of birds. and rarely people.  That last part is a favorite.

Anyway, I did the (not quite) 3 mile walk this day, and didn't see more than a couple of people walking their dogs. This was the most interesting photo I could manage. Some days are like that.  Especially January days.

2019 Year in Photography... Post 1 of ???

Not sure how many of these I'll end up doing, no more that 2 or 3....   But this is the first.

As the geeky person I am, I track my participation at 365project.org.  So what are the numbers from last year?

I posted 461 photos to the site just over 5 photos every 4 days.  Of course, the actual number of photos per day would vary quite a bit, within the range of 0-5 (I had 5 albums available during the year).  From those 461 photos, I had 144 selected for the site's "Popular" page, not quite 33%.  And 53 selected for the "Trending" page, a bit over 1 in 10 and a bit over 1/week average.

I'm pretty pleased with that.  By comparison, I had 344 photos in 2018, with 67 "Popular" and 13 Trending.  So, my rate of "Populars" was up 60%, and my rate of "Trendings" was up over 200%.  So, not just quantity, but (by one set of measures) quality.

One of my specific goals for the year was to enter more of the site's Challenges.  I already did a post on that (here).  I don't have numbers for 2018, but I'm sure my participation was a lot higher in 2019, and I'm satisfied with my rate of getting finalists (which was 43%).

I do plan to stick with 365project in 2020.  In fact, today (1/6) marks the first day of my 6th year there.  Pretty cool!

Muskrat

Had a nice walk at Watershed Nature Center the other day, a bit cool, but sunny.  On the Marsh Walk section of the trail, I saw several muskrats.  But only one who was polite enough to sit still while I took some photos.

Still, he (she?) could've been more helpful, perhaps facing TOWARDS the camera.  And a bit less of a grumpy glare?

Oh well, maybe next time.

Happenstance Photography - Top Images of 2019

OK, last one of the series, until next year, at least.  I was looking back over the past few years at my Happenstance Photography blog, and decided to see what my Top viewed photos have been year by year.  Pretty easy, I just copy-pasted from the stats page to Excel, and sorted by views.  I'll go with the Top 5, + ties.

So, to continue, here are the most popular posts from 2019, sorted by most view to least.

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Seagull

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All Alone Together

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Arc, Ice

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Water's Edge

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A Leaf Aloof

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January Sky

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There you have it.  Not necessarily my favorites (but could be!), nor my "best"...  maybe not even "Top" just most viewed.  Check back in a year for 2020!

If you didn't know, Happenstance Photography is my blog dedicated to my black an white photography.  No frills, no fuss, no music or rants.  Not better, nor worse.  But just images..

Here's the others in the series

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Mushrooms

A couple of mushroom shots from yesterday's walk at Watershed Nature Center.  I noticed these little mushrooms on a dead log along the trail, had to work on my macro...  I tend to stink at macro, but I'm actually pretty pleased with how these turned out.  

The cluster in the top photo were probably 1.5" across, the bottom one was a little smaller.

My phone ap was not able to identify them, so we'll just say "Mushrooms".  If there are any mycologists out there, feel free to help out!

Happy 2020!

First post of the New Year, hope everyone had a good 2019, and has a great 2020!!

The past week or so has been particularly bad from a photography standpoint, but it was a pleasant day today, so I dragged myself (and my camera) up to Watershed Nature Center to see what I could see.

And one of the things I saw was muskrats!  I saw 3 or 4, but this was the only one to hang near the trail long enough for me to snap a couple of photos.  It would've been better if he (she?) were facing towards me, but you take what you're given...