Caboose

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/18, ISO 200

Amy and I recently took a trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where we stayed in a caboose. It was the real thing (tracks and everything), renovated to serve as a vacation rental. With no TV and little internet, the occasion proved ideal for photographing this fascinating location.

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Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/3.5, ISO 800

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/5, ISO 800

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/3.5, ISO 800

Nikon 810, 48mm (28-105), 1/60, f/9, ISO 400

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), f/5, ISO 400

Nikon 810, 48mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 400

Nikon 810, 48mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 5000

Nikon 810, 62mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.2, ISO 5000

Best of the 365 Blog – April 2018

Spring is in the air. At least sorta.

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/125, f/22, ISO 100

I needed an illustration for a piece I was writing about cookie-targeted ads. By fortunate coincidence, my mom baked some particularly photogenic Easter cookies for us.

Also please note that I may be getting some bad data on some of these. I doubt that I shot this many photos with my 28-105mm lens at exactly 75mm.

Nikon 810, focus stacked (28-105mm), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 6400

The Picasso exhibit at the Nelson closed early in the month, so I got over there on a quiet weekday before the crowds got bad. I took some phone photos the first time I went through, but I wanted to go back with the 810 and get some better shots.

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/60, f/6.3, ISO 400

Happy Easter! Again courtesy of Mom.

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 400

Though I admit that I shot this out of desperation to get a photo for the day, I nonetheless like the result. I was working on a masked layer color wheel in Photoshop, so this fit with something else I was already working on.

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Shower thought: the shadow of the shower curtain rod and rings looks like an alligator.

Nikon 810, 50mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 1600

A good rain storm (especially with a little hail) is always a good opportunity for a study in motion.

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 1600

Didn’t dare drink it, but it made an interesting photo.

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I noticed this tree in bloom on my walk from class back to my office.

Best of the 365 Blog – March 2018

Other than spring break, March was a sparse month for photography. Rather than publish an excessive number of bad snapshots, I’m going with five photos rather than the usual eight.

Nikon 810, 66mm (28-105), 1/100, f/10, ISO 200

I’m using this photo of the leftovers from a traffic mishap to teach students about visual storytelling and how to read an image.

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/6.3, ISO 800

As bad as the rest of the month was, our trip to Pratt, Kan., was a visual goldmine. I took dozens of photos at the Pratt County Historical Museum, including this shot of my favorite exhibit: the toaster collection.

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), HDR

The next day we drove to Greensburg to visit the Big Well. This is an HDR shot from the bottom looking up.

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On the other hand, this is what most of March was like. It’s a somewhat interesting pattern of mulch bags, but it doesn’t amount to much more than a quick picture taken while I was out running errands. It meets the one-photo-per-day requirement but not much more.

Nikon 810, 75mm (28-105), 1/125, f/25, ISO 100, cropped

Dramatic lighting and macro focus make this small bear from my bookshelf look quite menacing.

The Big Well

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), HDR

The second full day of the Pratt trip found us in Greensburg in pursuit of good photos of the World’s Deepest Hand Dug Well. Several years ago the whole town was destroyed by a tornado. The new Big Well building looks much different from the original.

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/250, f/4.0, ISO 640

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/160, f/16, ISO 200

Nikon 810, 35mm (18-35), 1/60, f/6.3, ISO 640

Pratt County Historical Museum

During spring break Amy and I took a brief trip to Pratt, Kan. My family is from Pratt, and many visits over the years clued me in to some good spots to take photos. One of which was the Pratt County Historical Museum.

In keeping with museums in general and smaller museums in particular, the lighting was terrible. However, I managed to get most of the photos I wanted.

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/6.3, ISO 800

The one shot I absolutely wouldn’t have left without was Wayne Konkel’s collection of toasters and waffle irons. I actually got to meet the benefactor years ago. He seemed like a nice guy who just happened to have an affection for small kitchen appliances.

Nikon 810, 35mm (18-35), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 2500

This refugee from a hair salon looked like a robot jellyfish out of a 50s-era sci fi movie.

Nikon 810, 35mm (18-35), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 4000

Oddly, this turned out to be the “portfolio piece” of the lot. It reminded me of walking to the post office with my grandmother so we could pick up the mail. I think these boxes predated the ones in use when I was a kid, but it was a nice memory nonetheless.

Nikon 810, 75mm? (28-105), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 800

Not sure exactly what this does, but it looked interesting.

Nikon 810, 35mm (18-35), 1/80, f/4.5, ISO 1000

And of course what local history museum would be complete without an antique cash register?

Best of the 365 Blog – February 2018

Nikon 810, 35mm (18-35), 1/200, f/22, ISO 400

March got off to an interesting start with a photo of a lonely ball in the middle of the street.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/200, f/16, ISO 400

The outdoor kittens have turned into outdoor cats. This is the same guy from the January best of.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 100

For many years I’ve meant to start a photo essay (maybe even a book) documenting cenotaphs. That project officially got underway this month.

Nikon 810, 8mm, 1/60, f/3.5, ISO 1250

Bathroom renovation continues apace. This is a shot using the 8mm lens.

Nikon 7000, 100mm (28-200), 1/60, f/5.3, ISO 1600

I had my honors students do a group cooperation exercise. It produced some interesting results and this interesting picture.

Nikon 810, 90mm (28-105), 1/80, f.4.5, ISO 320

In January I blogged a photo of the bathroom light fixture without its glass. Here it is with everything in place. I had a little fun with the exposure, which is why it looks a little strange.

Nikon 810, 50mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4, ISO 3200

Anna has a yawn, making for an interesting shot.

Nikon 810, 18mm (18-35), 1/60, f/13, ISO 800, adjusted

The contrast in this photo as shot was already fairly stark, so I pushed it as far as it would go. On my bookshelves at work I’ve got a guide to the laborious process of producing this result in the darkroom. In Lightroom it was a quick tweak of a slider.

Best of the 365 Blog – January 2018

Nikon 810, 98mm (28-105), 1/4000, f/4.5, ISO 200

The year got off to a good photographic start with a little bokeh from the ballpark.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/1000, f/4.5, ISO 400

Last year’s outdoor kittens are starting to get big.

Nikon 810, 66mm (28-105), 1/80, f/4.5, ISO 8000

I finally got the drone out of the box. Any day now I’m going to fly it.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/125, f/10, ISO 200

We’re getting some work done in our bathroom. This is the new light fixture without the glass balls that will hang from the hooks.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 400

We have two questions: where is breakfast, and give us breakfast. Mom’s on the far right.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 4000

For my photo class, I needed to take a picture of something I hated. This is part of the old kitchen sink faucet that was screwed up, leaked water into the basement, and was a colossal pain to remove.

Nikon 810, 92mm (28-105), 1/80, f/11, ISO 500

Also for the class: something I collect. Freakies. The full set.

Nikon 810, 105mm (28-105), 1/2500, f/4.5, ISO 200

Somebody had a horrible fight and left blood and bloody footprints all over the stoop.