Photo Blogging

We’re still in France this morning, but not in Paris.

The Loire Valley is famous for its beautiful and well-preserved chateaux, and for the formal gardens that are within the grounds of many. Auntie Anne takes us on a tour of one of these, where she actually got to stay for a couple of nights, and includes a sighting of the chateau chat (or chatte, perhaps).

Auntie Anne

When we were planning our trip to France, I kept coming back to an expensive tour because one of its highlights was spending two nights in an actual chateau – the Chateau de Rochecotte. I kept telling my friend, Polly, that I couldn’t miss staying in a “real chateau.”  It was almost half again as much as a cheaper tour, but I got to stay in a chateau. It was worth every penny!

Chateau de Rochecotte is a late 18th-century château, owned by among others, the Duchess of Dino, who was married to Talleyrand’s nephew. The grounds are beautiful.

ChateauMay 18, 2017

I didn’t take this picture – I added it to give everyone an idea of what the chateau looks like.

On The Road – Auntie Anne – Chateau de RochecottePost + Comments (7)

I love the Goldfinch in the second photo.  In fact, I love everything about that photo.  The flowers in focus at the bottom, and blurred toward the top.  The bird perched on the flower.  The yellow bird paired with the purple flowers.  Oh, and before I forget, watch out for the cranky bird in the third photo; he looks distinctly unhappy!  ~WaterGirl

One final note: if we get 2 more Paris submissions, we’ll have 3 full weeks of Paris After Dark!

Albatrossity

Summer in Flyover Country is not as exciting, bird migration-wise, as the spring and fall, but there is still some beauty to be found. So here is a collection of images taken in the Flint Hills of Kansas this summer, ranging from landscapes to insects to (of course!) birds. Hope you enjoy them, and that they move you to get out and enjoy your own local patch every once in a while.

Konza Prairie Biological StationJuly 4, 2020

The Konza Prairie Biological Station is a property owned by the Nature Conservancy and leased to the Biology Division at Kansas State University, where I was employed before I retired. It is 8600 acres of tallgrass prairie, the most endangered ecosystem in North America. On a summer day there are many scenic vistas to be found, as well as lots of flowers, insects, and other critters. There is a nature trail that can be enjoyed by the public, but this shot is taken from a part of the station that usually sees only researchers, docents, and retired faculty members. Come visit after the pandemic abates and we might be able to get you out there too.

On The Road – Albatrossity – Summer beauty in Flyover CountryPost + Comments (30)

Monday will be the start of Paris After Dark!  If you haven’t already sent in your Paris pics, please do send them in.  We already have enough pics to stay in Paris After Dark for a few more days the following week, maybe we can stay the whole week.  ~WaterGirl

On the Road: Week of August 10 (5 am)

Albatrossity – Summer Beauty in Flyover Country
Auntie Anne – Chateau de Rochecotte
🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Sunrise in the Alabama Hills
Benw – Suffolk County, NY
tomtofa – Now and Then

On the Road After Dark: Week of August 10 (10pm)

arrieve – A Few Days in Paris
ET –  Paris
lashonharangue – Paris, France – Pont Neuf and Pont Notre-Dame
frosty – Paris
ljt – Notre-Dame de Paris

And now, on to The Apple Isle, with Jack Canuck.  We have a treat today as we close out out this week with an amazing array of photos – animals, flowers, water, trees, mountains, and an uncurling fern frond that I never could have identified on my own.  Beauty truly does come in many different forms, doesn’t it?

Jack Canuck

Tasmania (aka the Apple Isle) is one of my favourite places in the world. It’s about the size of Ireland, with a population of around 500,000 (about 40% of which are in the capital, Hobart). Hobart itself is a lovely small city, the second oldest in Australia (founded in 1803), that reminds me very much of St John, New Brunswick in its feel. I’ve been down there four or five times since I moved to Melbourne in 2006, and I can’t wait to go again. The photos I’ve picked here are mostly from the high country in central Tasmania, in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park – an absolutely gorgeous area where it actually gets into real alpine terrain (snow! in the summer!). Due to the pandemic I sadly won’t be getting back to Tasmania in the foreseeable future, but I will the first chance I get.

This was taken at the top of a geographical feature called The Nut, in the town of Stanley on the north coast. The Nut is actually the remnant of an ancient volcanic plug, which is now a steep bluff on the edge of town. It’s not very large, but we took a couple of hours to climb up and wander around. I liked the contrast of the cloudy skies with the brush and lone tree. Black and white, of course, because hey, it’s me, but that’s what this shot called for.

On The Road – Jack Canuck – The Apple IslePost + Comments (24)

More photos for the black and white photography buffs!  And before you ask, as I did, no, the third photo is not upside down! ~WaterGirl

Steve from Mendocino

Construction and industrial sites provide another rich source of graphic interest for photography.  I used to drive around in my 66 VW bug looking for promising structures to photograph.  All of these locations are vaguely in the Los Angeles area and were all taken during the period 1969-1971.

Los Angeles

This picture always gets my attention for its place in my personal history with Los Angeles. Interstate 10 (the “Santa Monica freeway) was only built in the latter part of the 60’s.  Before that one needed to take city streets to get to the beaches.  This is the construction site for the interchange between the 405 and the 10.

On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – Construction and Industrial Sites in Los Angeles AreaPost + Comments (26)

I suppose it’s wrong of me to wish that we could have NEOWISE every week?  Though these are lovely, too!  ~WaterGirl

🐾BillinGlendaleCA

I’ve long said star trails are easy to shoot, and they are since you are freed from many of the constraints that you normally face in landscape astrophotography. You don’t have to worry about limiting exposure time to get pin point stars, you don’t have to have the lens wide open to let in the most light possible and you don’t need to bump up your ISO (light sensitivity).

They do take a lot of time to shoot. Two of the shots you see here were 90 minute shots and one was 81 minutes. I generally shoot these in 30 second or 1 minute intervals and then put them together in post as well as the foreground. Since these are composed of multiple long exposures, having sufficient battery power, composition and proper focus on the stars is important. All of these shots are shots that needed to be retaken since one or several of these conditions were not met.

Coso, CAJuly 16, 2020

When you drive up US-395 to the Owens Valley you will see a Red Hill just after you pass Little Lake, they highway curves to the west of the hill. When I went up to Mt. Whitney in February I stopped here to take pictures and determined that this would be the perfect shot for star trails. I originally shot this with my NX1 and my 16-50mm zoom lens with the stars focused at 16mm, when I set it on the tripod the weight of the front of the lens moved it out to 18mm and so 90 minutes of shots were slightly out of focus. When I re-shot this, I used my 12mm prime lens.

On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Star Trails, with some surprises.Post + Comments (19)

The first picture below is like a work of art!  If I had been on that trip, I’m not sure I would have ever left that spot.  ~WaterGirl

lashonharangue

One of our favorite wilderness adventures is to canoe down the Green River in Utah. It is a flat water river that flows through Canyonlands National Park down to its confluence with the Colorado River. In many places you can get out of the canoe, sit or lie down in the river, and soak yourself to cool off. By late summer most of the river is less than 4 feet deep and the drop off from the banks is very gradual. There are outfitters in Moab that will rent you the gear, haul you to the put in, and then meet you with a jet boat to take you upstream on the Colorado back to Moab. We have done it several times, sometimes with a group of folks and sometimes just by ourselves. We had to cancel the trip we had planned for this summer. Note – you cannot continue downstream on the Colorado as that’s where the rapids start. These are pictures from three different trips.

Camping on the RiverAugust 19, 2018

There are no established camping spots on the river. While guidebooks have suggested places to stop, access to them depends on water level which varies a lot over the year. The water is very silty so it must be pre-filtered before filtering or boiling. Alternatively, you can take along water in big containers (white object next to the canoe). It is first come first served but you are supposed to locate out of sight and sound of other campsites.

On The Road – lashonharangue – Green River, UTPost + Comments (25)