Spider Among Jewels

Here is another image from my morning meadow shoot. When we arrived the grass was filled with hundreds of spider webs jeweled by the fog. Enjoy!

1321 Union - Worldwide Photo Walk

Kansas City had two events for Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk. I chose to go to the early morning event. The location was in West Bottoms area. The original townsite for Kansas City sets on a bluff above a number of streams, including the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. The original city was surrounded with floodplain valleys to the west, north and east. They are all known as the Bottoms.

The West Bottoms is an old industrial district. It was the home of the former KC Stockyards. It is bordered by the Missouri and Kansas, and Turkey Creek. It is an area of old brick factories and warehouses. There is plenty of dirt, graffiti, and general grunge. This image is one that shows one of many examples of deferred maintenance.

Image taken with Nikon D90. PP with Dx06 and CS5.

Windmill

Our last morning in Nebraska we had some great sunrise skies. This image is "pushed" in post-process to bring out the drama of the sky and clouds

Image taken with Nikon D90 & 18-105mm VR. PP with CS5

Grasshopper

This is another image from our foggy morning in the upper pastures. This big grasshopper was resting on the goat's beard bloom. He was covered in dew like everything else.

Nikon D90, 35-70mm f/2.8. PP with CS5

Prickly Poppy

We've been busy with harvest chores and wedding preparations. This has kept us busy and we haven't been able to shoot and post as much as we would like.

This morning dawned with a heavy fog. We had already planned a trip to one of the upland pastures to shoot. When we arrived the view of the rising sun across the valley was no where to be found. But summer blooms and jewels from the fog were in abundance.

This bloom is called a Prickly Poppy. The blooms only last a day or two in the heat of summer. Prickly is an understated description for this plant. You can see the spines on the buds and edges of the leaves. It is so spiny that the cattle won't eat it.

Image taken with Nikon D90 / 35-70mm. PP with ACR & CS5

Fence Line

This is another sunset image from Chase County, Nebraska. My home country has a very diverse geography. This view looks up to the skyline across several miles of loess canyons. Once you top the 'Divide' there is a plateau that is as level as central Illnois. If you turn 180 degrees and look North you are looking across the floodplain valley of Frenchman Creek into a expanse of sandhill pastures.

It was a near perfect evening, except for one thing: an absolutely bald sky. There were few clouds in any direction, and with the heat and dust the evening sky tended to hazy and light. I chose this image for how the line of the fence cuts through the frame and then disappears.

Image taken with a Nikon D90 and post-processed with CS5

Hills and Coves

It has been another wet and green year in SW Nebraska. I was out exploring this evening, visiting some of the hilltops in the canyons south of Enders Lake. I haven't visited this spot in probably over 30 years. Right now the lake is full and the hills are lush and green.

Photo taken with Nikon D90, 18-105mm. PP with Photomatix and CS5

Monsoon Season

We are out in SW Nebraska for a week of vacation. It has been another wet spring and summer here at home. We drove in through a rain squall, and then we have watched thunderstorms build and move eastward. This thread of cloud was on the western skyline with the sun setting behind it.

We will be here for a week. My niece's wedding is next weekend and much of the family will gather here for the happy event.

The Book Cliffs

This Independence Day weekend was stormy and rainy here in the KC area. Since we've been kept inside I've been doing some cleanup of the photo files. Having a little fun with Photoshop too!

This image is from our trip to Utah earlier this summer. This row of cliffs is known as the Book Cliffs. They are the Eastern rim of the Price River valley. US 6 and 191 follows the Price south down this valley towards Green River, UT. The little river actually passes between the foreground and cuts through the cliffs to join the Green River a few miles to the East.

This image is taken at sundown, with the sun glowing off the bands of rock. This is a different formation from the red sandstones we will see down at Moab. The yellows and tans of these rocks aren't as colorful as the formations further south. The B&W treatment provides the feel of an early photo and allows for an emphasis on the contrast and texture of the cliffs.

The black and white conversion is created in Photoshop CS5.