Winter on the River

The severe weather has finally broken. The gray skies went away on Saturday. We won't see temps above freezing until later in the coming week, but nothing like getting out into a little sunshine to take care of the cabin fever!

Debbie and I spent Saturday afternoon and evening in Leavenworth, KS. We attended McPherson College basketball games in the evening at St. Marys. There is a quilt shop that Debbie likes to visit, so we went over early.

I had my camera along for the ball games, so while she was in the store I went down to the riverfront. Leavenworth sets on the Missouri River, and they have a nice park at the riverbank. This image is from the there. Please enjoy!

First Day of Winter

After a warm fall, we are seeing a rather cold and gray December.  We are not anticipating a White Christmas, but many areas west of Kansas City will see a major winter snowstorm starting tonight and running through Christmas day.

I drove up to Squaw Creek NWR yesterday.  The winter has truly arrived.  There was quite a bit of snow remaining on the ground.  The marshes are frozen and the migrating geese and ducks have moved on south.  The only waterfowl we encountered were two pair of swans that we saw fly by a couple of times.

The eagle was the first one that we encountered on the refuge. It was sheltering in a tree near the entrance to the refuge. There were only a few eagles left of the 150-200 that were there a few weeks ago. The covered lane is a connecting road between two portions of the refuge.

Photo of the Week - Smoky Hills of Kansas

Many people perceive Kansas as having a flat and unremarkable landscape. The reality is that the state has many hills and valleys. The Flint Hills are probably most famous, but the Smoky Hills of the North Central part of the state can present equally dramatic views.

These photos were taken at sunrise. We are setting at the top of the southernmost hill of the ridge that helps define the Smoky Hills. These hilltops rise 300 feet above the valley floor.

Photo of the Week - The Work Train

Several weeks ago I was out, and discovered a string of rail cars on a siding. The cars were obviously a work train, waiting for a crew to arrive or a return to some yard.

It was nearly mid-day and bright out. The deep shadows and rugged and worn nature of the cars made a natural fit for black and white images.

Photo of the Week - A Chase County Barn

We often travel through a section of the Flint Hills west of Emporia, KS. Coming home from the Mac Bulldogs football game (see Sports Shooting this week) it was approaching sundown. It was a vivid light day. Clear and bright, the "golden hour" approaching sundown was just beginning as we pulled off the road.

This barn has obviously had many years of use. The foundation is build of dry-stacked hand-hewn local limestone. There are portions of the barn of various ages as reflected by the tin roofing over the wooden shingles. I didn't explore the inside beyond what I could see from the outside, but I thought I saw some square nails in the central structure.

I hope you enjoy these images.

Photo of the Week - More from the Fall

We spent the weekend out in central Kansas visiting our children. Saturday morning dawned crystal clear and bright. We were far enough further south that the fall colors were just developing for many of the trees. These images are from the front lawn of our son's place in McPherson.

All The Colors

Morning Dew
 

Sun Beam
 

Fall Light
 

Photo of the Week - Fall on the Missouri River

The seasons have turned from late summer to deep fall quickly this year. The July and August were wet and relatively cool. The trees should be primed for great colors. The maples are showing brilliant colors, but the oaks and other trees are apparently going to go from green to brown and drop their leaves. We've had a killing frost without a warm, dry period to push the trees into dormancy.

These two images are from the Missouri River valley near Beverly, MO. The panorama is the Weston Bluff. You can see the bright maples among the otherwise still-green trees.

This panorama is an eight image set, handheld, assembled with Photoshop CS4

Photo of the Week - Fall Colors

On this final weekend of the summer, the hints of fall are definitely in the air. This morning was cool, and we have had several foggy mornings recently. The 'traditional' fall colors of the trees are just starting to hint at what might be coming. This evening I explored an undeveloped area of some local parkland, and I discovered this early set of 'fall colors'.

I found a meadow that was bright yellow with blooming goldenrod. As you worked through the grasses there are many flowering plants that are making a last show. The cool and wet summer has kept these plants flowering late into the summer. There are other interesting forms and colors, such as the foxtails. Enjoy this end of summer display.

Photos of the Week - Tour of Missouri / Summit Avenue

Sunday was the final day of the Tour of Missouri. The Tour is one of three world-class bicycle races held in the U.S. There were a number of teams and riders who had competed in the Tour de France earlier this year.

This was the first time that the race ended in Kansas City. The final leg was held as a circuit race. This made it very entertaining for the crowd. We camped out on a location along Summit Avenue on KC's West Side. We saw the racers pass in front of us seven times.

Summit Avenue is one the core areas of the West Side. The West Side is the traditional Hispanic area in KC. The area had been declining, but rebuilding (including some gentrification) can be seen.

Sport Shooting - McPherson Bulldog Football

The McPherson College Bulldogs opened the 2009 football season at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS. I had the opportunity to shoot the game from field level for the McPherson College Sports Information Department.

The Bulldogs dominated the game. It was 48-0 McPherson at half time, and the final score was 61-6. The game recap and statistics are found at MacBulldogs.com

Photo of the Week - Bulldog Soccer

We will be shooting sports for the next five or six weekends. I'm wanting to improve my skills in this area (like everything else!). This weekend was unplanned, but a great exercise. Debbie and I were in Wichita, KS visiting our son and his bride-to-be. Bryan is the Drama teacher at Goddard H.S. Michelle is the new Vocal Music teacher at Wellington H.S.

Our other two children came down to visit as well. Our second son is the new Sports Information Director at McPherson College. Both of the soccer teams were playing pre-season scrimages on Saturday night, so we drove there to shoot and see other friends.

The women played before the men when there was still some daylight. The pitch was not well lit, so shooting quality images of the men was a challenge.

Photo of the Week - 'Tonka Football Jamboree

The fall sports seasons are here. In Missouri they hold Football Jamborees the Friday night one week before the season starts. A jamboree is held with four teams. Each team plays a set number of plays on offense and on defense with each of the other three teams. It is a nice way to get scrimmage time with someone other than your teammates.

Winnetonka H.S. is one of the four North Kansas City, Missouri district high schools. All three of our children are graduates of 'Tonka.



The jamboree was held at the new District Athletic Complex. A very nice venue for all the high school sports. The Winnetonka Griffins (Maroon and Gold) were the hosts. The other teams were the Liberty Bluejays (White and Blue), the Platte County Pirates (Black and Orange) and the St. Pius X Warriors (Blue and Yellow).

I will be doing a lot of sports shooting this fall. I am shooting photos of small college football several weekends in September and October. We are also having an international class Bicycle touring race in Kansas City this September.

Photo of the Week - Cat & Darren

July 5th was a time of special recognition of the joining of two lives together. Cat Rooney and Darren Howland held a special ceremony and party for friends and family to celebrate their marriage.

I had the special privilege of capturing images of their special day.

Cat chose a beautiful spot on the shore of Lake Shawnee in Topeka, KS. The day was clear and warm, and the gardens were in full bloom.



Cat arrived for the ceremony in this bright yellow '36 Ford.

Photo of the Week - Sunset

My photography this week has been scouting for an event that will be taking place in September. For photos to share I'm reaching back to our vacation trip in July. These images were taken the same evening about 15 minutes apart.

This image is the earlier of the two. The sun was just about to go below the horizon. Note the bank of clouds on the horizon

That low line of clouds rapidly moved through as the broken clouds you see in this image. The sun was below the horizon from the ground, but was still lighting up the bottom of the clouds

Photo of the Week - Abandonment

This weekend I took a walk up through an abandoned shopping center near our home. The stores have been closed for several years. Renewal of the site has been planned, but with the downturn in the economy things have been delayed. I was looking for images at sunset.

Sad Reflection

Deferred Maintenance

Overgrown

Clean Up?

Photo of the Week - The County Fair

Went out last evening to see what photographic opportunities the Platte County Fair might bring. It is a typical rural county fair. A small midway, lots of festival food (let's hear it for funnel cakes!). The one young lady wasn't so sure that they were having a good time... The big event going on last night was the tractor pull. If you don't know what a tractor pull is, well, I don't think I can explain it to you. Think smoke, noise, dirt, drag racing with tractors. It was so crowded that I couldn't get a shot of anything.

Photo of the Week - KC River Market Photo Walk

Debbie and I participated in Scott Kelby's World Wide Photowalk '09. One of the local walks in Kansas City was in the River Market area. The River Market is a shopping and entertainment district on the north end of downtown KC,MO. It is the area where the original city was settled, just above the Missouri River. Much of the shopping is a farmers market and ethnic foods market. The three photos are just a few of what I'm posting on my gallery. I highly encourage you to look at the other photos in the gallery this week.

This motorcycle is a Ducati. It was parked outside of one of the office buildings on Delaware Street.
The vegetables in the market building offered great opportunities for color and texture

Vacation Photos - Day Six

Friday dawned with a thick fog. The evening cleared and I headed west to the upper end of Enders Reservoir for a vantage point. There are a series of bluffs along the south side of the lake valley. This photo is from that vantage looking across the sunset towards the hills southwest.

Vacation Photos - Day Five Evening

Thursday dawned cloudy, and then cleared for about an hour while we were shooting early. Then it clouded up again and stayed that way until mid-afternoon. The first two images are the clouds associated with the front as it moved out




The cloud bank stayed on the southern horizon all day. It spun off the feathery mare's tails all evening. These clouds gave us the great sunset this evening!

Harvest - Day 2

Thursday started off cloudy, but it soon warmed up with a breeze. It was cloudy at Enders until mid-afternoon (and it was sunny at Imperial eight miles away!) It appears that the front was setting right over us (see the next entry).

With the early moisture and higher humidity the crew didn't get started until late morning. But they cut all day until sundown with a crew of three: Joel in the combine, Rebecca running the grain cart and Travis driving the trucks to town.

Here is Joel at the controls of the combine. It is a complex machine, and has devices that measure the quantity and quality of the grain as it is harvested.
Here is the view of the wheat field from the cab of the combine. This field has soil conservation earthworks call terraces. The top of one is the ridge at the right of the image. The tractor and grain cart are sitting behind the terrace. You can see the farmstead in the background of the photo.
The grain cart is used to transfer the harvested grain to the trucks at the edge of the field. Trucks can be used out in the fields, but this year things are soft underfoot due to all the spring rains. So they use the cart and keep the trucks on the roads at the edge of the fields.
This is an image of the cut stubble in the sinking light near the end of the day. I enjoyed the pattern of the tracks and how they swept towards the village.