Took Lucca to see his Dog Dad and learn some field trial stuff but the weather was 5 degrees below and snowing so all he got to do was flush out a pheasant, a beautiful rooster!  When I went to pick him up it was snowing again(!) but by late afternoon it cleared off. His Dog Dad and his people live in a swamp area filled with waterfowl and at this time of year...bald Eagles!  It was just too late to get a good shot against the sky but I did try.  took about 15 shots and hoped for the best but to no avail.  On the way out to the Highway and on to 3 hour trip home I did see a nice shot through the trees.  and the Elevator(grain) against the now only partly cloudy sky might be the best I can do for an E.      

 

 

The next day I still wanted eagles and so went out to Saylorville dam/lake and saw a great pair circling, but once I got the camera out they went the other way.  Guess the thermals just wouldnt cooperate.  I chased them down the river but since I am nursing a knee with newly torn meniscus I have to stay on the dry stuff.  Did get a couple of nice trees with shadows though.

 

    We got melting today but supposed to get more snow for the next 2 days(I am off one of them for working this weekend)  I will keep looking for that perfect Eagle shot but soon they will be heading back to Alaska.  I will be so glad to see winter gone so I can start walking Lucca outside again but I am learning to enjoy  the good days.  Maybe I could take Alaska in winter.  Fireplaces and Hot toddys would not be optional though!

this doesn't fit in thealphabet stuff but I did want to share the latest winter in Iowa stuff.  These are important to me because I really hate winter!  I mean REALLY!  But by getting out with the camera(I know I need an SLR but this will just have to do for now) I have been able to see more of the beauty and not just  feel the numbing cold! 

 I even built a snow dog last week.  He melted and lost his eyes and nose but provided a well needed release

These are from last weeks ice storm and this one is the fog shrouded state capitol. K

I had to shoot all of these at iso 800 so they are a bit soft z it was in very poor lighting.  I remembered Waydes thoughts on iso and this was good practice.  I did take my walking stick/monopod or they would have been much worse.  The guy next to me had a new Nikon D80 but he is a Biden supporter so it was just a photo op for him too.  Lots of the press photo's are not much better so I feel good about these.  They will all go away after Jan 3rd and we will sink into oblivion again so I snatched the chance.  (another C?)  Kathy

   I got my start in High school when I joined the photography club(boys there of course) and bought a used Zeiss  Ikon contessamat.  I was influenced by my dad who had a Zeiss that he had gotten in the early 60s.  We used to tease him and complain because we always had to pose so long before he figured out what settings he thought he needed.  His always trended to be over exposed but he loved taking fall color pictures.  I did some restoring of them digitally to counteract all the mold that was the result of a darkroom flood in our old house.  We set up the darkroom in our old fruit room in the basement and we have few pictures/negatives left from the b&w era when a wall of water came down the old coal chute and flooded it out!  Anyway, the contessamat had apperature prioty so it worked perfect when I did all the yearbook photography.  I learned how to use f stops, depth of field and the basics. then.

The rest of my family moved on to SLRs but I was in the poor phase, student and then 1st job need to pay the rent phase.  I eventually bought a Minolta XGM and then added Lenses, auto winder, tripod, filters and did lots of travel photography.  Later I went the Nikon route and still have all the old cameras.  I focused on making my audience(I did lots of programs) feel like they had been there.  I branched out into some business brochures and photo contests.  There was a fellow coworker that provided a healthy(?) amount of competition and we constantly tried to outbest each other.

I held off getting a digital camera for a long time and then as life styles changed, got a Sony cybershot but found myself just doing snapshots.  Good ones but just snapshots.  I upgraded before my trip to AK and learned so much about my new camera thanks to Wayde, Scott and others.  I still like the portableness of my Canon a710 but have gotten bitten by the bug again.  I think an SLR may be in the future.

But.. here is the dilema.  What do you do with all the pictures?

Well, the frost alert went off this morning and I got out a long sleeve shirt for work so I guess summer is really over.  I see that it is quite chilly in AK since I still watch the temps on my home page.  I watch Cancun and London too so I'm not sure what that says about me.  Too early for too much contemplation!  K