Ohm

At no other time in my life do I deliberately behave mischievously, surreptitiously, and blatantly disobedient than when I hold a camera in my hands. I apply the notion that asking for forgiveness yields better results than asking for permission. I ignored the signs stating that the Crowell Collection Museum did not allow photography of the monks, and chastised vociferously for taking the top picture. Expecting a scolding, I prepared to act surprised, then follow with my doe-eyed look of remorse, while pretending to turn off my camera and put it away. Other times it works well to snap a picture and then run for safety, but I wanted to remain in the presence of the monks, infusing myself with their good vibes -- and waiting for the first chance to take another picture without offending anybody. Of course, in contrast, being Budhists, the monks smiled and waved at me, forgiving my trespass.

Hypocrites: Church-going Slanderers and Adulterers

For the past couple of weeks I have quietly, deeply reverently manifested a solidarity with Jesus of Nazareth, a fine fellow, by not partaking of his body and blood at communion because some people do not follow his counsel, fairly common sense anyone with any brains can follow, and yet do not.

My Friend Eddie

Above, my friend Eddie stands before the west end window of the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Lightroom 2? I have moved on to Lightroom 3! The backlighting helped me bring Eddie up from total darkness while maintaining some detail on the window.

Rummaging for Images: The Results

John landing the Beechcraft Bonanza in Pampa.

A Killdeer at Valley View Airport.

American Turkeys ambling around on the O'Donohue.

Gate at the Fort Worth Zoo. Fabulous ironwork.

Two More Snow Pictures

A neat discovery I made in Lightroom 2 involves backlighting. These two pictures came from my iPhone and looked too dark, but with the backlighting I brought out the details. One can even see the snowflakes falling in the picture above.

More Lightroom 2

I post processed both these photos, the Bluejay and the male Purple Finch,

 in the digital darkroom with Lightroom 2.

See previous untouched versions in previous blog entries for comparison.

Starting with Lightroom 2

I think this is photograph of a juvenile American Coot, or mud hen, I took at the pretty lake on the O'donohue, and which I post processed in the digital darkroom using Lightroom 2.

 

I took this photo of the Bluejay at the bird feeder a couple of days ago. No post processing.

Flinging Bird Seed at Once

I felt delighted to see a flock of Redwing Blackbirds visit my bird feeders yesterday, plus finches, juncos, sparrows, bluejays, and robins. I watched the gang of Whitewinged Doves with some trepidation, for it was an ever-growing population of doves -- Whitewinged, Inca, Eurasian Collared, and Mourning -- that made me cease replenishing my bird feeders. For two years now I have not fed the birds, and yet, the Whitewinged roost in the nearby trees. I hope that their numbers will remain a handful, as they seem now, and that they do not lord it over the little birds.

A White Christmas Indeed!

Kodiak Bear did not want to pose during the snowfall.

Winds gusted to 45mph.

We don't get snow, normally, hardly any at all. A white Christmas indeed!

Christmas Lights After the Blizzard

When the streets became passable after the blizzard,

My Mr. Mallory and I drove around to take pictures of the lights.

Good-bye, Bob, and Thank You

http://rlhtribute.com/
Robert Howard, Congressional Medals of Honor (three times), Purple Heart (eight times).

Christmas Eve Snow

Hodge was game for a romp in the slushy snow, willing to pose for the camera.

Ducks in flight during the heavy snowfall. Our morning began with pleasant rain

in the early morning, then turned to large snowflakes around eight o'clock.

The wind blew about forty miles per hour.

Saint Francis.

Hodge's sponteneity exemplifies the reason why I need to be ready with my camera and its settings.

Later, in the park, a German Shepherd loped across eleven inches of snow.

Children ride along Hamilton Boulevard.

An SUV's wheels turned ineffectively on the snowy driveway.

Shoveling snow off the driveway.

A Red-tailed Hawk disappears beyond a tree along Martin Street.

Scissortail

I'm not allowed to fly it alone without my license or an FAA instructor, so I taxied up and down the airport all afternoon. Passengers in the terminal of Municipal Airport undoubtedly wondered what that little plane was doing taxiing all over the place and around parked jets. Tomorrow, finally, my flight instructor, Jim, will have recovered sufficiently from ankle surgery for us to resume our lessons.

Miss D's Hawk

Miss D from Animal Control brought a fatally injured hawk to the Wild Bird Rescue Center.

The odd framing has to do with the Nikon lens 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 ED DX on my full frame D700. I think, though, that the effect makes for intriguing framing of a remarkable bird.