Project 365 - 2011 AxeMan

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Day 35
Got Snow?

Easy shot fast post today. Lot on my mind, it's decision day.

 

[jengajoh]

Nice shot, blue sky. I wonder why the pile of shoveled snow isn't dirty like it is here...

 

[ohkphoto]

I wonder why the pile of shoveled snow isn't dirty like it is here

Photoshop?

 

[ohkphoto]

Easy shot fast post today

Now that's a lot of snow! Nice touch to include the car for a comparison. Gorgeous blue and red!

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Photoshop?

Very little Photoshop on this one. All auto adjustments, again quick post today. Turned down the brightness a little by hand. Snow was very overpowering, sun was right at my back and taken about 1:00pm. Drove over 100 miles today gone from the house over six hours, very long day for us. Shot with our Coolpix S6000

I was told there is a case of Beer and a bottle of Whiskey at the bottom of this pile. When you can get to it winter is officially over.

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Day 36
My decision

In order to overcome the hurdles in life, it is essential that you take the right approach. How many times have you allowed your thoughts to sabotage your journey before it even began? When you expect to succeed you dramatically increase your chances of overcoming the obstacles that stand in your way. Without proper perspective, hurdles are often made to be larger than they really are. I like to embrace obstacles and learn to make the most of the change. In fact, right at this very moment, I find myself facing a hurdle. My past hurdles have prepared me for what lies a head. Taking the right approach doesn’t always mean you will know exactly what to do. All that matters is you follow your intuition and make the most of the situation at hand. So please understand that I have made a decision that this will be my last post here at Nikonites.com.........








AS A D3000 USER



I'm Back!

 

[cmsouvign2]

He is so mean isn't he. The joker of the bunch isn't he. But in all seriousness he made the right decision.... To let me get his D3000

 

[jengajoh]

you had me there for a minute.... Welcome to the D90!

 

[ohkphoto]

You bad boy, Rick! I can't believe I read through your whole soliloquy and thinking all the time: OMG who hurt his feelings? Who did something wrong? And I had gotten so fond of him!
Yep, I'm very gullible!

Congratualtions on your new Nikon! Glad you're still around, and doubly glad that Christine now has your D3000!

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Day 37
Killer

This is "Killer" all 5 pounds of him. The kids are on the floor with blankets watching TV and he is staking his claim. Took the easy way out today I'm in a hurry shot in full auto. More snow to shovel, shopping to do etc. Got to get back into some serious photo's here. Right now just taking pictures to save the project. Not enough time during my daylight waking hours to do things. (Killer is a Toy Pom)

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Day 38
Ellwood Water Tower

The Ellwood House was built as a private home by barbed wire entrepreneur Isaac Ellwood in 1879. It is located on First Street in DeKalb, Illinois. The Ellwood House grounds hold several extant outbuildings as well: the museum house, the carriage house, the water tower, and the Little House. On the west (rear) of the Ellwood House, the circular limestone water tower is about 50 feet (15.2 m) tall and has a diameter of 18 feet (5.5 m). The tower has windows occurring at different levels, which are arched and include keystones in their design. The water tower was built in 1879, the same year as Ellwood House, and at that time the structure was topped with a wooden water tank with a conical roof. Between 1897 and 1910 the wooden tank was removed and replaced with an additional 30 courses of stone which matched the original structure. The arched door at the base of the water tower was replaced with a larger square-shaped double door. The roof remained conical and of wood construction until about 1950 when it was replaced with sheet metal.

The water tower is the only surviving structure from what was once a large horse stable facility owned by Isaac Ellwood. The complex, known as "Ellwood Green," was affiliated with the family's Percheron horse business. Two major structures within the complex, were the 1879 brick stable buildings, both of which featured mansard roofs. Those buildings, along with all other original stable buildings (save the water tower and including the home stable) were demolished through the years. (Source Wikipedia)

What it looked like back in the day.
DeKalb Images

 

[jengajoh]

Nice shot, I like how the vines grow up around the building. It looks like it has changed quite a bit over the years.

 

[ohkphoto]

Wow, what a beautiful tower. Nice capture on this, Rick. A little bit of sunshine would have been nice to bring out the color of the stones/brick (I'm sure you're ready for it!). Great composition . . . tree branches seem to wrap around it.

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Sunshine might have been a bad thing on this one and time of day. If I'm not mistaken this is looking SW I might have been shooting into the sun. Many photo ops here inside and out. This is something we are going to revisit. Did bracket all my shots +2.0 / -2.0 and shot RAW & JPEG's so maybe a little HDR is in store when I get a chance.

Wednesday we have a road trip planned to a riverbank that has Eagles in the area. Got our finger crossed on this one. Already getting chicken think I'm going to shot auto, don't want to blow any shots on this one. If not there is a model railroad club right across the street. See what we can come back with on this trip. On a side note it's going to be sunny but temperatures are going to be in the single digits, so it's going to be a cold one.

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Day 39
Habits I throw money at

I have other habits I throw money at but I think the shot is too crowed as it is and did not include them. Cheating today posting two photos. The photo below is my first test shot, I should have stopped there, I like both.

 

[jengajoh]

Nice shots! I kind of what the cigarette to be lit though, so you can see the smoke. I looks like it might be lit in the first one, but no smoke...?

 

[Ruidoso Bill]

Lets see, several cartons of smokes or a cheap lens, lens wins.

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Sorry, Nikon glass only. Cheaper smokes, and smoke less.

 

[ohkphoto]

I like the second one and agree with Jen, would have been fun to have it lit with it smoking.
Any luck with the lottery?

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Day 40
Schiller Pianos

Road trip time. Today we went to The old Schiller Piano Company, also known as Conover Square, is located in Oregon, Illinois the county seat of Ogle County. The company was founded in 1890 and remained in operation until 1971. The company produced many thousands of pianos through the years and in 1936 the company merged with the Cable Piano Company and produced pianos under the name Cable and Conover. The company's 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2), stucco clad factory and its iron water tower base still stands in Oregon and both are considered contributing properties to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places Oregon Commercial Historic District. In 1975 the facility was converted into the Conover Square Shopping Mall and has remained so ever since. (Source Wikpedia)

This photo had HDR all over it for me when I saw it. It was in a fenced in area we could not get into it, however I could get my lens through it. Problem was the windows were washing out the shot. I didn't want to tone down just the windows with CS5 so I decided to try HDR.

If you look at my HDR thread I have included the three-bracketed shots I used.

Two other side notes, we did get to the model railroad club same building, and I'll be starting a help thread on that soon, going to need some DOF advise. And I got my Eagle shots. Four Eagles are right across the street from here. Nothing worth posting, largest zoom I had with me was 200mm and had to shot into the sun. Going to go back in the early morning to beat the sun sometime after the new zoom arrives. (Oops, did I say I was getting a new lens?)