Orchid
Douglas DC 3
EAA Oshkosh
Window to the past
Nelson Nevada gold mine has a wonderful assortment of old stuff.
Porch Art
I like interesting porches as they entice us into the house to see what's behind the door and meet the dwellers.
Silver Bismarck
The palm, common in Florida, grows slowly to 30 feet or more...and each thick, fan-shaped frond can reach 10 feet in diameter.
1897 Barn
This octagonal barn was erected by Ernest Clausing, a local barn builder 125 years ago. Mr. Clausing erected 14 of these barns in the southern end of Ozaukee County WI, all within one mile of the Lake Michigan shoreline.They ranged in size from 3,200-over 9,000 square feet.
Godbe Mill
Old Godbe Mill - A silver-ore processing mill located in Pioche Nevada, the Godbe Mill was established in the 1920s, and abandoned in the 1940s.
Flying & Fireworks
Each July brings the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Assn) show to Oshkosh WI making it the busiest airport in the US for 10 days. Two nights they have a second show after dark featuring stunt planes and fireworks for 3 hours. These night photos make for some of the most surprising photos I've ever taken. This photo shows ground fireworks while a plane, shooting its own fireworks, performs a double loop over the top.
Powerboat Racing 2022
These two have just finished a 180 degree turn and are now in full throttle at over 100mph heading out to the Gulf of Mexico. They are close to the pier on Sunset Key with Key West in the background.
Oil of water
Walking along the water in Pacific Grove CA I came upon this artist who not only allowed me to take his photo but was also thrilled when I emailed the photo to him. For the next few weeks whenever I saw someone painting landscapes I'd take their photo at a similar angle and mail them their photos. It was fun for all of us.
Great Egret
Great Egrets wade in shallow water (both fresh and salt) to hunt fish, frogs, and other small aquatic animals. They typically stand still and watch for unsuspecting prey to pass by. Then, with startling speed, the egrets strike with a jab of their long neck and bill.
Old rolling stock
These railroad photos were taken at the Mid-Continent Railway yard in Wisconsin.
Look up
Fire escape on a very tall building.
Then War It Shall Be
The Conch Republic (also known as Key West and the Florida Keys) like many nations was born from trouble. The trouble started back in the dark days of March 1982, when the U.S. Federal Government placed a Border Patrol Roadblock at the Last Chance Saloon in Florida City. A seventeen mile traffic jam immediately ensued as the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving or entering the Keys, supposedly searching for illegal drugs and aliens who might be hiding under the front seats, in glove compartments, and in trunks. A Federal Miami court refused to enjoin the US Federal Government’s Border Patrol from treating the Keys like a foreign country. When the Key West delegation left the courthouse On April 23rd, Mayor Wardlow announced “We are going to go home and secede” and thus the Conch Republic was born. The Conch Republic flag was raised over city hall and the Schooner Western Union, under command of Captain John Kraus, went forth into the harbor and attacked the US Coast Guard Cutter DILIGENCE with water balloons, Conch fritters and stale Cuban bread. The DILIGENCE fought back with fire hoses and thus commenced the Great Battle of the Conch Republic. Prime Minister Wardlow surrendered and demanded foreign aid from the United States (which we are still waiting for!) The road block was quietly removed and the glorious Conch Republic was born. This event is celebrated each year with among other things a sea battle between the US Coast Guard and the Conch Republic Navy and Air Force. The sea battle is fought with water cannons while the Air Force bombs the Coast Guard ships with toilet paper, as seen here. For the past 40 years the Coast Guard admits defeat and shamefully sails back to their base. The city of course then has a parade.
One year I had the admittedly very difficult task of being both an arial photographer and a toilet paper bombardier. We returned to the airport as glorious battle hardened winners.
Window peeping
Walking around Las Vegas I took this through a window. Not the sharpest photo, nothing very interesting going on but for some reason I like it. It's even hanging in a (temporary) frame in the house.
Original 1917
1917 Herschell-Spillman Carousel at Circus World Museum Baraboo, WI
24 jumping horses, 2 chariots, all wood composition and original 105 year old paint. In perfect working order and cost $1.00 a ride.
During a break the operator was nice enough to let me walk around taking photos of the horses.
11,318 Feet
From here on Brian Head Peak UT you look over Arizona and Nevada. At the base is Cedar Break National Monument and in the lower left corner is Brian Head ski slopes. It takes a fairly sturdy vehicle to venture up here and at this altitude, combined with the awesome views they will literally take your breath away.
Gunlock State Park
Located near Ivins Utah.
Drag Strip
Not only is it the main street through Key West it is also the worlds longest drag strip. One of the events during Conch Republic days are the bed races, beds mounted on wheels pushed by female impersonators, a.k.a. Drag Queens. One end of Duval is the Atlantic Ocean and the other end is the Gulf of Mexico, hence the Worlds Longest Drag Race. True Fact
Brilliant P 47
EAA Oshkosh
Scenic Drive
Somewhere along Hwy 89 between Cedar Breaks National Monument and Bryce Canyon National Park.
Rail Art
Near a quarry in Nevada that whenever I drive by I usually find 1 or 2 painted cars that are worth photographing.
Warthog
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force. In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a World War II-era fighter-bomber effective at attacking ground targets, but commonly referred to as the "Warthog" or "Hog".Wikipedia
The Lone Cypress
The Lone Cypress is a Monterey cypress tree located in Pebble Beach, California. Standing atop a granite headland overlooking Carmel Bay, the tree has become a Western icon and has been called one of the most photographed trees in North America. Wikipedia
Sunlit Balloon
Butch Lived Here
Robert Leroy Parker, A.K.A. Butch Cassidy, lived here with his family from 1880 to around 1884. The door was locked but I found this broken pane.
Cedar Breaks
A National Monument in Utah with an elevation of about 10,500 feet.
I might be the same age…
Now that hurts.
Daylily
They get their name from the fact that each flower lasts only one day. I took these photos at the Boerner Botanical Garden in Milwaukee.
Prickly Pear Cactus
A beauty and a beast, prickly pear is beloved for its blossoms and feared for its vicious spines. Its yellow, red, and orange cup-shape flowers last just one day, but a large clump of prickly pears will bloom for several weeks in summer, providing delicate beauty among the thorns. If you break off an "ear" and simply push it into the ground it will grow roots allowing a new plant will form.
Egret
This is a Reddish Egret in the Florida Keys
One of so many
Las Vegas architecture at night
Overseas Highway
Built in 1893 to connect Key Largo and Key West via steam train. Finished in 1912 the tracks were laid over 126 miles of ocean.
Interesting
Key West street vendor has an interesting product line.
Hoover Dam
I'm standing 726' atop Hoover Dam looking down at the Colorado river with Lake Mead behind me. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US by volume when full. It is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi southeast of Las Vegas. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
1800s Outhouse
Wikipedia: Outhouses are commonly humble and utilitarian, made of lumber or plywood. This is especially so they can easily be moved when the earthen pit fills up. Depending on the size of the pit and the amount of use, this can be fairly frequent, sometimes yearly. I found this in South Dakota on a homestead from the 1880s.
Every morning
The activity is the same but every morning there is a new background.
Ahhhh
Waiting for a customer to crawl in
Arizona Slot Canyon
Navajo Sandstone and resident
The Blues
Finland
An area called Little Finland in Gold Butte National Monument is filled with interesting sandstone shapes. For scale, the centerpiece is 10-15' tall.
Point Sur
Point Sur Lighthouse is a lightstation at Point Sur 24.6 miles south of Monterey, California on top the 361-foot-tall rock at the head of the point. It was established in 1889 and is part of Point Sur State Historic Park. The light house is 40 feet tall and 270 feet above sea level. Wikipedia
Badlands National Park
The rugged beauty of the Badlands in South Dakota draws visitors from around the world. These striking geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient horses and rhinos once roamed here. The park’s 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today. per NPS
Las Vegas in B&W
Taken with my Leica Q2 Monochrome camera. All digital cameras take photos in grays then the processor matches those tiny grey pixels to the matching color pixels the camera maker engineered into that brand. So 10 cameras, including phones will give 10 different looks all settings being equal. The differences will be very subtle but they will differ. This camera I used does not convert to color. It uses its lack of color processing to produce a very, very high resolution image in shades of grey. It seems to work particularly good on architecture.
Sunset Gunlock
Gunlock State park near Ivins Utah
Daylily
They get their name from the fact that each flower lasts only one day. I took these photos at the Boerner Botanical Garden in Milwaukee.
Black-eyed Susan
Wisconsin
Race Start
Key West Offshore Powerboats. In 2021 they raced 3 days, 4 races per day by class of boats. This was the start of the second race. The pace boat, a few frames back was flying a yellow flag telling the boats to remain in line with it. This green flag tells them they may accelerate and begin to race.
Rubicon WI
I drove through this very small town in WI last week. Had to turn around, take this photo then continued on my way. Photography will do that to you.
Dusk on the Strip
Taken from high up at the Bellagio. Las Vegas is a wonderful city to walk around with a camera.
Pacific Grove CA
I don't know what this plant is but the color and size really caught my eye.
Cannery Row
Cannery Row is the waterfront street bordering the city of Pacific Grove in Monterey, California. It was the site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 1973. This mural is painted on an old Cannery wall.
Key West Squall Line
Coming in from the West produced big wind and rain.
Merry Christmas
This tree was in the lobby of the Curry Mansion in Key West.
Dakota
This area of South Dakota was so desolate there were no homes or farms to be seen yet there was mail.
Surprise Docking
10/20/2021: This ship made an unscheduled stop in Key West to have a sick passenger taken off. As there were no line handlers the ship had to hold itself against the pier using its very powerful side thrusters as it could not be tied. Passenger was removed, ship spun 180 degrees and slipped out of the harbor towards the shipping channel and on to its next scheduled port.
Nelson Nevada
Nelson Nevada is not a town, rather it's an old gold mine in the middle of nowhere that has a great collection of junk.
B-52
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The bomber is capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds of weapons, and has a typical combat range of more than 8,800 miles without aerial refueling.
The wing walker is the pilot’s wife
EAA Oshkosh
Gold Butte
Gold Butte National Monument covers nearly 300,000 acres of remote and rugged desert landscape in southeastern Nevada, where dramatically chiseled red sandstone, twisting canyons, and tree-clad mountains punctuate desolate stretches of the Mojave Desert. The brightly hued sandstone provides a stunning canvas for the area’s famously beautiful rock art. per BLM
Front Row Seats
Every evening boats of all types and sizes head out with friends or customers to watch the famous Key West sunsets.
Evening Sky
Evening sail in Key West
Valley of Fire
Valley of Fire State Park is a public recreation and nature preservation area covering nearly 46,000 acres located 16 miles south of Overton, Nevada. The state park derives its name from red sandstone formations, the Aztec Sandstone, which formed from shifting sand dunes 150 million years ago.Wikipedia
A Walk In The Park
Hiking through Red Rock Canyon which is close to Las Vegas, I turned the corner and saw this. As I took a few photos others started showing up including photographers. When they finished I found out it was a photo shoot for these two brothers who were performing in Las Vegas.
Lines
I'm learning that black and white photos can really capture the distinctive lines in architecture.
Point Sur Lighthouse
Point Sur Lighthouse sits on a volcanic rock 361 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Erected in 1889, this Big Sur lighthouse has stayed in continuous operation since, and is the only complete lighthouse of its era in California.
1904 Steam Traction Engine
Nichols and Shepard Steam traction Engines were built in Battle Creek, Michigan from 1848-1929. I believe this one is a 1918 model. Weighing over 11,000 pounds, powered by wood or coal they traveled at 3 mph. This was taken at the annual steam show in Baraboo WI where over 500 steam powered tractors and construction equipment powered by white hot steam, plenty of black smoke and driven by hard men, gather for a 5 day event.
Fisherman’s Wharf – Monterrey CA
Walked to the end of the dock looking for a place to sit and eat some smoked salmon. Glanced down and saw these boats lined up.
key West Harbor
I took this through a glass ball I was holding.
What are you looking at?
Female Great Horned Owl in Utah. She was watching over her 2 babies which made it easy to find and photograph them in daylight.
Farm House Reflection
I like trying to get an interesting wall of texture combined with what's behind me. As a bonus, like this photo, it's reflecting in very old wavy glass. This is a farmhouse window and barn taken in Wisconsin.
Cinco de Mayo Kaboom
Everyday is a good day for fireworks.
Ker Blam
Cana Island Lighthouse
Built in 1869 for $12,792.55, Cana Island Lighthouse’s tower, made of cream city brick, was the tallest building in Door County WI. Verified by telescope during the first year of operation, 4,862 ships passed the station during daylight hours. Keepers filled the oil and kept the beacon shining until the lighthouse was automated in 1944. It remains a functioning navigational light of the Great Lakes. Door County Historical Society.
Yerkes Observatory
Yerkes Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. It was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 to 2020. In May 2020, restoration and renovation of the historic building and grounds began. It opened for small tours July 2022 where one is now able to go into all three domes.
Glen Canyon Dam
Page Arizona
P 57
EAA Oshkosh
Tourist Treasure
Early morning walking on Key Wests Duval street.
Salt Lake Utah
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth largest in the world. The 15,000 square miles of various water environments, remote islands and shorelines, with 400,000 acres of wetlands, provide habitat for plants, brine shrimp, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, shorebirds and waterfowl. Birds rely on the lake, a critical link in the Pacific Flyway between North and South America. Every year 10 million birds from 338 different species come to rest, eat and breed during migrations of a thousand miles or more. With the decline of other lakes, GSL is increasingly important to these species.
First Light
A rare snowfall in Snow Canyon (named after Utah pioneers Lorenzo and Erastus Snow) brought me up here before sunrise. The sun had just risen lighting up the top of this sandstone formation. By 11am there was no trace of snow here, except the higher elevation mountains.
Springtime at Altitude
Near Cedar Breaks Utah. Aspens are still bare.
Great horned owl
Adult great horned owls can be as large as 2’ tall with a 5’ wingspan.Despite their size they are capable of “silent flight”, which is the way owls fly while making almost no discernable noise. And they can fly at a very low speeds as slow as 2 miles per hour when they are gliding on breezes while hunting. At dusk, the owl utters a few calls before flying to a more open sing-post, i.e. large bare branch or large rocks to deliver song. Normally several perches are used to mark occupied territory or to attract a female. Wikipedia
I took this photo in SW Utah where a pair have been seen each year. In the past 5 years they have produced offspring twice. Baby owls are ridiculously cute and always under the very watchful eyes of a adult.
Architectural Tour
Ride a boat on the Chicago river as they point out the beautiful architecture that sprouted on each side.
Winter Bryce
The snow really adds nice color to the sandstone.
South Dakota Homestead
The territory that would become South Dakota was added to the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The first permanent American settlement was established at Fort Pierre by the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. White settlement of the territory in the 1800s led to clashes with the Sioux, as some of the lands had been granted to the tribe by an earlier treaty. Nevertheless, the territory was incorporated into the union on November 2, 1889, along with North Dakota.
Cedar Breaks National Monument
The Blimps
As of 8/10/2021 there are still 4 of these flying.
Perfect (IMHO)
This is one of the most complicated photos I've taken in Chicago. There are 2 buildings reflecting each other in addition to 3 more behind me. The angle, light and colors were nearly perfect for this spot on the sidewalk. As a credit to my incredibly capable Leica camera this is exactly what we (Leica & I) saw that morning.
Delphinium
Took this photo in my mother's garden in Wisconsin.
Brian Head
Brian Head, at 11,312 feet, looking down at Cedar Breaks National Monument.
Boca Chica
Boca Chica Key is about 20 miles from Key West. Behind me is the Naval Air Station. It's was a great place to walk because of this scenery containing mangroves and the Atlantic ocean. You can walk on the coral for miles while keeping an eye on the tides as some spots get quite deep during high tide. I tool this photo a few years before hurricane Irma completely changed this shoreline so it will be many years before the mangroves fill out again.
Ready to fly
Key West Wildlife Center rehabilitated hawk about to be released
Brown Pelican
The brown pelican is one of two species of pelicans found in Florida, the white pelican being the other. It has a wingspan of 6 ft 8 in to 7 ft 6 in.
Sunset Key
Sunset Key is a small 27 acre island with a hotel and individual homes. It is reachable by a short ferry ride from Key West. It was originally developed by the US Navy to hold fuel tanks but later sold to a developer.
Docking at dawn
These ships would quite often glide in at first light to dock in Key West. What always amazed me was even at this short distance, these huge ships never made a sound when arriving.
DC 3
Zillions of rivets - EAA Oshkosh
Standing in one place, shoot right then left
On this rare snow covered morning I quickly set up my camera on the edge of a wash. I turned right and shot up the wash towards the Red Mountain that borders Snow Canyon State Park then turned the camera left and took another down the wash towards the Beaver Dam mountains. I spent the previous 2-3 hours in the park taking other photos of snow covered red sandstone, sand dunes and black lava. I had to move fast because in Ivins Utah snow like this only falls every couple of years and is gone in as many hours.
In a dark woods
In July (10,500 feet) went to Cedar Breaks National Monument for the spring wildflower bloom. Due to low snowfall and rain the fields were pretty sparse but walking through the trees there were many flowers of different types. This is an Indian Paintbrush.
New Day Comes
Back on Pewaukee Lake
F-18 Super Hornet
Boca Chica Naval Air Station