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Dave wrote: Hi Jim,  Here are some pictures for the blog.  I went up to an area on Lake Ontario called Point Peninsula. This area has many  abandoned farms with open land that has a high population of mice and voles. It is an area that attracts hawks and owls. There are a large number of Rough-legged Hawks there this year. Rough-legs breed in the high Arctic. Some winters they invade the northern states. They are a large but relatively weak footed hawk. They come in two color morphs a light and a dark morph. Here are some shots of both color morphs. I have been trying for a number of years  to get a good shot of a dark morph. I think I succeeded this year.  Dave

Now, my turn to play around.   Read on please.

But first I had to quit playing around and get serious.  You see, I did not know the definition of “playing around.”  I did not want to tell you the wrong thing.  So, I did some serious research on the internet and found that play around has 5 characteristics:

1. it is an activity you choose and direct.
2. you do it for it’s own sake and not some outside reward
3. you have some mental rules but there is lots of room for your own creativity
4. play is imaginative – it takes you away from the immediate real world
5.  you are alert and physically or mentally active but not in a stressed frame of mind

Yep, I told you the right thing.   Now I know I was “playing around” with this photograph.

 I was doing all five characteristics of play when I played around with it.  Scroll down, have a look-see:

 

Dave wrote:   Hi Jim,  Here are some pictures of a Snowy Owl for the blog. Snowy  Owls breed in the high Arctic. Some years they come south or as it is called errupt south. This bird is an immature bird as the heavy dark markings show. An adult male would be pure white and an adult female would be less heavily marked. Snowys tend to  show up in open areas. They like airports sea coasts and open farm lands where this bird was.   Dave

Dave wrote:   Hi Jim,  Here are some pictures of a small  immature male Sharp-shinned Hawk at and around my bird feeders. Sharpies are a member of a family of hawks called accipiters. They are bird hunting hawks. They have short rounded wings and long tails built for manuvering in the forest. In the raptor clan the females are larger than the males. As this bird matures it’s back will be blue gray and the underparts will have horizontal orangish stripes. If you look at the forward facing pictures you will see the very skinny legs leading them to be called sharp shinned. Dave

 

Now that we have cell phone cameras, I bet many of you are like me – you have thousands of photographs that are not great but they are things you wanted to “snap.”  I “snap” a photo each time I see something beautiful or  unusual.

For example, on the unusual side I have photographed a one legged bird on the seashore.   I saw a water bird catch a big fish, toss it up in the air to get the fishes head pointed down it’s gullet.  It was unusual enough for me to snap a photo of it.It is unusual for me to see Santa Clause hanging lights on a tree, especially a palm tree in 80 degree Florida.  I have  snapshots of each of these and thousands of other unusual things.

On the beautiful side, I love the beauty of clouds, of an antlered deer, of flowers in bloom, of my landscape flowerpot that I planted with a  Bromelaid.  Not to mention the snapshots of my beautiful Grandchildren. I would probably get arrested if I got caught photographing the bikini images on the beach but photos of the beautiful flight of gulls leaving my beach to follow the charter fishing boat returning with a load of fish is OK. I have “snapped” all of these and many more.

The reason I told you all of this is to explain something I did on my computer this week.   First, I noticed each photo had two parts to it.  It had a subject of interest and a back ground. 

Second, I wondered what would happen to the photo if I isolated the subject and created an abstract painting for the background. 

Third, I created six of them. I isolated the beautiful yellow flower. I tried to use colors and lines in my created background to better highlight the flower while creating a comfortable image for your eyes and your mind.  I wanted to design photo images that you could hang on your wall. Then you could pour a glass of wine, sit in your comfortable chair, and enjoy staring at the image on your wall:

Say I to you all – HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS EVE AND DAY!

Dave wrote: Hi Jim, I was out north of Rom this morning. Found a small deer that had been hit by a car and died out in the field just off the road. There were 6 or 7 Bald Eagles on the carcass, in area trees and flying around the area. 4 adults and 2 or 3 immature birds. Took lots of pictures here are a few.   Dave

Dave is one great photographer and very generous to share his work with us. I urge you to study Dave’s photos.  When Dave takes photos of wildlife, he is forever capturing moments that will never be repeated. Take the examples these eagles gathering to feed. Study the ones on top of the branch (the second and third photo). Then look at photos four and five.  You will never get a photo of the exact same birds with the exact same posture, with the exact same body and wing positions, in exactly the same backdrop. Dave took the opportunity to record something truly unique.

Nature photography never gets boring. Whether it be wildlife or landscape photography, there is always a new angle you can introduce to your photos. The weather is never exactly the same – clouds always make unique formations, and the way sun rays cast over the houses in front of you are always very special.

I try to be out-and-about at least 4 hours every day – hot, rain, snow, cold – what ever nature has brought that day. I go out to see it – and some times I even photograph it. Often, just the clouds in the sky – the sky is like a modern art gallery of abstracts that are changed out every moment – for, most often a formation only last a moment!

Someday, I may get good equipment and be serious about the excellence of the photograph on those hours outdoors – maybe even take a photography cruise for a couple days. I did take a week-long fall photo “dry land” trip to northern Michigan a number of years ago.  The folks that ran it also offer tours, just like the folks I saw on the National Geography TV station.  Two nights ago, I watched a Photo Cruise Ship tour Baffin Island. Here are three photos they showed on National Geography TV:

But for now, I will show you a few iPhone photos that I snapped as I went outside my home in Florida –  went outside just for the good of my soul:

 

Dave wrote:  Hi  Jim,  Not much to photograph here in upstate NY at this time. I thought  I would send you some shots of owls I took in recent years. First two Snowy Owls from north of the Rome area where we live. Next a Barred Owl from Orlando Wetlands in Florida. Then some Great Horned Owls I shot  at TGO. We sure will miss being at TGO this year.  Hopefully we will be back next year.   Dave

Now, lets move from God’s birds to another falcon.  The Falcon 9 Rocket.

Sitting having a beautiful fried egg, berries, and honey this morning, the house shook and my ears, without hearing aids, rattled.  What happened? – Oh my goodness, a secret mission for the Falcon 9 rocket happened at the Space Center – not too far from our house.  To my driveway and front lawn I went. Oh, what is a Falcon 9 you ask?  Well I went to web and here is what I found:  “Falcon 9 was designed to compete with the Delta family of launchers in that it can lift payloads of up to 18,300 pounds to geostationary orbit. One payload it launched to low Earth orbit is Dragon, a spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo to the International Space Station.”

The TGO Photo Club made Monday one of my best days ever – Wonderful – I was humbled.  I was surprised.  I was speechless.   THANKS TO YOU.

At around 1:00 pm, Gloria told me to go outside and check a dead leaf on one of our plants. I stepped out the door and 10 or so horn-blowing-golf-carts and a few cars came driving down the road and stopped in front of my driveway.  Gloria tricked me to be outside just as they came by.

After a few minutes of total mental confusion, I realized I knew all the folks in the carts and cars – and they showed that they were “celebrating” me. Yips – I fell to my knees – what was this all about?

Well,  here is what it was all about.  Last spring I “retired,” after many years, from being President of the TGO Photo Club.  They said due to Corona virus the could not give me the party in the spring.

THEY GOT IT ALL WRONG – The celebration should have been for those that did not retire.  You know it takes a village to make the TGO Photo Club what it is.

Dave Sphan took on the President’s role and he read a wonder “speech” to  me. But he said Susan Hubbard wrote it,  for the Club Linda Somers researched and  purchased me a gift bottle of my favorite Scotch from the Island of Islay – an Island off the coast of Scotland – if you know Scotch you know what that means. I’ve been there, it is a very special “peaty-smoky” scotch unique to that Island.  Obviously, not just Dave, Linda, and Susan made the club’s party for me happen –  It took a village of people to make it happen – Thanks to you all.

Anyway, my front lawn was filled with masked friends that are new to the club and those that helped with the Club for years, maintaining community photo galleries,  organizing photo shoot trips, posting photos & videos on many community web/facebook pages, showing their special photos at club meetings, holding “classes” in their homes and in the community, offering their time & their skills to photograph  events held by other TGO clubs, keeping us informed through the “Happenings”, running meetings, and the list of what my friends have done goes on.   As I said it takes a village of people.

These friends of mine are the folks that must celebrate themselves for making the TGO Photo Club a successful fun club.  THANKS TO YOU ALL!

Click here to see a short movie Linda made for us

 

Dave has a passion for very high quality photographs of the birding world which is also one of his passion.

One of my passions is to enjoy most anything I see happening outside.  That is why I carry my cell phone with me on my bike rides.

Dave wrote:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. Robins all around my yard this morning. I planted barberry bushes behind my feeders years ago. This year they are loaded with berries. Not many birds seem to feed on the berries but this morning the Robins were in the bushes eating the berries. A male English or House Sparrow and a Carolina Wren still around my yard. Mild here today 50 degrees F.  Dave

 

I will try to answer the question “Why do I take so may photos”:

When you see something beautiful or unusual, it’s natural to feel a desire to claim it for a while and to share it with others. Having photos gives you the satisfaction of being able to hold unto (claim) the beautiful or unusual event after it has moved on.

Here are just a few photos from my recent collection:

 

Dave is a fantastic photographer and birder.  Each week Dave sends me a half-dozen photos to share. They have been posted to jimsdaily.wordpress.com for about the last 2 years.

For now, Dave’s photos  will appear here on jimsdaily.com.   His previous photos will remain available at jimsdaily.wordpress.com

Today Dave wrote:  Hi Jim,  Here are some more pictures for the blog. Bluebirds at my bird houses. I don’t know why they do this in the fall. I have had them do this same thing other years. A Carolina Wren also.I think it came in to see what the activity was around the bird houses.

 

 

The Great Outdoors RV and Golf Resort, where we live,  has so many clubs, activities, and events for we retired folks that we hardly have time to retire. Two of the activities I am involved with are the Photo Club and the Writer’s Group.

I have a question for each of you – Tell me your answer (You can do that by leaving a comment or e-mailing me at jimbrubaker@earthlink.net).  The question is  “Do you think combining photos and words and sharing them on a joint club blog would be fun for members of the Writing Group and the Photo Club?”

Bob Hazlett is leader of the Writer’s Group.  He is trying to get the writers club and the photo club to combine the skill’s of the photographers and the writers.  Combining writings and images is not a new idea.   For example, CBS Sunday Morning had a story on Steve Martin drawing cartons and writing words to tell his funny stories. That  is what all cartoonists do, is it not?   Every news paper puts words under their photographs. Or, is it that papers and magazines use photographs to illustrate their story? At any rate, combining words and images and sharing them is not new and I think it is a great idea.

Dave Spahn is leader of the Photo Club. He has a team of leaders and they will get together next week to plan winter activities for the club.  I am a member of that leader group and  I want to push the idea that the photographers and writers work together to combine their work and share it on a  blog, under a unique domain.

The words could be relatively short like the words Dave Cesari always writes telling us a little of the birds he photographed. Or, perhaps someone else could write a short message about the camera settings used for a difficult photo shot.. Or writers could use an image to prompt them to write a  short story like the one Bob Hazlett wrote. Or, anything in-between.

Please take the time to read what I posted below.  “Do you think combining photos and words and sharing them on a joint club blog would be fun for members of the Writing Group and the Photo Club?”

Dave Cesari is an outstanding photographer and birder and a constant contributor to the Photo Club Pages –  linkable in the lefthand column.  This week he wrote:   Hi Jim, It is a snowy day here in upstate NY. This is what we woke up to this morning. Seems early but here it is. The upside is my feeders are very active. A male Evening Grosbeak, a male Purple Finch, a Bluejay.  The last shot is a Starling in a tangle of wild grape vines in the top of one of my back line trees. We haven’t had Grosbeaks here for several years so it was exciting to have one and get a decent shot of it.   Dave

Bob Hazlett is an outstanding writer, having won many writing contests. In fact the story that follows took 2nd place in a Writers.com contest. The judges wrote: “I was pleased that you caught the Glimpse of Pegasus. It left me with a smile on my face. Well written with well chosen words.”  This short story, “Horse Dreams” (a study in colors), was prompted by a Photo Art image of mine:

I believe God, for some reason known only to him, gave us wretched humans two kindred species to be our friends. More than we deserve, dogs and horses help us be our better selves. They tolerate us, work with us, play with us,even love us. I have been without a dog for several years and miss her terribly.I’ve had only one brief experience with horses, but that’s all it took; I could lovehorses too. Maybe my dog convinced God to give me this little adventure.

My habit is to spend my late afternoons on my porch with a bourbon, a cigar, reading material, and writing tools. The brilliant sunlight glistening from the ice cubes brings the bourbon’s mahogany color to life, while the cigar’s tawny brown soothes the soul. I look forward to this sensory delight almost every day. Today was special. Giant cumulus clouds in wedding-veil white stood proudly against the sapphire blue sky. The falling sun painted the sky with a mural of medallion yellow, carrot orange, and blush red. Colors were rising and falling by the second as I watched.

From the horizon, as if coming from the sun itself, climbing high into the sky, trotted a parade of horses. Single file they came; each prancing and tossing its head; each with a flowing mane, flaring nostrils, and flashing eyes; each asplendid example of its breed.

 A blood bay Hackney led the parade, representing the storied history of English carriage horses.

Then came a Schwarzwälder Fuchs with a dark silver dapple coat and a light mane and tail. This horse originated in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

A chestnut Frederiksborg followed with its flaxen colored mane and tail. The alabaster white markings on his face and legs shone brightly in the sunlight. The Frederiksborg is the oldest horse breed in Denmark.

Trotting out of the sun, a Cayuse Indian Pony, roan in color, proudly carried the history of the early American frontier. Although the settlers called most horses raised by the American Indians “cayuse ponies,” the Cayuse Indian Pony of the Northwest is a distinct breed.

Large patches of onyx black and polar white marked the Piebald Pinto trotting up from the horizon. There are two recognized Pinto color patterns: 1) Tobiano – appears to be white with large spots of color, and 2) Overo appears to be a colored horse with jagged white markings.

Following the Pinto came the American Paint. Color patterns differentiate the American Paint Horse. Each horse has a unique combination of white and any one of the colors of the equine rainbow: black, bay, brown, chestnut, dun, grulla, sorrel, palomino, gray, or roan.

Next in the parade was a grulla colored Tarpan. His body a smoky gray, with the face and legs being darker than the body. The mane and tail flaxen, but dark in the center where the dorsal stripe passes through. Descended from the wild Tarpan at a forest in Bialowieza, today, this breed is sometimes referred to as the Polish Primitive Horse.

Spots and splashes of color made the Appaloosa easily recognizable. Humans have recognized and appreciated the Appaloosa throughout history. As far back as 20,000 years ago, Ancient cave drawings depicted spotted horses, as do detailed images in Asian and 17th-century Chinese art. The Spanish introduced these horses to North America as they explored the American continents.

A magnificent chestnut roan Clydesdale with four milk-white socks to the knees and hocks, sporting a well-defined blaze on his face, brought up the end of my parade. The Clydesdale is a breed of heavy draft horse developed in and deriving its name from Scotland’s district where it was founded. Its type was evolved by the farmers of Lanarkshire, through which the River Clyde flows. The old name for Lanarkshire is Clydesdale. Alas, he was not pulling a Budweiser wagon.

The western horizon had lost its sun and was now a plum purple shot through with pink. The parade was over; the sun had set; my glass was empty, and my cigar was well past the last third. As I rose to go into my house, I glanced to the north. There, in the darkening sky, Pegasus winked at me.

“Horse Dreams” (a study in colors)  by Bob Hazlett

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Click The Photo Club Page in the left column to see photos from Club Members including Dave’s many contributions.

Contact Bob Hazlett at    rlhazlett999@gmail.com    to get details on his idea for integrating writing and photos projects.  He also has a  collection of stories already written by members who used images from the Digital Photo Art pages (clickable in the left hand column).  Some members, in addition to Bob,  who  wrote short stories using photo art are: Susan Hubbard, Nancy Wagner, Sue Conant, and myself Jim Brubaker.