Category: Daily Adventures

Blogs of everyday activates and adventures.

New Visitor the Black Bear

New Visitor the Black Bear

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New Visitor the Black Bear – every couple of years I might get to see a black bear as it wanders through my yard. Last month this small black bear stopped for a visit.

I woke up to my bird feeding pole bent over to the ground which tells me a bear is in the yard. So I take down my bird feeders and put them away as I know he will keep coming back looking for food. Once I put the feeders away, he came back a couple days checking things out and now I have not seen him for a few weeks.

I put a trail camera out so I can monitor it as to what activity is going on at night while I am sleeping. He hasn’t been on the trail cam for a while now.

He sat down near my bird bath and just looked around for awhile. It was hot on this day and he wasn’t moving very fast. By the way, I am just guessing a he, I don’t really know for sure.

New Visitor the Black Bear

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Cross the Bridge into August

Cross the Bridge into August

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Cross the Bridge into August, July has come and gone. How time fly’s. These bridges here are all crossing the Mighty Mississippi River taken from the Iowa side of the river.

This first bridge is actually gone now, they tore it down this past year. Well, last time I went by there they still had a small section of the bridge left to take down. It is replaced by a bigger more modern bridge now.

It sure made for pretty photos at night.

Cross the Bridge into August
sun rising undeCross the Bridge into Augustr bridge
Cross the Bridge into August
centennial bridge Mississippi river

Cross the Bridge into August

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Same Day Stormy Weather

Same Day Stormy Weather

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Same Day Stormy Weather – the same day we had the shelf cloud, the sky’s had cleared and then all of a sudden another storm was coming our way in the evening. This storm brought a couple more inches of rain and lot of thunder and lightning.

Rain was coming down in sheets as it blew sideways across the land.

As I heard the thunder off in the distance I set up my go pro camera on time lapse photos, .5 sec intervals. Trying to catch a couple of lightning strikes. The faster the interval the better chance you have of photographing one with this camera.

The camera took 900 photos, each one unique shapes and light. But, to look at 900 photos looking for a lightning strike takes a long time.

So instead I stacked them all into one photo and this is the result below. It gives movement to the clouds as it stacks each one on top of the other and it shows the lightning strikes as well. Makes it easier to go back and find the one photo with the strikes on it.

Same Day Stormy Weather
Same Day Stormy Weather

Same Day Stormy Weather

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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July Went out With a Bang

July Went out With a Bang

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July Went out With a Bang as a shelf cloud came across the land a few days ago.

Shelf clouds are harmless themselves but typically indicate strong storms. Shelf clouds form at the leading edge of a thunderstorm. If you see a shelf cloud coming your way, it probably means you are about to get hit by a strong thunderstorm.

I have seen two in my lifetime and they are quite interesting cloud formations and make great photos if you are quick enough. Usually they are moving pretty fast.

July Went out With a Bang
July Went out With a Bang

This one below I took a couple of years ago, it was a much worse storm behind it then the one above. Even though the one last week did dump over 2 inches of rain and very high winds.

shelf cloud storm front

July Went out With a Bang

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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cloudcroft trestle bridge
One More Bridge

One More Bridge

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One More Bridge – one more bridge I did not cross is this first one here I photographed in Cloudcroft New Mexico. This one is just for looking at, it is not in use anymore.

I will finish this week off with more bridges, a view of the world around us, bridges that connect you and me.

cloudcroft trestle bridgeOne More Bridge
One More Bridge
buchanan dam bridge

One More Bridge

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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arched bridge artwork
Every Bridge I Cross

Every Bridge I Cross

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Every Bridge I Cross

Life is an adventure with many bridges that need to be crossed. Some bridges are hard to cross like this first one, literally and metaphorically.

We have to choose which bridges to cross to see what might be on the other side. This bridge in the first photo is the only one I have not crossed. But I can see the other side from here and I know it is just as beautiful as this side.

I will cross that bridge when I am called to. 🙂

Every Bridge I Cross

Arizona

Texas

Every Bridge I Cross

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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A Green Thumb

A Green Thumb

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A Green Thumb means having a natural talent for growing plants. Well, I am not sure if I have a green thumb yet. I photographed these flowers down south using a faster shutter speed to give get the black background, which goes well with the purple flowers.

I have planted lots of flowers this year at home here, mostly for the hummingbirds, but by the time the flowers actually bloom the hummingbirds will be gone. It seems to be a slow year for me and growing flowers.

I have lots of green leaves everywhere but no color yet. So I guess I can say I have a green thumb. 🙂

A Green Thumb
A Green Thumb

A Green Thumb

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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 Incredibly Complex

 Incredibly Complex

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Incredibly Complex – Our eyes are amazing machines that help us process life visually and provide us with a lifeline to everyday tasks and moments.

Cat eyes are so unique, it is like looking at a masterpiece of intricate detail and function with amazing colors.

Do Cats Blink? Well Cat eyelids don’t work like ours do, mainly because they have three of them.

“They have upper eyelids, lower eyelids and a third eyelid (also known as the nictitating membrane) that they use to protect and cover their eyes,”

Another unique quality of cat eyelids is that they don’t fully close.

Incredibly Complex

A study done by the University of Portsmouth and the University of Sussex revealed that if your cat’s blinking really slowly at you, it’s his way of smiling at you

How often do cats blink?

Cats blink pretty regularly, but they don’t need to do it as frequently as people do. They usually will win a staring contest with you.

Incredibly Complex

Incredibly Complex

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Opposite of Blue is Orange

Opposite of Blue is Orange

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Opposite of Blue is Orange, The sea is blue. From the color wheel, we can clearly see that the opposite of blue is orange, so orange is a contrasting color to blue.

Contrasting colors are colors that can be clearly distinguished, so when we are in danger at sea and need rescue, blue contrasting orange becomes the best choice.

shrimp boat on the gulf
Opposite of Blue is Orange
Opposite of Blue is Orange
Opposite of Blue is Orange

Have a Wonderful Weekend

Opposite of Blue is Orange

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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The Longest Squirrel Tail

The Longest Squirrel Tail

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The Longest Squirrel Tail I have ever seen. We camped at a spot in Illinois and went for a walk through this park that had the nicest trail. I looked up and there sat this squirrel with the longest tail I have ever seen on a squirrel.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

I have never seen one quite like this, the squirrel looks normal and that tail has to be 3 times longer then a regular squirrels tail.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

This photo below is one I took many years ago, he was a regular in my back yard and I named it Mittens because of the white feet. It has a normal length tail for a squirrel.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

This is a Red Squirrel

red squirrel

Below is a White Red Squirrel I photographed last year.

white squirrel

The Giant Rock Squirrel below, it is the biggest of the squirrel family found in Texas.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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New Puppy Portraits

New Puppy Portraits

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New Puppy Portraits, nothing makes me smile more than dogs. I have had a dog for as long as I can remember. Making portraits of them is a joy of mine, sometimes it is just about their eyes. So many expressions.

This first dog I photographed at a campground. He was looking back at his people, I don’t know the folks at all but random photos of dogs are a fun way to just show all the different kinds of dogs there are.

New Puppy Portraits
New Puppy Portraits

This one below is a friend of ours, a Golden Labrador. Thought I would try my hand at pencil art. On the computer though. I make all these portraits on the computer.

New Puppy Portraits

Have a wonderful weekend.

New Puppy Portraits

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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The Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare

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The Snowshoe Hare is wandering around my yard enjoying the new spring grasses and weeds. There are two things very unique about this rabbit. One being it turns white in the winter, which I have never been able to get a photo of one that is white. Well, that means I would have to be here in the winter as well. 🙂

The Snowshoe Hare
The Snowshoe Hare

The other is the size of their back feet. This size helps to keep them on top of the snow during the winter. Hence the name snowshoes. 🙂

The Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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My Art From the Island

My Art From the Island

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My Art From the Island, we spent a few months at one of my favorite places last winter. Dauphin Island Alabama. The weather is mostly in the 70’s all winter and some humidity. But come April the song birds and water birds start to arrive.

My bird count went up to 217. I may have mentioned this before, I took some of my art work down to the art gallery on Dauphin Island to see if they would like to have some of my work to sell there. I am very pleased to say they like my work and took quite a few samples to showcase in the gallery.

This is a photo I took of the gallery there on Dauphin Island. I only have 5×7 prints on sale there and they are all digital oil paintings. Of some of the iconic places on the island and birds. People really like the Blue Herons on the island.

My Art From the Island

This is a sample print of mine hanging on a wall as a display.

My Art From the Island

I also made some postcards for the art gallery, this is something new for them. But they are doing very well in the store.

My Art From the Island
My Art From the Island

There are a lot of stores out there that are happy to hang your art work up for free as well. I just add my business card onto the print and it is a fun way to show your work besides just on the internet. A little footwork required. 🙂

Have a great weekend.

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Artificial Intelligence Photography

Artificial Intelligence Photography

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Artificial Intelligence Photography, well it has arrived. AI is popping up everywhere in photo editing software.

I edit all my photos in Photoshop, they now have AI in Beta so we can all see how it is going to work in the future. AI with photography is very similar to making composite photos, which I have done when I am making a piece of art work to sell. But I also list my photo as a composite.

AI is making it much simpler, as far as trying to blend the object you are adding to your photo a little better so as we don’t have to do as much work. But, here is what it is doing, you have to have the internet on when using AI because it is searching the world wide web for the image you are asking for and taking it from that.

For example, which one of these horses below is the real deal?

Artificial Intelligence Photography

The horse on the right is my photo of a paint pony in a pasture. I then asked AI to add a horse and lighting. The horse on the left is one it picked from the internet. It has skewed the horses face, but it did put the shadow in to mimic the real horse.

AI is here to stay because when it comes to big business and making advertisements, they will be able to make what ever they want and not have to hire photographers or models for that matter.

Artificial Intelligence Photography

But as far as I am concerned, I will always go out into the field to photograph the real thing. If I am in the mood to create art I will list it as a composite. I do sell a lot of photos on Adobe stock and they like AI generated photos. So one has to pick and choose what you like to create.

Art is generated by your imagination and that still makes it an original idea.

Artificial Intelligence Photography

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Anything With Wings

Anything With Wings

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Anything With Wings is allowed at the airport. I think this bird was watching the big planes with me here at this small airport. Maybe dreaming of flying high and fast like they do or thinking they need to get off his airport runway. 🙂

Anything With Wings

I don’t know what kind of plane this one is below. But they put on a great show for me on this day. They landed and took off so many times and the pilot waved at me here as I took his photo. Video below of this airport or click this link; Dauphin Island Airport

Coolest Plane, Coast Guard Helicopter, Black Hawk, Amazing Aircraft at Dauphin Island Alabama
Anything With Wings

Plus a coast guard helicopter made a quick stop and then took off.

I was able to stand right next to the runway to get these shots as they flew right over me. I was using my 600 mm lens which makes them look very close.

Anything With Wings
Anything With Wings

We are travelling north again and spending time with family along the way. I have not had time to read all my favorite bloggers post as of late. But I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful spring weather so far and thank you again for all your wonderful comments. I appreciate it very much.

Have a great weekend.

Anything With Wings

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Unusual Critters

Unusual Critters

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Unusual Critters I have seen this week. I was walking across a board walk early in the morning when this snail was slowly making its way across the path. What a strange little creature this is and such a long journey it must be for them when they move. Being it is at such a snails pace. 🙂

Unusual Critters

The next morning I went out onto the beach when it was still very dark outside. I had my flashlight with and in front of me I could see things moving very fast in the shadows of the soft light. One such creature stopped when my light shined on it. So I took a quick photo of this crab, another strange looking creature of the seas. Creation never ceases to amaze.

Unusual Critters

Unusual Critters

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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A Touch of Green

A Touch of Green

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A Touch of Green and the sounds of spring await us as the earth awakens to new life after a long winter.

I love seeing things turn green this time of year, spring is such an encouraging month as the flowers emerge from the ground or ponds like these lilies.

A Touch of Green
A Touch of Green

The dried grasses in the fields return to their lush green colors, full of life for all.

Nothing says spring more than hearing the sounds of the Red Winged Black Birds.

redwinged,blackbird,songbird

A Touch of Green

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Train Tracks Moving

Train Tracks Moving

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Train Tracks Moving up and down as this train passed us at a crossing. I have never noticed this happening before. We were parked at the crosswalk as this train went by and it was a very long train, so we were looking at the tracks right in front of us and that is when I noticed them moving up and down.

I don’t know if that is normal or not. I would assume there has to be some movement from the weight of the train. Fascinating things we see when we stop and look really close at what is in front of us. 🙂

Video below or Link here; Train Tracks Moving

Train Tracks Moving
Train Tracks Moving Up and Down as Train Moves Over Them - Engineering Marvels
railtracks,traintracks,railway,photograph,adventures,
Train Tracks Moving

Train Tracks Moving

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

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Sandra J

Sandra J

I am a traveling photographer, I like to travel rural America, the roads less traveled when I can. I love the great outdoors, my Photo Galleries contain Landscapes, wild life and a few just for fun photos. Thank you and have a great day.

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