Pup Portraits – I have been taking a lot of photos of folks pets, mostly dogs. This is truly one of my favorite things to do. I can make a portrait out of any photo, some folks just send me one of their pets but when I can I like to take the photo myself and then make a portrait for the people that ask me to do this for them.
I take a lot of photos at a session just to get that right look. Any shots where the dog is looking up, like the second one. That is where the pup is looking at their person as they try to get them to sit or to get those ears to go forward. That makes for a great shot.
Unique Semi Truck – You all may know that I mostly take photos of nature, animals, wildlife. But, on occasion I see something like this that catches my attention. Modern marvels in engineering and building. Plus I drove a semi for a couple of years and there are some pretty cool looking tractor trailers out there.
We were driving down the interstate and husbands says to me, ” Look what is about to pass us”. This beautiful truck rolled on by. But I did not get the best look because it was passing us. Well I watched it disappear up ahead and a rest stop was coming up, so I said lets pull over because the dogs needed to get out.
And what do I see but this truck parked at the rest stop, so I had to take a couple of photos.
Video below of truck passing or click this link – Cool Truck
I am taking photos of folks dogs here at one of the campgrounds we are staying at and thought I would share some of the different breeds I am making portraits of for the pups owners.
This dog here is an Australian shepard, I had a couple of Australian Shepard’s many years ago. Wonderful dogs. They are known for having at least one blue eye, and this one here has two. Very unique.
Wide Angle Lens – I love shooting with my wide angle lens. It can give a landscape photo wonderful depth and if you have some fluffy clouds, it can give the appearance of movement.
I used the rule of thirds for this shot. I have the barn almost center and took the photo facing the corner of the barn. This allows for more depth, the barn angle makes my eye follow the line of the barn to the left of the photo and makes the barn look bigger then it is.
But I also left plenty of blank space on the right of the photo so you can see the clouds all the way back and gives the appearance of movement.
Blank space is important in many ways, if you are selling your work for commercial use, they want blank space for advertising.
Depending on the scene, it also gives you a glimpse of the background to the subject. This being farmland that goes with this old barn.
This photo below, I did not leave blank space on the right because I am on a hill taking this photo and with the corn field in the background, there is not enough open space to draw the eye to look all the way to the horizon. So the tree fits perfectly for this composition.
As the Light Shines – that simple head line I wrote sounds like a soap opera title. A beautiful orange butterfly enjoys the sweet nectar of a tiny flower in the morning light. But, little does it know, a camera lens keeps getting closer to it, trying to get that perfect shot.
Stay tuned to see what happens next, after this commercial break. dun, dun, dunnnnnn. 🙂
I am not sure how the ending music goes when it cuts to a commercial. We have not watched regular TV in many years. We gave up network television a long time ago, the only thing we have are DVD movies to watch on those rainy or cold days. It is so nice not to have to see commercials anymore.
Sepia Toned – Sepia is a reddish-brown color, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia.
I like to use the sepia finish on some of my flower or insect photos, so I had to look up what the word actually means and surprised myself finding the answer.
Fun Facts
What is a cuttlefish you might ask 🙂 – Cuttlefish ink was formerly an important dye, called sepia. That is where the name of this color comes from. I did not know that myself.
I like how the white on the tip of the wings of this butterfly did not change much when changing this photo to sepia tones.
Unique Round Barn – This is Ryan’s Round Barn in Illinois, it is one of 42 round barns in existence. They have a great campground by this barn. We visited here quite a few years ago.
Nestled on a knoll near the entrance of the 1,361-acre Johnson Sauk Trail State Park, Ryan’s Round Barn was the brainstorm and pet project of a turn-of-the-century Chicago brain surgeon named Lawrence P. Ryan.
The industrious doctor deviated from the standard square barn design that dotted the countryside and built a round barn.
Ryan’s barn is a three-level, domed-ceiling structure built on a slope so that the first and second floors are easily accessible from the outside at ground level. Built by carpenters who specialized in round barn construction, it measures 80 feet tall and 85 feet in diameter.
Rainy Day in August – I almost missed this photo. It is such a picturesque spot and the leaves were just starting to turn color back in August up by Lake Superior.
It gives me the feeling of calmness and peace.
Video Below showing the light rain falling as I was standing there looking at this beautiful landscape in front of me.
Speaking of Clouds – from yesterday’s post. It reminded me of this place called White Cloud NM. A beautiful place one should stop and see if in the New Mexico area. We were here a couple of years ago right after they had a nice snow fall.
Mountain views with snow are a beautiful sight to see. I still have not been to Colorado, that is on the agenda though.
Clouds – Cloud watching is something I never get tired of. Remember back when you were a child and would see what kind of animal or something the clouds looked like. Well I still do that to this day.
What a fun cloud formation this one is. I looked up and was so surprised as to what the opening in the clouds looks like to me. Can you guess? What state is it?
The Unique Mule – my niece has a few mules as well. Such a unique animal.
They become extremely loyal and trustworthy and their personalities are so enjoyable. Their surefootedness and brains under saddle will ease you even in the trickiest of trails. They will keep you laughing and bring a smile to your face even if you’re having a terrible day. Plus, who can resist their ears.
Always take a photo of a mule with a wide angle lens, makes their ears really stand out. So cute.
Mule Facts
First, let’s clarify what a mule is. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). A horse has 64 chromosomes, and a donkey has 62. The mule ends up with 63. Mules can be either male or female, but, because of the odd number of chromosomes, they can’t reproduce.
The term “mule” is used for either the cross of male donkey on female horse, or the cross of female donkey on male horse, although the latter cross is more correctly known as a “hinny.” Mules and hinnies each have one horse and one donkey parent,
The Horse of Course – I don’t have horses any more, but I am so thankful one of my nieces loves them and she has a few on her farm in Iowa. So I can get my horse fix on when visiting family every year.
December is Here – time to say good bye to all the fall colors in some parts of the world. It is that time of year when the leaves have fallen and walking in the woods is one of my favorite things to do.
The sound of crunchy leaves beneath your feet and this is the time of year to get a good look at trees when the leaves are all gone. There are so many unique shaped trees that one doesn’t always notice in the summer when they are hidden by a forest of green leaves.
New Painting Style – I am working on perfecting a new type of painting that I do on the computer. Which always starts with a photograph. This is using the smudge tool and actually painting across the face of the subject.
I really like it, it is fun to do and I have a couple of orders for customers to make with this new look. It works great with dogs and cats. I am still perfecting the horse portrait with this technique.
I have my first Art Craft show coming up soon that I am participating in. I will let you know how that goes in a few weeks. I just love visiting with folks and talking about photography and pets. A craft show is the perfect place for that.
I do a very light painting with the horses, just to give it some soft edges here and there. I don’t want to soften the harness, I want to keep that sharp.
The horse above is taken from the photo below, the horse on the right. If I see an animal that would make a good portrait like this one, I separate the subject from the entire scene and change the background to get rid of the distracting green leaves behind the horse.
I like that the horse on the right was looking right at me, that is why I chose that horse over the other one for a portrait.
New Flag for the RV – We stopped at a camping world which is a store with all things about RV’s and camping. They are known for their giant flag. I got to the door of the store and turned around to look at the RV and that was the shot.
Trees and Composition – As I am looking through some of my landscapes photos and waterscape photos, I realize how often I have a tree placed in the shot. Normally to the left or right of the composition because I do like how it frames the shot.
I like to have a foreground, middle and background in landscape shots when possible. For example this first photo. The rocks are the foreground, then the water and then the land in the back. This shot could have been even better without the tree branches on the right.
I did not have that much room to move around to avoid those branches, the rocks were pretty tuff to navigate.
This photo below has a look that I am standing on top of a mountain above the clouds in the distance. I like the perspective of that, but actually that is Lake Superior in the distance. It was an amazing view from there.
For the Love of Draft Horses – Some of you may know that I have a special place in my heart for horses. I received my first horse when I was a young girl. It was my best friend and I spent a life time raising them and taking care of them.
But when I was out on my own, I decided to start raising draft horses. They are amazing animals, just the sheer size of them and the ability to have them and just watch them up close was one of the thrills of my lifetime.
So any chance I get now, I to to horse shows or visit draft horse farms. Now I can take their photos and enjoy their beauty without having to clean the barn every day. That is a plus. 🙂
This draft horse below was in a parade that I was watching, these are Belgians and so pretty under harness.
I sell a lot of my photography on different sites on the internet. The draft horse prints sell quite often.
Here are three of my favorite sites I use to sell Prints;
500 px – This site is a great one, you can sell licenses to your work or just a digital download. I sold a photo of a lightning strike to someone overseas for $65.00. One just never knows what might sell. It is always a surprise and just fun to see that my love for photography will be used by someone else.
Fine Art America – I like this site because you can sell merchandise that they make for you and they accept art work as well as photography. It is like having your own store.
Adobe Stock – Adobe stock is the most popular one. People use this one a lot for downloading photos.
Plus I started my own website, Sandra J’s Photography, so I could sell pet portraits to my customers. Much easier then going through a third party. Plus folks can communicate what their needs are when ordering portraits to be done.
So if you are looking for some sites for yourself to sell on. These are a few that I like. There are plenty of them out there now a days. I belonged to one site for many years, but they finally went out of business. They could not keep up with all the new technology cutting their sales in half. One just has to do some research as to what works for you.
Unusual Sighting – I went for a walk yesterday morning and noticed some turkey vultures flying low and this one in the first photo landed on this street pole and opened its wings up and stayed like this for quite awhile.
So I walked up to it as close as I could and snapped a couple of photos, he is just airing out his pits I think. 🙂
As I rounded the corner this is what I saw. Turkey vultures and stray cats sharing the cat food. They were eating out of the cat bowls right along with the cats.
Not one cat went after one, I imagine they know these birds would be quite a match to take down being they are so large. So they all just share the food and co-exist.
Snow Covered Barn – I love this one covered in beautiful white snow. On a sunny day after a fresh snow fall, this makes for a wonderful photo.
Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I had a great barn on my horse farm back in the day, with a hay loft like this one. Nothing better then bringing in the horses on a cold winters day, putting fresh hay in their stalls and watching them as they enjoy their food, just sit there and take in the peacefulness of the moment. Great memories.
Old Barns – There is nothing better then seeing old barns still standing on farmsteads around the country. I love looking for them and taking photos of them. This first one here is in Iowa, there isn’t a house there and more, but I can just imagine what this old farmstead must have been like back in the day.
With its windmill pumping water and the barn full of cows or horses. Children running and playing outdoors. These old buildings can tell a story just by their appearance.
I wrote about this barn a long time ago, I found this one in Washington at the Nisqually National Wildlife refuge. One of the biggest barns I have every seen.
And there was two of them.
During the holidays I like to take the photo of a barn and make Christmas cards out of them by doing a little photo manipulation.
Swan Dive – Look at the size of those flippers. I took these photos in Iowa a couple of years ago. I just had to bring them back up being I have been posting about swans.
We were walking along the edge of a small lake surrounded by tall vegetation and we could here this loud noise and the sound of water splashing. We walked over to a clearing and looked across the water and found the source of all this commotion.
Seeing a swan taking a bath is quite something. They have a wing span of 6 to 10 feet long. The longest wingspan recorded is 10 feet 2 inches.
The trumpeter swan is the largest extant species of waterfowl, and both the heaviest and longest native bird of North America. They come in at 15 to 30 lbs.
These swans need at least a 100 meter-long “runway” of open water: running hard across the surface, they almost sound like galloping horses as they generate speed for take off. About as long as a soccer field.
Hopefully I will photograph that one day, landing and taking off.
The Black Swan – Normally it was only found in Australia, but with the transporting of rare birds, these swans can be found in the states as well.
This swan I photographed at a campground in New Mexico called Rusty’s RV Ranch where Rusty, who is a woman, had quite a few exotic birds that she took care of. Two black swans included with their own pond, which was nice.
Like most swans, this species has a characteristic “S” shaped neck and a large body. Black swans have one of the longest necks of all swan species relative to their size. They are large birds, with a wingspan of 6 feet or more, and a maximum weight of 20 pounds.
Photo Manipulation also called composites. which means two or more photos put together as one. I occasionally make composites, when my imagination seems to be sparking an idea.
Take for instance these two swans. When I look at a photo, I always crop in 100% to check the quality of the photo and check to see if there are any defects that need attention.
When I crop in on a photo, my mind will wonder off as I picture the subject in a different light
I cropped in even further on this photo so I can actually see how clear the face is and the eyes. I always want to see if the eyes are crisp sharp, in this case they are just to dark, but the feathers around the face look pretty sharp.
Then I crop in one more time and the water in the background makes my imagination start to turn, it looks as though the swan is sticking its head up out of the water as if its body is underwater.
So then I just have to see if I can make it look like it is peaking out of the water at me and because it appears that the swan is looking right at me, the words Navy Seal runs through my mind.
Well, all I could do is add some goggles that I found on the internet, just for a fun photo. Now I know why it takes me forever to edit photos, I can’t help but to try and create what my imagination is throwing at me. Then I just turn the computer off and go outside for awhile, laughing of course. 🙂
Have a great weekend.
Oh, on Monday I will show you the other swan I photographed when we were out west, a swan that is only suppose to be found in Australia.
The Trumpeter Swan – There are 6 swans species and I have photographed two of them. This one here being the trumpeter swan.
I went for years never seeing a swan anywhere, but now do to conservation efforts these swans have been taken off of the endangered species list and are found in many states including Iowa. Where I photographed these here.
I added the snow effect on this bottom photo.
This photo below has a soft white vignette.
This photo below has some sparkling water effects around the swans. I do like this one below.
Light House #5 is Copper Harbor Lighthouse in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We could not get to this light house as the road was closed by the owner. There are some lighthouses that people have bought and refurbished and actually live in them. I took this photo with my phone actually from a look out point west of the small island.
Copper Harbor Lighthouse, the second lighthouse to be built on Lake Superior, commenced operation in the spring of 1849, and on June 20, 1860, Congress appropriated $3,500 for range lights to better mark the entrance to Copper Harbor. To determine the necessity of these and other proposed lights, the Lighthouse Board assigned a committee to visit the Great Lakes during the summer of 1863. The following information on Copper Harbor was included in the committee’s report:
This is the finest harbor on this part of the coast. It possesses good water, affords a perfect protection, and has sufficient depth on the bar for all vessels navigating the lakes, fifteen feet.
Some history of Copper Harbor below. Copper mining in the Upper Peninsula boomed, and from 1845 until 1887 (when it was exceeded by Butte, Montana) the Michigan Copper Country was the nation’s leading producer of copper. In most years from 1850 through 1881,
During the summer of 1840, Douglass Houghton, Michigan’s first state geologist, led a small party on an expedition to explore that area of the Upper Peninsula bordered by Lake Superior. On July 3, the party reached Copper Harbor, where it spent several days exploring the surrounding country and blasting for ores. After discovering veins of copper that varied in width from a few inches to fourteen feet, Houghton wrote, “I hope to see the day when instead of importing the whole immense amount of copper and brass used in our country, we may become exporters of both.”
Houghton wouldn’t live to see that day, as he drowned when his boat capsized off Eagle River during a gale on October 13, 1845, but he rightly foretold that the rich mineral deposits of the Upper Peninsula would only be developed with “many difficulties and embarrassments.”
In 1842, the Ojibwe signed the Treaty of La Pointe, ceding their mineral-rich territory and triggering a land rush that saw miners and investors buying up what they hoped was copper-rich real estate. The following year, the federal government opened a Mineral Land Agency at Copper Harbor to issue exploration permits and land leases, and Fort Wilkins was built in 1844 to maintain law and order.
Eagle Harbor Light is an operational lighthouse at Eagle Harbor in Keweenaw County, in Michigan. It sits on the rocky entrance to Eagle Harbor and is one of several light stations that guide mariners on Lake Superior across the northern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
This light house is a beautiful well maintained house. A wonderful museum and very picturesque to say the least. Especially looking at it from over the water of the great Lake Superior.
In 1999 the Congress of the United States transferred ownership of the Eagle Harbor Light Station to the Keweenaw County Historical Society. The Coast Guard continues to operate the light at the top of the tower.
Video of the Eagle Harbor Light house and its surrounding area below or click this link; Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Video
Farming at Sunset – I had a couple more photos to post from the evening that we went out and watched the corn being harvested in Iowa. It is a busy time of year for the farmers as they finish up the field work.
Leaving Our Forested Home – Well, we are on the road again. I grew up in this area of forest and lakes and it is where I am most at home and where I can go to relax within creation, with an abundance of solitude and beauty.
When I was younger, I never got to travel much at all. I started working at the age of 13 and after the age of 18, I never missed a day of work. The only time I took off was the 3 weeks I went to truck driving school to learn how to drive a Semi Truck.
I have to say, I was so nervous those 3 weeks, not having a paycheck coming in. Even though I had planned for it. It was so strange not being at a job.
I was fortunate enough to retire from working early in my life and we have been traveling ever since. I love that I can take photos of all these beautiful places and share them with anyone who happens to pass by on this thing called the internet.
We are living in some very strange and dangerous times right now, nothing like I have ever seen in my life time.
But, I will continue doing what I know how to do best. Living life to the fullest as best as possible, enjoying that which is created for us, the beauty of creation that surrounds us everyday. Life goes by so fast, I spent my entire life working and now I will relax and enjoy whatever time I have left, not to destroy but to create, photos that will float around the old internet way pass when I leave this earth.
For every click of a camera, history is being recorded of what was and what can be.
Turning Water into Electricity – Calm lakes surrounded by colorful forest only visible from above. These photos were taken mid September, just as the colors were starting to turn.
A beautiful lake surrounded by forest here at Victoria Dam in Michigan.
Side note: looks like a few bloggers including my site, are having issues with comments and the like button being blocked. So incase you are reading this and the comment sectioned is closed, word press is at fault for this. I have not turned them off. Hopefully it can be fixed, I will let you know if I find anything out about this situation. 😊
At Victoria, water from the diversion dam flows through the intake structure at the dam into wood-stave pipeline and steel penstock to the turbines. The force of the water passing through the blades of the 65-inch diameter cast steel wheels drives the turbine and generators to produce electricity.
The Victoria units operate at 300 rpm with a maximum operating head of 215 feet. (Head—the difference in water elevation at the dam and the tailrace or discharge elevation.) With maximum head, a pressure of 93 pounds per square inch (psi) exists at the turbine water wheels.
After the water passes through the turbines, it is discharged into the west branch of the Ontonagon River, then into the main Ontonagon River, and finally into Lake Superior at the Village of Ontonagon.
Rainfall and melting snow throughout the 801-square-mile watershed upstream of the Victoria eventually end up as water at Victoria Dam. Some of this water is held in storage at UPPCO’s Bond Falls Reservoir, Bergland Dam, or Cisco Dam, and flows as river-run directly to Victoria. (UPPCO refers to the Upper Peninsula Power Company.)
At Victoria, this water is used for power generation. However, if the river-run exceeds the storage capacity of the Victoria Dam and the 850 cubic feet per second utilized by the turbines while operating at a full load, it is necessary to spill the excess water through the radial spill gates. Normally the greatest amount of water is spilled during the spring snow-melt or runoff.
Because water can be stored upstream of Victoria for release and use during dry periods, UPPCO is able to operate the power station about 80 percent of the time during the average year. The least amount of generation occurs during July and August when the river-runs are sometimes down to 150 cubic feet per second.
