Fertile Fields in the Iowa Fall: May 2011

[masthead image: Fertile Fields in the Iowa Fall]

Iowa fall. My favorite time of the year is fall. My favorite place on earth is right where I was standing when I took this shot. It is a hill on my grandparents' farm, where I've stood thousands of times and watched the sun set, where I can remember one year when my grandpa had a few cattle fenced in here and calves dotted the hill side in spring, where scrub evergreens and native yucca plants now dot the Loess soil of the hill side, where the best farmers grow the best crops on the best land.

Iowa land. So many seasons have passed by while working and playing on that farm. I've seen and been seen there, I've met some of my nicest friends there, I've forged endless memories of me and my sister and my cousins enjoying our acres of outdoor play area there, and I've even grown a few crops of my own there - vegetables, mostly tomatoes. There's nothing like the smell of the dirt.

Iowa dirt. Standing on the draw bar of the Farmall H while Grandpa cultivated always was a favorite treat, because I could watch the black birds flock in behind the tractor, where they pecked around until they found an earthworm or a grub. The moist smell of fresh tilled earth filled my nostrils as we went back and forth, making round after round together in the field. Even today when I smell fresh-tilled earth, I still get the image of all those black birds, with their iridescent black feathers shimmering their many colors in the bright, hot sun.

Iowa sun.

And To All A Good Night: December 2010

[masthead image: And To All A Good Night]

I love Christmas - so to start, let me wish you a Merry Christmas. I got home tonight just after midnight, after visiting my folks and driving the short distance back in heavy snow. Since tomorrow (actually today, if you want to get technical) is Christmas Eve, I thought this would be a great shot of my little humble hometown getting its White Christmas on.

The image was made on a Kodak EasyShare C183 that I bought on inventory clearance. While it is not nearly as clear as I'd like, I think that for being made with a simple point and shoot, it is still remarkably good. I used the "night scenery" Scene Mode and this is the only time I've really tried that out in snow. I'm sure I will get much better at these shots in the future - maybe even this winter!

One thing I did like about the image was the way the glow from the lights was captured - both the street lights, and also the holiday snowflake light decorations. Snow is so wonderful for light images - it makes even the most primitive hack photographer (me) seem like their photos could inspire Terry Redlin to paint a similar scene. From my own experience, the most mundane items or people can be made to seem interesting by utilizing nature's lighting helpers: snow and sunsets.

Downtown Train: March 2010

[masthead image: Downtown Train]

I was going through some of my pictures from last summer when I came across a group of digital photos from a long weekend in Seattle, Washington. These images stirred up fond memories of a fun weekend catching up with old friends and making new ones, and they also inspired a spurt of creativity in me. In addition to writing a new blog post, I also created a new header image. It was long overdue for a refresh. As you may have noticed, I carried over the railroad theme from the previous image.

This image was made in downtown Seattle one day in late August and I don't usually photograph the Burlington Northern railroad, so this was a rare privilege. I liked the shot because of the perspective when looking back at the train. Obviously, there is too much foreground with nothing in it, so I was going to simply crop that out and use the image somewhere.

The theme I'm using on The Midnight Blogger will only allow a fixed size of image, so it auto-crops images to fit. Although I would have preferred to keep the upper part of the original image, I think the end result turned out really well. I love my blog's new look. I hope you will too.

Riding the Rails: October 2008

[masthead image: Riding the Rails]

Looking at the image above, you can imagine that to the left, just out of the shot, are the train robbers on horseback running to overtake the engine. Or maybe to the right, just out of the shot, is the depot in some wild west movie town, perhaps depicted by Old Tucson. Or a hundred other possibilities.

This is some of the equipment in the Heritage Fleet of the Union Pacific Railroad, a specially maintained collection of equipment that is run to celebrate and educate about the history and magnificent role that railroads, and especially the Union Pacific, have played in the development of the American way of life.

This particular train is powered by a steam engine, UP # 3985, popularly known as the "Challenger". This is the largest steam locomotive operating anywhere in the world today, and it consistently draws crowds of fans (railfans, sometimes referred to as "foamers") who chase it along its route where ever it goes. I had the opportunity to ride the rails on this wondrous beauty as it came through the upper plains on an excursion this fall, thanks to a great friend who made arrangements for me to accompany him on an invited ride (I still owe you one, buddy!).

This picture was taken south of Onawa, Iowa, near Blencoe, a tiny town on the broad Missouri River bottom. I don't have a panoramic lens, but I love the way this picture shows the train stretching out across the expanse and how the soybean fields resemble native prairie, as it might have looked in the early part of the last century when the Challenger was originally in revenue service.

For more, check out my slideshow of pics from this little fan trip.