November 2020 Favourite uploads

[Betty LaRue]

Most of ours were quarter horses. One Welch kid pony. They were all for pleasure riding. Bought and sold a couple who turned out mean-ish. The stallion hated women and tried to kill me. And another, a Palomino, if he preferred not to be ridden, he would lie down on his side and try to trap (or break) your leg. Since we bought him for our kids, we sold him. If you rode him through water, he’d lie down in it. Scared my daughter badly. She was 8.

[Betty LaRue]

Believe it or not, there is a pollen-covered bumble bee in that flower.
 

[gvallee]

We had severe breathtaking storms recently due to La Niña. There has been giant hailstones, lightning, deluge. Lots of damage was done to properties and vehicles. Luckily we managed to camp in the middle of them all without a scratch. We even were so in awe that we had aperitif in the rain watching the storm, until we realised that our nachos were getting wet. That's where we drew the line and went in...

 

 

 

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

Gen, you have some great weather images!  As a child,  I used to grab a blanket, cover up and sit on a covered porch when it stormed. The feeling I got from the storm’s majesty was like hearing a musical crescendo of a great piece of music.

But yes, keep the nachos dry. Mmm, think I’ll go make some.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Betty LaRue

[gvallee]

51 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Gen, you have some great weather images!  As a child,  I used to grab a blanket, cover up and sit on a covered porch when it stormed. The feeling I got from the storm’s majesty was like hearing a musical crescendo of a great piece of music.

But yes, keep the nachos dry. Mmm, think I’ll go make some.

 

Thank you Betty. It was rather unsettling as they had forecast giant hailstones (which turned out to be the size of your hand with jaggies) and damaging winds above 100kph. We felt a little exposed in our motorhome in the middle of a field with only cows for company. But what a show! We had sheet lightning all night.

 

The farmer told us that on another occasion, he saw the end of a rainbow in his field exactly next to 3 kangaroos. I told him that nobody would believe the roos hadn't been photoshopped.

Edited November 9, 2020 by gvallee

[Betty LaRue]

25 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

Thank you Betty. It was rather unsettling as they had forecast giant hailstones (which turned out to be the size of your hand with jaggies) and damaging winds above 100kph. We felt a little exposed in our motorhome in the middle of a field with only cows for company. But what a show! We had sheet lightning all night.

 

The farmer told us that on another occasion, he saw the end of a rainbow in his field exactly next to 3 kangaroos. I told him that nobody would believe the roos hadn't been photoshopped.

I would not like hailstones that large, we had some baseball, even softball in Oklahoma but the largest I suffered through were about golf ball size.

I'm worried your luck might run out. Isn’t there someplace you can motor off to that’s safer? Then revisit this area at a safer time of the year? Hailstones that big would probably come right through the roof of your motor home and even destroy what’s inside. That kind of thing happened in Oklahoma, where they came through sturdy roofs of well-built homes. I’d hate to see you limp home on a bus, that is if you didn’t get a hailstone to the head. They are nothing to mess with.

[gvallee]

1 minute ago, Betty LaRue said:

I would not like hailstones that large, we had some baseball, even softball in Oklahoma but the largest I suffered through were about golf ball size.

I'm worried your luck might run out. Isn’t there someplace you can motor off to that’s safer? Then revisit this area at a safer time of the year? Hailstones that big would probably come right through the roof of your motor home and even destroy what’s inside. That kind of thing happened in Oklahoma, where they came through sturdy roofs of well-built homes. I’d hate to see you limp home on a bus, that is if you didn’t get a hailstone to the head. They are nothing to mess with.

 

The hailstones were 14cm wide with 'spurs' all around. It did as you described to some homes, went through the roof and destroyed a room. The place we camped at the night before had its roof smashed plus all the solar panels on their motorhome destroyed. There is nowhere safe/covered where we can stay right now. We had to drive 1,500km to a decent size town for medical appointments. My OH is waiting for a minor procedure. That's the reason for being in this area, not to visit. And there are not too many places to camp near a big town. Anyway, so far so good, we're in good spirits.

[Betty LaRue]

Just now, gvallee said:

 

The hailstones were 14cm wide with 'spurs' all around. It did as you described to some homes, went through the roof and destroyed a room. The place we camped at the night before had its roof smashed plus all the solar panels on their motorhome destroyed. There is nowhere safe/covered where we can stay right now. We had to drive 1,500km to a decent size town for medical appointments. My OH is waiting for a minor procedure. That's the reason for being in this area, not to visit. And there are not too many places to camp near a big town. Anyway, so far so good, we're in good spirits.

Good spirits go a long way. I’ll stop hovering now. 😊

[gvallee]

1 minute ago, Betty LaRue said:

Good spirits go a long way. I’ll stop hovering now. 😊

 

This was one of the storms.

[Betty LaRue]

29 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

This was one of the storms.

Wow. That had to be terrifying.  So much like some of our past storms that luckily I didn’t go through, like you. It’s quite amazing how smaller hailstones are tossed around violently in the atmosphere until enough of them stick together to become heavy enough to fall to the ground.
Around these parts, hail that big usually has a tornado right behind. The hailstorm that damaged my house 19 months ago didn’t have hail bigger than ping-pong ball size. Yet I had to have a new roof, guttering and siding. I thought my windows would break and the tornado sirens were blasting at the same time. I came close to panicking while trying to get a dog I was keeping for a week and my parrot down to the basement living area. The danged dog kept running back upstairs. I finally locked her in the downstairs bathroom.
 

Headline: WOMAN, WITH DOG IN HER ARMS, IS KILLED BY TORNADO WHILE RIDING OUT THE STORM UPSTAIRS. DOG SURVIVES ALONG WITH A PARROT HARBORING DOWNSTAIRS. Daughter, owner of the dog, says her mom was terrified by tornados and can’t understand why she chose to remain upstairs.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Betty LaRue

[gvallee]

4 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Wow. That had to be terrifying.  So much like some of our past storms that luckily I didn’t go through, like you. It’s quite amazing how smaller hailstones are tossed around violently in the atmosphere until enough of them stick together to become heavy enough to fall to the ground.
Around these parts, hail that big usually has a tornado right behind. The hailstorm that damaged my house 19 months ago didn’t have hail bigger than ping-pong ball size. Yet I had to have a new roof, guttering and siding. I thought my windows would break and the tornado sirens were blasting at the same time. I came close to panicking while trying to get a dog I was keeping for a week and my parrot down to the basement living area. The dangEd dog kept running back upstairs. I finally locked her in the downstairs bathroom.
 

Headline: WOMAN, WITH DOG IN HER ARMS, IS KILLED BY TORNADO WHILE RIDING OUT THE STORM UPSTAIRS. DOG SURVIVES ALONG WITH A PARROT HARBORING DOWNSTAIRS. Daughter, owner of the dog, says her mom was terrified by tornados and can’t understand why she chose to remain upstairs.

 

This must have been beyond scary!! They had mentioned the possibility of tornadoes. I was both excited at photo opportunities (that's how loony I am) and scared about being exposed. I remembered a few months back when a man insisted in staying in his caravan and died. The caravan just blew away. We kept listening wide eyed to a radio annoucement where the speaker repeated again and again v-e-r-y   s-l-o-w-l-y: Alert - Danger to Life - Life threatening storm approaching with possibility of tornadoes, damaging wind up to 150kph and giant hailstones. Creepy!! Anyway, as I said, we survived and were treated to a phenomenal show. We were sad to hear about the damage.

[Chuck Nacke]

On 09/11/2020 at 00:59, gvallee said:

We had severe breathtaking storms recently due to La Niña. There has been giant hailstones, lightning, deluge. Lots of damage was done to properties and vehicles. Luckily we managed to camp in the middle of them all without a scratch. We even were so in awe that we had aperitif in the rain watching the storm, until we realised that our nachos were getting wet. That's where we drew the line and went in...

 

 

 

 

 

Genevieve,

 

Really wonderful images and I do not often care for "landscapes"  My favorite is 2DA2579.  It almost feels like a "moving picture" several in 

your group do.

 

Chuck

[gvallee]

6 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Genevieve,

 

Really wonderful images and I do not often care for "landscapes"  My favorite is 2DA2579.  It almost feels like a "moving picture" several in 

your group do.

 

Chuck

 

Thank you Chuck. These were really exceptional severe storms. For 2DA2579, we were driving through the area. I jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards the field trying to protect the camera from the rain. I was only able to take a couple of frames before the sun went in and everything went gloomy and forbidding.

[Steve Hyde]

As I'm currently home recovering from hip replacement surgery (all going well there), plus the Covid lockdown, I thought I'd try my hand at some still life images, with the help of my wife, and in particular, food photography. Having followed a few online tutorials and blogs I must say I had no idea how specialised this area is. It's been fun though. There should have been some Blueberry Muffins to to join the Scones and Rock Cakes but they didn't quite work out. We're going to try those again with the grandchildren on the weekend. Even with cakes it's amazing what you turn up whilst researching keywords. I had no idea that Rock Cakes were  promoted by the Ministry of Food during the Second World War since they require fewer eggs and less sugar than ordinary cakes, important savings in a time of strict rationing. I just remember my Gran making them and they're still my favourites

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Steve Hyde

[Avpics]

Knowing that our local war memorial would be off limits for the official wreath laying ceremony from around 9am I made the decision to get there early in the hope of some colour in the sky. The weather forecast wasn't particularly conducive for a spectacular sunrise but the sun came from behind a layer of cloud just low enough on the horizon before becoming full daylight to give an orange disc and paint the haze.

 

 

 

[The Blinking Eye]

I'm really enjoying my photos from Biden victory celebrations in Oakland. I uploaded them via Live News and they are now in the stock library with very high algorithmic placement. What I like about it is that I would never have submitted some of these for fear of passing QC. But yet, search "USA presidential election" and there they are on the first search page. Also, no editing! Didn't have time.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by The Blinking Eye

[gvallee]

Another batch of weather/atmospheric systems uploaded just now.

 

 

 

 

 

[MizBrown]

I did a session yesterday using a Godox flash with a MagMod  MagSphere on it.  It's not as good as a big umbrella or softlighter or softbox, but it worked better than the bare flash. 

 

One is in the Covid thread.  These two are without and with people. 

 

 

Hand operated power tools.  Not a chuckless drill, so older, I suspect.  Truper paint sprayers in boxes. 

 

 

The carpenter with a traditional bedstead that's almost finished, wood boards for future projects leaning against the wall.   He made a small chest of drawers for me and I have some other samples of his work to up load.   This is also part of a Made in Jinotega series that has let me explore the small scale to medium scale manufacturing in the city where I've been living for over ten years. 

 

 

[John Mitchell]

So many leaves, so little time...

 

Japanese maples

 

Sugar Maple leaf

 

Old Sugar Maple

 

 

[Cal]

23 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

I'm really enjoying my photos from Biden victory celebrations in Oakland. I uploaded them via Live News and they are now in the stock library with very high algorithmic placement. What I like about it is that I would never have submitted some of these for fear of passing QC. But yet, search "USA presidential election" and there they are on the first search page. Also, no editing! Didn't have time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love this kind of stuff. The bottom one is great. Did any of them sell?

[The Blinking Eye]

21 minutes ago, Cal said:

 

Love this kind of stuff. The bottom one is great. Did any of them sell?

 

Thanks. No sales. It's interesting to see what they offer to the library though, when I look at the other pictures from that night in various searches. I was wary they were unusable or that I uploaded too many, but the blur really expresses the energy of the night, and they all have very high placement.

[Dave Richards]

Lockdown making things a bit difficult at the moment so spending a bit of time going through some of my earlier stuff. Found this and a few others.

 

[meanderingemu]

13 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

 

Thanks. No sales. It's interesting to see what they offer to the library though, when I look at the other pictures from that night in various searches. I was wary they were unusable or that I uploaded too many, but the blur really expresses the energy of the night, and they all have very high placement.

 

 

i love the blur,  you did a great job in your capture

[MizBrown]

I've been going over a number of older ones and did some work on this one.   The oxen in the foreground show the horn yoke details.  This was from the front door of my first rental house in Jinotega where all the parades passed.  This one was in support of the people who lived in the campo.  I've never seen horses used to plow, but have seen them pulling lighter two wheeled cars and carriages, just not the heavier carts that oxen pull, including hauling timber.    Taken with my Panasonic GF1 (M4/3rds) and the kit lens for it at 14mm.   Camera has long since drowned in an ocean after I gave it to an ecological researcher and birder.  The company that hired him replace the gear. 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by MizBrown
more camera details

[The Blinking Eye]

13 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

i love the blur,  you did a great job in your capture

 

Thank you so much. There were a lot of throwaway shots. It was on autofocus so I didn't feel in control. Was just snapping. Luckily a few decent shots made it through.