Favorite Photo of Atlas V Rocket Launch, Tuesday, January 20, 2015

This is the same post as on my John's Daily Digital Images blog for today.

Nikon D90, Nikon 10-24mm lens at 10mm, f/16, 139 seconds, ISO 200

Crop of above photo

I live about forty miles (65km) south of Kennedy Space Center.  You've heard of that.
Just south of Kennedy Space Center is Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where many rocket launches also happen, especially US military sponsored launches (Secure military base).  This puts this photo having been taken from about thirty miles south of the launch, as the crow flies.
This was a US Navy satellite being lifted to orbit on this Atlas V.
I knew the launch was that day, but sat, searching Google Earth for a good local location to get a time exposure shot of the launch.
I settled on, and went to Ballard Park, set up and took a few practice shots and waited.
When I saw a big portion of the sky light up behind those palm trees, I started my exposure.
This is one of my best photos I've taken in a long, long time.

The second photo is a crop of the first.
I just loved the way the light through those clouds looked there above that home and palm trees.

Picture Post, Sunday January 18, 2015

January 18th already?!
Sheesh.
Sorry I didn't get this up this morning.  Doesn't really matter since no one sees them, but here they are anyway.

Here are some sunset photos I took this week.
I had a back doctor appointment to adjust my intrathecal pain pump, a trip to the pharmacy, and I hoped I'd be through before sunset.  (I HATE the early sunset time in winter.)

I found a local park on the Indian River Lagoon (of Indian River fruit fame) that I had never been to. Better, I had never even known this park existed and it was an exciting find.

I got there after the sun had set, and there were few clouds to catch the after-sunset color glow on the clouds, but it was a gorgeous sunset nonetheless.

Without further ado, sunset photos taken Friday, January 16, 2014.  Pretty fresh, eh?

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300 lens at 40mm, f/16, 1/20sec, ISO 200

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300 lens at 190mm, f/16, 1/60sec, ISO 800

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300 lens at 220mm, f/16, 1/30sec, ISO 200

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300 lens at 300mm, f/16, 1/30sec, ISO 200

This final photo has Venus and Mercury in the upper, center, blue part of the sky.  (Click to enlarge the photos.) That is, if I remember my astronomy correctly.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300 lens at 52mm, f/11, 1/8sec, ISO 1600

 God bless you, and have a great week!

Picture Post, Sunday January 11, 2015

A week ago today, Jan. 4, I saw some great light in the afternoon.
I grabbed my camera bag, and despite the back and leg pain, headed for the Atlantic Ocean. Cabin fever seemed to have set in, and it was so nice outside.
Well, I never made it to the ocean.
I was almost to US Highway 1 in Palm Bay and as I approached a train crossing, I thought the crossing lights and such would make some interesting photos.
I love big mechanical things.
I parked in between some palm trees that decorate the median of the road and got out for a few minutes.

Nikon D90, 18-300 lens at 18mm, f/22, 1/25 sec., ISO 200

Nikon D90, 18-300mm lens at 120mm, f/11, 1/100sec, ISO 200

Nikon D90, 18-300mm lens at 30mm, f/11, 1/100sec, ISO 200

Nikon D90, 18-300mm lens at 48mm, f/11, 1/200sec, ISO 200

Nikon D90, 18-300mm lens at 38mm, f/16, 1/50sec, ISO 200

Nikon D90, 18-300mm lens at 18mm, f/8, 1/60sec, ISO 200

God Bless You!  Have a great day.

Paris Murders Over Mohammed Cartoons 1/7/15

The "religion of peace," islam, whose followers believe it is blasphemy to create an image representing their false prophet, the pedophile Mohammed, have expressed their love of their fellow man once again by shooting and killing twelve people in Paris.  The people killed worked for a paper/magazine which had dared print photo cartoons of Mohammed.

Radical islamists are acting in world societies as a virus more than a religion.

They are scumbag murderers who revere a murderous pedophile.

Above is an original cartoon by J.J. McCullough.

Meanwhile in the US, the Obama administration waits before making a statement, to decide whether the murderous shooters shouting Allahu Akbar were performing an act of terrorism or if it was just workplace violence.  Idiots.

Picture Post, Sunday January 4, 2015

I once loved posting my Picture Post posts on this blog most Sundays.

The sad truth is that most of these days, if I got up and grabbed my camera to head out for shooting, I'd have to stop and sit on my front porch for a while because of my back and leg pain.  I've learned the hard way there are levels of pain that will absolutely shut you down, none of this grit-your-teeth-and-do-it-anyway psychobable.  I get out and shoot when I can, and don't when I can't.

Also, I guess posting occasionally on Facebook kinda scratches the same itch that once got scratched by blogging, so I don't blog much any more.

But I like the ability to shout at the world on a blog post (even if I know good and well that no one will read it and comment) and that is nowhere near the same feeling as commenting on things on Facebook.

But here goes at least one more Picture Post, to try and start 2015 off on a good foot.

This first photo was taken last January, 23, 2014 on the boardwalk on the Atlantic Ocean beach at Indialantic, Florida. It is an 85 second exposure of an Atlas V rocket taking off from Cape Canaveral, about 35 miles (55km) north of us "as the crow flies."  It was carrying a telecommunications satellite.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 18mm, f/11, 85 seconds, ISO 200

This next photo was taken at Rich Grissom Memorial Wetlands (ususally called Viera Wetlands here locally) in Viera, Florida.  A really pretty, small park with an astonishing number of critters to see and photograph.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 18mm, f/11, 1/60sec, ISO 200

And here's a photo of one of the above-mentioned critters at Viera Wetlands.  A white ibis.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 300mm, f/14, 1/250sec, ISO 200

Here's a seagull lineup on a railing at Front Street Park in Melbourne, Florida.  The park is a popular boat launching site on the Indian River Lagoon (Intracoastal Waterway).  One of the seagulls in the middle seemed to be giving me a wary eye.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/200sec, ISO 200

This final photo was taken in mid-December, 2014 in Indialantic, Florida.  Number Two Daughter and I were to pick up Lovely Wife from work and had a couple of hours to kill.  So we killed them by going and looking at some of the local Christmas decorations.  I have always loved these simple, pole-mounted decorations, mainly because I've seen them all my life in both small towns and big cities.  Just a pretty and simple Christmas decoration to brighten anyone's day.

Have a blessed day!

Happy New Year 2015

I remember back when I was in high school in the late 1970s, I would sometimes calculate forward to see how old I would be in the year 2000.

I would be / turned 38 in the year 2000.

And now that's fifteen years ago.

Wow.

Happy New Year everyone.  God bless you this year!

Sunset photo taken at Juan Ponce de Leon Landing, Melbourne Beach, Fla. on Wednesday 12/10/2014.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-300mm lens at 280mm, f/32, 1/40sec, ISO 200