It might be quiet for a while…

Hi….

Things are really busy in life right now, and will continue to be so over the next few weeks – so don’t be surprised if it’s quiet around here for a little while.

I am working on several new gallery projects, and none of them is small.

One is a gallery of a ride on the White Pass & Yukon from back in 2006 – and it starts out at over 300 images.

Another is a ride on Via Rail Canada’s Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver – that one starts with over 1000 images.

Then, there’s the eastbound and westbound journeys on the Feather River Express (two separate galleries that will have a bit of a twist).

They are all epic journeys in their own right, and even more so if you are a railfan.

All galleries will be in chronological order to give you an experience as close to being there as I can.

So… it might be quiet on the web but it won’t be behind the scenes…

I might sneak in a new small gallery or two in the interim to give myself a bit of a creative break.  We’ll see…

Until next time… Be well.

 

Happy Birthday Michael!

This is a happy birthday shout-out to Michael McNew of Visceral Concepts.

He’s the behind the scenes guy who makes Laughing Frog Images work on the web – which makes me look professional and put together.

Check out Visceral Concepts if you need branding, marketing, web services, IT support, and whatever else it is that he does that I don’t know or understand…!

Happy Birthday Michael!

More than one Evinrude? Who knew?

Mrs. Frog and I came across this restored Evinrude sign in Florence, OR.

Evinrude Outboard Motors neon sign.  Florence, OR.
Evinrude Outboard Motors neon sign. Florence, OR.  Click to see this image and other signs in the Gallery.

From a plaque on the building, this sign dates back about 60 years, and was hanging on Bill Karnowsky’s Auto and Evinrude Outboard Motors Garage on Bay Street for decades.  It was restored by Ken Sierra, and is displayed on loan from him.

So what’s the story?

When I saw the sign, I was immediately taken back to watching my maternal Grandfather working on a little green 3 horsepower outboard motor time and again, never giving up on the little thing. I don’t know how old I was, but I do remember the motor being an ongoing project – working when it wanted to, and being worked on when it didn’t.

My first thought was that the motor was an Evinrude, so I went searching for validation.  My friend Google Image Search has just told me that it was actually a Johnson Sea-Horse motor – so technically, my memory wasn’t right.

And you know what?

It doesn’t matter that my memory was wrong.

It’s the memory that matters.

The image that flashed through my mind of him working on that motor in his basement, cigar clenched in his cheek, quiet perseverance and determination permeating the air is what matters.  The faint smell of gasoline and occasional incomplete combustion was also there – isn’t it funny that you can also smell a memory?

I told Mrs. Frog of my memory.

Her most prominent memory of Evinrude was the character in the animated movie “The Rescuers” – Evinrude was a dragonfly that performed double-duty as an outboard motor in that movie.  I have to admit that I’ve been accused of skipping childhood before – I’d never seen the movie, let alone heard of it or the character.

I learned something that night.

I memorialized a neon sign for posterity.

I also captured an image that brought back warm memories.

And, it’s nice when an image can do that…

Technical information: Nikon D7100, ISO 1600, 1/25 second at f5.6.  Tamron 18-270mm zoom with image stabilization at 70mm.  Hand held, as I didn’t have my tripod.

 

For the aircraft folks

Aircraft folks, I haven’t forgotten about you!

There’s been trains, and beaches, and water, and scenic shots, and even an aircraft boneyard – but no “live” aircraft for a while.

I took a bit of a break from what I’ve been working on for the site and finished cropping and cleaning of new images from HNL and YVR.  These images were taken with either the D7100 and 18-270 or with my Icon during taxi and takeoff.

This batch includes a couple of new airlines and schemes.

I’ve also completed the rest of Hawaiian Airlines’ fleet – the A330 and B767 have been added to round things out.  The only other type of aircraft they fly is the B717.

The snow-covered mountains in the background at YVR (Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) add something to aircraft photography.  I need to build in a little more time when I am there next if Mrs. Frog will let me.  HNL (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii) is also quite an interesting place, with many Asian airlines and aircraft not readily seen in the US mainland – it’s just not all that easy to shoot there.

Air Canada E-190 at YVR.
Air Canada E-190 at YVR. Click the image to go to the commercial airplane gallery.

There’s more aircraft to add from these two airports, and they’ll get processed and added at some point in time – or when I need a diversion – whichever comes first!.  More new types of aircraft, and more new airlines.  There’s even a Boeing 727 freighter in the bunch – I didn’t know that there were still 727s in the air!  There are probably some airlines you’ve never heard of in the next batch, and since this is a “fun” gallery, there  may be some less than technically perfect images in there for the sake of sharing a plane type or an obscure airline.

Mentally, it was a good diversion for me to take – and I hope y’all enjoy a little diversion courtesy of the world’s airlines.

 

Moloaa Beach

Moloaa Beach was another new discovery for me on my photo hiking tour of the east and north sides of the island of Kauai, HI with Kauai Photo Tours.

I shot quite a few images here with my Nikon D-7100 and Tamron 10-24 and 18-270mm lenses, but it’s this image from my Lumia Icon smartphone that I like the best.

Why?

Possibly because it’s native aspect ratio lends itself to landscapes such as this.  We were getting ready to leave, and I pulled my phone out and made this image using the automatic setting as I wanted to send one of “those” emails. You know what I mean.  One of “those” emails or messages we tend to do from time to time when we want to share something… and perhaps make someone a little jealous…  It’s a sign of the times – vanity made easier by technology!  In this case though, I wanted to share it with Mrs Frog who was enjoying her time at a different beach.

My next favorite images from this location were made with the 10-24mm zoom.  It’s just time and well, time that are keeping them from being posted at the moment.  I’ve never done scenics on a beach with a 10-24 before, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it.

I am not getting paid for this – but I do have to say that I love my Tamron 10-24mm lens.  It’s not a Nik**, and no ultrawide zoom is perfect, and for what the Tamron costs compared to the Nik**, you can either save a lot of money or use that money to put more toys in your camera bag.  But I digress…  You’ll have to wait to seem more of that lens’ work.

Back to Moloaa Beach…

Technical details:  This jpg is from a dng file.  The original was at 0.00035 seconds, f2.4 at ISO 64.  The camera is also capable of full manual settings, shutter priority and aperture priority, any one of which could have improved upon the original just a bit – but not bad from a phone camera at all!  I tweaked the image just a bit in Perfect Photo Suite 9 – adding a slight skylight filter effect as well as a slight color enhancement.

Moloaa Beach on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai.
Moloaa Beach on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai.

This image of Moloaa Beach is in the Coastal and Beach Scenes Gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

 

San Dimas Rodeo 2010

San Dimas Rodeo 2010 is just what it says – a gallery from the 2010 San Dimas, CA Rodeo.

I’m not going to rehash everything I said about the 2015 event in a past post – just click here if you want to read about the rodeo and here if you want to go straight to the San Dimas Rodeo2015 gallery.

All I’m going to do is invite you to check out the San Dimas Rodeo 2010 Gallery if you’d like to check it out.  It’s a fun little diversion from whatever you might be doing…

Like the 2015 gallery, it’s all view only so I don’t run into any issues with releases, licensing, etc.  As such, all of the images are straight from the camera.

It’s here for your enjoyment – and hopefully, you’ll check out some other galleries on Laughing Frog Images and perhaps buy a print or two to make you smile when you look at it (or cover up a hole in the wall!).

Think this might leave a mark?

San Dimas Rodeo 2010. San Dimas, CA.
San Dimas Rodeo 2010. San Dimas, CA.

I’d love to say that I got this image because I’m such a fantastic and skilled photographer (well, I might be something close to that, or so some might say).

The reality is that to get an image like this, several things have to come together.  The right lens helps.  So does the right angle – as you can never predict which way a bull is going to go, the right angle is really a bit of luck.  The right lighting helps – I sat where I sat for optimal lighting, at least as long as the bull tossed the rider in the right direction, so perhaps the right lighting is a little bit of luck.  Timing – well, one can argue that’s either skill or luck.  Then, beyond the lens, and the lighting, and the timing, you need the event itself.  That moment in time where it all comes together.

That day in October 2010, it all came together for this perhaps once in a lifetime image.

Enjoy!

It’s partly cloudy in Terra Alta

It’s partly cloudy in Terra Alta, WV. 

About a month ago, we saw Chessie System GP40-2 4162 in bright sunshine at Salt Lick Curve.

That was two miles west – and down the hill.  The weather can change dramatically between Rowlesburg and Terra Alta, let alone from any point in between.  It’s partly cloudy in Terra Alta, WV on February 21, 1988.

We’re at the Main Street crossing in Terra Alta looking west.  We’re on the north side of the tracks, which puts this side of the train in a bit of a shadow.  However, this view allows you to see where the world ends about 17 cars back.  Well, the world doesn’t really end there – it just looks like it does.  That the train disappears from view in such a short distance gives you an idea of what the grades are like on this line.

It's partly cloudy in Terra Alta as Chessie System GP40-2 4162 leads an eastbound coal drag on 2/21/1988.
It’s partly cloudy in Terra Alta as Chessie System GP40-2 4162 leads an eastbound coal drag on 2/21/1988.

Eastbound coal drags have a hellacious climb out of the Cheat River valley that ends here – the 4162 and sisters won’t notch back until the train has rejoined us at the top of the world.

I haven’t watched a train pop up and enter Terra Alta in about 20 years.  Time flies, but I digress.  Way back then, it was quite a spectacle as you heard the train long before you saw it.  The rumble of the prime movers and the whine of the turbochargers and fans (yes – a rumble and a whine at the same time) would get louder, and then you’d see the lead locomotive appear from top to bottom as it climbed over the edge.  Within a couple of hundred feet of appearing, the whistle would blow for the Main Street crossing – exactly where would depending on how fast the train was going when it crested the grade.

Fast is a misnomer, as that was typically somewhere around 13 mph.  Mountain railroading isn’t fast railroading…  If it gets to be fast railroading, then there’s probably going to be a problem…  And yes, that’s unfortunately happened on the West End, and it’s cost some lives over the years.

Things have changed on the West End.  Yes, coal still moves east, but not as much due to factors and reasons far beyond the hills of West Virginia.  Gone are the EMD GP40-2 and SD50 locomotives that dominated my time there.  Quieter, more powerful General Electric locomotives predominate.  I’ve heard that the informal road that used to be the third track that was a key element in making the images in the Chessie & CSX: The West End Gallery is now blocked by locked gates.

The spectacle of man and machine versus nature still happens a couple of times a day.  For how long remains to be seen.  It’s possible to bypass the West End by running northwest to the Monongahela River valley, then north to the Pittsburgh area, and then east – but it may not be practical.  Yet.

It’s hard to imagine the West End gone, but it’s not safe by any means.

I don’t know if or when I’ll get back there.  If nothing else, I’ve got the Kodachromes…