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…
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…!
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.
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.
Yes, it’s been quiet on here lately. Amazing how fast a month can go by.
It’s not as easy as it seems it would or should be to work, do things around the house, do things with the family, run errands, etc., etc., etc., AND keep up with a web store and a blog.
At least not for me, anyway.
We’re not road kill. Just busy.
I’m going to try to schedule a bunch of posts this weekend on a variety of subjects (actually, “last weekend” by the time you read this).
Whatever it takes to get y’all to “like”, “share”, “follow”, and buy (remember, there’s a web gallery and store, too!).
Things are really busy at the day job – so I’ll apologize in advance if there are some more gaps in the coming months.
I could probably post daily if I won the lottery… If there are any multi-million dollar winners out there who want to adopt a frog, give me a ribbit!
We’ve probably all been there before – you think you’re prepared for what you’re going to be shooting, and then reality decides to toss you a curve – and, sometimes, your lens is too short.
It seems that when this happens, it simply doesn’t matter which lens you have with you. I’ve had this happen on days when I’ve had a 500mm lens and a 2X teleconverter with me. It’s just the way things go sometimes.
In this case, I was on the north shore of Kauai, and there was what we think was a juvenile Humpback heading east and breaching several times. Why, we’ll never know – but you can learn more about humpbacks breaching here. Those of us that were there would prefer to believe that this was happy breaching on a beautiful day.
So, while us humans were there taking in the spectacle, jaws agape, I decided to pick up my camera a snag a shot. And I did. With an 18-270mm fully zoomed out. Which was fine for the scenic images that I had planned to be shooting. To say that the lens was grossly inadequate for breaching whales is a minor understatement.
Without cropping, the whale looked like a black dot on a blue rippled background. So I cropped the image. A lot. Just to prove that I got a shot. Notice I did not say “THE” shot, I said “a” (note the lower case) shot.
Is it a killer shot that’s going to grace my wall? Nope, not even close.
Is it going to be my conversation-inspiring screensaver on my computer or phone? Nope, not even that good.
So, why did I keep it?
Easy answer.
Because sometimes, it’s not about THE shot, or the quality of a shot that matters.
Sometimes, all that matters is that you got A shot that makes you smile and think back to what was happening at that moment in time.
And, sometimes, that’s all that really matters.
Sometimes, your lens is too short. A Pacific Humpback whale breeches near Kilauea Point. Kauai, HI.
You can check out more whale shots here on Laughing Frog Images.
The San Dimas Rodeo takes place every year 30-odd miles east of downtown Los Angeles, California.
It’s not exactly where you’d think there would be a rodeo. Not that I understand why the National Finals Rodeo takes place in Las Vegas, but anyway…
San Dimas is perhaps most known for its’ role in the movie “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure“. I would perhaps argue that it was a town on the Santa Fe Railroad mainline that is most relevant – it’s also the home of the Pacific Railroad Museum. And, there are those who would postulate that it’s the Rodeo that makes San Dimas famous.
Regardless of your perspective, the Rodeo is a step back in time, perhaps to a simpler day, or is it a romanticized event that rekindles the Old West? It’s a lot of things to a lot of people. Regardless of the meanings and metaphors one can find in the event, it’s still men and women versus the animals and in conjunction with their animals. Debates can take place of the virtues of talent and bravery – and which is really the most important factor, sanity versus insanity, and on and on.
For the spectators, it’s an event that evokes laughter, cheering, ooohs and ahhhs, gasps, and apprehension – and all of those can take place in the same minute.
For the photographers, the images evoke skill, concentration, trials and tribulation, pain and joy, strength and brawn, persistence and determination, and more.
A cowboy in the process of being tossed from a bull at the 2015 San Dimas Rodeo. Click the photo to be taken to the gallery.
I’m fairly certain that perusing this gallery will be provocative. Think about what you see here in the faces and the expressions and the images.
To learn more about the San Dimas Rodeo, just click here.
The San Dimas Rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned event. Due to that, plus the fact that people’s faces are seen, and there are things like licensing and model releases and “stuff” to be dealt with, this is a view-only gallery. None of these images will make it to anyone’s wall by my own, but they’re here for your viewing pleasure.
Puukumu Stream meets the Pacific Ocean is one of my favorite images. It has a bit of an unlikely story behind it.
I was on a hiking photo tour of Kauai with Kauai Photo Tours. It was a bit of a last minute thing that Mrs. Frog encouraged me to do, so while I had my basic photo gear that I travel with (Nikon D-7100 body and Tamron 18-270mm and 10-24mm lenses), I didn’t have what I would take on a planned landscape shoot. (That’s another post and discussion!)
So, our group is hiking down to the mouth of Puukumu Stream. Puukumu Stream runs north from the mountains of Kauai between Kahiliwai and Kilauea carrying rainwater to the Pacific Ocean.
My gear is in my bag. We’ve crossed the stream and are heading north northeast to a small waterfall where the stream empties into the ocean. And the group is moving. And my gear is in my bag. And the group is moving. I look to the left and think “hey, that’s a great shot…” And my Icon is in my pocket. So, I stop briefly, pull out the Icon and snap a few in automatic mode, and then keep moving.
Puukumu Stream meets the Pacific Ocean on the north side of Kauai, Hi.
I thought it might have been a good grab shot. And the more I looked at it later in the day, the more I realized that it wasn’t just a good grab shot, but that it was in fact a great shot!
This image was taken in DNG format with a Nokia Icon in Auto mode, ISO 64, 1/1500 second. Minor post-processing took place in Perfect Photo Suite 9.
It’s been busy lately, and it’s going to be a quiet week here at Laughing Frog Images.
One has to take care of the day job and the things that allow this blog, gallery and store to exist.
If you’ve never done so, you can check out the slide show on the Galleries page while things are quiet on the blog and site.
The slide show is a little bit of everything that’s in the Galleries.
Viewing the slide show can do any one of a number of things for you:
Pass time at work.
Pass time while you’re procrastinating about something else.
Help you make your holiday gift list.
Help you make your “hint” list for what you’d really like to get as a gift.
Help you cover that bad patch on the wall.
Dress up a bland wall.
Get yourself a really neat and unique water bottle or mug.
The possibilities are virtually endless.
I hope to get back to a couple of posts a week starting with the week of the 15th…
Until then, be well and take care of those around you as well.
Oh – one more thing, if you like the slide show, we’d appreciate “shares”, “likes”, “pins” and whatever other “stuff” is out there!
This is a very small business that exists on sharing and word of mouth, and we appreciate everything you to to help support Laughing Frog Images so we can keep offering you unique images and the ability to get the image you want on the medium that you want.
The Frog took some time off from the blog to take care of some things around the house, and spend time with family, friends, and (of course) the cats. It was a nice way to end the year. I hope you enjoyed your holidays as well.
In the midst of all that, I did some photography and I also scanned several hundred slides dating back to the late 1970’s. Yes, I have a lot of processing to do!
“How to” insights (or at least how I do/did, keeping in mind that I have no formal photography training!).
A new book on the final years of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad as I saw them through my lens.
A new book on steam operations from the 1970’s and 1980’s (and possibly more). Think C&O 614, Reading 2102, N&W 611, N&W 1218 and maybe Nickel Plate 765 as well.
It’s going to be a busy year!
Thanks for your support as we grew throughout 2015. Every “follow”, “like” and “share” is greatly appreciated.
This year’s card takes us back to February of 2003, and the early days of the Western New York and Pennsylvania (WNY&P) Railroad. The WNY&P is a part of the Livonia Avon and Lakeville (LA&L) family of railroads.
We’re at Niobe Junction, New York on this brisk February morning to see two LA&L Alco C424m’s heading west to Corry, PA on the former Norfolk Southern / Conrail / Erie Lackawanna / Erie Railroad mainline.
Niobe Junction is at the east end of what was a separated section of double track. Typically, when railroads had a double track mainline, they kept the tracks parallel to each other. I seem to recall having read somewhere (and I can’t find the source now) that the line separation was made due to issues with the eastbound (uphill) grade and the effect that it had on eastbound perishable (iced) food freight – something to do with the ice shifting in the cars. It was one of those interesting railroad history stories. Just wish I could find it instead of relying on a crowded memory…
Anyway, on this fine February morning, we see two spotless Alcos, each 35+ years young (and still around today!), heading west to Corry, PA.
They’re passing an unusual sign warning drivers of “increased train traffic”, as the WNY&P is about to resume through freight service on the line between Meadville, PA and Hornell, NY.
Why were they headed to Corry as light engines?
A customer in Corry had a slight problem.
A freight car was stuck – as in frozen stiff, and it needed to be moved. The two Centuries headed west from the terminal in Falconer, NY, freed the car for the customer, and headed home.
That’s customer service by the WNY&P in the spirit of the Erie Lackawanna’s “Friendly Service Route”!
