Snow, Palm Trees, and the Local

Snow, Palm Trees, and the Local

Posted on by Kurt

Snow, palm trees and a train are not three things you would expect to see in the same picture – but they’re here in Snow, Palm Trees and the Local.

I don’t know how many places that it is possible to capture such an image.

There are certain days that it is possible in La Verne, California – it just takes the convergence of Mother Nature and BNSF to make it happen, as the palm trees are there every day.

The snow is on the peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains north of La Verne and San Dimas in the background.

The palm trees are in a yard and on the grounds of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The train is the BNSF Pasadena Subdivision Local – it covers the Pasadena Subdivision as far west as Irwindale these days.  (From Azusa into Los Angeles Union Station, it’s now the Gold Line light rail passenger line.)

The Local is shoving a tank car of chlorine north on the MWD spur that leads to the F. E. Weymouth Treatment Plant.  This movement happens roughly once a week.

If you consider that there isn’t snow on the mountains on a regular basis and that the train can typically be seen here just once a week, you come to realize that this is a rare shot indeed.

All that said, I really wish that this consist was reversed and the 151, still sporting her red and silver warbonnet paint, was in the lead instead of against the train.

Realizing that there were only 63 GP60M locomotives built, I also think that I should quit my whining and be happy that I got the shot…

Snow, palm trees, and the BNSF Pasadena Subdivision Local in La Verne, CA.
Snow, palm trees, and the BNSF Pasadena Subdivision Local in La Verne, CA.

 

Snow, Palm Trees and the Local can be found in the BNSF ex- Santa Fe Pasadena Subdivision gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

San Dimas Rodeo 2015

San Dimas Rodeo 2015

Posted on by Kurt

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.
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

Puukumu Stream meets the Pacific Ocean

Posted on by Kurt

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.
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.

Puukumu Stream meets the Pacific Ocean can be found in the coastal and beach scenes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

This image would be no ka ‘oi (“the best” in Hawaiian) as a metal print or on metallic paper in 1 high x 2 wide format (10″x20″, 12″x24″).

It will be a quiet week

It will be a quiet week

Posted on by Kurt

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.

 

 

 

A Classic Arby's neon sign

A Classic Arby’s neon sign

Posted on by Kurt

The classic Arby’s ® neon sign that many of us grew up with seems to be vanishing from the night landscape of America.

I haven’t seen one of these signs in California in I don’t know how long.

There was one not far from where I spent my wee years.  It was a treat to go to Arby’s and watch your sandwich being created on the slicer.  The root beer came from a tap, and you pumped your own Arby’s sauce.  The things you remember…

Anyway… I found myself on 24th Street in Port Huron, Michigan.  I was on a mission to capture this Arby’s neon sign in all its’ glory – that being during the few seconds that both “roast” and
beef” are illuminated.  For those of you that haven’t seen one of these signs, the lights on the border of the “hat” flicker to give the illusion of motion, and “roast” and “beef” cycle on and off.

But I had a problem.  Someone left their tripod and remote release at home.

But I had a mission.

So, it was time to MacFrog it.  (That was a weak reference to MacGyver that I couldn’t pass up!)

My flannel shirt got folded and crumpled up just right to serve as my tripod on the roof of the car.  I even folded the camera strap and put it under the lens for support.

I set the camera to manual focus, turned off the lens stabilizer, set the camera to ISO 100, turned the flash off, set the shutter speed to 1/5 of a second, and shot away.  And shot away.  An shot away.  I had to time it just right to catch “roast” and “beef” on at the same time.

I managed to get what I wanted on 2 of 19 attempts.  Not a great success rate, but that was one of those nights I gave thanks for digital photography and its’ instant feedback.

A classic Arby's neon sign on 24th Street in Port Huron, MI. December 2015.
A classic Arby’s neon sign on 24th Street in Port Huron, MI. December 2015.

You can check out the current “neon signs and other signs” gallery by clicking here , or just start at Laughing Frog Images.

Enjoy!

The Blizzard of 1996

The Blizzard of 1996

Posted on by Kurt

The Blizzard of 1996 appears to have been surpassed in the record books by the Blizzard of 2016.

I have to admit that there’s a part of me wishing I was back east for this.  And there are many of you now thinking that I’ve totally lost any shred of sanity that I might have still had.

Rest assured that I haven’t.

For you see, the only way that you can photograph a train (or anything else for that matter) in the snow is to be out in the snow.

Makes sense.  At least to me anyway.

So, a long time ago (January of 1996 to be exact) in a galaxy far, far away (Hancock, WV and environs), there I was with a cohort driving down a road that I’d never been on before.  We had a four wheel drive Ford Explorer, so that was a good thing.

Did I mention that the roads weren’t plowed?  That I couldn’t tell just exactly where the road was?  That this was long before cell phones?

None of that mattered, because the Blizzard of 1996 had finally ended, and there were trains to be run.  Lots of them.

Trivial little things like unplowed roads and and not exactly knowing where the roads were in many cases weren’t going to get in the way of the images to be made.

We’re at HO Tower in Hancock, West Virginia to witness one of the first eastbound freights to move in a couple of days pass through the interlocking plant.  The snow isn’t as deep here, as CSX Maintenance of Way forces worked throughout the night to clean the snow from the switches so that trains could run through the plant.

HO Tower is on the CSX Cumberland, MD to Baltimore, MD former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Main Line.  There were still a series of towers in use at this time – local switches and signals were controlled by the Operator (the person who worked in the tower).  Some of the Operators stayed in their towers for extended shifts during the storm, as there was no way out while everything on rails and wheels couldn’t move.  These days, there aren’t a lot of towers left – for the most part, train dispatching is now handled with the assistance of computers in a windowless room that may not even be on railroad property.  But that’s another story, and another post.

CSX SD50 #8598 kicks up a nice plume of snow as she leads an eastbound freight past HO Tower.

There isn’t a gallery up for the Blizzard of 1996 on Laughing Frog Images just yet.  There’s a lot to scan and process, but there will be a gallery.  Someday.

For now, we’ll all just have to enjoy this image.

An eastbound freight train kicks up the snow as it passes HO Tower in Hancock, WV after the Blizzard of 1996.
An eastbound CSX freight train kicks up the snow as it passes HO Tower in Hancock, WV after the Blizzard of 1996.
Cat Sitting 101

Cat Sitting 101

Posted on by Kurt

I think I finally figured out the secret, or at least a secret, to cat sitting.

You know the situation – you’re trying to do something, the cat wants attention NOW, and you don’t want to be mean to the cat but yet you still have things to do, like checking out Laughing Frog Images (sorry, couldn’t resist the plug…).

Yes, I know, I could put the cat outside the room and close the door.  However, that brings about a separate and new problem that I don’t have an answer to.

So, back to cat sitting.

You probably have everything you need at home already.

Here goes…

  1.  Get a heating pad.  Preferably one with an automatic shutoff feature so you don’t forget about it.
  2. Fold two bath towels to the size of the heating pad to serve as a cushion.
  3. Place the heating pad on the towels.
  4. Turn the heating pad on to “warm”.
  5. Take a third bath towel and fold it to the size of the heating pad.
  6. Place the third towel on top of the heating pad.
  7. Let everything warm up.
  8. Introduce your cat to it.
  9. Watch said cat sniff and explore this new warm place to lie down.
  10. Watch cat rotate six or seven times looking for the optimal spot.
  11. Watch cat finally lie down.
  12. Go about your day, because the cat ain’t going anywhere….

You’re welcome!

How to cat sit in one easy lesson.
Cat sitting in one easy lesson.

Be prepared for an unintended consequence…

That being a cat staring daggers at you and yipping at you when the heating pad is off, and they want the heating pad on.  Now.

Working on a solution to that one…

The wild horses of Assateague Island

The wild horses of Assateague Island

Posted on by Kurt

I’ve photographed the wild horses of Assateague Island, Maryland and Currituck, North Carolina.  These are two of the herds of wild horses on barrier islands along the east coast.  Actually, they’re feral, but that’s kind of a technicality, and we’re going to stick with “wild” because that’s how they’re commonly referred to.

I’ve been most successful on Assateague.  I have to admit that photographing these critters requires as much luck as it does skill.   Well, to be honest, maybe luck is actually more important.

A wild horse pauses to ponder its' next move on Assateague.
A wild horse pauses to ponder its’ next move on Assateague.  Click on the image to be taken to the Gallery.

Why do I say that luck might be more important?

The wild horses of Assateague have been there a long time, and have adapted to the sometime harsh realities of their island home.  Humans are (tolerated) visitors that they don’t seem to give two hoots about.

We’re limited to where we can go on the island, but it’s their home, and they go where they want, when they want.  Despite what we might want when we’re on a quest for “that” image.

You can go there and see 20+ horses in a day.  You can go there and not see a horse. When they’re in the brush, they can be virtually impossible to see and photograph.

And, they seem to have a tendency to rotate their posteriors to the paparazzi (that’s us humans)…

You can learn more about the feral horses of Assateague Island and the Assateague Island National Seashore from the National Park Service website by clicking here.

You can learn about Maryland’s Assateague State Park by clicking here.

You can also check out Wikipedia’s page on Assateague Island by clicking here.

If you get the chance to go, you can do just fine photographically speaking with almost any camera with a zoom lens.  Just remember to stay at least 40 feet away from the horses.  The images in this Gallery were taken with either a 28-300mm or 18-270mm zoom lens.  Obviously, the more time you can spend there, the better your chances of seeing the horses and getting “that” image.  For the best lighting, go early in the morning or late in the afternoon if you can.

And, for your enjoyment and photo art, you can check out Laughing Frog Images by clicking here.

Thanks for visiting!

 

It's a long train! BNSF 7195 West.

It’s a long train! BNSF 7195 West.

Posted on by Kurt

Being from the Mid-Atlantic states, being able to capture a whole train in one image was something that just didn’t happen.  At least with normal sized trains.

One of the things I enjoy about the BNSF ex- Santa Fe Transcon Line in northern Arizona is the ability to catch a whole train in a shot.

Milepost 302 on the BNSF Seligman Subdivision is one of my favorite places to do this.  The lighting is perfect for about the last 30 minutes of daylight when the sun is just above the horizon.

You can see a westbound crest the hill just west of the Highway 99 Exit to Leupp (don’t ask me how to pronounce that properly) and photograph it over the course of a couple of miles.  The train drops down a slight grade, enters a curve to the left, disappears from sight, and then pops up as it continues to climb towards you.  As it nears you, it enters a right-hand curve and if you catch it just right – you’ve got sunlight that’s hitting the train almost perpendicular.  This is what is known as “golden light” or “sweet light”.

BNSF 7195 West. Milepost 302 Seligman Subdivision.
BNSF 7195 West. Milepost 302 Seligman Subdivision.  Click on the image to be taken to the BNSF ex- Santa Fe Lines Gallery to view the series.

This is one of the first shots of the series described above. I chose this picture, as it shows just how “big” northern Arizona is.  The engines are over four miles away from me.  The train itself is over a mile long (don’t ask just how long – I lost my note).  The smoke in the distance is from a power plant nearly 40 miles east in St. Joseph City.  It’s big country…  It’s a long train!

The light couldn’t have been much better, as the sun dropped below the horizon four minutes after the last shot.

While I wish I could have been at this location about 20 years ago when the trains were headed by Santa Fe’s Superfleet power in the classic red and silver “Warbonnet” paint scheme or the blue and yellow “Bluebonnet” scheme, I’ll take it.

Image details: tripod, ISO 800, 1/640 second, 500mm.

 There’s much more to add to the BNSF ex-Santa Fe Lines Gallery as slides get scanned and scans and images are processed.

Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out Laughing Frog Images for help on covering up that blank space on your wall.

Symmetry at Sky Harbor

Symmetry at Sky Harbor

Posted on by Kurt

One of the benefits of today’s smartphones is that it’s easy to create an image as you’re walking along almost anywhere, like, for example, an airport.  As proof, I offer you Symmetry at Sky Harbor.

I was changing terminals one morning, and looked to my left and thought “there’s a picture there…”

Out came the Lumia Icon and I snapped a few pictures.

However, things just weren’t quite right in the Lumia’s original 16×9 (16 pixels wide for every 9 pixels high).

I had symmetry, but it wasn’t right.

When I got to my next gate, I opened the image in my Picture Perfect app and began to create the symmetry I wanted.  In this case, symmetry (at least to me) meant that the image needed symmetry as well.  That meant a 1:1 (square) crop.  So, that meant a little finger dragging to position the crop box and a simple tap to finish the image.

WP_20151211_7553 m 360 wm

I left the colors as the camera captured them.  The muted pastels of the building and the sky offer a stark contrast to the metallic-like reds and blues on the tails.

(I still prefer the classic “AA” image of American Airlines that dates back to the late 1960’s, but I didn’t get a vote when they changed.)

If you look closely, you’ll also see another element of symmetry – the auxiliary power units that appear just below the tail of every aircraft.

It’s all in the details, which in some case rely upon how long you look at an image to find them.

This may never sell as the cropped image is too small for much more than a coffee cup, and it may never win any awards – but I like this image, and that’s part of what it’s all about.

It may also give you some ideas the next time you see symmetry, or the potential for it, in your travels – airport or otherwise.

You can see this image in the planes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

Thanks for visiting!