Sorry folks, I’m completely absorbed in house hunting/planning/buying that I have no time for much else. I will make sure there’s a Friday post – again, my apologies for Wednesday and today.
Open thread!
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 12 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Sorry folks, I’m completely absorbed in house hunting/planning/buying that I have no time for much else. I will make sure there’s a Friday post – again, my apologies for Wednesday and today.
Open thread!
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 5 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Good Morning All,
Sorry, should have run this yesterday.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter James E Powell.
Visiting DC for the first time since Sixth Grade
Taken on 2019-08-09 00:00:00
Washington DC
I was a little surprised but very pleased at the number of people who stopped to photograph the entrance to the Speaker’s office.
Thank you so much James E Powell, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late.
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 14 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Good Morning All,
Some more good stuff to share – have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter James E Powell.
First trip to DC since Sixth Grade.
Taken on 2019-08-06 00:00:00
Annapolis Maryland
View of Capitol Building from Main Street
Taken on 2019-08-09 00:00:00
Washington DC
Ceiling of Contemplative Court
Taken on 2019-08-09 00:00:00
Washington DC
View of the Capitol from the steps of the Supreme Court
Taken on 2019-08-09 00:00:00
Washington DC
Library of Congress Reading Room. For card holders only.
Taken on 2019-08-09 00:00:00
Washington DC
The Great Hall of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress.
Thank you so much James E Powell, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 8 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Good Morning All,
Have a great day and weekend, enjoy the pictures, and we’ll see you next week.
Today, pictures from valued commenter Sloane Ranger.
I spend 3 very hot and sunny days in the birthplace of William Shakespeare, including a visit to the theatre to have a behind the scenes tour and later see the RSC production of “As You Like It”.
Here’s a view of the theatre from the park.
Taken on 23 July 2019
Stratford on Avon
This is the older end of the RSC Theatre that was saved from the fire that took place between the wars.
Taken on 23 July 2019
Stratford on Avon
This shows the terrace of the modern part of the theatre taken from the river.
Taken on 23 July 2019
Stratford on Avon
I took a walking tour with a guide who told us that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust was founded to preserve this building after P.T. Barnum tried to buy it. He wanted to put it on wheels and transport it across the USA apparently. The entrance fee is extortionate. You get in through a modern building that is just out of shot.
Taken on 23 July 2019
Stratford on Avon
You have to pay to see the grave. The church itself is the usual mishmash of periods.
Taken on 23 July 2019
Stratford on Avon
This is a barge moving from the canal into the River Avon. There were loads of them when I was there. Mainly holidaymakers. The Avon itself is very busy with leisure craft of all kinds and lots of lovely riverside walks available.
Thank you so much Sloane Ranger, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 16 Comments
This post is in: Albatrossity, On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Good Morning All,
This is the first post…of the end, until the Great Transmogrification.
On The Road is no longer accepting new content, and the form has now been shut down. We will wend through the existing submissions, with a few from me, interspersed, as warranted.
In a couple of weeks or more, we’ll introduce a new submission form with the new OTR format; both will launch when the new site launches. You can always use the existing Contact form to contact me until the new site launch, for larger or other submissions/issues.
Once the new site launches, OTR and submissions will be handled a bit differently, as will contact to me and other Front-Pagers. We are not publishing our new addresses in text/bot-readable format. Of course, those who know our personal addresses will not lose access.
Today we appreciate yet another amazing submission by Albatrossity – thank you, dear friend, we so look forward to more on the new site.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures, everybody!
Today, pictures from valued commenter Albatrossity.
More images of the critters found in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Taken on 2016-05-07 00:00:00
Flint Hills of Kansas
Upland Sandpipers are one of those counter-intuitive shorebirds that are found on grasslands (like Long-billed Curlew in North America or Greater Sandplover in Asia). They also have one of the longest migrations of any bird, flying from the North American grasslands to the pampas of Argentina and back on an annual basis. Their cheerful wolf-whistle calls are a sure sign of spring here.
Taken on 2018-07-27 00:00:00
Flint Hills of Kansas
Common Nighthawks were formerly indeed common, but are now declining across much of North America. They are a common breeding bird in the Flint Hills still, but even here there are signs of decreasing populations, perhaps due to the precipitous decline in populations of flying insects.
Taken on 2018-08-16 00:00:00
Flint Hills of Kansas
Blue Grosbeaks are a surprisingly unobtrusive bird, despite their colorful plumage, but can usually be located by listening for their song. They are not a strictly grassland-dependent species, but are found in the edges (ecotone) between shrubs/small trees and grass.
Taken on 2018-05-08 00:00:00
Flint Hills of Kansas
One of the birds whose return I look forward to every year is the Orchard Oriole. Smaller and less flashy than our Baltimore Orioles, they also are a bird of the edges, frequenting shrubby patches in the grasslands. It is a good day if you can get out out in the open and admire it.
Taken on 2017-08-08 00:00:00
Flint Hills of Kansas
This is one of the most mysterious birds in North America, the Sedge Wren. These birds travel through the Flint Hills in the spring, heading north to short-grass meadows and sedge marshes in the upper midwest, the Dakotas, and Canada’s prairie provinces. They head south in late July and spend August and September in the Flint Hills, building nests and singing lustily from tallgrass or sedges along the streamsides. They apparently do not breed here, despite all that effort, and in October they disappear. This one is perched on an Ironweed, a very common flowering plant here in July and August.
Thank you so much Albatrossity, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 75 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Good Morning All,
Today is bittersweet. It is ?BillinGlendaleCA’s last submission (for now – we can always hope the master returns, amirite?).
Bill, your weekly submissions are a standard by which all are measured, tbh. Your willingness to be here, in the middle of the night your time, to answer questions and offer photography tips and techniques is admirable. Truly, we all owe you so much for sharing your skills and brilliant vision of the heavens with us. If you setup a PayPal donation and publish the info below, I know I’m not alone in saying I’ll be happy to kick you a bit to thank you. Hopefully it will be enough to stave off selling your gear!
A final reminder – tonight, I’ll be shutting down the form until the new Balloon Juice site and On The Road function are live. I’ll be running through submissions until then, so please, feel free to submit today, or hold your fire for 2-3 weeks – we shall see how the timing works.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter ?BillinGlendaleCA.
Another new moon and another trip to Joshua Tree. This time I stopped in Redlands along the way to take some IR pics of the University of Redlands. I got back on the freeway and headed east to Joshua Tree. I arrived before my colleague and got some good sunset shots. We decided to shoot at a place called Belle Campground which is about a mile north of Arch Rock. We didn’t realize until we got to the campground entrance that they’re closed in the summer months(it’s really hot) so we walked in from the locked gate. There were a couple of rocks with a nice gap, so while we were waiting for it to get dark enough for Milky Way shots, I shot the twilight between the rocks. Once it got dark enough, I shot star trails above the rocks with the gap and started taking Milky Way pictures with a large rock as a foreground. Unfortunately I didn’t reset my lens to a wider aperture from when I was shooting the twilight pictures so my Milky Way pictures didn’t turn out(it’s a manual lens that has no feedback to the camera indicating f-stop). I switched to my telephoto lens to get some shots of the Lagoon Nebula and M31. I was having trouble sighting Polaris until I saw a airplane passing by it and then could ID Polaris on the sighting scope for my star tracker. Even with the messed up Milky Way shot it was a productive trip.
Thanks to Alain for providing this thread to post some of my pictures and thank you for your kind comments. Farewell.
Taken on 2019-07-31 00:00:00
Redlands, CA
Back when I was in high school I was on the debate team and colleges would have programs duing the summer to train high school debaters. I attended a session at the University of Redlands and was quite impressed by their campus with the Administration building on a hill and a long green mall extending to the chapel. While I’ve not been there in 40 years, I thought it would be a good place to shoot IR pictures. I’ve been though Redlands on my trips to Joshua Tree, but I’ve never had the time to stop(due to traffic I’ve been running late). This time I was able to leave and traffic cooperated so I did have time to stop by the campus and get some pictures. Here’s the Administration Building on the hill with Redlands spelled out in a boxwood hedge.
Taken on 2019-07-31 00:00:00
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
I arrived early at our agreed upon meeting place in the park, Belle Campground. The road into the campground was closed so we parked on the side of the road leading up the locked gate. I had some time to capture the setting sun as it settled behind the mountains in the western portion of the park.
Taken on 2019-07-31 00:00:00
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
People love star trails and here’s a little secret, they’re really easy to shoot. All you need is a camera, a wide angle lens, a timer(called an intervolteter which may be built into the camera) and time). This is about a 90 minute star trail shot with a 10mm lens. The foreground was shot after I finished shooting the star trails and I light painted the rocks. Polaris is at the top right and it doesn’t move, you can also see a satellite flare at the upper left. This was processed using Sequator(a free program on the Windows), I also removed airplane trails from the individual images(Joshua Tree has quite a bit of air traffic to the south and north).
Taken on 2019-07-31 00:00:00
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
I began by shooting the fading rays of the sun though a space between two large rocks(I later used that as a foreground for star trails) setting my lens at f/8 for a long depth of field. Then I moved on to shot the Milky Way with large rock to the east as a foreground element. All of my shots were coming out underexposed, even at ISO 6400 where I could get a good exposure at ISO 400 or 800. So I shot 50 exposures and then went on to shot the foreground shot with light painting. The lens I was using is a third party lens, so the f-stop doesn’t appear on the camera’s screen, I was still shooting at f/8. I set up the sky tracker and began polar sighting it. The problem with polar sighting is that Polaris isn’t all that bright and is a bit difficult to distinguish from it’s neighboring stars. Fortunately, I could see a plane passing by Polaris and then could see it on the sky tracker’s scope and sighted the sky tracker. I put on the 50-200mm lens and focused, my first target was the Lagoon Nebula that’s right in the center of the Milky Way. Here we see the Lagoon Nebula with the Trifed Nebula to above and to the right.
Taken on 2019-07-31 00:00:00
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
After shooting Lagoon(I was shooting the star trails with my Galaxy NX camera while I was shooting the Milky Way fail and Lagoon with my NX1), I turned my attention to shooting the Andromeda Galaxy(M31). I shot M31 on my last trip to Joshua Tree and wanted to make another attempt using more exposures(I shot 30, 30 second exposures last month; this time I was going to shoot 60, 30 second exposure for a total of 30 minutes). The problem I rean into was finding the galaxy with my camera. What I ended up doing was putting a 16-50mm lens on the camera and locating the galaxy that way and centering it. Then zoomed to 50mm and centering it. Finally I put on the 50-200mm lens and centered it(I think I done good). When I returned home I stacked the multiple exposures using Sequator and did the final processing on Photoshop. I’m pretty happy with this image, you can see the spiral arms and dust lanes pretty clearly.
Thank you so much ?BillinGlendaleCA, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 21 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture, Travel
Good Morning All,
Monday I had the pleasure of seeing how the new On the Road will look and work, and it should be nice. It looks like we have two weeks, perhaps a bit more, until the transition.
So, please feel free to submit your pictures and stories using the current form at tools.balloon-juice.com but do it quickly as this form will be shut down Wednesday evening. Once shut down, I’ll run through the content I’ve received, and hope that things align well. Unpublished content before the site change will be used, but may not be published immediately.
Have a wonderful day, enjoy the pictures, and keep your eyes open for a mini-canning post later today.
Today, pictures from valued commenter arrieve.
I spent a week in the Canadian Rockies last month — one of those trips that make you think both “Why haven’t I been here before?” and “How soon can I come back?”
Taken on 2019-07-11 00:00:00
Jasper National Park
The park was full of beautiful lakes but this was probably my favorite.
Taken on 2019-07-12 00:00:00
Jasper National Park
The crystal clear water in Lake Beauvert
Taken on 2019-07-13 00:00:00
Jasper National Park
The group did a hike up the glacier but I wasn’t feeling well that day so I opted to ride a Sno Coach instead. These are buses with huge wheels that drive up the side of the mountain and directly on to the ice.
Taken on 2019-07-13 00:00:00
Jasper National Park
Just a perfect mountain landscape
Taken on 2019-07-12 00:00:00
Jasper National Park
Finally, some critters. This isn’t a great shot because I took it through the window of a bus, and had to shoot around all of the candidates for next year’s Darwin awards who were clustering by the side of the road trying to get selfies with the cubs while Mama Bear was standing maybe 15 feet away.
Thank you so much arrieve, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form