On This day: September 2020
They are being accumulated by month/year simply to minimize the time needed to post them here.
For the month of September, the following were the days for which I was unable to find an image I thought worth sharing...
- September 10th
Lake Tishomingo 008, 09/30/2013
Given several of the September posts to this photoblog have involved clouds, It would appear September has been the month I chase them...as infrequently as that may be. These formations with entirely different 'species' of clouds I find particularly intriguing.
Spotted this abstract as I drove by one entrance to Forest Park after leaving work one day. Had to come back later with the camera gear to get the shot. And in fact, not only did I return the same day as initially seen, I also returned the following day as I wasn't totally happy with the compositions from the first session.
Don Robinson State Park 0071, 09/24/2018
I stop at this location each time I visit this park. Never have been able to figure out if this is one tree with 4 trunks, or 4 separate trees growing *very* close together. Even 'up close & personal' looking at the center, I've not bee able to figure it out.
Badlands National Park 0011, 09/21/2019
One of the more unusual sunrises I've ever witnessed. I had left the hotel early this am because my intended destination for sunrise this am was towards the eastern end of the park and would be a good 40 minute drive to reach. As it turned out, I hadn't left early enough to reach the overlook I had in mind. So, I stopped at one location to get a 'just enough light available to not kill yourself tripping over some unseen obstacle' type scene. And by the time I got done puttering around with that shot, I did a 180 to head back to the car and this was just starting to materialize. Surprised the heck out of me. And wouldn't ya know, from the current location, there wasn't any worthwhile foreground available. So, I climbed in the car and started driving towards the sun....obviously concerned I may not reach a suitable location before the rays disappeared. Though it would have been nice to have something a little more robust, I opted to stop here as the silhouette of the downtown Badlands skyline was pretty representative of the area.
One from Forest Park in St. Louis. The Worlds Fair Pavilion is 1 of only 2 remaining structures from the 1904 Worlds Fair held in STL...the other being the St. Louis Art Museum. If the legends are true, the hamburger, ice cream cone, and iced tea were all introduced to the world during the fair. Looking at historical photos, there were some amazing structures built for the fair and the reported 20 million visitors that came over the course of its 7 month existence.
Shaw Nature Reserve 0052, 09/15/2019
One of the images from my ongoing Ferns project captured in the fern garden at Shaw Nature Reserve.
Evidence that even 'outdoor' polyurethane doesn't have terribly long longevity. This is a piece of a deck bench I'd built a couple years prior. I bought the 'ends' of the bench online, and added some cedar 2x4's and poly'd those. They're actually decent pieces of deck furniture as the 'top' piece can be placed in a flat horizontal position. And when 2 of the pieces are pushed together in that configuration, they make a decent little picnic table. When that 'top' is placed upright, they make nice 'park bench' like gizmos.
White Sands National Monument 013, 09/08/2002
I witnessed several examples of a lone piece of foliage managing a foothold in an expanse of a White Sands dune while wandering around the dunes on this 2002 trip. This one told the best story of the bunch.
Don Robinson State Park 007, 09/05/2019
Was torn between this image and another captured on this same date in the same state park. In the end, I opted for this one as I think it may become part of an ongoing project. I'm just fascinated by the slivers of light that find their way through the tattered tarpaulin that makes up a forest canopy and how they occasionally brightly light up a single small tree or sometimes a part thereof and leave the remainder of the nearby vicinity in total shade. This little plant, not more than 3ft tall particularly caught my attention for the extremely small sliver of light that found just a portion of it and falls off at both it's top and bottom.
Lake Tishomingo 002, 09/29/2012
Found on a boat dock on our lake front early one am when the dew was still clinging to each & every strand.
I've gathered a handful of images from reflections and/or unusual locations for sunlight to find it's way on to interior walls within my house. This may become a project somewhere down the road.
Custer State Park 0046, 09/23/2019
While passing through Custer State Park during the trip to South Dakota, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the airplane contrail (I assume that's what that cloud formation is) forming a sort of 'V' interesection with the highlighted trail right at the base of the tree.
Badlands National Park 0009, 09/20/2019
Badlands National Park is such an interesting place. Much of that portion of South Dakota I traversed along I-90 is very much prairie/grasslands type terrain. And then you get to the Badlands area, and it's like Mother Nature barfed her guts up in the middle of all that prairie/grasslands and thus was formed what now makes up the otherworldly looking Badlands National Park. One of the aspects that caught my attention while there is those areas where the grasslands and lunar landscapes intermix. This shot being a good example. I found it intriguiging how the grasslands dominated the valley floors in between all the eroded formations. And even occasionally, patches of vegetation seemed to be climbing up the facades of some of the formations. Should I ever return to the area, that intersection of completely differing terrain types would be one I'd attempt to explore further.
Tishomoak Mushrooms 0128, 09/17/2020
A clump of Jack O' Lantern mushrooms in my back yard. I've photographed this clump several times since they first appeared this year. They're obviously in decline now. Not sure how much of that decay is natural and how much is due to the little bugs you can crawling all over them. Up close, those things look a bit like Lady Bugs...at least in body shape/style.
This is one of a few I found walking to/from walking the employee parking garage while still working. I always thought of this one as 'The Ice Cream Cone'. :)
I found the juxtaposition of the different cloud types intriguing in this shot. Don't recall exactly where I captured this one, but it was with the old iPhone 6+...which means I was probably 'out & about' rather than at the homestead.
White Sands National Monument 002, 09/07/2002
It's been a while since I've jumped down the 'Reality Is Overrated' rabbit hole. This image lent itself well to the concept, I think.
Clayton Avenue 030, 09/28/2003
And industrial building found in the Central West End of St. Louis. If memory serves, it was owned by Monsanto at the time. I had to shoot between the bars of a fence that surrounded the place, and recall wondering if I'd get chased away by a security person before I got the shot. :)
Jack O'Lantern Mushrooms 0163, 09/25/2020
I followed the progress of the life of these shrooms after initially seeing them pop up in my yard a couple weeks earlier. When fresh & young, they are...litterally...nuclear orange in color.
Custer State Park 0050, 09/22/2019
There was an area in Custer State Park with a fair amount of dead trees to be found. Some looked burned, but it was a bit puzzling because it appeared all they lost was the leaves. I would have guessed a fire would have consumed more than that. The clouds were outstanding everywhere I went during this session in the park.
Captured this one on the way home from a visit to the lake to see the progress being made on the building of my house. Hay rolls have always held a bit of fascination for me...though I've never quite figured out their symbolism.
We don't often get cloud formations in this part of the world with the sort of 'blocky' quality and edge definition that existed on this day. I tripped the trigger several times and found this one most interesting for the loose 'M' formation I saw in it.
Found along the (frequently dry) creek bed that runs just below my house. I recall thinking they reminded me of a bunch of stacked plates sitting up on their edge.
I had overnighted in the Santa Fe area the previous night and was on my way up to Taos when I captured this. New Mexico definitely exhibited some interesting skies on this trip.
White Sands National Monument 001, 09/06/2002
Sand dunes seem to have something in common with ice in the unusual abstract patterns that can be formed in them. I have a couple others from the 2002 trip to White Sands National Monument (at the time...it is now a National Park). This one reminded me of a relief map of a mountain range.