Wild Turkeys

Wild turkey shots from a recent outing. Not the best, the days was heavily overcast, but how often does one get this close to one of these, let alone three. Good luck guys, hope you avoid the roaster on Thanksgiving!

Old Piece of Farm Equipment

I am not sure what this is but I thought I'd try a couple images. The first has a sepia treatment. Not so sure about that version...it suits the feel of the shot but the piece of equipment seems lost.

This one is desaturated...like it much better.

Cardinal Detail

This is from a group of cardinal images I felt were very unsatisfactory. The day was grey & dull. The shots were blah, but detail caught my eye. So, I began playing around in PhotoShop Elements & came up with this. Not sure how, or if I could do it again, but I like it!

Grasses & Sunset

As we stocked pheasants for the second time, daylight was fading fast. I didn't make much of an attempt to photograph the birds, but I could not help noticing the lacy grasses silhouetted against the colors of sunset.

Bright Spot of Color on a Dreary Day

Whitetale Time

For one reason or another I have neglected this tiny corner of my life for a couple weeks. That does not mean capturing of images has stopped & I have plenty to share. During a recent photo shoot with Andy & a friend I found myself, again, observing & capturing whitetail deer. My male counterparts focus on the rut occurring this time of the year. In a more "girly" version, I like the deer because they are beautiful & graceful animals anytime of the year. Following with the Canon Rebel has allowed me to observe natural changes in the herd. Spring & summer bring the young, coats are light & not so heavy. Later summer & fall is time to capture stages of antler growth, the rub to remove velvet, & finally beautiful new antlers. As daylight begins to shorten, a darker, heavier winter coat appears. Then the rut, allowing the lovely creatures to, next spring, begin the cycle all over again.

The autumn of the year also brings about the long awaited hunting season in PA & surrounding areas. I have hunted in the past, but joke about taking food, hot tea, a book, & a blanket, enjoying the silent wooded areas of Penns Woods. Never shot a deer (or even at one), never intend to do so. My husband & sons are avid hunters. I have no problems with that. There was a time in my life venison played a very important part in my growing family's diet. I am thankful. It is the careless so called hunter, out at night, capturing the largest "rack" using a bright spotlight, that draws my scorn, or the baited areas that draw the animals under a tree stand for an easy shot. Really I am not sure what got me on this track. Maybe because my husband is heavily involved in protecting our wildlife at this time of the year, or maybe, it was the review of an image of a beautiful buck with a large wound on his back likely placed there by a poacher!

This young buck is one of my favorite whitetail to observe.


This spike must be practicing his hide from the hunter skills. How do you say lie down in deer language?

A fully grown male.

The wounded.

The Magic of Photoshop Elements

With no desire to do anything useful this evening I decided to play around with a few images in PSE. Started with some gorgeous fall colors & ended with some fun abstracts.

Levi's Pumpkin

Make a Smilebox slideshow

More Gold

I thought this was interesting with the sun in the maple tree & also brightening colors down the road.

Golden Glow

Autumn Scenery

Photo Challenge

It's the time of the year for the PA Game Commission to stock pheasants for hunters & in hopes of re-establishing the birds in their natural habitat. I like to go along with Andy on this task. Besides it's another chance to capture some images. Wellll......................not easy! The birds are fast! Much faster than anything I ever "shot" before.

Not sure why I was focused on the feather not the hen.

Best way to get a shot. Beautiful, isn't he?

Ready?

Go! Wait for me!

Freedom!

Snow Scenery

A couple more snowy images from yesterday morning.

YIKES!!!

Quite a pile of wet snow crowded the fall colors on the mountains near my house last night! Melted quickly when the sun came out.

A Break from a Cold, Wet Day

A memory from Ocean Isle Beach.

Elk Silhouettes

Capturing this elk at the top of a hill gave an opportunity to produce one of my favorite types of image, the silhouette. The magic of PSE makes this process very easy. The shadows needed to be darkened & the intensity of the sky increased.


Pretty much the same process to start this one, then I cloned out the bush & cloned in some of the hill top to keep the horizon even.


The final one was a mistake. Somehow I ended up "dumping" a bucket full of black over the image. Turned out kinda cool, I thought. (Although I am glad there is an undo switch!)

The Pennsylvania Elk Range

The last leg of last Sunday's roadtrip took us north to the Pennsylvania Wilds. Autumn was making its self know, displaying wonderful colors. We seemed to arrive with perfect timing since the elk were out & about enjoying the evening feed.

This guy was hanging out in a field of several cows doing his best to extend the rut one more day. This one, as you can see, wears the PA Game Commission tracking collar. This shot was taken in the town of Benezette. Looks to me like he must have a headache. Must be tiresome carrying that head dress around for months!

A full tummy then to the top of the hill for a rest.
This is the first elk we seen that day. It is obvious he is in a yard, but what you can't see is a group of people on the porch throwing apples. I fear for the animal when humans "forget" they are wild.

Madyson at City Park

I am off all this week & had promised Madyson we would go somewhere one day so she could sit in her "pretty pink car seat". We went to city park in Hagerstown to feed the waterfowl & to take pictures. A goose nipped her, that took care of any feeding for her...I finished. The geese are every bit as tall as she is, I doubt that I could be convinced to feed anything my height, especially the way they grabbed. (Andy tried to fed the geese & ducks corn during one visit - they had no clue what it was. Definitely city dwellers!) She picked some roses, then wanted to find the playground, since we were in a park there had to be one. So we ventured to the other side of the park. One can not image the positions a 3 year old can manage on swings! She climbed what could be climbed & ran everywhere. I ask her to sit on a wall so I could take a "nice picture" of her. It took some time & many shots to climb the steps & try sitting anywhere one could sit...except the wall. Finally she found the perfect spot & sit for 1 shot. Then immediately was back to movement! Didn't get the shots I had thought about, but sure got some fun ones on a fun afternoon.

"Sit still & smile, please". Gotta love those little teeth.



There were ladders & ramps leading to the slides, of course she chose this route!

Windmills

This is an unusual post for me. Most of my photography attempts focus on nature, animals, or kids. But, for some reason, these things seem to fascinate me! Maybe it's the graceful movement, or maybe a "take me to your leader" kind of thing. Anyway, these are on top the mountain along the Lincoln Highway in Somerset County. Some are under construction & some are operational.

Flight 93 Memorial

Today's images are from the Flight 93 Memorial. No words or explanations needed.