December 2024: Spider Web Pilings

 Hello there all, and welcome to December!

This month's image is an oldie, from a series I did on spider webs many years ago. Spider webs are actually a great deal of fun to photograph, as you can do tons of interesting things with them using all different kinds of light.  Plus, spiders are everywhere! 

Things are going well with my recovery, and I am hopeful that I will be off restrictions and back at it in three more weeks, getting some new and interesting things for you all to look at. In the meantime, I am still not allowed to lift so much as my little "go" bag, as it is over my weight limit.  It is frustrating, especially because I feel so good now, but I do not want to mess this up as being able to walk is pretty important. :)  The takeaway is that the surgery was a resounding success, and I have had the first 100% pain free days I have had in 8 years!  Three more weeks of cautious care seems like a small thing to ask when I keep it in that perspective.

Now if I could just find a better perspective to see the snow and ice with.......Ha!!

November 2024: American Bison

One of the nearly forgotten symbols of America is the great bison. Like many iconic American symbols, it came very close to extinction. Close...but not quite. And in the long run, like many of those other symbols, thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of many people the bison has survived. A number of valuable lessons are to be learned from these incredible animals. 

October 2024: Chugging Along

 

This is the Canadian National Railroad engine 1395, built in Montreal in 1913.  Currently parked in Coopersville, MI, USA, it belings to the Coopersville and Marne Railroad Museum. Sadly it is too far gone to restore. Even so, and even in its current state, it is a beautiful thing to see. 

Well, as I may or may not have mentioned, I had spinal fusion surgery a week ago. Two titanium rods, 4 screws, and a titanium vertebral spacer implanted to relieve a nerve which was being compressed due to disc damage, arthritis, and bone spurs. The surgery went very well, and I have not been in very much pain. The healing process will be another 11 weeks though, as the bone needs to grow into and around the spacer in order to keep it in place permanently, so I will remain on restrictions until Christmas, but I can already tell that this is going to be a very positive thing. 

Apparently, unlike the 1395, I am not yet too far gone to restore, and so I will keep chugging along. :)

September 2024: Busy Bee

 

Greetings and welcome once again to autumn, when the bees are busy storing up honey to feed themselves on through the winter.

As for me, I am busy preparing for my first spinal fusion surgery (of what will eventually be 3) in a few weeks.  The injuries are old, but the discs are shot and the vertebrae are compressing the spinal nerves. I will be on restrictions until Christmas, so won't be running around the woods taking photos obviously, but will glean things from the archives to share with you for the next few months.  

In the meantime, like this bee, I am scurrying around like mad arranging for everything to be in place logistically so that it goes as smoothly as possible. I am really big on preparation, and always have been. It makes things recoverable even when they go sideways on you. That is one of the keys to successful photography, nature work especially. Plus it really fosters a sense of confidence. 

When I was a kid that was the Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared." :)  It is a very good motto, truth be told. 

August 2024: Infrared Part 2

 

I think I am getting a good feel for this whole IR process now. It really does some amazing things with clouds in particular. Because I can not see in IR, I have to imagine the sorts of things that will appear in the image when I am composing. Sometimes I am accurate, sometimes I am way off, but I am getting better at it every time I shoot.

Learning new things is always enjoyable to me, especially when it is learning about things that human biology is supposed to limit us from knowing, seeing things that our eyes are not made to see. It is a reminder that there is so much more out there than we could possibly know, and that even science has its limitations in revealing those things to us. 

Hope your summer is enjoyable!

July 2024: Seeing What We Can Not See

 

So I bought another new camera...an infrared camera. Infrared light is not visible to the human eye, but it operates just as all light does, reflecting off of whatever objects it hits. So with a specially modified camera you can take photos which capture that reflection just like regular photographs, and translate them (a process I have yet to learn about) into the visible spectrum so that they can be seen. 

Technically what I have is a "near-infrared" camera, meaning it takes photographs of the portion of the infrared spectrum just barely outside the visible light spectrum. Farther out on the IR spectrum you get thermal imaging infrared, but closer to the visible light spectrum you get images that are visually closer to what we can see.

I am of course totally brand new to this, and have much to learn, but am enjoying both the challenge and the process very much. And I do like reinforcing the concept that there are things which exist in reality which are outside the ability of our senses to perceive. Because as much as we would like it to be, life is not black and white. It is not just color either. It is all that and much, much more.

June 2024: Laundry Room

 

This is an old laundry room in the former state hospital/asylum in Traverse City, MI.  It would not have been the institutional laundry room, but rather an occupational therapy laundry room, where they would teach the residents how to do their own laundry. They had a whole wing of a building dedicated to teaching things like cooking, cleaning, etc. 

What fascinates me about this particular room is that it was abandoned over 40 years ago, the paint is peeling, the walls crumbling, and yet after all this time there is still paper towel in the dispenser dutifully waiting for the next set of wet hands...hands that will never come.

I am very glad to have had the opportunity to go through these buildings when I did, as they are now in the process of restoring the ones which can be restored and demolishing the ones which can not. Access is now severely limited, as they are now active construction/demolition sites. The photos which have been taken by myself and others are the only records that will be of what these places looked like. 

May 2024: Waterfall

 Spring is fully underway here in MI, with flowers blooming, grass growing, and...water falling! It is nice to see more of the sun, and I have been spending as much time in it as I can.

Been busy of late, and am looking forward to a couple days away from it all this coming weekend. 

Not much to say this month, just that I hope that wherever you are you can take some time to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature.

April 2024: Another flower

 

Yes, another flower photo. :)

It is spring here in MI, and while that means the weather is warmer it also means a lot of gray skies. It gets tedious and depressing, so I like to keep colorful imagery up to look at in order to provide some cheer and warmth.  Flowers are a good way of doing that.

Having a nice bunch of flowers in your house is a lot like having a cake in the house.  There isn't a rule that says it has to be a special occasion.  You can just do it whenever you want! 

March 2024: Peach Orchid

 

Since spring is apparently coming early here in Michigan, I thought I would post a flower photo to encourage things to continue along in that direction, and to help you all get in the mood for warmer, sunnier weather. Orchids of course are not spring blooms, however they are very pretty and in most cases quite colorful. 

I have been asked by a number of people about the images I post. Specifically, why do I not post larger images and why I only post jpeg format. These are legitimate questions, as larger photos are easier to see, and jpeg format lowers the image quality. One would think that a photographer would want their images to look as good as possible and to be seen as they were intended, right? Well, yes and no.

Part of the nature of the internet is that there is no way for me to prevent these images from being taken from this site and used wherever people have a mind to use them, without paying for them. If you were a car salesman, you wouldn't want people just showing up at your lot and taking off with the cars, would you? These photos are put here as *examples* of my work, not the actual works themselves, so I don't mind that they get taken and used across the internet. (And believe me, they do!) Because they are lower quality images they really aren't useful for anything but personal use anyway, so I don't have to worry about others making money off them.  And this way it works as advertising for me, without compromising the integrity of my work.  I also make sure to strip all the EXIF data from the images I post so that any question of ownership could be resolved quickly, as the original images I have contain all the data necessary to prove where each image originated and what its original form was. I am very protective of my work, and this is a good way to accomplish that protection while still being able to share examples of the images openly.  Additionally, it also protects the people who do pay me for my images, as those images are always going to be of much higher quality than ones which have not been paid for.  

So there is that. :)

Hope you have a great March!

February 2024: Pogona peanut

 

This is a Pogona lizard, most commonly known as a bearded dragon. It is only a month or so old, so quite young. But what a striking looking thing he is! His name is Peanut, and he lives nearby. Eventually he will be a foot long or so, and the spikes and sag under his chin will be much more pronounced. I am sure this is not the last you will see of him on the blog here. :)

His owner and caregiver is a delightful young lady, and as this next photo will demonstrate, someone with a lot of spirit and trust. Both admirable qualities. :)

January 2024: King Quail

 

Also known as a Chinese Painted Quail, the King Quail is the largest of the quail varieties. Speaking of variety, these cute little birds come in many colors even within the same sub-species. The only constant is that the males are the only ones which sport the slate-blue color you see here.

They are small, only about the size of an orange, very timid, and reclusive.  Not surprising as they live and nest on the forest floor, so have to be wary of many predators.  I was very surprised to be able to get a shot this close, as I have never been nearer to then than 8 feet or so before they run away.

As we begin a new year, I hope that it brings you all many enjoyable surprises as this quail did for me. 

Cheers!
Jonderson