Mud Ranch's Real Dirt » Photography

Flowering Acts of Randomness

mudranch — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 05:35:24 +0000

Wild Carrot Bud

Feverfew

Hollyhock

Calendula

Heirloom Poppy

Heirloom Climbing Rose

A Bountiful Cherry Harvest

Two Hungry "Barn" Cats

A Lovely Evening

mudranch — Mon, 02 May 2011 04:22:24 +0000

Sometimes all I need to lift my spirits is an evening out in nature, enjoying the scenery, with some great light, and my camera. Evening time is by far my favorite time of the day – I think clearer, my heart is lighter, and my senses are fully open. I love the cool breezes, the stillness, and the glowing light of a sun setting.

Annie and I have this great spot, high on the side of a mountain that over-looks town. I caught a glimmer of Old Town last week and then noted a few days ago that the glimmer would be best at around 7 pm. So we headed up around then and have to pass by some old settling ponds – look at what Annie spotted. I had my big 300mm prime lens with me so snapped it on and got this shot before the couple darted off.

Not all that awesome of a shot as I was still in manual mode and the lighting was hard to adjust for, but I do like how you can see the blue in the female’s wings.

And this was the shot I was “shooting for” – pun intended. The shot I got before was in the middle of the day when the light was more flat, tonight I got sparkle and that made me pretty happy. In the picture is the “Old Bridge” which was built in 1901 and is still in service, the Old Hotel and a few other buildings from the 1800′s. This was the booming part of town, built right along the river and within walking distance to the one room schoolhouse and the old Congregational church which are both still standing (the Schoolhouse is now a library.)

I turned around, almost directly behind me from the Old Town shot, and here’s our place. Our barn in the far distance, and the house with the shop closer with Hank watching for deer or activity in the woods beside us. It’s always nice to know a dog is on the watch.

And here’s our barn with the Mud Ranch flock taken with my 300mm prime again. Quite a big difference, eh? I love all the green, it’s so vibrant and the peacefulness of the evening just glows.

Annie, Hank and I all went back down to the settling ponds and took some more photos, this time of what was happening right around us. Annie loves to race around the embankments of the ponds.

Then settle down next to her favorite dog – a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Posting, Posting…

mudranch — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:24:34 +0000

I have a new goal for myself, and it’s been going on since around January 6th… A photo-a-day for 2011. I know, as if I don’t have anything else to do, but it does make me carry my camera with me everywhere I go and press the shutter release button atleast once a day (though it naturally prompts many more shutter-releases than just one.)

January 10

So, before I give you the link where you can follow my photo-a-day ~~madness~~, I’ll sucker you in to following me by posting a few more favorites.

January 15

January 18

January 29

And there’s a lot more where these came from over at my other blog http://www.estrellitaphoto.wordpress.com. Hope to see you there!

And please be patient if I don’t get to uploading every night… Rest assured some little photographic morsel is awaiting it’s debut on my CompactFlash card.

A Mid Winter’s Nights Sky

mudranch — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 05:28:13 +0000

Not only is the sky beautiful but the moon is out before the sun is totally down behind the mountains. It was a glorious day today, lots of warm sunshine, but the evening was spectacular.

Most of the time I look out away from the house toward town and the above photo is probably my favorite — not photoshopped at all, just sharpened. I love the contrast and colors.

But then I turned around and saw what was happening behind me and couldn’t just post one…

Gorgeous in every respect. So nice to be able to see the sky again, let alone the sun.

Wordless Wednesday — Frozen Wonderland

mudranch — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 01:31:38 +0000