[Capture Challenge] Charge your battery and take some photos

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

@hatsnp

We never know what the atmospheric/time of day/animal behavior gods have in store for us

For astronomy, i.e. observing, events there are additional considerations:

• Moon phase – It needs to be moon-free, mostly
• Lack of light pollution – Both in a local (e.g., street lights) and regional (skyglow) sense
• Flat open areas with low horizons and a good surface
• Accessibility via vehicle – No one can carry (lots of) telescopic equipment and accessories long distances
• Logistics – Lodging, meals, electrical power, etc.

I seem to have a knack for picking hobbies subject to everything except my control! LOL Maybe I should just take up gaming instead…

[hatsnp (Nuno Paulino)]

@lphilpot

• Moon phase – It needs to be moon-free, mostly
• Lack of light pollution – Both in a local (e.g., street lights) and regional (skyglow) sense
• Flat open areas with low horizons and a good surface
• Accessibility via vehicle – No one can carry (lots of) telescopic equipment and accessories long distances
• Logistics – Lodging, meals, electrical power, etc.

Setting up the event (and getting lucky) seems like 90% of the work. At least the rest ends up being very rewarding I imagine

@lphilpot

I seem to have a knack for picking hobbies subject to everything except my control! LOL Maybe I should just take up gaming instead…

I have done my fair share of gaming and I must say it definitely provides a lot of instant ‘controlled’ reward, but I’d say astronomy and photography are still far better even with all the setbacks, much more ‘grounded’ and down to earth, less disconnected.

[123sg (Steven)]

No.3 caught my eye straight away - definitely my favorite and a lovely image.

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

Thanks!

I initially was thinking I’d kinda like some luminous “tunnel of light” type processing but it really didn’t work out too well (probably mostly because I suck at it). The image quickly got muddy and way too dark.

[epeeist (Colin Walls)]

Raining here again today, I really am losing my marbles.

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

It’s grey and misty (rain, not fog) today, and what little fall color we have (had?) seems to be already going away. Here’s about the only semi-composition I found after walking around the recreation area for the better part of two hours. No work of art, but whatever:

And to come clean, this required removing a “disc golf” thingy, a painted pipe in the ground and a ~1.5m tall stump / dead tree truck that had apparently been cut off then just left to rot. The same stump approach could be found on at least 17 others (I counted them, there were actually more).

This is a public “park”, mind you, which means the maintenance is by our local government one way or the other.

<RANT=on>

So why would all those stumps just be left to rot instead of being properly removed?

And why put a disc golf course basically interlaced through a public park? The concrete “tee boxes” and metal pipe / chain targets are very ugly. From a photographic POV it’s virtually impossible to frame up a shot without them in it. Also since the course winds it way through the park between picnic tables, ball fields, benches, walking paths, etc., when anyone is playing the course you always have the possibility of some yahoo throwing a Frisbee at you. And no matter where you are, they expect you to move.

And don’t get me started on the trash. There’s a little patch of wood on one end of the rec area and I took a walk through it. Not much fall color but lots and lots of brightly colored cans, bottles, wrappers, boxes, you name it. Found this literally 20 seconds walk from the edge of the wood:

Another 20 seconds maybe further on were two trash containers. I guess 40 seconds walk was too much time and effort for the moron who put this bottle in the tree fork. Who knows – Maybe (s)he was one of the same people who painted the vulgar graffiti all over the railroad bridge approaches in the woods. Kinda surprised I didn’t see any needles laying around…

I live in a state of morons…

<RANT=off>

Have a nice day, y’all!!

[hatsnp (Nuno Paulino)]

@lphilpot

And don’t get me started on the trash. There’s a little patch of wood on one end of the rec area and I took a walk through it. Not much fall color but lots and lots of brightly colored cans, bottles, wrappers, boxes, you name it. Found this literally 20 seconds walk from the edge of the wood:

I feel you, here it’s the same in the park I usually go to. People have no respect for their surroundings, nature or their fellow citizens who might appreciate not seeing trash everywhere. I once thought Singapore’s no littering laws where a bit too extreme, but more and more I’m starting to see it like that as well.

That said, that’s a nice photo. I like the almost no shadows rendition, gives it a light feel.

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

@hatsnp

that’s a nice photo. I like the almost no shadows rendition, gives it a light feel.

Thanks – It was a pretty shadow-free day! I added a negative exposure layer then painted some of it away in the center to provide a little depth. The original image was a little brighter, but the end result is pretty close to how it looked (sans the erased objects!!).

[epeeist (Colin Walls)]

As we were going up to play bridge, I noticed the low cloud over the hills. I went back later to take some pictures, both across the Cuilc and down by the dam.

[kofa (István Kovács)]

Where I live, the roots trunks of cut-down trees are left in the ground because it helps prevent erosion. As far as I know, all the removal of leaves and fallen trees is bad for the soil (in a forest, everything would slowly rot and enrich the soil, no need for fertilisers).

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

In this case, the land is pancake-flat so there’s minimal erosion. Usually, stumps are ground up, down to grade level and then the chips spread out and mixed with the soil. That way the nutrients remain and the chips help bind the soil together.

I can only guess these steps were skipped due to time, effort or expense (we’re talking about government, after all). Or maybe just because the appearance of things has little value to many of the locals: use it, throw it down and move on, leaving one’s trash behind.

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

A couple of fall photos from around my local area. It looks like whatever little fall color we’ll get this year is peaking. Many of the leaves are already starting to fall off.

I think I’ll post one of them as a PlayRaw. It might be interesting to see others’ takes on it.

Rigolette Bayou color

It was a pretty grey day, but there’s a little color. There’s also an egret wading in the (unusually low) water, searching for a snack. By the way, “Rigolette” is locally pronounced “row-gully”. No idea why…

See it before it’s gone

A little bit of color at Lake “B” in the Esler Field WMA (Wildlife Management Area) near Pineville, Louisiana

[Tim (Tim Cuthbertson)]

@lphilpot

By the way, “Rigolette” is locally pronounced “row-gully”. No idea why…

A few years back, my son and I went to a dog tournament in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After hearing several people who lived there pronouncing it differently, I asked a middle aged man who said he had lived there all his life how he pronounced it. He said, Nag-o-dash. Just like you, I have no idea,

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

@Tim

I asked a middle aged man who said he had lived there all his life how he pronounced it. He said, Nag-o-dash.

I’ve lived in Louisiana all my life (sad but true) and in the central part of the state about 40 miles from Natchitoches* for almost 40 years. I’ve always heard it pronounced Nak-uh-tish. I guess those aren’t that far apart, though. Given that southerner blur “t” and “d”, it’s a short trip.

* Not to be confused with Nacogdoches, Texas, though… (Nak-uh-doe-shus)

[elstoc (Chris E)]

I’m not usually brave enough to ask people if I can photograph them, but I had been walking round the park for ages not really finding anything worth capturing when this guy walked into a massive flock of pigeons and put his hand in a bag of breadcrumbs. I couldn’t resist

[ggbutcher (Glenn Butcher)]

@lphilpot

By the way, “Rigolette” is locally pronounced “row-gully”. No idea why…

That’s a Cajun French prounciation. I can’t recall other examples, but it’s recognizable…

[epeeist (Colin Walls)]

@lphilpot

By the way, “Rigolette” is locally pronounced “row-gully”. No idea why…

I used to live in the north of England, there was a town called Barnoldswick near where I used to live, the locals refer to it as “Ba’lick”. A village near where I live now, there is a village called “Grandtully”, referred to by the locals as “Grantly”.

[epeeist (Colin Walls)]

For some reason, we ended up at Cardhu distillery yesterday afternoon . On the pronunciation front, I still have problems with “h” modifiers in Gaelic names, but this is pronounced as it is spelt (Card-doo). We met this handsome chap there:

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

Does that mean dogs owned by English clerks in Berkshire will … berk?

[TonyBarrett]

Dublin