Sunday Stills: People

This weeks Sunday Stills topic was to photograph people, which is a real challenge for me. I'm rarely happy with how my people pictures turn out.

Redding, CA on Friday:
We stopped on an exit ramp to let the girls out, and Malcolm made a discovery...

...a WALL of blackberry bushes!

I'm more timid than Malcolm about stuff I can't wash off first, and since he's not timid, and since he LOVES blackberries...well he was in heaven.

The canes were loaded with HUGE berries that were so tempting...

ok, I know there's no people in this one, but you had to see the berries!

...that I caved in and ate a few myself! California roadside blackberries...the sweetest I've ever eaten!

How could I just stand by and let him have all the fun?

There was no hiding the evidence that he'd thoroughly enjoyed himself!

A very happy truck driver!



And then that picture gave me another idea to work on...

And then we started getting goofy. Sleep deprivation has a tendency to do that to you! And so, I present my favorite picture of the whole experience, and its a favorite because its a goof up. I don't know exactly what caused it, but it looks like he's giving a lecture on trucking in front of a giant TV screen.

I promise I did not photo shop this!

He's pointing to the steps, so I told him he must have been speaking on the importance of "three point contact." (that is to always have three points of contact when getting in or out of the truck, for safety)

That's it for my Sunday Stills this week. To see more contributions to this fun weekly photo challenge, visit the Sunday Stills blog!

And be sure to check back in with me in the next couple days. The coolest thing happened this weekend and I can't wait to tell you about it!

Sunday Stills: Yellow

This past weeks Sunday Stills focus was to find and photograph the color yellow.

I caught Paris in a tender moment and decided to take the opportunity to practice. It is so hard to get good photographs of my girls, even when they are sleeping. They wiggle too much and nearly always blur part of the picture. And even when they are sleeping, the bouncing of the truck rolling down the road presents its own challenges.
As a puppy, Paris had many toys, but Ducky was always her favorite, and still is.

This week we had a half day layover at the house while en route to Minnesota. Since it was raining and I didn't have time to start a project at home, my neighbor and I teamed up and went out for an abbreviated "girl's shopping day." We had so much fun visiting, and saw so many pretty and unique items.

this pig bowl made us chuckle, along with the matching platter. Who thinks up these things?

a close up of the pattern on some pretty dishes

And this one was my favorite. These were wine glasses made with yellow tinted glass. I really liked the way this picture came out.

Thanks, Julie, for not being too embarrassed to walk around with the crazy camera lady. I'm sure I got some strange looks from other shoppers. You were a real trooper and I enjoyed our excursion very much!

To see more lovely and creative pictures of "yellow," visit this link. You can click on the name of any commenter and be taken to their blogs to see their take on the subject. The color weeks are always interesting because there always ends up being a real kaleidoscope of subjects that get photographed.

Sunday Stills: Potluck

My mom, over at A Garden of Thoughts, was asking me about the weekly photography posts I used to do, and wanted to start participating. She also wanted me to pick it back up so we could do it together. I was thrilled!

I can't say what prompted my letting Sunday Stills fall to the wayside. I think it was round about the time I was in my blogging slump. But listening to Mom talk about it and seeing her post last week, I realized I kind of missed playing with the Sunday Stills crowd. And it will be fun to do it together with Mom. So I'm joining back in, if you all will have me back.  Sometimes a person just need a break to regain their inspiration and motivation I guess.

This weeks challenge was "Potluck" meaning you could bring anything to the table as long as it wasn't from your archives. My goal is to never use archives because the whole idea for me is to stretch my imagination and improve my photography skills.

I don't have anything really impressive or exciting this week. The non-specific challenges have always been more challenging for me, which seems backwards from how it should be, but that's just how it is. I spend most of the week trying to figure out what to photograph, and by last night, I still didn't have anything specific in mind and time was up.

So, I decided to post some pictures I took this week that proved to be a challenge for me. I was trying to photograph smoke from a forest fire near Flagstaff, AZ. I was frustrated because I was trying to capture the intensity of the smoke, the emotions I was feeling as I watched the column of smoke climb into the air and obscure the mountains nearby. But I just couldn't get the pictures to have the right feeling. Photographing smoke is not easy, as it turns out. I kept ending up with pictures that looked like clouds, which wasn't at all what I was going for. I wasn't satisfied with the outcome, but I'll post the best ones anyway.

When we first spotted the smoke, we were still quite a ways from Flagstaff.

Getting closer in towards Flagstafff, it was clear that this was a forest fire and not a range fire as I originally suspected.

Past Flagstaff and going back downhill, around a curve and suddenly we were in the smoke. In a picture it looks more like a cloudy day. What I wanted to capture was the brown/orange tint of the smoke in the sky, but it didn't come through "on film."

And a few moments later we were back under blue skies, leaving the smoke behind and heading on to California.

Carlie Jean wanted me to share this one, since its one of the best pictures I have gotten of her. It really portrays her "what are you looking at" attitude. She didn't really care about the smoke. She was just enjoying lounging in her man's arms with the sunshining in on her.

What am I looking at? Your face my dear! Its time for a shave! Past time!

That's all I have to bring to the table this week. A weak start for my re-entry into the world of Sunday Stills. We'll try for better next week. To see more, and better, Sunday Stills contributions, visit this link and click on any name in the comments section to view their pictures.

And for any of you Sunday Still-ers visiting here, do you have suggestions or tips on photographing smoke? Any camera settings or ideas on the topic?

Sunday Stills: Fall Folliage

Most people know Montana as "Big Sky Country." What many may not know is that prior to having this nickname, Montana was known as "the Treasure State." It received this nickname around the turn of the 20th century "because of its status as the country's foremost producer of metallic treasure." (Montana Official State Travel Site)

There were other state nicknames mixed in over the years, but Big Sky Country and the Treasure State must be the most popular because they are the only two I've ever heard used.

And what, you ask, does this have to do with Sunday Stills or Fall Folliage? Well I'll tell you.

Montana's reserves of precious metal may not be what they were in their heyday, but in the fall the Treasure State produces showers of shining glimmering gold.

The Crazy Mountain Range near Big Timber, MT

cottonwood trees along the Yellowstone River

 a Golden Eagle with golden cottonwoods in the background and golden grasses below



Sunday Stills: Cars

This weeks challenge was Cars. Simple enough...

This morning on CA-99 near Bakersfield. You'll never see fewer cars than this on this stretch of road. Normally, its very busy, but I guess everyone was sleeping in.

Cars can be rolling down the road without physically touching the pavement. This is one type of trucking I wouldn't want to be involved in. I'd be too afraid of ruining a whole load of brand new vehicles. Guess you'd have to have some amazing liability insurance!

A different kind of car, rolling across the grasslands near Belle Fourche, SD.

That's it for me this week.

or not....I'm adding one! Another Car picture, only somethings not quite right here. Can you see it?

Just passed this guy on CA-99. The cars were trying to get his attention and Malcolm even gave him a holler on the CB. No luck. The driver of this truck is currently in front of us about to loose one of his cars. The chains are dragging the pavement and with each bounce in the road the pickup shifts more the left. And the driver is ignoring everyone. Hope no one is behind him when it goes.  We're exiting in 2 miles so it won't be us!

Sunday Stills: Billboards

I'm getting my Sunday Still's post up late today. We've been home since Friday night and are just now leaving the house.

I pass many many many billboards during a day at work, and believe me...they, along with power lines, are my arch enemy. They seem to work against me in my every attempt to grab a photograph of something I want to share with others.

I was trying to think of a billboard that would be interesting to share along the routes we were traveling last week. And then on our way back to Montana from Fargo, I remembered a certain location near Dickinson that has some interesting signs.

Maybe you won't consider it a billboard, but I think it could be a member of the category, by a stretch. It is advertising something after all.

And since I showed you the billboard, I'll go ahead and show you what its advertising, on down the road. You might say this is one of western North Dakota's tourist attractions. Its marks the exit for the highway that is known as the "Enchanted Highway."

I've never actually been down the road, but from what I can gather, there are a lot of metal sculptures along the road...I'm guessing.

So...that's that! We're just pulling out of Billings and have to be in Spokane by 8:00 tomorrow morning. (its currently 8:00pm) Plenty of time really, but we've been up since 7:00 this morning and so I can already feel my energy fizzling. But the extra hours at home were worth it, I think.

Sunday Stills: Green and Red

Wasn't feeling motivated lately and so Sunday Stills fell to the wayside. However, last night driving across the Oregon mountains on our way to Woodland, WA I had a bit of inspiration. So here is my contribution to this weeks Sunday Stills challenge which was to photograph the colors red and green within the same picture.

The dash lights in our truck. Notice the speedometer and take heart. I wasn't driving when I took the photo. Even though I was pretty excited about the challenge and eager to try it out. I have had little luck getting night shots with lights in them so I knew I had to wait till the truck was stopped before trying for it. It was hard to be patient, but its best that way. Might have given some of you a heart attack if the speedometer said something like 65mph!  (and since I was in Oregon that would have also indicated that I was speeding...which I never do!  ;)  

Feeling better today, a little more upbeat. Thank you all for the encouragement yesterday. I think that helped me quite a bit! Part of my problem was feeling a bit lonely and your words of friendship and encouragement boosted my spirits. I love my blogging friends! Wish we could all get together and meet in person. But I'm working on that, one blogger at a time!

To see more Sunday Stills contributions for this weeks challenge visit this link.

Sunday Stills: Statues and Figurines...and an Update on the truck

This weeks challenge was "statues and figurines." 

After our engine issues of this week, I didn't get much time to work on this weeks challenge. So I'm using a couple of oldies but goodies again, and I am promising you and myself that I'll do a better job this week. Promise!

Here's what I got...

The hood ornament on our truck

The same hood ornament after driving through freezing fog in North Dakota last winter

and this is a statue of a bronc rider at the Metra in Billings, MT after it was hit by a tornado on June 20th. Everything around it was destroyed, trees splintered, the roof torn off the arena, but the statue stood proud and tall, undisturbed and untouched by all appearances. Funny how tornadoes are so random like that.

To view other amazing work by the rest of the Sunday Stills participants, click here!

Ok, now for a little update. We finally got out of the shop on Wednesday afternoon. After they replaced the ECM (that the computer), the lift pump (which is related to the fuel pumping), and the turbo. Our bill was $250. It cost Cummins $6000. I was happy with our half of the bill.

We loaded in Wyoming and went to Waco, TX, and sadly, as we crossed Elk Mountain in Wyoming, it came to our attention that the truck was NOT fixed! Yes that's right. After all that, we're still not right. And then yesterday, as we left Mount Pleasant, TX on our way to CA, we thought we were done for again. The stop engine light and buzzer were going off and it was SO deflating! Malcolm spent some time on the phone with our guys in Billings and after discussing some options they think they narrowed it down now to another part that needs replaced. We got the alarms to go off, and so we're still rollin and almost to California now. But Monday we have to talk to the broker and see if he can get us to Billings. Otherwise, we'll be putting her in the shop at Salt Lake City after we deliver in Ogden on Tuesday morning.
Its enough to make one want to throw in the towel, but I'm holding out till after this next repair to see if its really time to go screaming and pulling my hair out yet!

I'll be back with the results, and hopefully more interesting and upbeat travel experiences to share! Till then, hope you have a  happy Monday!

Sunday Stills: Metal

This weeks Sunday Stills challenge is: Metal.

It was a broad subject, but the challenge was to photograph metal in a form that might not be photographed by others.

I had planed to do more work on this this weekend, as we've had one hell of a week, running our tires off! But then yesterday, the day that things finally cooled off a little and I was going to have time and energy to get creative, we broke down in the desert and that pretty much wiped out my motivation and energy for anything. For the scoop on the breakdown that has left us stranded in Saint George, UT for at least 5 days, check out the post after this one.

In the mean time, I ended up using what I had. These are grain bins, something we see a lot of in our line of trucking. I love grain bins and grain elevators. I always see them as works of art and beauty. (almost always, but there are exceptions)

 

For more Sunday Stills, visit this link.

Sunday Stills: Clouds

I know its early, but we're going home and I don't know that I can get my internet to cooperate at the house. So I'm posting early this week, just in case.

This weeks Sunday Stills subject was clouds. "Easy" you say, and so did I. Except this week we've been under either clear washed out blue skies, or the overcast solid uninteresting gray ones. It stormed last night coming through Butte, and I'm sure the clouds and mountains were dramatic, but alas....it was after midnight. Not much in the way of cloud pictures from that experience.

That said, I'm using 4 of my favorites from my files. Sorry there is nothing fresh and new. I'll try harder next week.

Sunrise in Hardin, MT a couple years ago.

A storm cloud in the California Sierra Nevadas last summer.

Stormy skies over northwest Iowa in early July this year. This storm set down a few tornadoes in Minnesota and Iowa.

This storm passed over our house on June 20th. Some of you will remember that post. Twenty miles from us, it dropped a tornado on the events center in downtown Billings and did quite a bit of damage in town there.

There are lots more Sunday Stills posts to see! Click here and follow each comment link to view them.

Sunday Stills: Graffiti

This weeks Sunday Stills challenge was Grafitti/Street Art. I had thought at first that this would be really challenging. Then I changed over to "not at all considering how much terrain I cover in a week." And we see truck trailers and train cars that are decorated all the time. A few days into the week, I was back to "this is gonna be a challenge" because I was seeing nothing. Why is it that when you arn't looking for something you see it all the time. But when you need to find it, there is none available? Well that was the case this week. In fact, the only grafitti I found readily available was this train car parked in Platteville, CO next to the mill we were waiting to unload at.

Ok, so that's not really a picture of the grafitti...but technically the grafitti is part of the composition.

Usually we see so much grafitti and though I don't admire vandalism and destruction of property, I do admire the artisticness of grafitti. Most of it is truly amazing in its creativity. It is, though mostly illegally done, art.

Sunday Stills: Rule of Thirds

This weeks Sunday Stills challenge was "Rule of Thirds." 

"The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds)

An Idaho Wheat Field

My favorite wild flower, Queen Ann's Lace, in an Iowa field.

A sneak peak at what I did this weekend:

More to come on this adventure of mine...a whole day in horse lovers heaven!  To see more Sunday Stills, check out this link.

Have a great week!