Fishing and photos....

 We had a perfect day ... to go fishing. 

With Steve's help, we made it to Lee Lake in Cazenovia once more. And...the fish actually were biting. It was only the little fish, but at least the guys had fun deciding which one was going to be the BIG one.

It was a great day to take my Infrared Camera and more than one light spectrum filter. Below are the two guys deep in conversation...or they are just sitting quietly enjoying each others company. These two do chat but have long silences in between.

Some conversations start with ... Do you remember when....???  I listen intently to those stories because it is a history of things that occurred before I met Rich.

To think these guys are in their late 70's ... and have known each other since they were in their late 20's. 

Their friendship never ended but their lives took different directions with the two of them connecting up every once in a while.

Below...Steve tied a table umbrella to the dock so Rich can stay cooler in the shade. He thinks of everything!

Infrared Photo...

Bassy the stuffy fish did come along! Rich said she couldn't stay on the dock with them. He was afraid that she'd blow off as we actually had a breeze.

Cell shot....

The cool thing about Infrared is that you can get so 
many different looks with one filter. This
bench was filmed in the spectrum of

550nm.

This first shot is what it looks like

in camera. Startling blue foliage

and an orange hued sky.
Red becomes pink.

This is the black and white version. Basically I just desaturated the shot

and upped the contrast a bit.

The shot below is achieved by

what is called Channel swapping.
IR only picks up a few colors.

This is very hard to explain and it

is pretty technical.

I know that I enjoy the results.

The world looks foreign.

Here are a couple more views of the man made lake in Infrared using different light spectrums.

I really had fun with the Infrared camera. Hot sunny days are the best for using this camera.

Below are shots I did with my upgraded but not very fancy Google Pixel 9a. My 6a was on its last legs. What did surprise me [aside from the price] was the new ability of the camera to take 'long' exposures. So I went and tried it out by the Caz Dam.

I've been fighting off using my cell phone as a camera for a long time. But I can see its uses while hiking a long distance and not lugging along heavy camera equipment.

I did some other experimenting with a clearfield center diopter filter I found at a second hand store for $1. It was the filter I used in the very first shot which allowed the center to be in focus and the edges become blurred.

I can see where it will be very very handy in some toy photography.

This is the Lady of Pain from the Dungeons and Dragons collection. I thought she'd go perfect with a poison dart frog.

We had more adventures after leaving the lake. 

Eventually we did make it home safe and sound and tired out. But Rich and I are looking forward to our adventure next week.

Feeling Free

I finally got to toss my bicycle in the back of the 'Ru and head out on Sunday morning. It was another one of those blistering hot and humid days. 

Sometimes I just 'gotta' get off the farm and blow a bit of energy off. What better way than to get on a decent bicycle and make your own breezes?

I bought this bike in August of 2019. I've really enjoyed the adventures I've had with it. It is a quasi-mountain/road bike. It wasn't the color I wanted, it wasn't as cool as other bikes in the shop, but I wanted a good sturdy bike to get from point A to point B. [And that did not cost me an arm and a leg]

I wanted a bike that could handle gravel roads as well as paved roads and perhaps an easy bike dirt track.

It does get me around and sometimes I am lucky enough to get out early and catch some beautiful morning light. 

I love taking my Infrared converted camera while riding the nice paved trail at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. The ride I take is along the old original highway that runs between the small towns of LaFarge and Rockton.

The trail is not terribly difficult and there are two hills that do challenge the legs. The scenery varies as it goes through the valley. There are little ponds where I often go in the spring and fall to see what waterfowl is migrating. There are bridges that cross the Kickapoo and there are meadows and rock formations to see.

I packed my IR Camera along with my pocket camera. On a whim, I put the 550nm filter on my IR camera. I've never had good luck with that filter so I thought I'd give it another go. The best time to shoot IR is in the middle of the day in the summer. The different wavelengths of light are just so interesting.

Infrared Photography can be so interesting and challenging. In camera for this filter, the white balance setting is done on something neutral like concrete or a grey card.

I won't go into all that 'developing' the shots entail, however, as you can see, IR can give the photographer a wide array of Creative Fun.

The shot below is what the colors look like in the original shot. It was cool here with a slight breeze. The river was on the left and on the right was a small bluff with large cracks that allow cold air to come from below the ground to vent out.

I tossed a lot of shots as they just didn't work out well, but these were my favorite from the IR Experiment.

I normally stop at the ponds and spend some time, but the deerflies were absolutely vicious and unrelenting. 

I did stop long enough to grab a shot with my pocket camera of a Highbush Cranberry! These are starting to turn and were show stopping!

The yellow cone flowers in this Meadow was so stunning, it was worth the quick stop and a few shots of all the stunning flowers.

By 11AM, the heat and humidity was brutal and I was back at the Subaru. It was worth it. 

Yesterday I dropped my bicycle off at the bike shop in town. It desperately needs a tune up, new cables, and a new chain. I'm going to have them install a back rack also. I'd like to be able to add some 'stuff' to carry. Right now I use a fanny pack and a little pack on the front of the bike. I'm also looking to get a carrier for the 'Ru.

The guy at the shop said they had some on order and he'd walk me through setting it up and adjusting it for me. Once it is set up, it should be easy to take on and off. 

Currently I pick up the bike and sort of shove it in the long bed of the 'Ru for going places to ride. 

The shop guy also gave me some ideas on other trails at KVR that are nice for a beginner trail rider like me. 

In the 1980's my sister and I both owned 12 speed Raleigh's that weighed a ton. We took a sister sister trip on bikes together. We rode 70 miles on rural back roads to get from my dad's house to my Aunt's lake cottage for an overnighter and then ride back. We had no GPS, no cell phones in that era.

I'd driven most of the route with a map before we did our trip. I highlighted the back roads with a marker and that was our guide.

I still look on that two day adventure as the one of the coolest trips of all time.

We were young, we were free, and we were awesome.

[and we had two days off from being moms!]

Hiking a well used trail

I think the most well used trail by bicyclers and equine riders is the Little Canada and Ice Cave trail loops at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. Generally I can usually hike a trail and almost never run into others.

I met 2 sets of bicyclists and 2 groups of horses on my hike Friday. 

I've almost always met someone on these trails except in the dead of winter.

Even in the winter, it is a well used trail for snowshoers. It winds up and down and around the ridge and dry runs. It passes through a couple of pine plantations and a mixed forest.

The hike was around 5 miles, I took the hiking only trail that runs north of the first leg of Little Canada. It is a little used trail. It doubles as a maintenance trail for work and for events at KVR.

I'm going to just toss up some shots here and let you enjoy. These were with a cell phone.

While on the maintenance trail I walked down to the old trail we used to ride above the river. The old trail is still there and it was closed off years ago due to the fact that an equine and rider walk within a few feet of an 80 foot drop off.

Photo of my youngest son standing on the trail in 1996

I enjoyed the hike and mostly took my time just looking around at all of the light and shadows in the forest.

I took my infrared camera and enjoyed some shooting too.

What a beautiful day to be out in those woods. No bugs and no humidity.

However I sure do hope we get some rain tomorrow. 

The weather service upped our chance to 50%!

We take this time for a brief intermission

 

The Subaru needed new tires. One had a very slow leak and honestly, the tread was getting down.

I knew between mounting balancing, and the alignment, it would be a while. I was able to walk to my favorite public park. LaCrosse Riverside Park along the Great Mississippi. I love to walk through the International Friendship Garden. It is free to wander about in and sit on any of the benches. 

The photo above is the entrance to the garden and the first one you can walk into is the oriental garden. Each section of the garden has a Sister City Garden. There are beautiful sculptures hidden away and little fountains along with amazing plants. Volunteers plant the annuals and maintain the gardens. [OH be still my heart! What if I lived close to it! I'd be out working in it for sure!]

Let's not forget the Pelican! A variety of these were placed along a walkway for a few years. This past year, they were all auctioned off except this one. I loved them all and would have loved to have something like this in my yard. Right? Though perhaps a dragon would be a lot cooler.

I walked from one end of this long park to the other end to the base of the bridge.

I didn't get the photos of all the cool statues placed around, but this is one of my favorite ones. Kids in period clothes waving to the River Boats with their dog. The dog is facing back apparently distracted by something else. I spent a lot of time looking at them and thinking about what this city must have been like in the early 1900's.

People donate $ and have bricks interlaid in walk ways which commemorate loved ones. I watched people searching for names in different areas. Others photographed bricks with their phones.

Next time I visit I'll have to find all the cool statues and try and photograph them.

On my way back I noticed little poems embedded in the sidewalks here and there.

If you can't read this poem it says:

Pie Eaters

When I liked pie, I used to lie.

I'd lie about pie.

Why do I lie?

Hey, It's my friend, Ty.

Hey, Ty want some pie?!

Elijah Age 9

Monday was a nice day. 
And really? LaCrosse's Riverfront is a pretty neat place. I do like walking around the whole downtown and just observing.

Playing with color

I was feeling antsy and decided to walk to the ridge before sunrise on Friday. I did notice that a very light Hoar Frost had settled on the trees along with a low lying fog.

Taken with my unmodified camera. ")

Some wind blew as I passed the neighbor's yard and frost dissipated everywhere.

I'm just not able to help myself. I took the Infrared camera along with me.

I can't stop being curious about how things would look in a different light. I keep thinking that if I keep at it, I may even get proficient at it in all situations.

Seriously, I do not know exactly why certain colors show up. Items that reflect a certain kind of light appear a certain way. I can't explain it very well without referring to a long drawn out article on what spectrum the human eyes see and what we can't see.

In the 720nm spectrum, green leaves become white and the sky becomes very orange.

This is shot in the 665nm spectrum. 

I used a method called channel swapping to achieve these colors below.

The reddish tint on the trees can be yellow, reddish, or desaturated to be white.

And in the other direction...I removed the color in the trees but kept the bluish sky.

Have you gotten tired of Infrared? Two more samples from late afternoon.

This is with the 550nm filter. I haven't gotten the hang of it quite yet and I find I don't like it very much. The photo that comes out of camera is absolutely ugly.

I've did the channel swapping and the it still was horrible. More than likely it is because there isn't any bright green leaves, pines, or water to really make this sort of workable. Ick.

Edited to black and white, I find it somewhat pleasing, especially the sky.

The old car in the run off ditch is rusty colored but I sort of like this after I balanced the snow to pure white.

I went to black and white with this also.

And I loved it. The details in the rust came out like magic in B&W.

So maybe this filter isn't so bad as it shows variations in tone nicely.

Last year I did have one great day with that filter at the KVR big pond.

The thing I like about IR is there are no rules of color. It is like giving a kid a box of crayons and telling them to go wild.

...

Stay tuned for Dragons.

And a Foggy walk in IRChrome.