Day 162. June 10.

Day One Hundred Sixty Two. June 10. Picture # 162. "Untitled". This barn is in a rural area east of Austin out towards Elgin, Texas. I first saw it this winter when the fields were plowed and barren. I took some pictures the first time from almost the same location as this one, but was not happy with the results. The orderly rows of the now planted field gives foreground interest that was missing in the original pictures. I had a very bright unremarkable sky today which served to emphasize the shadows and textures in the barn and the field. Canon  XTI  Rebel on tripod. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 80mm. f/18. ISO 100.  Exposure 1/40 second. 

Day 161. June 9.

Day One Hundred Sixty One. June 9. Picture #161. "Naked Ambition". I decided to take a night shot of the Capitol building in Austin, Texas. As I got out my camera and set up the tripod, I noticed that there was a group of people gathered at the front steps of the Capitol building. I decided that they would actually add interest to the shot rather than detract from it. So I took the series of shots. I then put my gear away and decided to walk up to see what the meeting was about. I had to laugh, only in Austin would you find a large group of naked and almost naked bicycle riders meeting on the Capitol steps. http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/06-09-12-16-05-naked-and-sweaty-world-naked-bike-ride-streaks-through-austin/ . My camera never left my bag. Trust me, you do not want to get any closer than this picture. It was not a pretty sight. Canon XTI Rebel, on monopod. Canon 28-235mm lens. Focal length 28mm. f/3.5. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/50 second.

Day 160. June 8.

Day One Hundred Sixty. June 8. Picture # 160. "Untitled". Summer is the time for the yellow belly sliders in Texas to leave the lakes and rivers to lay their eggs. Every year I see turtles far from the water looking for loose soil in which to bury their eggs. This turtle was still searching for the right spot when I took this picture. I stayed away from her and used a long lens to get the picture. By the time I was ready to head home she had dug her hole and was settled in to lay her eggs. I did not approach closer than 100 feet from her. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 300mm. f/9. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/125 second. Flash -2. 

Day 159. June 7.

Day One Hundred Fifty Nine. June 7. Picture # 159. "Untitled". This eclectic collection is made up of odds and ends of my family's history. Each item has a story or some meaning. My grandfathers pocket watch sits on top of a newspaper article saved by my mother about Lee Harvey Oswald. There are three generations of business cards from both sides of my family. The picture of the football player is my dad. This mixture of "stuff" is just randomly displayed in a shadow box table in my apartment. No one ever sees this except for me. Today I share these items with everyone. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 30mm. f/3.5. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/200. Flash -2.

Day 158. June 6.

Day One Hundred Fifty Eight. June 6. Picture # 158. "D Day". On Yahoo's website there is a section called trending now. It is a list of the most actively searched topics for the day. Today's list, 1. Sheryl Crow brain tumor, 2. Amanda Bynes, 3. Kris Humphries, 4. Penny Marshall, 5. Miss New Zealand, 6. Ray Bradbury dies, 7. Tom Barrett, 8. Arthritis drug, 9. Cloud computing, 10. HTC phones. 68 years ago today the largest invasion fleet in the history of man was launched. The liberation of Europe had begun. On June 6th the allies suffered over ten thousand casualties with at least 2500 dead. But the day marked the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. June 6, 1944 has been called " the 24 hours that saved the world". My uncle had a landing craft shot out from under him on Normandy beach. He swam ashore unarmed into a active combat situation. He survived. My father was in the air over the beach on D Day as a flight engineer in a B-24 Liberator. His brother was a paratrooper. The medals in today's picture were my father's. Trending now on Yahoo not a damned thing about D-day. There is a profound message here. Canon SX 20 on full auto.

Day 157. June 5.

Day One Hundred Fifty Seven. June 5. Picture # 157. "Transit of Venus". This is a sight that will not be repeated for 105 years. The faint dot in the top right quadrant of the Sun is Venus. I did not have the correct filters to shoot directly into the bright sun so I had to improvise. Before the clouds moved in I had stacked two filters on the lens to cut down on light and was wearing two pair of sun glasses to look into the view finder with out hurting my eyes. I would like to thank my friend James Barnes for explaining to me what a rare photo opportunity the Venus Transit would be. I would also like to thank Jill Jackson for reminding me about the event. http://news.yahoo.com/transit-venus-begins-venus-crosses-sun-last-time-222441091.html. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 75-300mm lens. Bower Neutral Density Filter # 4. Bower Color Polarizer. Focal length 300mm. F/45. ISO 100. Exposure 1/640 second.

Day 156. June 4.

Day One Hundred Fifty Six. June 4. Picture # 156. "Sprite". This little sprite resides at Castleton Village along side of Lake Austin. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 205mm. f/5. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/800 second.

Day 155. June 3.

Day One Hundred Fifty Five. June 3. Picture # 155. "Untitled". Some day someone needs to do a study on why cameras are attracted to rusty things. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 38mm. f/6.3. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/320 second.

Day 154. June 2.

Day One Hundred Fifty Four. June 2.  Picture # 154. "Untitled". This beautiful animal is Cassie Jackson's Maine Coon cat named Tigger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon. Maine Coons are big cats and they have a somewhat wild appearance. But they are actually very gentle and affectionate animals. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 300mm. f/5.6. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/200 second.

Day 153. June 1.

Day One Hundred Fifty Three. June 1. Picture # 153. "Clash". This is a limited piece of vertical real estate in East Austin. On this wall there is an on going competition to be noticed. No one seems content to coexist with any other message. Rip off, deface, plaster your poster or graffiti over your rivals. There is a sort of Darwinism in this on going battle for space. There is an ebb and flow to which image or statement survives for any length of time. But like the fruit flies in the jar experiment from school. There is to much competion for the existing resource. So in the end, there are no winners, only chaos. This wall could be seen as a metaphor for the rise of civilization. While anarchy is the norm, there will only be fractured dreams and ideas. There will always be someone waiting to tear down what is good or destroy something just for being beautiful. With a little bit of community this wall could display many ideas. A free society then could let the market place choose the winners and losers. But give someone complete control over what is on this wall and the wall is no longer a monument to truth and free thinking. When a people asks their government to tell them what words are correct and what ideas they should think, all is lost. In a politically correct world this wall would be painted some bland color, so as not to offend anyone. I do not want to live in that world, I will take the wall as it is. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 38mm. f/6.3. ISO 400. Exposure 1/640.