Memorial Day - unofficial start of summer

Here in Minnesota, summer is defined as Memorial Day to Labor Day - no matter what the calendar tells you - and I'm sure it's that way elsewhere too. But the way the weather works here, odds are that Memorial Day weekend weather is going to be GORGEOUS and for outdoorsy folk here, there is nothing better than an extended weekend with a chance to play outside unhindered. Just about every town across the state has a ceremony or a parade to honor the locals who have been laid to rest there and the everyone goes off to be with family and friends for some grilling and fun in the sun.

Even better for me, my holiday weekend almost always involves my birthday as well. Sometimes I get folk together for a big picnic at the park to enjoy the grilling and games that are so common to the weekend. Other times, like this year, I prefer to just do a fun activity myself and keep things simple with no need for elaborate plans or coordination. It's taken almost 40 years to convince people of that! But this year was just a baseball game at the new Target Field with a friend and nothing more.. but it was so beautiful, it even felt like God was saying 'Happy Birthday' and I had to snap this shot of the city skyline at sunset from my seats in the park:



My Memorial Day was just about as classic as you can get without going to the cabin up north. I started in the morning watching one of my young brothers march with the high school marching band in a short parade and play patriotic music at the local cemetary. I spent my time walking amongst the crowd and taking a little time to reflect on why we were all there and the cost someone else paid for all the privileges I enjoy. Here's a few of the shots I got from the morning:











Then it was off to enjoy the freetime of the day. I had planned to bring along my camera and visit a local nature area that is walking distance from my house. I go there often and you never know what you will see - most notably great bird varieties. A few weeks ago, I walked there with my mom and in addition to several species of water fowl (one of which took a couple hours on the internet to identify) and song birds, we saw Bald Eagles, Osprey and other hawks circling overhead. It KILLED me that I didn't have my camera along that day. So the 13 yo budding photographer brother, Ben, and I hauled some gear along and went for a walk.

Who knew that predatory birds ALSO take Memorial Day off?? Nothing.. nada.. no ducks, no cranes, no egrets, no soaring wings in the sky. *sigh* We did find some very pretty wild flowers however.





We were a little bummed that we didn't get to try for the skyward shots on such a gorgeous day but we headed back to my parents' house for a little family meal. Drove into the driveway to find my mom all excited and dancing around her hanging baskets of flowers. A Swallowtail butterfly had decided to pop in for a visit and chose to hang out for awhile.







This one is slightly unusual because with the sun that day, I was able to get a picture of him with backlighting - and even shadows of the blossoms on his wings.



All in all, it was a WONDERFUL holiday weekend.

Kestrals at Target Field

If you know me, you know I'm a HUGE baseball fan. Recently, I attended a day game over at Target Field in Minneapolis that went into extra innings. Now, I almost always have my camera along at baseball games - in addition to my binoculars, my glove, my radio, etc. This particular game, the weather conditions were perfect and I just happened to have brought the big lens just to see what kind of fun I could have from the nosebleed seats.

For those who are familiar with the new Target Field, a pair of kestrals have taken up residence in/near the park and often delight fans by showing up during games to sit and watch. I was lucky enough to have them show up with great light and good luck.

When they first flew in, I thought that there was just no chance I would be quick enough to catch them in flight with the big lens but I thought I would try anyway. The first shot wasn't great but it surprised me that I could FIND the bird and focus quick enough to catch them.



It's hard to see the silhouette but that gave me the confidence to keep trying. Then the first one of the pair settled down onto the big field lights that were just coming on to deal with the changing light as the sun started to set. I knew I could catch a sitting bird!



here, I blew it up a bit and cropped it for you so you can see the bird a bit better.



But then, the mate flew in and started circling - here was my chance to catch the bird in flight!



I had to zoom this one it too just so you could see the great face on the bird.



I just desperately tried to keep the bird in the frame and follow it across the open sky as it turned and flew across and I got my favorite shot of the day!



and then, he turned and flew away... It's even pretty to see him leave!



I took a LOT more pictures of the baseball game, but it was a lovely break in the middle of the action to stop and look up instead of down. If you want to see the pictures of the baseball game, they're on my other blog: Knuckleballs

Jeremiah's Senior Pictures

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything but honestly, it's because it has been a long time since I took out the camera for anything other than recording a family event or whatnot. But since it's that time of year again, it was time to take yet another little brother out to collect some shots to use as his senior pictures!

Poor Jeremiah. A) He's extremely photogenic BUT he really doesn't like being in front of a camera so he loses some of his natural charisma, B) I'm always challenged by potraiture since it's not natural for me and I was seriously out of practice. The first day, I really had great shots lined up but just couldn't get the results I really wanted. Everything was soft, out of focus, or just not properly lighted. It was most definitely not my best day. I still got a few shots I liked but I was disappointed. A couple days later, we hit the high school again and my brain and hands remembered the whole process a bit better and I got some of the shots I had wanted to get the first time around.

Here's my two favorites:




If you want to check out the others I managed to get, here's a slideshow of the rest.