The 22nd of the month

Contrast these two pictures taken from the same location. The first was taken on February 22nd and the second on July 22nd.

Sam

 

This is a photo of Sam, my Papillon. This was taken on a Sunday afternoon in early May. On May 24th, we had to put him to sleep because of a respiratory problem that he suffered from for over a year. It was a gut-wrenching decision to make, but one I can live with knowing how each day was difficult for him. I’m just glad I took this last picture of him.

Goodbye old friend…

February snow

A relatively mild snowstorm hit the Chicago area Sunday evening. Elgin received about 3-4 inches of wet, heavy snow. This photo was taken looking south at the treeline.

Frankenstein grave in winter

I was at the cemetery this morning clearing snow after our big snowfall a couple of days ago. I went around and took some photos including this photo of the Frankenstein grave in the north section.

Storm clouds on Highway 26

Photo I took of storm clouds during the summer of 2008 driving east along Nebraska Highway 26 near Castle Rock and Chimney Rock.

Jonas Paradise

I have been a volunteer at Jewish Graceland Cemetery for almost two years. I help with the cemetery maintenance—mainly cutting grass. I always try to take note of the tombstones and usually catch myself looking at the names and the ages of when they passed away. Today I was working on a section that I had not worked on before and found this tombstone. I was struck by the name on it.

Wrigley

A photo of our little dog, Wrigley, who was watching me as I took pictures of our garden. This is a rare pose as he was keeping still as I snapped the picture!

First sunflower of 2009

Frankenstein gravestone with sepia background

via flickr.com

OK, this is one of my pictures. On some of the History Channel documentaries, they have used spot color on either black and white photos or sepia photos to create an "historic" effect. The spot "color" is either black and white or sepia depending on the photo. It's an interesting effect when used within the context of old photographs.

I tried this with one of my pictures of the famous Frankenstein gravestone at Jewish Graceland Cemetery. The photo was originally taken in color. I first converted it to black and white and saved it (after saving a copy). I then added a duplicate layer and then converted it to sepia. I then used the eraser tool to "restore" the gravestone to black and white.

I use Paint.NET which is an excellent freeware program.

Posted via web from Steve's posterous

Frankenstein’s grave in the fall

Here’s another photo of the Frankenstein grave at the Jewish Graceland Cemetery. I took the photo right after I cleaned out the weeds and cut the grass. I would like to go back to the cemetery in the winter after a snowfall and take photos of selected gravesites.

Nebraska “Rocks!”

I thought it would be fun to post a slideshow of photos taken during my Nebraska trip of Courthouse, Jail, Castle and Chimney Rocks. Flickr has a new slideshow application that I wanted to try.

Lazy-U Motel

I found this old, abandoned motel while driving along Highway 26 in Broadwater, Nebraska.

Frankenstein!

Photo of the large Frankenstein family gravestone at Jewish Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. This photo was taken in late afternoon in October 2007. The leaves on a nearby tree cast a shadow over the stone.

Double rainbow

Double rainbow taken Friday night. This was taken from my back deck.

Abraham Lincoln

Kevin and I had a fun day on Friday. I chaperoned his 7th grade field trip to Springfield, Illinois. We visited a number of Lincoln-related sites including the Abraham Lincoln Museum, his burial site and his home. We didn't get back home until 9:00 p.m. in the evening, but it was a fun day nonetheless.

Here is a photo of his home at 8th and Jackson Streets in Springfield.

Way too long!

It's been way too long since I've posted anything here. I just noticed that the last pictures were posted in January! Lots of things going on -- too much to post here -- but I wanted to post this photo of my late Papillon, Mozart. In September, we moved into a new home that we built in Elgin, Illinois. Two weeks after we moved in, Mozart was snatched and killed by a coyote! To say how upsetting it's been for me and the family is an understatement. Now that it's been nearly six weeks since he was killed, the pain is still searing. It's going to be a long time before I get over it. I miss him especially in the evening when he would sit on my lap while I was watching TV or on the computer.

Sunrise photos

I usually try to be at work by 7:00 a.m. During this time of year, that usually means arriving during the dark (and sometimes coming home in the dark). One of the advantages, however, is viewing the sunrise from our part of the office building. The past few days we have witnessed some beautiful sunrises and I took our office camera (Nikon D-70) and snapped several photos. These photos were taken of separate sunrises over the Chicago skyline.

Hosted on Flickr

Christmas Eve

Hosted on Flickr

Photo taken Christmas Eve. I used my company's Nikon D70 and mounted it on my tripod. The light source was a combination of the tree lights, fireplace and candles. No flash was used and the exposure was 0.4 seconds.

First snow

Hosted on Flickr

We had our first snowfall of the season early Friday morning. We eventually received about 11 inches. This photo was taken very early Saturday morning and then manipulated using a Photoshop plug-in.

Halloween in the 'burbs

Hosted on Flickr

My wife gets the credit for decorating our house for Halloween. Every year the display grows. We're almost at the point of needing a separate storage area just for our Halloween and Christmas decorations!