Say what you want about Kansas. I know all the jokes about is being boring and flat (note zero flat land in today’s picture). I love Kansas for many reasons. 4 real seasons, sometimes available in 1 week. The sunrise and sunsets are also pretty remarkable.
Today’s was shot in Atchison, KS just after we had dinner with my sister. The lovely orange and pink colors were beaming through the clouds just a few minutes earlier.
Nikon D7000 | 1/80 | ISO 160 | 55mm | f/5.6 | flash: not used.
Located just between our building and the tranquil woods that are west of our church building lies a great airplane. This plane is such a size that even the person that made the line ” Da Plane Boss, Da Plane” famous would feel was just the right size.
This plane will never fly, but it’s occupants will certainly see themselves soaring in their minds eye. This plane you see, is piloted by 2-6 year olds. They still have the magic that many of us adults have long lost. Imagination.
It was near dusk with the sun being filtered through the not-yet filled out canopy of the woods next to the playground. The sun was that nice deep yellow that really makes colors pop, especially the colors this is painted.
Nikon D7000 | 1/125 | ISO 200 | 50mm prime | f/5.6 | flash - not used
Had a great time last night at Lake Shawnee with my family, we walked around and enjoyed the awesome annual Tulip Time. Shawnee County has done a great job making the Lake a really great place to be. Beautiful pathways, nice rentable shelters, and picturesque gazebos.
Today’s picture of the day was quite hard to select, there were several great candidates - you can find them here.
Nikon D7000 | 1/500 | ISO 360 | 75mm | f/5.6 | flash - not used.
While I was growing up in Topeka I used to love to drive up to Skyline Park which sits atop Burnetts Mound. In recent years the city has let the park go to ruin, and even shut it down to all auto traffic at some point. I have tried not less than 8 times in the last 2 years to get back up there by casually driving by. Today I was bent on getting a nice sunset image – so I headed of to Skyline Park.
Upon arriving I found the drive padlocked – with, not kidding, four padlocks on one chain. Just to the right of this is a sign telling me it is open until a half-hour after sunset. This was not surprising to me, as this is how it sat the last 2 years.
Last fall Westar has taken an interest in revitalizing the city park. In October they had a volunteer work day to start it off, then in mid March they had another workday. Not sure when it will be completed, but I am looking forward to it. Kudos for local business taking interest in their community.
The drive up has many memories of my youth, from sledding behind an SUV (not a wise idea kids), to playing in the now-locked storm shelter. I even recall some time sitting on a blanket on the west side during sunset. We used to hop up there to see storm fronts in the area.
Moving on, I parked my van nearby and hiked up the north side, then tracked around and up the west side. The image below was taken just as the sun started to near the horizon. It was a picture perfect evening – just gorgeous.
If you want to see the other images from tonight, check here
According to this Cap Journal article, we may have a grand opening around independence day. Also, another blogger had the same locked gate issue and provides a ton of back story to the mound also.
One last thing I will add – here is a surreal article from Popular Mechanics from March in 1967 relating to the mound & the 1966 F5 twister that leveled a huge strip of Topeka.
Nikon D7000 | 1/2000 | ISO 200 | 400mm | f/32 | flash - not used.
Tonight I was on the hunt for a good work related image. The once I decided on appeared just as the Sun was setting in the west. Our windows have a 95% light block mesh screens, preventing very distracting light bleed in the evenings.
This image worked out well in color, but I tried monochrome and really was much happier. Since the console is a dark charcoal color, this forced the light to highlight the texture of the console. I played with many several apature, iso, and shutter speed settings to land at this. It was very dim in the room at the time, making it an even larger challenge to pull off a nice shot.
For those who don’t know, a Yamaha M7CL is a digital audio console. It is the tool used for mixing all the difference vocals, instruments, effects, and other audio sources in our Worship services.
Nikon D7000 | 1/1000 | ISO 1250 | 50mm | f/3.2 | flash - not used.
Recent Comments