An old lead mine?

I made it to what I believe to be an old lead/galena mine.This is out near Mossville, IL. I had a hell of a time getting to this place. I walked about 6 miles today trying to find it. Alas, I did find the place, as well as an old pump house. The pump house is off off route 29 in Mossville.

On Guard!

This is what happens when I get bored, wire is laying around, and Monty Python is playing in my head...

I assumed that today was going to be one of the last nice weather days, so I had to go back to my favorite farm. There are no really technical shots here, cause I wanted to just play around. I did however, make my first panorama from 5 shots.

Anyway:

Pictures of a camera, with a camera?

I thought that this object may be very photogenic...

At the train tracks

I ran over by the edge of Mossville/Chillicothe to some tracks that I have shot before. I was up on the tracks taking a few pictures, and then I noticed a train flying towards me. Like an idiot, I stepped about twenty feet off the tracks, and held the camera up.

I can understand what the wild-life photographers mean when they say that they don't feel like they are ever close to danger. While looking throught the viewfinder, all is calm and not real. When the camera is not up to your face, you get an understanding of just how close to things you really are. A train that is going 50+ and about 20-25 feet away is honestly an scary thing!

A bokeh.

Taken tonight with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, and a speed-light. Only one shot, but Brian wanted to see the bokeh that is capable. Brian, this shows a stepped blur. The magazine in the background is about four inches from the two lenses.

I will get more up when I get out and about.

And for good measure: Random Pictures

Scurvy, for 5 cents? I'm in...

Some from today & with a new lens

I had to go play with my new fisheye lens, and while it was cool to mess with, I ended up swapping the fisheye for my 50mm after about 30 shots. Anyway, here are a few of the ones I liked.

Why not try something new?

I decided that I was going to start playing with Photoshop a bit, and figured that I should try to make a photo look like it was done in a different media. I tried my best to make this look like pastel, on pastel paper. The first try is always the hardest, and subsequently, the worst.

With the new lens

A couple odd ones

New, old barns.

Today was a decent day, so I had to go find new things to shoot. About 30 miles north of Peoria, I ran across the barns. The only thing missing from my nice little trip was a cigar.

Mike & Jen's Wedding