Elmendorf air show -  June 28-29  - Arctic Thunder

Last weekend the Air Force was in town and showed us their amazing men and women demonstrating what they do.  Hats off to them, and all our armed forces this 4th of July.  Thanks, for keeping us free.

From a photography perspective, this was a first for me. I found AF would not work, so I was using manual with a wide open aperture (very narrow depth of field) trying to catch the action at 1/1600 of a second.  I now have a real respect for action photographers! Thank goodness for digital, so I could "burn" the 100's of images out of focus, at no cost!

On to the show.

Jon Melby started things off with loops, rolls and dives.

The F22 Raptor war bird was inspected by its pilot before launched into the sky.  A fly by with belly open, anawesome machine!  When it throttled up it's Pratt & Whitney engines and went by low and fast, water vapors didamazing things in the air.  The WWII P51 mustang fighter, 'ole yeller , took to the air and it was really cool to see how far we've come when it flew wing tip towing tip with the raptor.

Students from the academy also took to the air , what a pleasure to see and meet these fine young men and women serving.

Then, the Thunderbird pilots climbed into their F16s and started their demonstration. The day had a variety of clouds providing a varied and dramatic back drop. Speed, precision, teamwork. They flew in the diamond low and high. 

Below is a sequence that I wanted to put in a slide show, but don't know how yet, sorry...

 Tbird02 Tbird03 Tbird04 Tbird05 Tbird06 

Sequence pilot is one of two women on the team, an Alaskan local, Maj. Samantha Weeks (http://community.adn.com/mini_apps/vmix/player.php?ID=1963043&GID=118), you go girl!!!

Wheels down and lined up with the run way. Truely an awesome show, sure made me proud, congratulations to our air force on this 4th of July, 2008.

(I've added a flight in an f16 to my bucket list)

 

Forgive me for so many...My daughter and I took Benjamin to the Zoo..Despite 90 degree weather and a flat tire...we had a great time...Happy 4th everyone!

Making A Connection

Bird's Eye View

Sittin' Pretty

Swimmin'

Lookin Good

Drinking It In

Monkeying Around

Proud To Be An American!!!

I want to watch the sunset with you.and watch the flowers grow, I love you so much,  You're  Amazing.

In keeping with the day a coupla pics.  One repeat gusting_old_glory and one taken last year at the Tarkio air show.  4th_July Everyone have a great 4th of July celebration.

where it all began 

Here are a couple of shots....F_22a  F_22b   F_22c   F_22d   F_22e   F_22f 

Today we celebrate another year of our ability to come together as a nation and be great.The Golden Gate on the 4th 

These flags are on the graves of men who fought in the Revolutionary War In Pennsylvania. 

 

Prunes Gets The Day Off. 

Im going back to a place that I loveStrummin away those blues People relax and have a good timeOn shore at rest.... Plan battlesA nightmare....  and create nightmares for other peopleB&W Flags  And lift the spirit of a nation...

 

This happened last year at Ft Mac Arthur's Moment in Time in San Pedro, Ca.

Every, well almost every fighting unit from Iraq to the Romans are there along with some of the people the fought, American Indians and Pirates, and the other side of there own conflict. 

It's great fun...if you in the area stop by...oh yea they have trucks, jeeps, 1/2 tracks...and more... July 11-12

Happy Forth of July everyone! Comments Welcome!   Blessings!

ride a donkey

 

Happy Independance day Everyone!! Especially those past and present that gave us the independance to celebrate!!

 

 

In April, my sister brought 4 of her kids up for a visit.  We gathered all into the car and went to the zoo.  After visiting some birds (Strange looking bird , An pretty bird ), the kids wanted to take a little rest Kids at the zoo .

Here Grace (my niece) took a rare moment to "love" my son, Lucas Cousins , and pose while I tested out a new lens Grace - up close.

We saw a couple Monkey on a log and An Elephant , and overall had a good time.

OK, so this has to be the lamest story in the history of lame stories, but since it has been a while since I have been on PHOTOgraphica, I just thought I would test out the waters here before posting more.

Comments appreciated, good or bad. 

This is my bi Challenge Photo..hope you enjoy as much as I did photographing it.No enhancement of any kind.Oh so close to catching the Sun (My first upload) I sure hope I do it right. 

this dragon must be a steelers fan.steeler colors 

An old barn that caught my eye

Barn OE 

Reach for the sun sunflower

Sure hope each and everyone has a safe weekend and if fortunate enough to be traveling the highways be extra careful and try not to get 'road rage'

It has been several years and several life changing events since I've posted a story in Photographica...  This unique site is a fun place to share and I'm really glad to see the community is alive and well and so many of the same great folks are participating.  Cory, thanks for sending me an email to come back and take a look and also thanks to BB for getting me started here several years back.  Well, last weekend I had the camera with me and took a few shots of the water catching the sun and throwing it back at me.

 spark1 spark2

The next day brought some stormy clouds and I caught this fast flying bird catching some sun on its wings TBspark4 

On the 4th (tomorrow), I'll post a few more patriotic pictures from the show.

p.s. can someone send me a link to the "how to post a story" in Photographica.  Things have changed a lot. I managed to get this posted but not sure what I was doing or if the thumbnail would post, etc.   Thanks!

I got July 3rd and 4th off this year.  What to do with all that free time?  Why not get up and drive to Roan Mountain TN/NC for sunrise?  Never mind it's over an hour away and sunrise is at 6:00 AM.  Off we went.  We didn't actually make it to the mountain top for sunrise.  We did stop along the road to get this sunrise shot.

Sunrise On The Road 

Roan Mountain is famous for the catawba rhododendrons that grow wild in huge gardens at the 6000 plus foot plus elevations.  The gardens are the largest natural gardens of this kind in the world.  We missed the peak by a week or more.  Most of the flowers were on the ground.

Fallen Flower 

Another wild flower that grows on the mountian is the Flame Azalea.  This was growing on the balds, which are high round grassy mountain tops in the Roan Highlands.

Flame On! 

Finally, it was the peak time for the Gray Lilly.  Pollinated by hummingbirds, it was discovered by Asa Gray, father of American botany, in 1841. It is one of the Roan Highlands 75 rare plant species and is found in few other places on Earth.

Gray's Lilly 

If you're ever in the East Tennessee / Western North Carolina area around the third week of June you'll want to head up to Roan Mountain.  The flowers are fantastic.

Richard

Here are some more my trying to catch the sun.

sun in the trees  the_sun_in_the_sun_3  sun_on_top_of_a_poll    un_on_a_poll_1  Sun on pole  sun_in_the_trees_4  sun_on_a_roof  Sun thru the pines 

Well that's it for me, I tryed to catch the sun.

Thanks for viewing my posts and thank you for your comments.

 

 

These are some things that really get on my nerves...

 

People only seeing in black and white.

People who look down on you because you are younger than they are.

Any and all things fake.

 

 

...inspiration! It is back! 

 

There has been a fire burning here in the outskirts of phoenix and it has been turning the sun blood red at times. The cloud of smoke rising over the mountains has coated alot of places with ash as a result. I think it is under control now but the other day it was controlled craziness. Here is my entry to capture the sun as well as an oldie but a favorite...

Armageddon 

View by the Pool

Sunny Smoke

Ploom

Social Hour 2

 

Guess what I got out for a bit today. Of course it was to take my son to a appointment but we made the best of it. It was a rainy morning and after his appointment we stopped to check out the nature path near the creek. It was still raining but only drizzle at the time. We parked the Van and went to the bridge. 

My son found something very cool and this is the photo story of this finding.

place_of_Snapping Turtle Paradise

waters_of_Snapping turtle Paradise

the_bridge_to_Snapping turtle paradise

flowers_of_the same

water_lilleys_from

the_dance_of Snapping turtle love

wrestling_snapping turtles

trying_to_flip_over

snapping_turtle_love

My son is old enough to what is going on here. lol!

Enjoy and smile for the snapping turtles in Love. ;)

All photos were taken with my Nikon 70-300 VR lens.

(I am sorry but I tried to do the slide show for this and again I could not get it to work. I have done slide shows befor and had no problems. Whats up)