Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Wildflowers


The wildflowers are in full bloom all along the bluffs above the East Bottoms. All very tiny and delicate but beautiful in their precision.















Thursday, March 24, 2011

Clouds

Wednesday the wind and clouds combined to create myriad shapes in the sky.... and quickly.
Above, Indian Mound in silhouette and below in contrast to the gray sky.

The rest of these images were taken from the top of the Mound above looking North and below looking up....All were taken with the Nikon D3.... multiple exposures at the same time and then I selected three or four or nine... to merge into one HDR image. 24-70 zoom used for all.

What is interesting to me is that the above shot looks remarkably like those looking down from the space shuttle over the oceans...

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Beauty And The Beast

Seen during my walk around Pendleton Heights today.... above, Spring blossoms and the Tiffany Mansion.... below, turkey vulture.... which would have nothing to do with me coming closer..... proves, I guess, that I don't look dead.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Samantha

Just one more quarter and my latest subject, Samantha, will be a freshman in high school. She plays violin and guitar, draws, and already knows that she wants to be an architect. At her age I was still in potty training.
We did a few studio shots and then headed to the West Bottoms for more casual shots that match her personality. All images captured with the Nikon D3. Studio shots with the Nikon 105mm macro, 1/250th and F16 at ASA 200. Location shots all taken with the 70-200 F2.8 Nikon Zoom at F8, F11 and F2.8.... ASA from 200 to 800 using the SB900 for fill when necessary.







Saturday, March 19, 2011

Honeysuckle Be Gone

Saturday stalwart residents of Northeast, Pendleton Heights, Scarritt Renaissance and Indian Mound helps clear bush honeysuckle from an area just west of the Colonnade on the Concourse.
We worked in partnership with KC Parks and Recreation which furnished men, chainsaws and a wood chipper... the difference is remarkable....


Above and below show the area before we attacked.

Above Mike and Olga raking and piling.

All ages were involved in the clearing and cleanup.
Above, Leslie getting some exercise.
As usual over here much of the work was done on hillsides....


Above, Adam Schieber rakes.... after the scrub trees and honeysuckle was cut the stumps were painted with herbicide. After a couple of weeks Parks and Rec will come back in and cut the stumps at ground level. Thus this area can then be regularly mowed to prevent re-occurence.
Mike, foreground and Jeff in the background.... we hauled the branches up the hill and Parks chipped them.... two truck loads came from this relatively small area.
Above, Jason multi-tasking... he is the Neighborhood Beautification Czar for Scarritt Renaissance.

Leslie in the background (blogged her home in a recent post) raking so the stumps are visible.
Our crew started at 9am and Adam broke out the grille at noon. The rain started just as we began eating.
Above, Andrea, community organizer for the new HELP organization and Don Bosco....

Kade and Kerry above in Dad's truck.
Malenda... assistant beautification czarina and person in charge of our bicycle rack art project. More on that in a future blog.
What a difference a day makes.... Parks and Rec furnishes the tools, the neighborhood furnishes gloves and trashbags.



Hard work but well worth it. It's good to partner with the City in these projects.