Walking today was a total bust - forgot my camera at home, and then almost got locked in. So no picture updates.
Instead I will share this with you - underwater housing for my camera. So, feel free to pick this up for me, as well as a trip to someplace I can utilize my pitiful SCUBA skills to see some fish.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Recent walks
Quick post with links to my recent walks:
Apr. 28 walk/run at Melton Greenway
Apr. 29 walk at Melton Greenway
Apr. 29 walk at UT Arboretum
Apr. 28 walk/run at Melton Greenway
Apr. 29 walk at Melton Greenway
Apr. 29 walk at UT Arboretum
Today's walk in Oak Ridge, Part 2
The walk at Melton only took me 45 minutes or so, and it was around 5:45 when I got back to my car. Traffic really stinks getting from Oak ridge back to Knoxville around that time, so I packed up and headed down to the UT Arboretum. It's just down the road a couple of miles from Melton, and is usually a pretty peaceful walk. I brought the camera out with me since I had it along anyway.
I didn't think there'd be a lot going on at the Arboretum, but turns out I was wrong! Saw a groovie caterpillar right after I got out of the car, and decided to try out a macro shot or two. Probably the best one:
Unfortunately, as I was swapping the macro ring out right after that picture, I dropped my freakin' lens on the pavement. The lens seems to have escaped unharmed other than some scratches, but it was still frustrating. Being clumsy sucks sometimes.
After the caterpillar, I headed toward the trails, and stopped by the visitor center on the way. Lo and behold, they had a flower similar to the ones we couldn't identify!!
After snooping around a bit, I found a placard labeling these as American Columbine (actually it may have referred to the red ones, but close enough). That makes a lot of sense, since they look very similar to the Wild Columbine we saw out at Fall Creek Falls -
Upon a little further research, they all seem to be species of Columbine. The purple ones, and the white ones, seem to be introduced species. Mystery solved! With that out of the way, I headed up into the woods. I got some other shots that I'll post later, including a pretty bad-ass beetle.
Near the end of the walk I spotted some inch-worms on a bench and decided to try out the macro again. I'm pretty pleased with some of the results. I really needed to de-stress some today, and I found that during my walk, it was really nice to just slow down a bit. I started looking for the random sources of noise from out in the leaves, and got to see a bunch of cool little bugs and whatnot. It was great to just be out in the woods and not really worrying about work or crap for a little while.
Here's a shot with the 18-55mm lens with no macro, fully zoomed:
And now, the macro versions of the same inch worm:
And a couple of others:
The macro work really is difficult because you get so little depth of field. I really had to work hard just to get what little parts of the bugs I did into focus.
I shot a ton of other pictures, but again, these ones stood out as pretty good without any editing having to be done. I think this weekend I'm going to look into cropping some of them, fixing the colors, etc. For some reason, a lot of the shots I take are turning out very blue when in Auto mode. If I'm in "Flower" mode, they look fine, and I think they're also pretty decent in the manual modes. Need to look into that.
I didn't think there'd be a lot going on at the Arboretum, but turns out I was wrong! Saw a groovie caterpillar right after I got out of the car, and decided to try out a macro shot or two. Probably the best one:
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
Unfortunately, as I was swapping the macro ring out right after that picture, I dropped my freakin' lens on the pavement. The lens seems to have escaped unharmed other than some scratches, but it was still frustrating. Being clumsy sucks sometimes.
After the caterpillar, I headed toward the trails, and stopped by the visitor center on the way. Lo and behold, they had a flower similar to the ones we couldn't identify!!
 |
| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
After snooping around a bit, I found a placard labeling these as American Columbine (actually it may have referred to the red ones, but close enough). That makes a lot of sense, since they look very similar to the Wild Columbine we saw out at Fall Creek Falls -
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| From Fall Creek Falls Wildflowers - 2010-04-17 |
Upon a little further research, they all seem to be species of Columbine. The purple ones, and the white ones, seem to be introduced species. Mystery solved! With that out of the way, I headed up into the woods. I got some other shots that I'll post later, including a pretty bad-ass beetle.
Near the end of the walk I spotted some inch-worms on a bench and decided to try out the macro again. I'm pretty pleased with some of the results. I really needed to de-stress some today, and I found that during my walk, it was really nice to just slow down a bit. I started looking for the random sources of noise from out in the leaves, and got to see a bunch of cool little bugs and whatnot. It was great to just be out in the woods and not really worrying about work or crap for a little while.
Here's a shot with the 18-55mm lens with no macro, fully zoomed:
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
And now, the macro versions of the same inch worm:
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
And a couple of others:
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
The macro work really is difficult because you get so little depth of field. I really had to work hard just to get what little parts of the bugs I did into focus.
I shot a ton of other pictures, but again, these ones stood out as pretty good without any editing having to be done. I think this weekend I'm going to look into cropping some of them, fixing the colors, etc. For some reason, a lot of the shots I take are turning out very blue when in Auto mode. If I'm in "Flower" mode, they look fine, and I think they're also pretty decent in the manual modes. Need to look into that.
Today's walk in Oak Ridge, Part 1
After a *spectacular* day at work, I really needed some outside time, and the weather was finally very agreeable. So, I set forth to Melton Greenway to grab some photos of some flowers Blair and I saw yesterday and couldn't identify.
I got there and saw some ducks in the parking lot, and for some reason they seemed extremely cute to me, so I grabbed some photos of them as well:
I've always thought Mallards to be wicked cool for some reason.
So anyway, I also grabbed some photos of those flowers:
and
I really like that shot of the purple ones. Might even be worth printing out at a reasonable size.
That was pretty much all of the excitement from Melton. I'm not posting a link to the full album at the moment, because I've only picked out a few photos and intend to expand it later (probably this week).
I got there and saw some ducks in the parking lot, and for some reason they seemed extremely cute to me, so I grabbed some photos of them as well:
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
I've always thought Mallards to be wicked cool for some reason.
So anyway, I also grabbed some photos of those flowers:
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
and
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| From Oak Ridge Walks - 2010-04-29 |
I really like that shot of the purple ones. Might even be worth printing out at a reasonable size.
That was pretty much all of the excitement from Melton. I'm not posting a link to the full album at the moment, because I've only picked out a few photos and intend to expand it later (probably this week).
Monday, April 26, 2010
Trip to Fall Creek Falls (part 2)
Since there was still some daylight once we were done with flower-stalking, we also did the hike up to Fall Creek Falls. To be honest, the actual Fall Creek Falls was pretty mediocre. The falls were partially hidden by some foliage, and didn't make for a very good picture. Much better were the other overlooks on the way up to the main one. Thus, photos:
One of the overlooks:
The view straight down a couple of hundred feet over the edge:
Me trying to climb back up after falling down:
OK, OK, I didn't really fall down.
Blair sure knows how to capture me being an idiot:
Did I mention the rope bridge?
Links to full albums:
Falls and other scenery
Pictures of me
All in all, a fun trip. Just wish the weather had held our in the week that followed. Maybe next year! Or maybe in the fall.
One of the overlooks:
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| From Fall Creek Falls Other - 2010-04-17 |
The view straight down a couple of hundred feet over the edge:
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| From Fall Creek Falls Other - 2010-04-17 |
Me trying to climb back up after falling down:
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| From Fall Creek Falls People - 2010-04-17 (photos by Blair) |
OK, OK, I didn't really fall down.
Blair sure knows how to capture me being an idiot:
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| From Fall Creek Falls |
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| From Fall Creek Falls |
Did I mention the rope bridge?
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| From Fall Creek Falls |
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| From Fall Creek Falls |
Links to full albums:
Falls and other scenery
Pictures of me
All in all, a fun trip. Just wish the weather had held our in the week that followed. Maybe next year! Or maybe in the fall.
Trip to Fall Creek Falls
So, weekend before last I went to Fall Creeks Falls with Blair. The main purpose was to see lots of cool wildflowers, with a secondary goal of getting in a good hike. Both goals were achieved with minimal injury (I ended up with two ticks, ewwwww).
In our search for wildflowers, we followed the recommendation from the park ranger-types and headed to Crusher Hole and Camps Branch. These are a couple of adjunct properties to the park, maybe a 15 minute drive from the main property. First up was Crusher Hole. I'm not sure we actually ever got to "Crusher Hole" itself. It turns out this place is up a small dirt road. The Civic did pretty well until the road turned a hairpin going up at a 45 degree angle with a rock jutting out from the top. Needless to say, after losing a little rubber spinning the tire, and some expert direction from Blair, we turned around and parked the car a little further down. Many many wildflowers to be seen. Most of them I had never seen before, never having really been out in the mountains in the spring. A selection of a few cool ones:
Wild columbine:
Prairie trillium:
Long spurred violet:
From Crusher Hole we backtracked a bit and hit Camps Branch. This was more like an easy hike. The trail ran along an old riverbed. We didn't see too many new flowers. However, there were a ton of dwarf crested irises like this one:
Anyway, you can check out the whole album. I think I might go back on some of these and crop in a bit closer around the flowers. I suspect most folks aren't going to be looking at these on huge monitors. Then again, I suspect most folks won't be looking at these in the first place.
See the next post for pictures from the hike.
In our search for wildflowers, we followed the recommendation from the park ranger-types and headed to Crusher Hole and Camps Branch. These are a couple of adjunct properties to the park, maybe a 15 minute drive from the main property. First up was Crusher Hole. I'm not sure we actually ever got to "Crusher Hole" itself. It turns out this place is up a small dirt road. The Civic did pretty well until the road turned a hairpin going up at a 45 degree angle with a rock jutting out from the top. Needless to say, after losing a little rubber spinning the tire, and some expert direction from Blair, we turned around and parked the car a little further down. Many many wildflowers to be seen. Most of them I had never seen before, never having really been out in the mountains in the spring. A selection of a few cool ones:
Wild columbine:
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| From Fall Creek Falls Wildflowers - 2010-04-17 |
Prairie trillium:
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| From Fall Creek Falls Wildflowers - 2010-04-17 |
Long spurred violet:
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| From Fall Creek Falls Wildflowers - 2010-04-17 |
From Crusher Hole we backtracked a bit and hit Camps Branch. This was more like an easy hike. The trail ran along an old riverbed. We didn't see too many new flowers. However, there were a ton of dwarf crested irises like this one:
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| From Fall Creek Falls Wildflowers - 2010-04-17 |
Anyway, you can check out the whole album. I think I might go back on some of these and crop in a bit closer around the flowers. I suspect most folks aren't going to be looking at these on huge monitors. Then again, I suspect most folks won't be looking at these in the first place.
See the next post for pictures from the hike.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Random photos from phone
Just a couple of quick snaps from the post-run walk:
Pretty little clump of yellow violets (species TBD):
Mayapple:
The Mayapple, AKA Mandrake, was really cool. The flower is actually below the leaves of the plant. You can see some of these other leaves to the lower right of the picture.
Wish I had a better camera at the time, but I suspect I don't want to run with my camera bag on my back. Not sure it would be good for either of us.
Pretty little clump of yellow violets (species TBD):
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| From Random iphone pictures |
Mayapple:
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| From Random iphone pictures |
The Mayapple, AKA Mandrake, was really cool. The flower is actually below the leaves of the plant. You can see some of these other leaves to the lower right of the picture.
Wish I had a better camera at the time, but I suspect I don't want to run with my camera bag on my back. Not sure it would be good for either of us.
Recent activities
I've been trying to get outside since the weather has been so beautiful. Recently I have:
Mckinney Ridge Trail:
Garmin output
Didn't take a lot of photos here. It was a pretty nice hike, but not a lot to look at in terms of "oh hey that's awesome!" Here a couple of samples though:
Full album is here. Also need to note that the GPS took forever to get a signal lock, so ~.6mi at the beginning of the walk/hike is missing.
Back to running
Also got out to run today. Managed 2.5mi without dying, so I should be good to go for the 5K in a week. Here's what the run looked like
- Gone to Fall Creek Falls to stalk wildflowers and hike
- Explored the McKinney Ridge Trail in Oak Ridge
- Gotten back out to run at Third Creek
Mckinney Ridge Trail:
Garmin output
Didn't take a lot of photos here. It was a pretty nice hike, but not a lot to look at in terms of "oh hey that's awesome!" Here a couple of samples though:
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| From 2010-04-22-wheat district greenway |
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| From 2010-04-22-wheat district greenway |
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| From 2010-04-22-wheat district greenway |
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| From 2010-04-22-wheat district greenway |
Full album is here. Also need to note that the GPS took forever to get a signal lock, so ~.6mi at the beginning of the walk/hike is missing.
Back to running
Also got out to run today. Managed 2.5mi without dying, so I should be good to go for the 5K in a week. Here's what the run looked like
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Posted photos from mountain biking debacle
The photos from my mountain biking debacle have been posted. I'm not going to put any in the post because they're kinda gory. Quick summary: went down a hill without realizing quite how steep and rutted it was. Flew off the bike maybe 6 feet before landing face first on the gravel road. Then had to walk the bike out another mile and a half or so. Blair was a good camera person though :)
For reference, here's the data from my Garmin for the incident. You might notice the spike around 3.7, 3.8mi. That's where all the fun happened. The "player" link might be more interesting. Also interesting to look at the graph of my heart rate as compared to speed....
Anyway, photos are here.
For reference, here's the data from my Garmin for the incident. You might notice the spike around 3.7, 3.8mi. That's where all the fun happened. The "player" link might be more interesting. Also interesting to look at the graph of my heart rate as compared to speed....
Anyway, photos are here.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Posted some older albums
So I got industrious and posted pictures to a few albums. The first album you'll need request a link to. As it features people I know, I've decided not to post links publicly at this time. This album just has some pictures I snapped at work soon after I got my D5000. It happened to tbe Sysadmin Day 2009! The best picture feature an evil looking Daniel....
The other album is documenting my trip to Big South Fork in Dec. 2009. Not really any stunning or even mediocre photography, but it was a good trip. Pictures are here.
I took some (lame) self portraits this January. Thinking about putting them up, but waffling. If anyone actually wants to see, I might post them....
The other album is documenting my trip to Big South Fork in Dec. 2009. Not really any stunning or even mediocre photography, but it was a good trip. Pictures are here.
I took some (lame) self portraits this January. Thinking about putting them up, but waffling. If anyone actually wants to see, I might post them....
Exhausted
The pollen here in Knoxville is really killing me - sinuses and itchy eyes are no fun at all. I can't take Claritin with the decongestant; it makes me totally spacey. So I'm stuck with my prescriptions+normal Claritin+eye drops, and they're just not doing the trick.
Despite this, I needed to get out and relieve some stress, so I went to walk at Lakeshore. The walk turned into a run I think I probably needed. All the fun stats are here. Quick summary: managed to run 2mi straight including the crazy hill at the end. Woo me.
I haven't taken any reasonable pictures in the last couple of days, so here's a link to my Hawaii trip in January of 2008. Highlights included hiking up a dormant volcano (Diamondhead), snorkeling with Chip, the subsequent sunburn, a trip to Chinatown (no pictures) and a stop at the Pearl Harbor memorial before I had to catch my place out. Pretty cool trip, I should have gotten out and done more. It's gotta be a good time when work pays for you to stay right on Waikiki beach :)
I may or may not get some older photos into Picasa tonight. Depends on how productive I feel. Right now - not very much!
Despite this, I needed to get out and relieve some stress, so I went to walk at Lakeshore. The walk turned into a run I think I probably needed. All the fun stats are here. Quick summary: managed to run 2mi straight including the crazy hill at the end. Woo me.
I haven't taken any reasonable pictures in the last couple of days, so here's a link to my Hawaii trip in January of 2008. Highlights included hiking up a dormant volcano (Diamondhead), snorkeling with Chip, the subsequent sunburn, a trip to Chinatown (no pictures) and a stop at the Pearl Harbor memorial before I had to catch my place out. Pretty cool trip, I should have gotten out and done more. It's gotta be a good time when work pays for you to stay right on Waikiki beach :)
I may or may not get some older photos into Picasa tonight. Depends on how productive I feel. Right now - not very much!
Friday, April 9, 2010
With my allergies really doing a number on my body today, and the Claritin making me a bit spacey, I decided not to run. Instead, I brought my camera out to the Emory Valley greenway to snap some shots. There were some really nice wildflowers out there last year. However, that might have been in the fall. There aren't a ton there right now.
Map of my journey.
Anyway, there weren't many spectacular flowers, but I did get to see a heron. Two in fact! After I saw the first one fly off across the lake, I thought it might be cool to try to catch it in flight back. I ended up hanging out a ways off the trail for maybe 10 minutes just waiting for the bugger to do some.
Herons walk slowly. Very slowly. It almost looked like he (she??) was stalking fish in the water or something. Eventually, though, it did take off:
To my surprise, it was quickly joined by another! They make a weird noise that is actually kind of low and guttural, which surprised me. Here's what they looked like:
The pictures of them in flight are a bit blurry. They were taken at full zoom on my 55-200mm lens, which was a relatively cheap purchase. Cheap lens = slow lens, plus I was kind of excited and probably not able to hold the camera as steady as I should have. Still, it was very cool.
That was pretty much the highlight of the journey. In all, it was a nice walk, and I was extremely glad my allergies didn't act up while I was out. Maybe the Claritin will be successful.
Check out the album for more pictures of: old cars, flowers, weird tree growths, herons, and a bunny!
Map of my journey.
Anyway, there weren't many spectacular flowers, but I did get to see a heron. Two in fact! After I saw the first one fly off across the lake, I thought it might be cool to try to catch it in flight back. I ended up hanging out a ways off the trail for maybe 10 minutes just waiting for the bugger to do some.
Herons walk slowly. Very slowly. It almost looked like he (she??) was stalking fish in the water or something. Eventually, though, it did take off:
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| From Emory Valley - 2010-04-09 |
To my surprise, it was quickly joined by another! They make a weird noise that is actually kind of low and guttural, which surprised me. Here's what they looked like:
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| From Emory Valley - 2010-04-09 |
The pictures of them in flight are a bit blurry. They were taken at full zoom on my 55-200mm lens, which was a relatively cheap purchase. Cheap lens = slow lens, plus I was kind of excited and probably not able to hold the camera as steady as I should have. Still, it was very cool.
That was pretty much the highlight of the journey. In all, it was a nice walk, and I was extremely glad my allergies didn't act up while I was out. Maybe the Claritin will be successful.
Check out the album for more pictures of: old cars, flowers, weird tree growths, herons, and a bunny!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Yesterday was a pretty big day for wildlife sightings. I saw no less than:
I stumbled on the deer at the UT Arboretum. No pictures though, not close enough for the iPhone. The Arboretum a really nice place for shorter walks. This time of the year some of the paths are just covered with small purple and white flowers. Not too hard to get in a 2-3mi walk without retracing your steps, but anything much longer than 4mi probably involves backtracking places you've already been.
Maybe at some point I can snap some decent snake pictures with my Nikon.
- 2 turtles
- 2 deer
- 3 snakes
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| From Wildlife - Apr 2010 |
I stumbled on the deer at the UT Arboretum. No pictures though, not close enough for the iPhone. The Arboretum a really nice place for shorter walks. This time of the year some of the paths are just covered with small purple and white flowers. Not too hard to get in a 2-3mi walk without retracing your steps, but anything much longer than 4mi probably involves backtracking places you've already been.
Maybe at some point I can snap some decent snake pictures with my Nikon.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Photos from Ijams Nature Center
I went to Ijams Nature Center Saturday intending to get some nice pictures of the wildflowers. The first half of the walk was actually pretty boring. All there really were were yellow trilliums. I think they've got an understated elegance, and are quite cool. However, I was looking for more color! More action! More suspense!
Ok, really just more color.
I eventually found it once I got to the riverwalk area. I found these really cool (and small) yellow and orange flowers:
I'll note that most pictures starting with those in this album were taken handheld with macro tubes on my 50mm prime lens. What this means is that generally the pictures were taken with me swaying back and forth snapping as many photos as possible in hopes that at least a couple from each set would be both in focus and have a reasonable depth of field. I've selected at least one from each batch to put in the album. They're not all great or even good, but gives an idea of what I saw. For the full effect of the coolness of the macro tubes, you should check out the full size photos (12MP) and see the cool level of detail on some of these things.
That's my long way of saying - sorry if they're blurry.
I was out around mid afternoon, which isn't the greatest time for flower shots. The sun is a bit harsh, and I don't have a hood for the lens I was using.
Aside from some really cool flower shots, I also saw an owl! It was way cool - I actually tracked it by its hooting. It seems like it might live above the visitor's center there.
Anyway, a couple of select shots follow. For the full album, hit up Picasa here.
Ok, really just more color.
I eventually found it once I got to the riverwalk area. I found these really cool (and small) yellow and orange flowers:
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| From Ijams - 2010-04-03 |
I'll note that most pictures starting with those in this album were taken handheld with macro tubes on my 50mm prime lens. What this means is that generally the pictures were taken with me swaying back and forth snapping as many photos as possible in hopes that at least a couple from each set would be both in focus and have a reasonable depth of field. I've selected at least one from each batch to put in the album. They're not all great or even good, but gives an idea of what I saw. For the full effect of the coolness of the macro tubes, you should check out the full size photos (12MP) and see the cool level of detail on some of these things.
That's my long way of saying - sorry if they're blurry.
I was out around mid afternoon, which isn't the greatest time for flower shots. The sun is a bit harsh, and I don't have a hood for the lens I was using.
Aside from some really cool flower shots, I also saw an owl! It was way cool - I actually tracked it by its hooting. It seems like it might live above the visitor's center there.
Anyway, a couple of select shots follow. For the full album, hit up Picasa here.
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| From Ijams - 2010-04-03 |
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| From Ijams - 2010-04-03 |
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| From Ijams - 2010-04-03 |
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| From Ijams - 2010-04-03 |
North Ridge Trail Greenway
Yesterday I attempted a new greenway - North Ridge Trail Greenway in Oak Ridge. This greenway is highly recommended as a National Walking Trail. I had to drive through some shadier parts of Oak Ridge, but found the entrance pretty easily. The first turn or so is pretty well blazed - this greenway is definitely more of a trail than the normal paved greenways in Knoxville and Oak Ridge. however, I traveled for some time after that and didn't notice any more blzes. After maybe a half mile, I ran straight into someone's driveway!
You can see the map of my journey here.
The lines are pretty inconsistent due to bad GPS reception, but you get the general gist of things.
Now, check out the map here.
Clock the "North Ridge" link at the bottom, then zoom in on the upper right part of of the trail. Notice that it's definitely not the same after the first tenth of the mile or so. I must have missed a blaze somewhere, or the trail is just horrible marked!
Needless to say, when I reached the driveway, and didn't notice a continuation on the other side, I figured something was wrong. Having forgotten my map in the car, and realizing that Tennesseans aren't at all shy about using their guns, I elected to return back to my vehicle.
Only came back with one pitiful photo from the experience:
You can see the map of my journey here.
The lines are pretty inconsistent due to bad GPS reception, but you get the general gist of things.
Now, check out the map here.
Clock the "North Ridge" link at the bottom, then zoom in on the upper right part of of the trail. Notice that it's definitely not the same after the first tenth of the mile or so. I must have missed a blaze somewhere, or the trail is just horrible marked!
Needless to say, when I reached the driveway, and didn't notice a continuation on the other side, I figured something was wrong. Having forgotten my map in the car, and realizing that Tennesseans aren't at all shy about using their guns, I elected to return back to my vehicle.
Only came back with one pitiful photo from the experience:
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| From Flowers - April 2010 |
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