Where I’m at
(Sorry for the old photo from 2004)
No I haven’t disappeared. I’ve just moved down the road a piece. A little over a month ago my lovely wife was hired at a residential treatment center to pursue her passion of social work. She just graduated with her Masters from UNO and it’s the perfect fit. She loves her job and the kids that she’s helping through both individual and group therapy.
The thing is, the center in is Albuquerque, and long time readers realize that we had to pack up and move. Jess came down in mid June and then I followed a couple of weeks ago after packing the apartment (with her help before she left) and finishing up my work at The Grand Island Independent. The best part about being down here has to be that we’ve both got family in the area. The low humidity is a close second though.
Now that I’m down here I’m focusing more than ever on finding a job. I worked on that before I left, but you can only do so much long distance. I’ve seen some good opportunities, but I haven’t gotten a call as of yet. I’ve got a few more lines in the water so we’ll have to wait and see what turns up.
Ironically though I’ll be back in Grand Island this coming week. I’ve got three senior portraits to work on, a possible family portrait and a wedding in Lincoln on Saturday. That will keep me busy for sure.
Wheat
Nebraska is known for its corn crop, but when I leave I’m going to remember the fields of wheat.
Crane Season
Every year the sandhill cranes arrive on their annual migration from the southern U.S. and Mexico to the northern tiers of Canada and Alaska. And every year I trudge out to find out if I’m any sort of wildlife photographer. Turns out I’m not.
It’s not that I can’t get a good shot of cranes. But the most interesting pictures are when they’re on the roost in the middle of the Platte River. I’ve only ever awoken at 4 a.m. to crawl into a blind once. I took some decent photographs, but nothing that really stands out as something interesting and different. So most years I drive around trying to photograph them while the feed in the area fields, mostly amidst the corn stalk stubble, where they forrage for leftover corn from the previous year’s harvest. And I get acceptable shots.
For this one picture I was able to drive up on the shoulder of the road to where the cranes were pretty close, seeing as I was carrying a 400mm lens with a doubler. The lines of the field created nice backdrop and the crane in the middle kept looking up while walking away from me with his buddies. Not too bad, but it doesn’t match the work done by Michael Forsberg or my friend Rick Rasmussen.
The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote
Over Christmas my wife and I escaped the cold snap and blizzard of Nebraska to visit my folks in Albuquerque, NM. We’ve been down there a few time so we are familiar with much of the wildlife. (I can say though I haven’t seen any tarantulas, rattlesnakes or scorpions.) Common in the area are road runners. Now, being old enough to have enjoyed the cartoon, I thought they stood pretty tall. They don’t. They’re small and as long as Wile E. Coyote (or my parents’ dog, Nina) is in the house, they aren’t afraid to come up to the house. Thus this cute shot of one on a rock.
However, after seeing Nina through a window this is what happened. Now I’ve heard of animals puffing up to make themselves appear bigger and unswallowable, but I’d never heard of a bird doing it. Pretty cool.
Highway 34 — Platte River
Well I guess we can safely say this was taken a while ago. With the state reeling from bitter cold temperatures over the past week this shot from Halloween looks down right tropical.
