Summer – Page 3 – tim mcmurdo

miami valley music fest 2001 pt. one

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

I have a backstage pass to the Miami Valley Music Fest 2011. You ask yourself, How did Tim score such a wonderful thing? Well, I tell you, you have to have talent, work hard, practice for hours on end, and know somebody. In this case, all of that hard work and that great connection comes in the form of my wife Jodi and her belly dance troupe. The girls were part of the evening's entertainment Friday night and as their designated roadie/paparazzi, I got to go along.

The weekend long event is Ohio's version of Woodstock. Local and regional bands line up to play on the two stages, dancers entertain, and the crowd has a great time. So much happened and I got so many great images that, I will need to show them to you in a couple posts. So, stay tuned and I will feed them to you over the next couple days.

I don't think you will get tired of looking at the images. You will see musicians in cool T-shirts, animals, hippy chicks, belly dancers, and much much more. What more could you want? I am after all a full service blogger.

the heat is gone!

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Finally, the heat has broken and we are enjoying cool days. I would say perfect days. The temperatures at night are in the upper 50s and the temperatures during the day are in the upper 70s. Perfection! Thank you Ma Nature for laying off the heat this week.

I shot this cat at the end of the heat wave during a photo outing with my friend Jim last weekend. The poor critter didn't want to move. The day was beginning to get hot and the cat was cool laying on the porch.

When approaching this shot, I decided that placing the focus on the feet while the head was visible in the background would be interesting. I like the way it elongates the cat by forcing the eye to start at the cat's feet. Your eye naturally wants to go to the cat's head. Paws + Head = Elongated cat.

Bet you didn't know I could control your eyes that way, did you? I'll bet that, after moving to the head, your eyes went back to the cat's rear paws. Let that be a lesson to you. I don't have to stop at controlling your eyes. I can control your mand and your body as well.

Watch this:

send me a pie, make me a cherry pie and send it to me

Did you suddenly have the urge to bake a cherry pie and send it to me? Internet magic is a powerful thing. I'll try to use it responsibly.

send Tim a cherry piiiiieeeeeee

there could be nightmares

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Have you ever seen anything like it? This is called a Hickory Horned Devil and is the largest caterpillar in the US and Canada. I witnessed this specimen today. Prior to that, I had never seen one nor had I ever imagined that a bug this big could be found outside of a jungle some foreign country like Brazil, Thailand, or Florida.

Here is a picture alongside a scale model of my foot. That should give you some sense of how huge it was.

When I saw the seven inch bug crawling across the yard at the farm, I started counting cats and chickens to make sure everybody was ok. The chickens will eat just about anything including mice. Not this beastie, they looked at it and then steered clear.

Here is a video of the critter in action:

Evidently they turn into a gorgeous (and also huge) insect called a regal moth (Citheronia regalis). If you want to see what the moth looks like, check out this link. Is that not a pretty moth or what?

I have decided that since I have never seen one before, they must be endangered and I am going to take steps to protect them. If you would like to help protect the Hickory Horned Devil, send a check for $100 to Tim McMurdo in care of this website. Every dollar that you send goes into my pocket and will be used to make my yard a pretty place for pretty moths to live.

Remember, a ginormous bug is a terrible thing to waste.

last of the stargazers

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

This bloom was the last of the Stargazer Lilies for the season. I always associate these flowers with the height of summer. Their blooms always come to life during the hottest part of the season and soon after they drop, the heat breaks and cooler weather begins to creep into our days.

Our blooms have completely disappeared and I am hoping that the extreme heat of this summer will go with them. I won't miss the muggy hot days of 2011. Bring on the cool crisp days of fall and I will publicly dance a jig for all of you. Just make this heat go away!

Exposure	0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture	f/5.6
Focal Length	55 mm
ISO Speed	200

mowing the pasture

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Meet Lee. Meet Lee's beard. Together, they have the job of keeping the grass in the pasture behind the barn in reasonable condition. In the summer months, this means occasionally cutting the grass.

Cutting the grass in the pasture is not quite the same as you and I mowing our lawns. All the prep work we need to perform is to check that we have gas and occasionally check that there is oil in the mower. Lee has a lot of work to do, even before he starts to mow. First off, he has to chase down and harness up a pair of horses.

For today's work, Lee has harnessed up Jane and Maggie and hooked them up to the mower. Maggie is the big girl on the left and one of my favorites on the farm. Together, these two beautiful horses will pull the mower through their own pasture, leaving behind plenty of cut grass for them to eat.

The girls really wanted to get going. As a result, Lee needs to keep a strong leash on them and waited until they calmed down. In the past, this pair has bolted on him and he always shows them that he is the one in control.

Once the girls had settled down, the entire trio headed off into the pasture to get their work done. As the horses pulled the rig, the wheels of the mower powered a gearbox that, in turn, powered the blades on the mower.

Not a bad day to spend your day, watching a horse team in action. The power of the two had no problem pulling the mower with Lee on top. Watching their huge muscles working and seeing how much they enjoy the work is a wonder every time.

black eyes and other thoughts

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Did you grow up calling black and yellow cone flowers by the name Black Eyed Susans? I don't think I have ever known them by any other name. In hind sight, several questions come to mind:

Who was Susan?

Who made up the name? Somebody had to have said "Black Eyed Susan" first and you know he had a specific girl in mind. You don't just name a flower like that out of the blue. What were the circumstances?

Why did she have a black eye? Did she fall down? Was she clumsy? Did somebody hit her?

If her name had been Deloris, would "Black Eyed Doris" have stuck over the years?

Why not a man? I kind of like "Black Eyed Chuck". That is a man's flower to be sure.

Sometimes I lie awake at night thinking of important questions like these. Issues that could change our understanding of the world. I hope you appreciate the work I do for you and the rest of Mankind.

just because they are beautiful

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Sometimes I create images that are striking in their beauty (at least to me) but, that I don't have a clue what to do with them. I know that I somehow need to share them with you however, they don't fit into one of my stories or I don't know enough about the subject to share something special about them.

Normally when I take a picture, I know the moment I open it up in my photo editor, how I will use it or even that I will never use the image. These are not that kind of image. I think they are wonderful but I have no idea what to do with them. In the past, this means that they would probably never see the light of day again.

I didn't want these images to disappear. I want to share them with you and so, here they are. I think they are beautiful. Not only do I like these photos but, meeting the young lady for the first time, I was really impressed with her. Smart, a little shy, focused, pretty, and very pleasant. She is one of those young people that remind me that the generation growing up behind us has a lot going for it.

I hope you like these images as much as I do. Maybe I get stuck thinking that in order to share photos with you, I need to have a purpose for them. I might be wrong in that respect. Maybe I should let some pictures speak for themselves.

warren doesn’t like girls

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Warren had heard the story since he was a tadpole. Evidently there was a princess and she was looking for a prince and when she found a frog with a crown on its head, she kissed it and voila in a puff of smoke, he became a prince, blah, blah, blah. Warren's problem was that every young girl for miles around had evidently heard the same story.

Every year, a fresh crop of young girls would show up at the pond looking for their prince. They would come in pairs or small groups but, never alone. As they approached the water, the girls would giggle and laugh as they looked for frogs and in the event that they found one, they would dare each other to kiss the poor amphibian. The girls never ever kissed the frogs. Eventually, when they were finished playing and had lost interest, they would dispose of the frog by dropping it unceremoniously back into the water. The quick dismissal was what really bothered Warren the most. The girls were completely immersed in their own desires and never thought of the frog. The frog was just a prop in their games. They were all the same.

Not once had warren ever been kissed and in all probability he never would. That my friends is why Warren didn't like girls.

sometimes cheating is a requirement

Posted on August 1, 2011July 5, 2015 by Tim McMurdo

The panographic image you are looking at was created in Photoshop CS4 by stitching together several images using their automated engine. I've passed by this grove of trees on the edge of a wood many times during the day and have often thought that it would make a great subject for a photo if I could get the light just right. That in mind, I paid the stand of trees a visit Sunday morning just before dawn and set up my camera on a tripod. With the camera only two feet above the ground, I took a series of captures from several locations. Here is one of the untouched images for you to see.

With the individual photos shot, I decided that the scene would look great as a pano. So, I found a good location and shot a series of images by swiveling the camera just a few degrees between shots. If you are going to try this, you need to ensure that your tripod is nice and level or your horizon will really be out of whack. Also, you will need to set your camera and lens to manual.

Here is the resulting stitched image with some minor adjustments for color and contrast.

This pano is nice enough, just a bit spooky. I like the image but, it seemed to be missing something to make it really special. I uploaded this to flickr and asked for feedback on what would make it a better image. Through the discussion, what I decided was that the picture needed some deer. I had some photos of deer grazing not far from here and because I would be silhouetting them, lighting would not be an issue. Back to photoshop.

I think the deer do the trick. Now the image has a real subject for your eye to focus on. Yes, this might be cheating. After all, the deer were not in the original photos. However, I think that in this case, cheating was the way to go. And… is it cheating if you tell the world how and why you did it?

Have a great day folks. Don't let the heat get the best of you.

cloud bank

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Tim McMurdo

Close to sunset last night, we had a much needed downpour of heavy rain that resulted from a line of thunderstorms moving through the area. This was the kind of storms that flash and bang like a Fourth of July party in Chinatown. I am a lover of good lightning storms. Bring them on! The more violent, the better. As long as no one gets hurt and nothing gets damaged, I am all for them.

An hour or so later, the storm had moved further east, leaving clear skies. The only exception was this gorgeous cloud bank that lazily moved eastward. As the clouds lingered, the last of the day's sun tried to peak through, giving us these magical god rays, fanning out from openings in the clouds. As much as the thunder land lightning got my blood going these rays were calming and serene. I thought about how strange that mother nature could pump me up one moment and just a few minutes later, she could completely calm me down. I like you Ma Nature. Keep up the good work. I am a big fan.

Have a fantastic Saturday folks, enjoy your time off.