JDW Photos and Life

This message wraps up our trip to Fort Knox. I don't have anything new to share so there will be a pause in e-mails until new material comes my way. We have plans that should provide some nice material in a few weeks. The cockpit inside a Blackhawk is not the easiest thing to photograph. It is dark and getting the camera in a decent position requires a bit of cotorsion and balance - neither are my strength. The first photo is the left pilot. The second photo is the console between the two pilots. The third photo is the right side pilot. The fourth photo is the center overhead console. Obviously, I failed to be steady on that fourth shot but you can still make out most of it if you wish. These pilots have a damn lot of stuff crammed into their brains. As if that is not enough, it has to be second nature in the middle of battle or emergency. A helicopter is a very unforgiving assembly of metal beating the air into submission with brute force. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blo...

Chris let me in the hanger after his flight. There were two Blackhawks in the building that I could walk around and photograph. The helicopter in the first two photos is a UH-60L. It is a second generation Blackhawk model dating back to 1989. The original UH-60A model was introduced in 1979. There were a few upgrades to the A model before the L took over. The second two photos show a UH-60M - a third generation model introduced around 2001. Just a FYI, the M model is the airframe flown by Seal Team 6 for the Bin Laden raid. As we know now, there were some special modifications made to that airframe to make it less visible to radar. You can see the jet exhaust of the L model in the second photo pointing directly to the rear. If you look closely in the M photos, you see the jet exhaust pointing up under the rotor blades resulting in a lower heat signature for enemy missiles. This difference makes identification of the two models quick and easy. The avionics (computers and flight software...

A bit of a story today... After several hours of delays (an Army specialty), we get a text from Chris stating the ground crew had loaded the fuel tanks and the two pilots were headed to the flightline. About the same time, I hear and see a Blackhawk near the hanger begin its engines. I focus on this helicopter and fail to see another Blackhawk taxi to the runway. Yep, that was Chris. As I hear a helicopter coming our way, I look up and it is a Blackhawk with fuel tanks flying fast overhead to get out of the weather. I missed his take-off. I had been sitting in this park for 3 or 4 hours fighting off mosquitoes and heat and I miss his take-off. I was not happy with myself but didn't have time to think too much about it as some really heavy clouds were developing right on top of us and it was beginning to sprinkle. We (Donnice and Lauren had joined me at the park) decide to catch a late lunch at the Burger King on post. The rain and wind picked up significantly as we left the park. A...

The note is a little long today. Good luck getting through it. If nothing else, you can just glance at the photos and then delete! Chris was on the flight schedule on our last full day of our visit. Flight is never simple and the Army certainly adds extra layers for delays. There is a park opposite of the airport where I could park and watch any action (it was slow). I arrived at the expected time of flight and photographed a few aircraft while waiting. None of these photos involve Chris. The first aircraft was the Army's equivalent of a King Air twin turboprop. This is a really nice airplane that I was fortunate to ride between Orange and Victoria back in my DuPont days. There was another Blackhawk UH-60 getting in a little practice flying approaches and autorotates (recovery/landing in the case of full loss of power - really bad in a helicopter!). In a runway environment, a helicopter is easier to take off with forward motion. The typical thought/view of a helicopter taking off s...

While in KY, we visited Huber's Orchard & Winery in Borden, IN. It was about an hour drive north and through some beautiful back roads once out of Louisville. This place is best described as the Buc-ees of family farms. They have quite the marketing embedded in a working farm, winery, and distillery. Our original goal was to take a drive through the backwoods (accomplished) and pick a few blueberries and blackberries (accomplished). We could have also pick strawberries, squash, and sunflowers but didn't. We had a good lunch and were more entertained than expected. We had some very good ice cream to top it off. All-in-all, it is a recommended visit if you are ever near. I didn't take many photos but this cluster of blackberries in all stages of ripeness caught my eye. https://visithubers.com/ Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

Meet Little Nis. This giant was close to the road overlooking a lake with a nearby bridge I was on when taking these photos. My original though was a troll but I don't think it was built to represent mean! The rain was on-again and off-again and we didn't have much desire to hike out any closer to see Little Nis up close.  Don't make fun the the few sprinkles you see on the lake. I assure you that moment did NOT represent what we were experiencing much of the day. These small cells (red on the radar) were blowing through the area and we were in and out of the car trying to time their arrival. This giant looked to be the smallest of the three and wraprd up our day at Bernheim. We drove deeper into the forest where there were several trailheads that my get explored in another trip with a little less weather. After sending the message this morning, I stumbled onto this video where the artist reads a story that inspired the giants (or vice versa?). Anyway, the family are indeed...

Meet Little Elina, the second of our forest giant visits. Reaching here was a slightly longer hike (still easy) but boy, did we roll some dice with the rain! We got a bit wet, but not soaked, during this hike. Obviously, Little Elina is only little for a giant. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

On a drippy, wet day on our Ft. Knox trip, the four of us went to  Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, KY. We had planed a day of hikes but the rain modified those plans a bit. Between bursts of rain, we took short hikes to see the Forest Giants that are the trademark of the park. There were three giants and Mama Loumari was the first one we visited. She was lounging in the shade of a tree with her campsite behind her. From the pose and the campsite, I think she just finished a feast of dragon. https://bernheim.org/ Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

When you drive past a crop field and see that lone tall stalk, what do you call it? Growing up, my dad called them bastard stalks. I don't know that they caused any big problem but that was the term. He viewed it more as a seed quality check from the supplier. My wife claims that the more official term is a "sport". When I look up sport in botany terms, it seems to refer to a variation on a plant, not a whole plant (like a different white rose on a red rose plant full of red roses). If any of you more educated plant people have a more accurate description, please send me a note. Sunflowers in this field were generally 6-7 feet tall. In the first photo, you see one really tall stalk in the field providing a great perch for a bird. That plant is probably about 10 feet tall with a full sized head. If it were not in the middle of the field, I would have walked out to it for closer inspection. I am guessing its stalk had to be more like a small tree! The bird perched atop with...

A few days after my trip south to Navasota, I made an early morning sunrise trip north to Snook to photograph the sunflowers. I was very late in the sunflower season to be taking photographs as the flowers were clearly showing their age. Large sunflowers like these do not turn and track the sun during the day - just too big for that I guess. These are all facing east so a sunset shot would be better if trying to capture sky color but then the backlight wouldn't help highlight the flower colors/detail. The sunrise light is at my back in these shots and is warm, at a low angle, and directly into the flowers making for decent light. I always struggle a bit trying to decide how to capture the color, breadth, and detail of large fields. It seems like there is no "right" way and it becomes a matter of personal choice when selecting a favorite shot. I'm not good at that as I see good and less-good in most every shot I take. Here are three shots of the same field showing diff...

I know you were thinking RWB is Red, White, and Blue after the fireworks yesterday! No. I'm back to the red-winged blackbirds in the crops in late June. I guess it's pretty obvious why they like such fields - an endless source of grain and insects. In the early morning light, they like to take a survey of their territory after the long night. This is best done on high perches - but not staying too long before going to another section of their field. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

Who doesn't like fireworks (excluding pets/livestock)? There is something fun about watching them and being amazed at the designs and complexity. The Ft. Knox crew put on a fantastic display. I borrowed a lightweight tripod from Chris and set up the camera with a wired manual exposure button (Bulb, ISO100, f/8.0, 27mm, manual focus). I sat back in my chair and enjoyed the show without getting hung up on the camera. After reviewing the first couple of shots to confirm settings/quality, I never looked at the camera again. Photographing fireworks is really pretty easy when the weather is good (not a lot of humidity and wind) and the burst location is not all over the place. We scoped out where the mortars were set up earlier in the day so we picked out a great spot to watch them once we arrived for the festivities. I have way too many good shots to share via e-mail (this note will be the only one sent via e-mail). If you enjoy looking at fireworks, I hope you take the time to flip thr...

We were in Ft. Knox across the Fourth of July weekend visiting Chris and Lauren. A 4th event at an Army base/post is always special as we first experienced one at Ft. Rucker many years ago (circa 2007 or 8). We had great weather for the event this year in the middle of a little wet stretch across our visit. As they prepared the crowd for the fireworks show, they had patriotic readings and comments. We were a bit too far from the speakers to hear everything clearly but they began reading the names of each state in the order that they became part of The USA. After each state's name, a Howitzer (don't remember the size) was fired. They added an extra shot for all of the territories at the end. I decided to try and capture some of the canon shots. This camera made the work pretty easy after a few timing tests. Using the electronic shutter, it will capture 20 frames/sec so all I had to do was guess when the shot would happen and hold down the shutter. I ended up with a lot of boring...

There were fields of corn and milo/grain sorghum in place of sunflowers in previous years. The early morning light provided a nice glow on the both crops. There were a few red-winged blackbirds in the area. A female was perched nicely in the grain sorghum for a few seconds. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/