A Sidewalk

As I was heading to dinner, I passed by Hill Auditorium. As I was looking at the sidewalk, I noticed the neat pattern, so I decided to to take a picture of it. I hope you enjoy it.

The Triton Fountain

Since theTriton Fountain is near the Bell Tower and I like it, here are some pictures of it as well.



The shutter speed was low enough that I got some streaks of water. I might have to go back with the tripod or monopod to get some slower shutter speeds.

The Bell Tower in April

More of my 12 Months Series. This time it is the Bell Tower which is another of my favorites.

Tried to get some trees in the picture to show the transitions.





This one I was messing with the exposure a bit. I like the sky at the right exposure and the building slightly shaded.

Michigan Union in April

More pictures from my Twelve Months Series. This one is my 12 months of the Michigan Union. Springtime at the University of Michigan is pretty nice. There are lots of flowering trees and the students are just about ready to go home for the summer, so it's nice and quiet. This month I was feeling a bit under the weather so I wasn't sure if I would get down to Ann Arbor for this, but I made it. Anyways, the pictures....

A shot from one angle.

My favorite shot of the building.

One of the statues on the side of the building. One of these days I'm gonna figure out what it is a statue of. It almost looks like it should be a professor.

This one looks like a student or athlete.



A shot from across the street so you can see it in all it's glory.

To My Spamming Friend

Look, I don't know who you people are but would you please move on to another blog. I do not need your crap polluting my blog. It is bad enough that my work and personal e-mail inboxes are full of your crap now you have to putting it here too. Heck, I've even seen it in some of the games I play. What's next Facebook? Screw you.

Eastern Michigan Vs Western - Baseball

Another reason I got the long lens was for sports photography. Hockey or football are probably my favorite sports but baseball is my favorite to take pictures of. The Tigers weren't in town but the Eagles were, so I decided to stroll down to Oestrike Stadium and get some pictures of the team.

I caught the end of the first game of a double header (Eastern lost that one) and part of the next game. (Eastern won that one)

A shot of the Western pitcher. He pitched a pretty decent game, but was relieved at the last out of the 9th inning. And his relief nearly blew the game.

An Eastern player sliding into third safely.

A shot of the hitter.

An Eastern player sliding into second.

The Eastern pitcher in the first game.

The Eastern pitcher for the second game.

A closer shot of one of the Eastern batters.

The Eastern Michigan coach (I think).

The Western Michigan coach.

More Crosswinds Marsh

Decided to go back to the Crosswinds Marsh yesterday. Was hoping to see the eagle again, but he was out doing whatever eagles do. I got some other nice pictures and some things I wasn't expecting to see.

I wasn't expecting to see trillium there, but it was nice to see. Although it wasn't quite a stand like I've seen in other places.

Not sure what kind of bird this is but since I don't have much luck getting pictures of the smaller birds, I was happy to get this shot.

Another shot I was happy to get.

And a lucky shot of a swan building her nest. The male swan was nearby but I couldn't get a picture that I liked of both of them together.

Another song bird.

A seagull in flight.

A goose family.

Another pair of small birds.

Our state bird...the robin.

I'm not sure what kind of bird this is, but I think it is an owl.

Crosswinds Marsh

Crosswinds Marsh was established when they were expanding Metro Airport. They were removing wetlands from the airport grounds and had to create them somewhere else. This is the result and it's a pretty nice spot to visit. I'd heard of something of this before and a coworker was mentioning it because they have an eagle. So I had to go check it out.

There are alot of birds here...geese, blackbirds, etc.

An enclosed picnic shelter.

The nice thing is that there are pretty well developed trails throughout the park. Over the water are nice boardwalks so you can get pretty close to the nature (if it will let you).

Another bird.

As I was walking near the back of the park, I looked towards the trees and noticed a glint of light. I lifted up my camera to take a look...and here he was in his full glory. Unfortunately, I had to do some serious blowing up of this picture, so he's a bit blurred but you can make out what he is.

Another shot to attempt to get a clearer shot. I did kind of figure out where he was, so I might be able to get closer next time I go.

A canadian goose.

As I was heading towards the parking lot, I caught this racoon strolling down the tree. He was trying to hide in the tree as I passed by and it made for a cool shot.

I like this shot.

And since it's fairly close to the airport, I can watch aluminum birds as well.

Flower Blossoms

I was out doing a stormwater inspection for work and I stumbled across these. Not sure what kind of plant they are but I like them.

Trillium

Alot of people view the appearance of the robin as a harbinger of spring. I think the appearance of trillium is a better one as sometimes the first couple robins you see are holdouts from winter. Trillium is one of the earlier wildflowers to appear in the spring. As we were heading back from Port Austin, we saw a trillium stand, so had to get a couple pictures. Didn't see any of the purple ones but these will do.

Some of them are still not quite in bloom yet.

It is a very nice looking flower.



This one had a bug in it.