Winter Sunset - 2/27/2013

The wet snow from the storm that hit us a couple of days ago is still clinging to the tree branches.  I missed the best of the sunset on this evening but there was still enough color to cause me to run and get the camera.  I took the photos using the camera's HDR feature.  HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  To do this, the camera takes three photos at differing exposure settings and then combines all three into one image taking the best of each photo.  I then boosted the colors with extra "saturation" in Photoshop.....just having fun.

 

 

Longview Lake Birds - 1/28/2013

Sigrid and I made a short trip to Longview Lake to practice with some new and old photo gear.  The lake is only a few minutes from our home in Lee's Summit, MO.  We knew that there would be some friendly and not so people shy birds/fish at the Marina.  People often go there to feed the animals.

In Sigrid's case, she is learning how to use my Canon XTi Rebel SLR camera.  She has always used a little pocket camera which took okay photos, but not high quality.  Composing a good photo with an LCD screen is always challenging.  My Rebel became available with the purchase of a Canon 5D Mark III which I use.  I also have a 70-200mm Canon EF L IS lens which I fitted with a newly purchased Canon 2X Teleconverter.  The teleconverter doubles the telephoto capability of my existing lens at a fraction of the cost of buying a 400mm lens and also save a ton of weight in the camera bag.  So we are practicing today.  Here are a few of the photos.

I like the results.

Kansas City Union Station - 2/12/2013

Our retirement club, KCP&L Power Partners, toured the Kansas City Union Station on February 12, 2013 as a part of our regular monthly event plan.  We had about 45 people attend the tour and the luncheon that followed at Harvey's in Union Station.  Sigrid didn't join me on this outing because we had been to the Station many times before.  I went primarily to take photos for the Club's web site.  The tour and the luncheon were actually very good....I wish Sigrid had come.

Kansas City Union Station is the second largest rail station in the U. S. with Grand Central Station in New York being the largest.  Union Station was dedicated and placed in service in 1914.

Our group was too large for one guide, so we broke into two.  I went with the second group in the photo below.

Club executive, Ron Marchisio introduces our tour guide.  The guide is dressed as an original "Harvey Girl".  I would suggest you Google "Harvey Girl" to learn more about them.  Their history is fascinating and an important part of American history.

The famous Union Station Clock.

In the stations hey-day, this was the departure area.  It was filled with wooden benches and thousands of rail travelers.  Something like 300 trains per day passed through Union Station.

My Grandfather Browning, worked for the Kansas City Terminal Railroad at Union Station.  In 1927, he was killed in an accident as he stepped between two cars that we then pushed together for coupling.  That left my father, Charles Browning, fatherless from age 9.

 The ceilings are breathtaking.

 Our tour guide as full of facts and stories about the station.....she did a great job.

Pierponts is one of the restaurants in the building....very nice.

The tour took us to places that I had never been for some great new views.

An old photo, taken at the time of the dedication of Liberty Memorial in 1921, looking down at the station.

  

This photo was taken from Union Station looking up towards Liberty Memorial.

 A model engine under the Big Clock in the Station Lobby.

Our guide points out some of the bullet holes left in the building after the "Kansas City Massacre" in 1933.

 Lunch at Harvey's after the tour.

 I remember riding one of these as a kid growing up in KC.  You used plastic tokens to pay for the fares.  Tokens were worth 1/10 of a cent.

A very nice day.