Daniel Ruf

There is calm in this world

There was a beautiful calm moment on the 7th fairway of the Indian Hills golf course near where I live. The beautiful backlight of the sun and a subject where mother is looking after the youngsters while a human being stands with iPhone in hand to capture the scenery.

I start early in the morning so I’m not rushed by golfers behind me. When I say early I really mean early. I couple of days ago it was so early that I could barely see my white golf ball.

The Indian Hills golf course is a beautiful course. Not only do we have wild geese to “entertain” the golfer there are patches of prairie flowers and potted flowers along the way. The cost of club membership is very low and one can play as many times as they want each day. All that and wild life and flowers as well.

Thank you for following my blog and have a marvelous summer.

Other places to see my work and other;

The Pearson Lakes Art Center

Arts On Grand

 

Morning Surprise

A couple of mornings ago the sky started to indicate that some amazing color was going to happen and I better get hopping with my camera. When I got to a good spot for a clear view the upper image was the way it started.

About 20 minutes later the colors reached their high point which provided some amazing colors with cool blues along with rich oranges. 

When I get up in the morning the first thing I do is to look out the window and look for signs that natures painting is about to begin.

Thank you for visiting and remember to look out the window.

You can see more of my work at Arts On Grand in Spencer, IA as well as the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji, IA.

One Will Never Know

 

In my lifetime I probably have spent years looking for shooting (with a camera) deer. Many of times I couldn’t get my camera fast enough or was too slow do to fiddling with camera adjustments or just getting the camera out of the bag. Yes, I’ve even had the camera laying across my lap while driving (slow) and still bungled getting the job done. I even turn off the truck radio and stop the engine to keep thing quiet.

well, this morning I managed to have everything ready just in time for ONE camera click. Actually it was much more as I held the shutter button down with my finger for several shots.

Next “ hunt” will be a buck and given the length of time it’s taken to get a doe it may be next year for that to happen.

thanks for coming to my blog. Daniel

BRRRRRRRR

Winter in Iowa this year was a real challenge and in this month of April it still is poking its head in between warm days, when we get them. Even on a good day when I can head to the golf course I have to check the "chill" temperature before I decide my apparel for the day.  I also found out that Canon 5D Mark IV camera in the severe cold weather gets a bit slow and so do my "clicking" fingers.

As of today we are still waiting for a good rain so that the trees will start to put out new leaves indicating that they actually are alive. Landscape photography at this point is lacking a "warm" look and is not even worth the effort as cold winter scenes are not really popular in Northwest Iowa.

If we're lucky maybe the month of May will actually have a steady run of warm weather for both golf and photography.

The blog image is of Lakeside Laboratory which is about the best color I found in the white land. It's a laboratory that is real active during the summer with people interested in learning about the lake area natural habitats and wildlife and flowers.

Thanks for stopping by...Keep warm and safe.

More of my work can be seen at Arts On Grand in Spencer, Iowa and soon to be in the Pearson Lakes Art Center in the Okoboji area.

Locomotives and Diesels

When I was a child I remember that my father would take me to the train station to watch those coal fired locomotives come down the tracks and after that we would get some donuts for Sunday breakfast. Since then I’ve always enjoyed seeing trains when my wife and I travel, although we rarely come across railroad scenes.

The two blog pics or from our latest trip and are iPhone shots while traveling at Highway speed. She was driving😂.

As a youth I had a nice Lionel train set which I gave away when I reached my adult years. BAD IDEA! I’m sure the reasoning was the fact that the size of my railroad set was getting larger and larger as time went on. STILL A BAD IDEA.

The moral to this story is think before you throw.

Thanks for visiting my blog site, now let’s all pray for Spring.

My photography can still be seen at Arts On Grand.

Natures Brush

My son is a college strength coach but has developed some very beautiful talents with his phone camera. He also has an interest in different abstract or contemporary art works and texts me when he comes across a picture he likes.

my wife and I were in Texas for Christmas and on our last evening there the beautiful sky that you can see above started to develop very slowly from a weak yellow color to a long developing steam of wonderful orange streaks which last for some time.

My granddaughter has always wanted to click the shutter button for as long as I can remember, but this is the first time she was tall enough to see through the view finder. Little did I know that Chris was sneaking up behind us to get this image which I will treasure the rest of my life. 
While I can’t sign this moment, I wish. I could.  Thanks, Chris.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

When it’s cold

when it’s too cold outside I’m usually going to be spending time creating some art. Since I’m out of town I took my drawing tools on our trip any painting mediums need some space and protective plastic or tarps to protect the surrounding areas.

The drawing above is from a photograph of the original drawing that I gave to my son years ago. After seeing the drawing while visiting my son I decided I should make a smaller version for myself to have at home.

After finishing the drawing I thought I might “ kick it up a notch “ by doing a colored pencil version when I return home.

Thanks for visiting my blog site and leaving comments.

Have a safe winter and beautiful Spring.

My work can be seen at Arts On Grand, Spencer, Iowa.

Enjoy The Leaves

       

                                              Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.Albert Camus

One morning I was looking out a window looking at the autumn leaves hitting the ground and realized that the previous frost had done its damage and I needed to get out to gather what pics that I could before every leaf had hit the ground. I grabbed my camera gear and ran to the truck to start my sleuthing for the autumn views.

The trip was a lot of stops and starts as I would get out, set up camera gear, take the shot, gather the gear up and place it all in my truck and head to the next opportunity, if there was one.

After cruising up and down roads I started to head back toward the lakes areas for a different scenic view which turned out to be a good decision or listening to that other voice that does tend to show up quietly at times. As you can see in the blog pic above not only did I have some nice shadows to work with there just happened to be a dock and a person to create the attraction that was needed to complete the image.

My experience over the years have taught me that the best pictures are the ones that included a bit of a surprise to fill in the blank spaces.

Thank you  all for visiting my blog site and I wish you the most beautiful Christmas this year.

More of my work can be seen at Arts On Grand in Spencer, Iowa

Changing Seasons

                         
   " Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." George Eliot

I came upon this grouping of autumn trees while playing golf at Indian Hills Golf Club near our home in Spirit Lake, Iowa. My wife and I walked this course after I became a member and found it to be quite beautiful. There are plenty of trees to provide shade on those warm summer days on the the challenging fairways, including three fairways that lead to a blind blind putting green making them all the more challenging.

The cost of membership last year was $99, and for that one can play as often as they wish during the season. I have 90 score cards to prove "unlimited play". The owner and staff are very friendly, and I believe know everyone on a first name basis.  In turn, they know me and my preference to play alone as I have a case of "wandering golf balls" and don't like to slow others hunting for my golf balls. The staff do a really great job of maintaining the course and even have flower pots along the way to add to the beauty of the course. There are also plenty of opportunities for people like me to lose their golf balls in tall grass areas that seem to easily  swallow an arrant golf ball.  Along with tall grass there are also a fair amount of sand traps making play even more challenging, but I've been lucky to usually avoid that opportunity. I use the word "usually" as I have a pretty good ability to "hop" the sand traps most of the time.

I haven't played golf since high school, with the exception of a few rounds in the past with a friend, so I'm happy that my wife encouraged me to start playing again. Actually I think it's her way of getting me out of the house.

Thank you for following my blog site, and you can find more of my work on my wall at Arts On Grand in Spencer, IA

 

Winter Entertainment

"Taking pictures is savoring life, every hundredth of a second" Marc Riboud

Iowa winters can be very "charming" if it involves a sunset or sunrise, otherwise it's probably one of the most difficult seasons to photograph. That being as it is I have a "bandaid" for the problem. 

During my senior year at Principia College I was required to develop a senior project that would be on display on some wall, in some building in the art department. I decided to do some sort of wildlife drawings or paintings which would involve my getting to know an artist at the St.Louis Zoo.  I can't remember is name, but the experience was a real heal to being able to finish my senior project.

Fast forward to 2022 and I find myself using these forgotten tools for graphite drawing to push myself through the winter months in Iowa. Like any other art or sport having a long layoff requires a long recovery time lean how to handle a pencil or brush to achieve an acceptable result, as above. It also takes a good camera and long lens to capture the subject as well.

I'm glad I've gotten back to using my finger, brain and camera to achieve a mental thrill over the Winter season.

Spring IS just around the cornerThanks for joining me here and you can view my work at the following galleries;

 Arts On Grand in Spencer, IA as well as the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji, IA.