Robert Swanson's photos

We had excellent weather in southern Missouri for the eclipse on 8 April, 2024. Our previous experience was in 2017, and while the photos were wonderful, I never got a shot at the "diamond ring" effect that year. This, and a few others, were taken at the end of totality this April. The large flare at the very bottom of the disk was seen in a number of our photos. Hand-held at 280mm equivalent zoom, and processed with GIMP. This was the same camera-lens I used in 2017 (nearly the same settings, too.)

Taken when we visited a car show in New Jersey. We were spending Thanksgiving with the family, and decided to get out of the house for a bit. A local car club was displaying their pride and joy machines. Lots of fun. Image processed with GIMP.

Enjoying a beer in our cabin, as we prepare to disembark. Image processed with GIMP.

Taken at a public beach near Capetown, South Africa. I think that they are serious about the sharks. Image processed with GIMP.

Made hamburgers today at home. Hard to find one this good at a restaurant. Enjoy the weekend! Image processed with GIMP.

Another view of the port of Albany. Besides the fences and railroad tracks, you can see where our shuttle bus was picking up passengers to visit the lovely downtown. Image processed with GIMP.

For the Sunday theme: macro This is more testing of my new macro lens.

Taken in the port area of Albany, Australia. Lots of commercial activity, and there are fences for each area. Image processed with GIMP.

While visiting family in New Jersey in November 2022, we were invited to a local car show. Well, the photo opportunities are boundless. In this case, I noticed the vibrant paint job on this Chrysler-brand vehicle. "Mopar" is the brand name for the parts used in this line of cars during the glory days of the "muscle car". Notice all the stickers with government-required information. Those didn't exist in the so-called glory days.

Nachos at a local restaurant, Leland, Iowa Image processed with GIMP.

Mural in the post office, Forest City, Iowa. This post office was built during the Great Depression. The government paid unemployed artists to decorate the post offices with artworks appropriate to the locality. Image processed with GIMP.

A wall of the interior of the post office in Forest City, Iowa. These buildings were put up during the Great Depression. I am guessing that this wall had a mural on it, much like the one shown in another photo. Some of the buildings were re-furbished after the 1930's, and many of the artworks were lost.

I say "ours" because this is the same model of RV that we lived in for 11 years. We saw it on the used lot of a dealer in Forest City, Iowa. Forest City is the "home" of Winnebago, a major RV manufacturer.

One of the farms just outside of town has always had some sort of static decoration on their property, visible from the highway. In the 2017 time period, the "installation" was a very, very long trailer. They don't make them much longer than this, and you would probably have to get a special permit to pull it down the highway. Of course, it is not in the best of condition, anyway.

This is a museum-farm outside of Forest City, Iowa. I like their roadside sign. You can see the names of the original residents, primarily from Scandinavia (I'm guessing Norwegian.)

The small downtown of Thompson doesn't have many stores left. One of the banks was purchased by a gun store, so they call themselves The Gun Bank. The entrance has nice art deco glass tiles. Oh, and a bench. You can see the original bank's night deposit door just above the bench. I don't think that the bomb is anything they currently sell.

This small town doesn't have many businesses left in the downtown area (all of 2 blocks). The closed bank was taken over by a gun shop, so they named it The Gun Bank.

This wooden "fence" flag was on the front of a business in the small downtown.