Another month has flown by as the geese and cranes fly in for their winter stay.  The weather is changing, leaves are turning, and photo nuts are clicking away, hoping to get that perfect 'fall color' shot.  September was a transition month with not too many seasonal things happening.  It was hot, cool, rainy, sunshiny, cloudy, and pretty much ho-hum.  The photo challenge themes were "Cemeteries, Shadows and Weathered."

Let's see who did what, where and why as we peruse the latest and greatest photo fare for the month.

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We'll start with Old Davy's limited entries.  Thanks to lots of work, being sick and a general busy-ness, the old man didn't do much target  shooting.  Oh, well - life goes on, bumps and all.

This first shot was taken on Clements Road as I waited for the sun to rise behind some storm clouds.  If you've seen this set on my website, most of the pictures are in color, but I wanted to see what fortune I'd have converting to black and white to accentuate the contrast between the trees and sky.  I filled the lower portion of the picture with black, eliminating all the detail, and worked with the contrast and brightness to make the clouds really stand out.  This was taken with the Nikon D5100 and 55-300 telephoto lens. Settings were f11, 1/640th, 55mm, ISO 400.

My second shot is another black and white.  Taken indoors with the D5100, ISO 200, 1/30th, f?, and the 55mm MicroNikkor lens.  Walking into the living room as the sun was setting in the backyard, these shadows caught my eye, so I ran to get my camera and arranged the crane on the opposite side of its normal position to get the shot.  I wasn't really happy with the orange-peel wall texture, so I used the blur tool in Elements 9 to soften them, then really tweaked the contrast and brightness to maximize the contrast.

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Let's all welcome Brian to our team.  (Group clap here!)  Brian is a budding photog who sent me two pictures that fit our themes of Shadows and Cemeteries.  He says this of his first picture:

"The first picture features me in the Marin Headlands near the Golden Gate Bridge. We only had one flash so it was a long exposure. I was hit with the flash first, then clambered through the iron bars-flashed-then passed the flash to my friend who lit up the last doorway. I thought it hit the themes of shadows and weathered nicely."

Brian gets extra credit for this team effort photo that involved a lot of planning.

Brian's second picture was taken by his friend and fits the cemetery theme.

"The second picture features an early morning of Soldier Hill(?) near Lafayette Bart. Although not an actual graveyard, the crosses represent soldiers lost in the war which I thought went well with the theme of cemeteries. This picture was simply done by using a flashlight. My friend Aaron took this one."

Great composition and contrast that really set the mood.  Nikon D40x was the camera of choice.

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Don's recent trip to Montana afforded some great photo ops to fit our themes.  Thanks for keeping us in mind, Don, while you could have been enjoying yourself!  Ha!  He says:

"We spent a few days at the Runamok Ranch in Montana with my 1st cousin Rod and wife Susan. All 3 of this month's themes were there and then some. There was so much, I didn't know which way to point the camera. What more could I ask for?  I'll start with the small family cemetery on the ranch. Baby Simon died 2 weeks before birth due to umbilical strangulation and is buried here. The morning sun was casting a shadow of his cross." 

Here are his other photos:

"With 18,000 acres [on his cousin's ranch], there is a wealth of weathered things to photograph. These are my favorites. There are many old structures that are deteriorating since being abandoned. The log cabin is one of these. You want weathered? Check out this wagon wheel. And lastly, I think I heard this wagon begging to be in the Pioneer Day Parade. It's certainly from the pioneer era."

Don shoots with a Nikon D300 and 18-200 Nikkor lens.

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Ginnie's fabulous fare include some artsy views of shadows.  The lower, violet portion of this sunset (looking east) is the shadow of the earth rising under what's left of the sunlight.  Pretty cool.

Nice composition and shadows made by this crystal close-up.

"Our Friday painters group had scheduled to meet east of Paso at the intersection of Cripple Creek and El Pomar Roads. Got there at 9AM right along with asphalt trucks and workers who were repaving El Pomar. The painters left and I took pictures of an old weathered farm shed and some cows.  Was a bust."

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Thanks to everyone for another outstanding month of entries.  What will October bring?  A change in seasons hopefully, along with more opportunities for capturing your world through the lens.

The themes for October will be your choice of:  Backlight, Fall Color, and Numbers.  Nothing too exciting here. Sorry.  If none of these suit your taste, just send in Your Best Shot.

Happy shooting to all, and to all a good night!