Wednesday, May 2, 2012

05/02/12 Spring: 2012

Spring blooms at a local nursery outside Kewanee, IL
as spring arrives early this year in the Midwest!

Over the last few weeks, I've kept quite busy during my down-time by snapping many photos of the spring season in the local-area including my hometown of Kewanee, IL. I still have yet to chase any severe storms this year as the "good" setups have come on days when I had to work or when they have fell on my days-off the setup takes a big crap right at the end. The good news is that I'll be out for 2 weeks starting May 28th through June 10th. Hopefully, that period is active in the central Great Plains. It's kind of crazy though that I have yet to get out to chase some convection. This might be the longest I've gone without seeing a decent storm this late into the spring season. Last year, I believe I chased at least twice by now. I'm ready to see some "nice" convection! I have lots of new equipment to test out in a real-time chase including a mesodome setup (streaming live video), a new HD camcorder (time-lapses), and this season I even have a new DSLR camera (Canon EOS 7D). The storms will come soon enough. Anyhow, I posted a large collection of spring photos and most of these were shot at a local nursery and can be found below:

Tulips in full-bloom as the spring season is in
full-force in the Midwest...
Apple trees in bloom in Peoria, IL
a few weeks ago...
Beautiful assortment of spring colors!
A blooming hibiscus here and a sure sign of spring...
It's always a great sight to see the first
cumulus clouds of the season...
An apple tree showing off its blooms on a spring
morning in Peoria, IL
A beautiful row of marigolds here!
A low sun-angle making these flowers "pop"!
One of my favorites!
A spring sunset on our outdoor enclosure...
A typical lilac bush!
I shot the moon a few weeks ago as it
had a beautiful orange-tint near the horizon!
Here's another wide-angle shot of our pool
enclosure as the sun begins to set...
Amazing colors here!
A blooming apple tree reaching toward the heavens...
Colorful pansies along this wooden-fence...
More spring blooms...
One of those tranquil "puffy" clouds...
A spring landscape shot!
A blooming apple tree (macro-lens)
More brilliant colors...
Building cumulus clouds at sunrise in Peoria, IL
Another hibiscus plant...
Portrait-shot of an apple tree!
Another spring landscape shot...
Another portrait-shot of a blooming lilac!
Yep, that's my flag blowing in the spring breeze!
A beautiful assortment of tulips!
Quite a beautiful shot here (macro-lens)!
Another nice sunset outside Kewanee, IL
Building clouds casting shadows on
these apple trees...
Spectacular colors here (macro-lens)!
Another shot of the moon above a local wind farm...
More great colors! (macro-lens)
Another shot of the blooming apple trees
in the local-area...
Another close-up shot! (macro-lens)
A spring wind farm shot...
Talk about a colorful photo!
The sun setting on this landscape...
A great shot! (macro-lens)
A stunning close-up here! (macro-lens)
Farmers in the fields preparing for the
growing season...
Another great shot! (macro-lens)
A colorful blooming flower here...
Another apple tree shot! (macro-lens)
Mother Nature at her best!
Beautiful skies over the spring blooms!
Talk about a dusty dry day...
Pretty cool perspective here as the sun
sets on this evening...

That's about all for now. Stay tuned for some storm chasing posts and more photography posts in the coming weeks...