It's been a while, but I was busy at work. However, in the mean time, I have started a photo challenge with my oldest daughter. Each week we are picking a subject to take pictures of and some of those will be showing up here. You can also check out her new photoblog under "Genial Photo" link provided on the side. This past weeks subject was weather. I wanted to take a picture of wind and this is what I came up with.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I had to take this picture at several different angles to get what I wanted, that being a picture showing both the underside and topside of the fungus as well as having some decent lighting.

I have been trying to upload this picture for 4 days with no luck, stupid crappy internet. Anyway, this is a wider view of several of the trees in this area with the disease.

This is from one of a group of trees that appear to be infected with some kind of disease/parasite. They all have giant knots like this one, but close up, it makes for a cool picture.

A different perspective on a fallen tree trunk with some deep grooves in the bark.

This picture was taken along a stream that runs near our house. Cyprus trees grow all along this stretch of the bank, and their roots form these nob-like structures.

I went in the woods behind our house today to find some things to photograph. I found a couple of cool things, though nothing spectacular. This was an old rotted out tree trunk.

Not a whole lot to photograph around here lately. This one didn't turn out exactly like I'd like it, but I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities over the course of the winter.

This is my last picture of the fall foliage from 2009. I definitely had a lot of fun this year and got a bunch of good pictures. Can't wait till next year.

Some brightly colored trees on the shoreline of Forbes Lake.

This a more close-up picture of the little stream in an earlier picture.

More color from the forest near our house.

A shot from inside the forest in the middle of it's fall color change.

This is my last picture of the Pine Hills area. It was definitely a interesting place and unusual for Illinois.

This is another picture along the Skillet Fork River near our house.

I thought this picture had some cool reflections in it. The stream is Skillet Fork and runs near our house.

To keep mixing up the fall pictures, here's another picture out at Pine Hills.

Another fall picture, this one of a small stream with a couple of quick drops. The location is actually on the property where I live and the flowing water is the result of us draining some ponds for the research that I do.

I've got lots of yellow color this fall, but not much red. Here's the exception with a brilliant red tree on Forbes Lake.

I still have some Pine Hills pictures to post, but I figured I needed to introduce a little variety. This is a picture from Forbes Lake, right by where I live. This wide angle shot captures the color on the far bank and a lot of reflection of that color and the sky.

I like many aspects of this picture. The framing by the shadowed vegetation in the foreground, the tall light bluff and the bright yellow tree at the top.

This is a swamp/lake at the base of the bluffs at Pine Hills. I liked the reflection of the colors in the clear part of the lake.

Another picture of the bluffs and tree colors at Pine Hills.

Taking a short break from pictures of the bluffs (there will be plenty more to come). I just liked the color these trees were showing. The was also at Larue Pine Hills.

Here's another picture of some fall colors on the Pine Hill bluffs. This time not so zoomed in.

This is another picture from Pine Hills. This is at the base of the bluffs looking up. Though there wasn't a lot of color, some individual trees were showing color and it made for a good picture.

This past weekend, my family and I went on a day trip to the Larue Pine Hills National Natural Landmark in southern Illinois. The area is composed of some bluffs overlooking an old river canal that is now a series of oxbow lakes and swamps. The leaves were just starting to change color so there wasn't a lot, but there was some color. This is a shot from on top of the bluffs looking down at one of the swampy areas.

This fall foliage picture is a little different than the ones I usually take. I liked the lighting and the contrast of the yellow leaves with the trunk of the tree.

Well, it's fall again and the leaves are starting to show their colors. This year I hope to be able to post a bunch of pictures from multiple locations. This one is on the trail from our house to our pond.

This is the last of my Chicago pictures after the sun has set. That is Navy Pier jutting out in the middle almost splitting the city in half, Sears Tower on the left, John Hancock on the right.

The Chicago cityscape with a pirate ship tour boat in the foreground.

The Sears Tower (though I think they changed the name) and other buildings surrounded by the golden glow of the sunset. You can see the sunlight shinning through the glass windows of one of the smaller buildings.

The John Hancock building with the sunset illuminating the southern side. The structure with the green roof and flags is the easternmost point of Navy Pier.

Recently, I went on a dinner cruise with my wife in Chicago. It afforded me a great opportunity to take some awesome pictures of the city skyline during sunset.

I thought the color and cloud formation in this picture were different and neat.

This was the scene the other evening after some storms had passed through the area. I had taken this picture with the automatic settings on my camera and much of the color and texture had been bleached out. I reshot it with the manual setting and decreasing the aperture and it looked like this which was much closer to what I saw. I need to take a class sometime and really figure out what I'm doing.

A different perspective on the same sunrise scene.

Another sunrise picture, this time with some morning fog. This time of the year is always good for sunrise pictures.

I thought this old run down tower with a tree growing out of it would make an interesting picture. I've noticed there is some distortion around the outline of the tree in this picture and in the one of the cyprus tree. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but it isn't in the copy of these pictures I have on my computer.

These were some pretty interesting looking bird houses they had at the forest preserve.

This is a large cyprus tree (I think) at the forest preserve we went to. I used my new circular polarizing filter to enhance the blue in the sky. I like the way the blue from the sky contrasts with the green from the tree.

Frogs

I know most people looking at this picture won't be able to tell, but all the little bumps in the water are frogs. This area hasn't had much rain for a while so the lower water level leaves lots of shallow water for the frogs to sit in.

Blue Heron

My family and I went to a forest preserve this past weekend so I had the opportunity to take a few pictures. This one is obviously of a blue heron. I was hoping I could get a shot of it eating a fish, but no luck.

Parade

My daughter was in a parade recently. I thought this guy on a unicycle would make a good picture and took many pictures of him. This is the best one I got, but I'm still not completely happy with it. I don't seem to have an eye for taking pictures on non-landscape photos, but hopefully if I take enough of them, it will eventually come.

Nashville 6

A little different perspective on the same building. This will be my last picture of Nashville. I promise.

Nashville 5

I obviously thought the AT&T building was an interesting subject. I also liked the way the brick building beneath it was arranged in the picture.

Nashville 4

I liked this picture because it contrasted the older buildings that make up the entertainment district of Nashville in the foreground and the more modern buildings that make up the cityscape in the background.

Nashville 3

This is the main strip in Nashville where all the bars and music are. It's not a picture I normally would have taken, but I'm trying to expand on the types of subjects I take pictures on.

Nashville 2

This is the Sommet Center in Nashville. I think a hockey team plays there. I just thought it had an interesting look to photograph.

Nashville

I was recently at a meeting in Nashville. Of course I had to take the opportunity to take some pictures I don't normally get to take. The next several days will include these pictures. This one is of the downtown view from my hotel room.