Christine Hudnall Photography

Autonet Mobile?

Christine — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:03:44 +0000

How would you like to stay connected while traveling across the country, yet not have to rely on finding hotspots? Sound like a good deal? I think so, but am seriously beginning to wonder if it will actually happen. I hope it will. I cross my fingers that it will. And yes, I’ve even said a prayer that it will.

What am I talking about? Autonet Mobile. Go ahead, check out their site, it sounds fantastic, and it’s been the buzz for awhile now, but I’m still waiting.

Autonet Mobile

I’ve been hearing about this great thing for over a year, and back at the beginning of February I sent off a query to the company asking when it would be available to the public. I was amazed (and excited even!) that I received an answer the very next day.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Autonet Mobile. We will be announcing pricing and
availability in a few weeks.

Stay tuned….

Autonet Mobile

I received that message on February 4th. It’s now May 3rd. Exactly how long is a few weeks?

:-(

Thunderstorms and Garden - A Good Combo?

Christine — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:19:38 +0000

I think so!

We’ve had some nice t-storms over the past week here in Florida, and I have to admit, I’ve been loving it. Unfortunately my storm pictures turned out cruddy looking, but all was not lost!

I had been taking an online course with Rob Sheppard (PC Photo, Outdoor Photographer, as well as numerous books) and decided to undertake a garden remodel to go with my course. As many know gardening in Florida can be a daunting task because of the heat. So I was thrilled when the storms started rumbling!

I am still working on the front garden, have about half of it is done, but decided to share a peek at just one of the many plants going in.

Gaura lindheimei

Welcome home Endeavour!

Christine — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:59:58 +0000

Whew, just got home not 20 minutes ago, walked into the garage, when suddenly…

BOOOOM!!

Holy crap, did someone just ram my house?!

And then I remembered, ran inside and got to watch the landing on NASA TV. I get goosebumps every time they go up and every time they come home.

Welcome Home Endeavour! :D

Critters

Christine — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:52:24 +0000

Just a couple more critters

Syntomeida epilais Walker

Oleander Caterpillar

Danaus plexippus

Monarch Caterpillar

Storm Chaser, A Photographer’s Journey

Christine — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:49:11 +0000

Just have to give a shout out for a book that I received Thursday evening when UPS dropped it off. Opened the package this afternoon and put it down tonight. Finished. It is, Storm Chaser, A Photographer’s Journey, by Jim Reed.

Have no fear I’ll definitely be picking it up again, and again to go over it, but going beyond the images, which are mesmerizing, fascinating and sometimes downright scary, it was the author’s writing that had my attention. Especially when he spoke about hurricanes. Having lived through Hurricane Andrew, then within 2 months time, Hurricanes Charley, Francis and Jeanne, his telling of his thoughts while going through hurricanes brought back many memories. And I just kept nodding my head as I read his ‘journal’ of Hurricane Katrina, as if he could actually see me agreeing with him and encouraging him to continue on ’speaking’! While Katrina was certainly no laughing matter, I did have to chuckle, because as I read the journal, I kept thinking, that could have been me writing that as I remembered my journal I kept for the 2004 Hurricane season. No, the words aren’t the same and the circumstances are different, but for me, my journal was a stress-reliever. I would write by the light of a hurricane lamp in the middle of the night, as I sat on a couch next to the open windows praying for a breeze after the hurricanes. Sure couldn’t sleep afterwards, it was too hot, too muggy, too humid… you get the picture. So, to be able to read what someone was thinking while in certain situations is almost calming to me. It may not make sense but that is just how my logic or illogic if you may, mind, works.

So, if I haven’t scared you off, order this book or go to bookstore and get it. You will see hurricanes, supercells, dust clouds, tornadoes and so much more. But you will also get an inside look into the thinking of a professional storm chaser.

One day I hope to meet Jim and his chase partner, Katherine Bay, who knows, maybe even get to learn from them by tagging along on a chase. That would be the ultimate for me.

Monarchs II

Christine — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 15:34:06 +0000

Monarch Caterpillars

Christine — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:27:20 +0000

Have been busy in the garden getting some things planted and other things moved and just getting rid of others. But one plant that we are adding, we just can’t get enough of right now and that is Milkweed. Right now I have some Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), but hope to be planting native milkweed at some point.

It all started when I went to Home Depot to look for native and/or Florida friendly plants, and I came upon the milkweed. I had previously read that it was a nectar food as well as a host food for butterflies, although at the time, I didn’t know which ones. So, I purchased four plants about a foot to two feet in height, thinking at the time, that I’ll plant them, and be able to watch butterflies in my gardens, not thinking that it would lead to anything else, except hopefully some photographs.

When we got home I stuck the plants underneath one of the trees until I could figure out where I wanted it and went inside. One of my sisters was visiting, so planting really wasn’t where my head was, so decided to worry about it the next day. Had a late night, so the next day started out half gone. :-) The day was relaxed, so I decided to do some planting and grabbed the four milkweeds, asking my mom where she wanted me to move her azalea plants, then laughing as she got flustered because I wanted to move her azaleas! So, we got that worked out, only had to move one azalea and toss another, and started planting the milkweed. Got one plant in the ground when I had to go inside for something, went to run inside telling my mom not to touch the shovel, I’d do it when I came back out. Got back outside and found out that my mom had tried, and my sister took the shovel away and she did it. We now have two plants planted and I went to pick up the third plant, when for some reason I looked up at it.

And there staring back at me was this caterpillar, obviously not happy that I was mere inches from it, and he was twitching at me. I hollered to my mom and sister and then we started searching the other plants, and trying to figure out where to put him so he wouldn’t get eaten! I had seen over on the Hummibgbird and Butterfly forum at Dave’s Garden where people used different containers, some used mesh houses, some made wood houses with mesh inserts, but they usually did it before they needed it. I knew nothing, and certainly didn’t know how long I had, what kind of caterpillar I had, nor what to expect. Boy, did I learn fast!

And that is where the story begins…

Lunar Eclipse I

Christine — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:20:13 +0000

Hot, humid and very muggy outside. And it is 4:30 in the morning. Yuk!

The only thing keeping me going after no sleep is the upcoming lunar eclipse. It is said that we will only get a partial eclipse here in Florida because of the rising sun. Hey, that would be a cool song! ;-)

4:38 A.M. and the eclipse has started here. Yeah!

Lunar Eclipse - August 28, 2007

Sebring, Florida

6:08 A.M. the eclipse is still going, but I am giving out, quickly. Maybe next time I’ll take a nap before I try to image an early morning eclipse. But, I am very happy with what I captured and cannot wait to get the large image printed. The image here does not do it anywhere near justice!

This is a composite of 4 images. Total time: 3450 seconds. Canon 5D, Canon 100mm Macro, Wimberley Head II on Gitzo G1325 tripod. Black-out fabric used to cover lense during shooting, for mutliple exposure effect.

Oh no! It’s a Robber!

Christine — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:35:47 +0000

Well, we have a new visitor to the garden, this is the first time I’ve seen this thing here and I wasn’t sure about getting this close to him, or is that her?

I thought it was some kind of mutated dragonfly, you know, orange groves all around, pesticides… mutation? But after searching for about 3 hours for a name, I finally found it… Robber Fly!

I’m still going through tons of images and information so that I can narrow it down even further. I do know that it is a female though!

These things are, uhm, creepy. When they fly they sound like a giant mosquito, buzzing. One of the things that fascinated me though was, even though they may look big, this one was probably about an inch and half long. I hope it decides to come back so that I can capture better images, but what I got will have to satisfy my curiosity for now. :)

Robber Fly Asilidae

Gotta love mistakes

Christine — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 06:19:12 +0000

Sunflower Helianthus annuus

Sometimes mistakes can turn out better than what is originally planned.

I was taking images of some of my sunflowers that I grow for the birds to eat, I had cut them and brought them inside so that I could use my light tent (outside, the light was not that great). I set up the tent with a black velour background, thinking that it would be pretty with the brightness of the flower, nice contrast.

I took a few shots to see where I wanted the sunflower placed, then took 3 actual shots. On the fourth shot, I’m not sure what happened, but somehow my image came out with almost a haze/fog effect. I liked it, a lot. So I decided to keep it. And then when I had it in PhotoshopCS I was playing around, and by playing with just a level layer I brought out colors that to me are great. So, here is both versions, the yellow one is the original and the moodier browns is the leveled one.

Sunflower Helianthus annuus