TheCreepyLurker

RULES: 

Tell us a story.  It has to be real.  You have to be directly involved (no retelling someone else's story).  You can include photos, links, or other media to tell your story.  There is no length requirement, but the spirit of this thread is to show creativity and entertain others through story telling.  Use your best judgment.  

1 hour ago, Hariff said:

After this I will do a poll on dlc or not i think, anyone know with EU4 if one person has dlc then everyone gets it like brought over @TheCreepyLurker ??

I have to me honest, Hariff, I have no idea what you're asking... 

Talk old to me.  

During this year's winter adventure, my buddy and I made our way to Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota.  I think I posted an image from Eagle Mountain somewhere around here but I can't seem to find it now...

The hike in to Eagle Mountain is a nice 3.5ish mile jaunt through beautiful forest (Superior National Forest to be specific) and along inland lakes.  It's mostly flat for the first 3 miles then ramps up aggressively to the summit near the end.  We had caught the trail a few days after a heavy snowfall which made the hike even more beautiful.  While walking into a particularly dense section of forest, I snapped this photo of my buddy (with my phone).  Upon landing in Google Photos, I get a notification for a new "stylized" photo.  Most of the time, these are crap because "the machine" doesn't know my vision for what I wanted out of the image.  In this case, however, it turned out quite nice.  Reminds me of a photo from an outdoor sporting goods store.  

Mostly to demonstrate to @nashnwo0 that you don't need a fancy camera to take/share photos, here's one I took on Feb 12 of this year.  It's a picture of my driveway after I finished shoveling.  Taken with my phone.  

What matters to me most about this image is not its technical perfection (very not technically sound), it's not about the light (it was an overcast day, early in the morning with no clear light source even), it isn't even what I'd consider a good image compositionally (no clear subject).  

But why I do want to share this photo is the story it tells.  You don't need me to write a dissertation to know that that is a shit-load of snow.  That it was a lot of hard work to keep the driveway clear for Mrs. Lurker and I and our visitors.  At the end of the driveway on the left side, you see a dark triangle.  That's the corner of a 68-gal garbage bin hiding behind the snowbank.  On the right side you see the top end of a post.  That's my mailbox.  We had several more snowfalls after this photo was taken.  I ended up needing to climb on top of the piles at the end of the driveway and knock them down because I couldn't throw the snow high enough to clear the piles any longer.  I'm 6' 2" and they were both over my head...  

EDIT:  @nashnwo0, I'm challenging you to post something.  Tell us a story.  Put an image behind it.

Remember that regional park I mentioned in a prior post?  During a different visit to the park, I had gotten there before sunrise hoping to capture a nice shot of the sunrise.  There's a nice overlook about a half mile hike straight uphill from the parking lot.  (Unfortunately it was too foggy and overcast to see the sun.)  While waiting for the sun to come up (between swatting mosquitoes) I watched cars run up and down the road below.  Noticing how their lights were carving out the arc of the road, I decided to try a long exposure shot.  After trying out a few exposures with random cars coming by, I dialed in what I felt most happy with.  Conveniently, as I watched the next car come into frame, another car coming from the opposite direction did the same thing and made it through the frame in the same amount of time as the one I was watching.  A bit of patience and a little bit of luck really paid off.  

14 minutes ago, Nizam Adrienne said:

 

Definitely had it in my mind that you meant a post a day...

You've now posted several times in this thread without a picture...  wtf? 

EDIT: @Nizam Adrienne, I updated the rules to be more clear...  

Quote

 

Limit, 1 photo per post.  No double posting within the same day.  

 

Definition: 

Double posting = posting two times in this thread without someone else posting in the middle.  

 

Translating the above rule: 

You can post as many times in this thread with a photo per day, as long as someone else posts after you.  

If no one posts after you, you can double post as long as it is the next day.  

 

During one of my winter adventures a few years back on an ungodly cold morning, we suited up before sunrise, hiked down to Lake Superior, and waited.  The lake was in the process of freezing over (it eventually did that year, they had to bring in icebreaker ships to keep shipping into Duluth open - it only happens once or twice a decade that Lake Superior freezes over).  Overnight, large sheets of ice would form in open water.  Winds would then blow those sheets around and they would crash into the shore/more stable ice.  It would fracture in all kinds of cool ways (with all kinds of cool sounds) and leave an otherworldly frozen landscape.  The sun started coming up and glinting off of the icy shards (see what I did there?).  In the distance you can see "sea smoke" which is basically fog that forms over the lake because the water is actually much warmer than the air temp.  It's a really cool phenomenon that I've been fortunate enough to enjoy often during these winter adventures.  I've titled this picture "Icy Uprising".

2 minutes ago, Nizam Adrienne said:

Even you don't follow the rules anymore. We all like the pictures and stories though so we don't care

Git gud.  Double posting means two posts in a row...  

1 hour ago, Bhuto said:

Okay I am assuming I can share pics too  

Certainly!  Just follow the rules...

On 2/8/2019 at 8:57 AM, TheCreepyLurker said:

Share your best!  Give us the story behind it.  

 

Limit, 1 photo per post.  No double posting within the same day. 

Near my house is a nice little regional park.  It's basically just a watershed full of hills, valleys, and dense trees.  It's a great little nature preserve.  One day (before the little lurker was around), I had some time to kill and wanted to poke around a little deeper into the park.  It's not huge but there is a defined trail system.  I wanted to get off trail.  So I grabbed shoes I'd be fine getting wet and wandered off-trail until I got into some cool spots.  This was one of them.  A simple drainage area with logs, and sticks, and leaves.  Plenty of water around.  I grabbed a few photos of the little waterfall but also saw the cool moss that was growing on the log in the foreground and wanted to find a way to get both in the image.  In hindsight, I wish I had gotten a lower vantage point for this shot.  Oh well.  Next time.  I have no idea what kind of plant it is.  But it looks cool...  Open the full picture to see the most detail. 

I was in Dallas TX for work a while back.  Mrs. Lurker flew down at the end of the week and we spent the weekend wandering around the Dallas/Ft Worth area.  (Ft Worth is a fun way to kill some time if you've got it, Dallas is boring imo.)  One evening, after grabbing an early dinner, we made our way to White Rock Lake on the north east end of downtown Dallas.  After a short walk around the bustling park, we were treated to what I'm quite sure was the best sunset I've ever seen.  The atmospheric conditions were perfect, the cloud cover was sporadic, and positioned perfectly.  As you'll note in the photo, we had sunlight reaching us from two places.  Direct from the sun (or bouncing off the bottom of the cloud cover) and from above the low hanging clouds bouncing off the higher altitude clouds.  This multi-layer sunset is one I've only ever seen once before and it wasn't nearly as spectacular as this one was.  We stuck around for the afterglow as well which turned the sky various shades of blue, pink, and purple depending on the altitude of the clouds.  In the photo, you can see the skyline of downtown Dallas in the distance.  I have this photo printed as a triptych on canvas hanging on my living room wall.   Be sure to zoom in on the photo...

I'd love to visit Japan during the cherry blossom but alas, I'll have to settle for US cherry blossoms...  

Having some time to kill in Rochester, New York a number of years ago with some colleagues, we wandered around downtown a bit.  We hit up a famous hot dog place (I have no idea what it was called, hadn't heard of it).  The food was fine but we ended up with an hour or two to burn still.  So we made our way to the George Eastman Museum.  It is located on the estate of George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak.  (yes, it's that Kodak)  They've turned the estate into a shrine to the medium of photography and we were hoping to get a tour.  It was mid-day mid-week and very few people were around.  After finding out the tours were surprisingly expensive, we just decided to walk around the beautiful grounds instead.  Many well manicured gardens, nice walking paths, bright sunny day.  

We happened upon a beautiful tree in one of the corners of the property and after struggling to take a photo I was happy with due to the sun and weird shadows, I decided to embrace the light and shoot right into the sun.  The effect was pretty neat with a few fun artifacts showing up.  There's the lens flare which are the orange, purple/blue, and green splotches on the top half of the photo.  These are mostly unpredictable and are artifacts of light bouncing around in the lens.  Then there's the starburst/sunburst that resulted from the sun being partially obscured by the branch/flower petals. 

Here's a bit of a unique look at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  This was taken from Lands End Park just South-West of the bridge itself.  It's a nice park to wander around it.  On the north side, it meets the bay.  On the west side, the Pacific.  There's lots of really nice overlooks and access areas down to the water.  I'd highly recommend checking it out.  Easy walking around the park.  Easy to/from public transportation.  Taken July 2014.  

This image is much less cute than a pika.  But impressive none-the-less.  It's a photo of Taipei 101 from the ground, at one point, the worlds tallest tower.  It is in Taipei, Taiwan.  When I visited, it was no longer the tallest (currently #9 in the world) but still touted the worlds fastest vertical rise elevator.  The ride from the 5th floor to the 89th floor observation deck takes less than 45 seconds.  Topping out around 60 km/hr straight up (just shy of 40 miles/hr).  The other really interesting aspect of this building is that Taiwan is a very active geologic area and prone to heavy typhoons.  The engineering that went into every part of this building is amazing.  Chief among them would be the "tuned mass damper."  In short, this is a giant weight (660,000kg, 1.4M lbs) that is suspended high up in the building.  As the ground shifts, the mass dampens those movements to keep the center of mass of the building from shifting rapidly.  The tuned mass damper recorded it's largest deflection just yesterday after an earthquake struck the area.  Photo taken Sept 2014.

Because it's fresh and Mitsuru posted right away, I'm sharing another pika pic.  Deal with it...

This was a different one than the last photo, there were a couple of them running around the boulder field we were in.  It's funny, they're known to be a little mischievous and steal from each other's food stashes.  When one gets caught, they chase each other around and "eep" at one another.  

Obligatory awwwww for this picture.  

During our trip to the Canadian Rockies in 2015 (Jasper National Park to be exact), we ran into a load of wildlife.  Lots of squirrels and chipmunks and the like.  But also bigger things like the hoary marmot and elk (sadly no caribou).  But by far, the favorite of ours was the pika.  These industrious little critters are only found in a few habitats in the world.  Generally, high altitude rocky locations with grasses or other small plants.  They spend their entire summers gathering bundles of these grasses and plants and stash them away in boulder fields for them to feed on during the winter.  They're about the size of a small grapefruit and have a high pitched "eep" squeak they make as they're darting around in the boulder field.  They're also uber cute, especially when they have their cheeks packed and grasses hanging out of their mouths.  

In order to try and grab a photo of one, my wife and I sat down near the trail in an area with some grass where we had seen a pika earlier that day.  Sure enough, one came running around.  Eventually getting close enough to snap a quick photo before it darted off again.  Right as I pressed the shutter, it let out one of the characteristic "eep!" squeaks, making it look like it was smiling for the camera.  This ended up being one of my favorite photos from the trip.  

And here I thought this was a thread about CN Wonders...  

I was pleasantly surprised.  

In part because @RedFive trolled me in the RL picture thread, and in part because I like the image, I'm sharing this one from my 2018 Winter Adventure.  

This was the first morning of the weekend up north.  We were hoping to catch a nice sunrise over Lake Superior.  Winter sunrises are often much better than summer sunrises because the snow and ice reacts in a very different way than... well... when there isn't snow and ice.  Unfortunately this morning, the skies were completely clear.  That meant two things; no great color at sunrise (soft, predawn yellowish glow, maybe) and really cold temps.  It was -10F or cooler at sunrise.  After a sketchy hike down a snow covered embankment, and an ill-advised jump down a small cliff (was not sure we could get back up safely...), we made it to a nice secluded rocky beach at the lake shore.  

The photo from the RL picture thread was taken just after sunrise when the sun started hitting the shore.  It lead to a nice warm light for that portrait which turned out great.  My buddy (and winter adventure compatriot) took that photo.  But my favorite image from that morning was actually just before sunrise when the sky was still lightening and mostly purple in color.  The old, rundown boathouse on the shore of the lake made for a nice focal point to capture the rock, snow, and ice embracing Lake Superior.  As an aside, the moon was actually still up, in the sky above the boat house, just out of the frame.  

I would like to dedicate my 1000th rep point to the fearless leader of the Forum Fighters.  Without her help and guidance I would never have had the opportunity to coup Lordship, reign as TKR's first Forum Fighting Monarch, or supplant myself with another Forum Fighter.  

All hail Micchan!  

o7

Sorry for the drought lately.  RL...   

This photo was taken in the northern suburbs of Chicago at a regional park preserve.  A really nice area with beautiful walking trails, streams, ponds/lakes.  Plenty of wildlife (my nephews chased around a flock of geese for a while, that was fun...).  But on one of the trails, we had crossed a bridge and come to a crossing in the trail.  While my sister (the local) figured out which direction we were going to go, I snapped this photo of the trail we ended up taking.  

Glacier National Park is known as "The Crown of the Continent" for good reason.  It's stunning beauty and wildlife are truly a gem to behold.  One area that really exemplifies what the area has to offer is Avalanche Lake which sits on the west side of the park.  After a violent thunderstorm the night before (big trees came down all over including in our campground- scary shit), we woke up to a beautiful mix of fog and low clearing clouds.  After a humid hike through coniferous trees (which annoyingly kept fogging up my camera), we arrived at the lake.  After taking some time to soak it in, I set up the tripod and took this panoramic. I forget exactly how many photos were used to create this composite (8-10ish I think).  The image size is 11,760 x 4,896.  It could be printed about 40 inches wide without any significant loss of quality.  This is the second largest photo I've ever taken.    I'd really like to have this printed on a sheet of metal and hung over my couch at home...  

PS  Since the question came up previously, this is the camera I've used for most of the images I've posted in this thread so far, including the two really big panoramas.  I've since upgraded a bit.  

PPS  Bonus points to whomever can find the bighorn ram in this image...

Previously, I made mention of Gooseberry Falls State Park and the irony of the folks standing on the ice at the base of the falls. 

To give added perspective, I felt it prudent to share an image of the falls at a different time of year.  I'm happily sharing my favorite photo of the Middle Falls.  There's a total of 4 falls over the course of the last mile of the Gooseberry River as it descends to Lake Superior.  (Upper, Middle, Lower, and Fifth Falls - Yes, that's not a typo.  No I have no idea where the Fourth Falls are.  Fifth Falls is actually above the Upper Falls too.)  In mid-July, a few weeks before Mrs. Lurker became Mrs. Lurker, we took a camping trip up north.  The weather was wonderful, the hiking gorgeous, and were treated to an outstanding lightning storm on Sunday evening as we extended our stay through Monday.  Overnight, it poured and poured.  Thankfully our gear held out and we stayed warm and dry in the tent.  

Naturally, everything was pretty wet when we packed up on Monday morning to begin our trek back home.  Being that Gooseberry Falls SP was right on our way home, we decided to swing in and see what the rainfall would do to the river.  Neither of us knew how quickly the river would respond.  We were treated to the highest water levels I've ever seen (still true today).  Standing near the falls, the concussion of the water hitting the rocks at the bottom of the falls was so intense you could feel it in your body.  To the point that it became uncomfortable and you'd had to walk away before feeling ill.  Most of the walkways were flooded below the falls.  Stairways that normally would allow you on the rocks around the fringe of the river were now stairways into a terrifying current.  

Thankfully, the bridge well below the falls was on high enough ground to allow passage to the other side of the river where there is a challenging trail onto the bluffs up above the river that allow you to look down on the falls.  This image is from that trail.  The Middle Falls is roughly 180 feet wide and 30 feet tall.  Note, the color of the river is caused by the vegetation further inland.  It's normally more clear but stained a dark brown color.  In this photo, because of all of the recent rain and fresh runoff, there is a lot of soil that was pulled into the river causing it to be more cloudy than normal.  

During our trip to the Canadian Rockies a few years ago, my wife and I had planned to spend a week in Jasper National Park, and another week in the legendary Banff National Park.  (both are wonderful, go spend as much time as you can in these places)  We had hikes and drives, glaciers and mountains, and scenery and fun.  There's really very little reason to leave these parks to see something else.  But we received a tip from a family we hiked with to Sentinel Pass (check it out, it's a highlight of our trip in the Valley of Ten Peaks) that Yoho National Park just across the border from Banff (Alberta to British Columbia ) was worth visiting.  Specifically Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls were high on the list.  

It's a fun drive up to the Falls complete with switchbacks, mountain views, marshy areas and the like.  We made it there in the late afternoon and had brought some stuff to make dinner.  We hiked up to the base of the falls where it was really misty.  The wind was blowing the bottom of the falls so much that there was very little "stream" making it's way to the valley floor.  It was all mist.  Somehow the stream continued anyway...  We made our way back to the parking lot and set up at one of the picnic tables looking towards the falls to make dinner.  Before long, we noticed our picnic table was being shaded by the mountain to our backs.  It was still fairly early and the falls were still lit but, it was dark for us.  I pulled out the camera when I recognized what was happening.  

The beautiful silhouetted trees in the foreground really anchor the photo for me and drive the focus up to the falls where the subtle color from the small rainbow grabs the eye.  It's fun to wander around the rest of the image and finally notice the beautiful blue sky and big puffy clouds.  It was truly a gorgeous night and well worth taking an afternoon to leave Banff.  Takakkaw Falls in British Columbia's Yoho National Park, is Canada's second highest waterfall. 

As an aside, it anyone is interested in visiting these parks, feel free to let me know.  I'd be happy to offer tips on places to visit, things to see, etc...  

6 hours ago, Benfro said:

I drive a '12 Honda Accord with 112,000 miles....and it gets upwards of 32 mpg.

Mine is an '01 Accord with 270,000 on it. Only gets 25-26 mpg sadly. 

So in my prior role at work, I had the opportunity to do a fair amount of international travel.  I'm not personally too much of a fan of the logistics and headaches of travel, but I do enjoy the change in pace, getting to see the sights, and getting to know the people in a new place.  I always found South Korea to be very comfortable and familiar.  The fashion is very western in style.  The cars drive on the right (and the correct) side of the road.  I can't read a damn thing and only know/knew a few words in Korean but I had the fortune of traveling with our local sales manager who could help keep me out of trouble and enjoying the sights.  

One night, after a long day visiting customers and suppliers, we got dropped off at the hotel and I stopped into my hotel room to change clothes and grab my camera.  I was in the Pangyo Techno Valley, a highly commercial area that was rapidly growing.  New construction with cranes were everywhere.  But I found a nice park to walk through, some nice trails that made their way into the hills, and eventually found a really nice pavilion overlooking the new construction in the Valley.  It was all wood construction with ornate and very vibrant painting inside.  The contrast between the old style architecture and the new construction was striking.  I spent a long time hanging out up here, enjoying the sights and taking photos.  

This image was my favorite and very technically challenging to create.  Given that it was night time with lots of bring lights from the Valley, the shadows were deep and the highlights white.  In order to get the perspective I wanted (not having a fisheye lens), I knew I had to take a two panoramic image (think two rows of images).  Each image that was stitched together was a composite of 3 images at different exposure levels to account for the dynamic range I was trying to capture.  The final image is a whopping 14,309 x 5,813 pixels or 83MP.  The largest image I've ever made.  I am so happy with how the image turned out.  Not only because of the time I spent to take the several dozen images that went into the final render, but also because it actually captured the feel of the place.  Look up and you're in a different time.  Ornate painting, handmade craftsmanship.  Look out, and you're in the boom of a modern city.  I went back to the hotel happy.  Refreshed from the walk.  Energized by what I had seen.  And ready to prepare for the next day with a good night of sleep.  

12 hours ago, Benfro said:

I'm American, therefore I own a car.

And it burns a lot of fuel (petrol for our European friends).  Maybe 12 miles/gallon?  Which I think roughly translates to about 830 cm/litre.  Roughly... 

Well, you set a really high bar that I know I'll never meet, @RedFive.  So, swallowing my pride, I'll get this going again with another photo.  

Gooseberry Falls State Park, and specifically the falls on the Gooseberry River, is a staple of Lake Superior's North Shore.  The Gooseberry River runs into Lake Superior in the park but not being going over a series of fairly dramatic water falls.  I've had the fortune of visiting these falls during all seasons and with high and low water (I've not yet seen the falls break up yet, that's on the bucket list).  It's an easy stop with a nice big rest area, visitor center, and a short walk down paved trails to the falls themselves.  There's a bit longer and more rugged trails in the park (I've been on all of them multiple times), but the falls are the reason most people visit.  

As we were headed back home from last year's winter adventure, we decided to swing in for a quick stop to stretch our legs before the 3 hour ride home, get some fresh air, and see the ice formations.  The scene when we got there was entertaining.  After watching unprepared people slip and slide up and down the trail and snapping a few photos of the ice itself, a few groups of people made their way out onto the frozen river in spite of the many warnings posted to the contrary.  Every year there are stories of people falling in/breaking through the ice, and drowning.  I may venture slightly onto the river but only near the edges and if the weather has been conducive to ice formation for the prior days/weeks.  Thankfully these folks made it back to their cars safely, but the way this scene played out was really pretty funny.  I was in this vantage point looking to capture some detail images of the ice when these people strolled into the frame.  So, I zoomed out and took their picture instead.  I really like how imposing the wall of ice feels contrasted to these adventurers.  The sign adds a bit of comedic value.  

@Smith, when you visit MN, we'll go hang out at these falls.  We'll do the Fifth Falls loop.  I'll bring the snowshoes and/or ice spikes.