Daily Picture Theme

Photo Journal - Week 2 (2025)

A new year a new start. Infrared selfie and some picture themes for the week

John M Poltrack

16 Jan 2025 — 3 min read

Nothing but blue skies from now on

Good morning, welcome to the 2nd edition of my 2025 photo journal. I'm moving away from Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsUp. Apparently Zuckerberg is anxious to have his platform emulate that of Musk. One of Musk is one too many. This website will be my Instagram and Blue Sky will be my Facebook. Look for me there at https://bsky.app/profile/poltrack.net

During the second week of January I spent some time experimenting with focus stacking. It is technique used in macro and regular photography to capture everything in focus. A number of photos are taken and they are aligned and combined so the resultant image shows only the elements that are in focus. The unfocused elements are masked out. The process can be done with photoshop, but I downloaded a trial version of Zerene Stacker which makes the process much easier. I've included a few examples in my photo collection

It was cold and when I noticed the birds pecking at the frozen birdbath. I set out some fresh water. The birds flocked to it. It became tiresome to replace the water so I finally set up a defroster. Give them water and they will come. Here are the photos.

Photo Gallery - Week 2 (2025)

Daily Picture Themes

I've been keeping up with the Daily Picture Themes posted on the social media site Spoutible and posting them on my Improves with Age substack. Here is the summary from the first week of 2025.

Monday Picture Theme is #Buck by John M Poltrack

The buck stops hereRead on Substack

Tuesday Picture Theme is #Pad by John M Poltrack

Sketch Pad of Kurt BosworthRead on Substack

Wednesday Picture Theme is #Suspend by John M Poltrack

Capilano suspension bridgeRead on Substack

Thursday Picture Theme is #Border by John M Poltrack

Obviously smuggling will get you in troubleRead on Substack

Friday Picture Theme is #Cow by John M Poltrack

Calf at Connolly Dairy FarmRead on Substack

Saturday Picture Theme is #Danger by John M Poltrack

Avalanche ControlRead on Substack

Sunday Picture Theme is #Lap by John M Poltrack

Betty and AbigailRead on Substack

“There is nothing to be learned from the second kick of a mule.”
— Mark Twain

In Search of Sanity

"[I’m trying to] accept with [grace] the things that cannot be changed, [maintain the drive] to change the things that [might and] should be changed, and [gain] the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other." - Doug Waitt version, which is more apropos to our current situation

I'm on Bluesky

I left Twitter after Elon Musk took over. I signed up for several social media sites including Bluesky. However most of the news organizations and journalist remained on the Twitter platform.... until now. Suddenly there was an exodus to Bluesky. Welcome, look for me,

I have removed AdSense advertising from my site. The ads were annoying and cluttered up the page. However it does cost money (and time) to publish this website. If you enjoy the content, why not become a supporter? Think of it as buying me a "virtual cup of coffee". FYI the average cost of a cup of coffee in 2024 is $3.08