Prairie near Whitewater Canyon, Iowa -------
I think photographers know better than a lot of other people how to take the song of the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want!”. Sunday afternoon I hiked down to the bottom of Whitewater Canyon, one of only three true canyons in Iowa, and highly interesting for people interested in geology, wildlife watching, and nature in general. (for location and more detailed description please feel free to use this link: http://www.mycountyparks.com/County/Dubuque/Park/Whitewater-Canyon-Wildlife-Area.aspx ) It is surrounded by prairie land, rolling hills, and fields.
So why don’t I show pictures from the canyon? As said, you can’t always get what you want! The truth is, the light really sucked. A big field of gray clouds started covering the sky while me and our dog Cooper were on our way down to the canyon. With the dull light of an overcast, well photography in a canyon can suck too! Back on the way to the parking lot and up on the prairie I saw the edge of the clouds moving east and towards me. And here is the point I’m trying to make. The next opportunity for a decent photo is just around the corner.
I sat down on a big boulder that marks the border of the parking lot, let our dog Cooper do what he wanted to do, and watched the development of the weather for about 45 minutes. As soon the edge of the gray clouds passed the sun, the camera was out of the bag and the shutter was clicking. All the blossoms of the wildflowers in the prairie are gone, but the prairie grass in the fore- and middle ground adds texture to the image, and the “crying” clouds are just lovely in my books. Well, no canyon pictures today, but next time I may get what I want… 😊