MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2023 #7 - UNHEALTHY EFFECTS

Smoke over the Mississippi River, Lock & Dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa

It’s not really a ”Mississippi River Story” only, large areas in the country are under the effect of numerous wildfires burning in Canada. It’s not unusual to have some haze in the Mississippi Valley, due to high humidity, during the summer, but since a few days we experience haze on a much different level. We can even smell the smoke at times and with an air quality index of over 200 it’s not a good time to be outside for everybody.

When I made this photo downstream from lock and dam #11 in Dubuque, Iowa today a turkey vulture just landed on the reeling in the foreground. I hope it is not a bad omen that there is more to come… Right now a storm further south moves some of the unhealthy fine dust to the east, but I feel sorry for everybody who will be effected in other parts of the country.

NATURE CLICKS #393 - RING-NECKED DUCK

John Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa --------

Another image from my trip along the Mississippi last weekend. The prominent field mark of the Ring-necked Duck is the white ring on its bill, that makes it easy to identify them. The faint chestnut ring around their necks is very hard to see and mostly visible only at a close distance. I always wonder who gave those ducks their name…😉? The turbulent water on the left is what’s left of one of the females I had in the viewfinder as well. It just dived down in search for food while I pressed the shutter button of the camera. That’s alright, the two males were part of a team of about 20-30 ducks who used the pond at the Deere Marsh as a place for rest and feeding during their migration to Minnesota or Canada up north.

As much as I like this spot for bird watching, for photography it is not ideal. The road to the west and trail to the south are quite a bit higher than the water surface and that gives you always that unfortunate shooting angle from above, which I believe is not very flattering. Don’t even think of getting out of the car and climb down the embankment, all ducks and geese would have left the state of Iowa by the time you are down at water level… 😊

SUPERIOR’S WATERFALLS

High Falls, Magpie River, Ontario, Canada ------------

Nothing really new today. I have been on the road almost all week and the camera has been used only for business purposes. The good thing is that I still have a lot of photos from previous shootings on my hard drive that have not seen the eye of the public yet.

Lake Superior is considered the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area and the third-largest by volume. The lake is fed by over 200 rivers and as you can image there are numerous waterfalls that are accessible for visitors.

Middle Silver Falls, Magpie River, Ontario, Canada

Probably almost all landscape photographers are attracted by waterfalls and I’m no exception. They are a good subject to hone the technical skills and it is just fun to find a good composition and to manage exposure and sharpness. All three images were made near the town of Wawa, Ontario.

Middle Silver Falls, Magpie River, Ontario, Canada

NATURE CLICKS #345 - CEDAR WAXWING IN THE RAIN

Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada -----------

Here is the question, what do you do if it rains out in the wilderness? The only answer I can give, take the camera with you, otherwise you will miss some of the best story telling shots. This Cedar Waxwing was the only one we saw during our trip around Lake Superior. It looked a little bit pitiful with its wet feathers on this gray and misty day, but the waxwing is such a pretty bird and I had to give it a try.

Using a flash light for enhancing the colors was not really an option in the rain. No matter how much the flash power is dialed down, it is difficult to go without unwanted reflections. Handholding the D750 / 150-600 combo and following the fast moving bird required a much higher ISO setting than I like to use for my wildlife photography. The photo was made at 1/200 s, f/6.3, and ISO800. This was obviously enough for a proper exposure and still slow enough to show the rain as small strings in the background. The rain drops on leaves and twigs and the wet shimmer on the waxwing’s feathers are all story telling elements that are important for this photo.

OUIMET CANYON

Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ---------

Back to our Lake Superior roundtrip in August / September. Ouimet Canyon is a gorge, cut into the rocks of Lake Superior’s northern shore. Ice, wind, and rain, the architects of time, have chiseled deep into the Canadian shield to form one of the most striking canyons of eastern Canada. (source: Information board at Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park). There were two theories discussed how this canyon was created, and the geologists among us may have their own ideas (Anke?), but for the photographer the story telling about the magnificence of the place has precedence. We got there mid morning, too late for the lifting fog of that day, but still early enough to beat the high contrast of an average summer day. As much as I dislike places where tourists like me gather in large numbers (yes, I throw stones out of the glass house.. ;-) , we had this canyon view surprisingly all for ourselves.

The bottom of the canyon is about 100 meters deeper (more than 300 feet) and the flora and fauna below is about the same as you’d find on the shores of Hudson Bay, 1,000 km to the north. This is mind boggling, but facts like this enhance my appreciation beyond any photographic expectations…

FOX, …YEP, GETTING CLOSE

Red Fox - Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ----------

I wrote about his young fox already a few days ago. If you missed this post, please feel free to click right HERE. After the critter lost focus on a possible prey, somewhere in the ditch beside the gravel road, it walked right towards us. I had to shorten the focal length of the Sigma 150-600 mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens quickly in order to make this photo. As I often state, I’m more an environmental shooter than an eyeball photographer, but this photo is kinda the golden mean in my humble opinion…

LIFTING FOG

Rabbit Blanket Lake, Ontario Canada

If an area of rain-laden clouds moves out of the area overnight and the weather forecast promises nothing but sunshine for the next day, you better get out of your sleeping bag early and put the legs of your tripod in the sand wherever you have spotted a good photo opportunity ahead of time.

At Rabbit Blanket Lake in Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario we camped right next to the lake. When the fog lifted in the morning the clicks were made quickly, while the gorgeous light of the raising sun was present. You can’t start better into a new day…

 

NATURE CLICKS #344 - COMMON LOON

Mijinemungshing Lake in Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

If there was one photo I really wanted to make during our tour around Lake Superior, it is this one. Up north you can hear the calls of the loon at many forested lakes or ponds. They often call at night and I think it is one of the greatest sounds in nature. Getting close to the bird and making the click is a big challenge if you sit in a kayak. The loons eat mostly fish and forage by diving from the water surface and chase down their prey underwater. They can dive up to 65 meters (200 feet) below the surface and the eyes of a loon can focus both in air and water. For a photographer it is not really predictable where the loon will show up next and I’m glad you couldn’t hear me cursing many times…

The photo was made during a paddle tour on Mijinemungshing Lake in Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. There was no other car in the parking lot next to the boat landing and at the end of the gravel road, means we had the lake for ourselves. Paddling doesn’t get any better than that!

 

COASTAL HIKE AT NEYS

Lake Superior, Neys Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ------------

I like to take you back to our trip around Lake Superior about a month ago and show you a couple more pictures. One of the most interesting trails we hiked along the rocky coast line was the “Under the Volcano Trail” in Neys Provincial Park. Beside being a good terrain for adventure with great photography it reveals Neys’ unique geologic, glacial, and volcanic history.

These abandoned old boats cannot be ignored for a photograph. Joan and I spent quite some time there and tried to find the best way to make the click that tells the story.

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

 

NATURE CLICKS #343 - HERRING GULL

Marie Louise Lake, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada -------

Making a picture of a Gull is not too difficult, they are usually anywhere near a big body of water. It has to be something special involved, like a great natural light situation or a story telling aspect that can make a photo of an ordinary bird, like a gull, standing out from the rest. This Herring Gull was interestingly enough the only gull we saw during one of our kayak tours on Marie Louise Lake in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. It just had caught a fish and was still messing with it as we drifted towards the shore with our boats. Usually a gull takes off and flies away if you get too close but this one didn’t want to give up the fish at all costs.

It is the low perspective that makes these shots special for me and the pictures from this incident tell the story.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

 

LOOKING DOWN, MANDATORY IN BAD WEATHER

Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario, Canada

When we have to deal with a gray overcast and maybe drizzle or rain it is tempting to leave the camera in a safe and dry place while going on a hike. By doing so it is guaranteed that most of the time we would just skip opportunities that may lead to a shot the “fair-weather-shooter” will probably never see. This is not the time for the great vistas but by keeping the eyes on the ground, between the rocks, bushes and trees, you will come back with a nature shot that is at least not the same the guy before you had already posted on the internet.

We had such a day while camping and spending time in Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario, Canada. I actually get excited if fast moving clouds, wind, and weather provide moments a bald, uniform blue sky will never deliver. Hiking through rugged terrain on the Manito Miikana trail, on a peninsula surrounded by the waters of Lake Superior, we saw this spot with rocks, ferns, moss, and lichens. Light wasn’t there in abundance but enough to make the click at 1/30s, f/8, and ISO 640. Sure, I could have made the picture at f/4 to get a faster shutter speed but I really wanted more depth of field since my subject wasn’t just the ferns but the whole scene. See the reflections on the ferns caused by the rain water? Yep, I left the polarizer in the camp site…😏

 

NATURE CLICKS #342 - RED FOX PUP

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens -----

The morning when we pulled out of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada and moved on with our tour around Lake Superior we decided to check out another small lake not far from the road. As we came around a corner we suddenly saw this young Red Fox right beside the gravel road. We stopped, sneaked carefully out of the car and started shooting. The fox decided to ignore us. There were several challenges to master beside not scaring the critter away. One was to deal with some “stupid” grass in the foreground. I have several images where it is right in front of the eye. Not good! The second challenge was the backlight situation. I have ruined many photos in the past with similar light but this time I learned from previous mistakes and chose the right exposure compensation. The rim light separates the fox from the background and works very well for this shot. Starting a day like this is hard to beat… 😊

 

TAKE OFF SHOTS

Marie Louise Lake, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

As mentioned in an earlier post I have been brave a few times and took the camera and long lens with me in the kayak, despite some choppy winds at times. One of the best rewards were some shots of this adult Bald Eagle, taking off from its perch at Marie Louise Lake. The photo would not be very difficult to make on solid ground with the lens supported by a tripod. Handholding the heavy SIGMA 150-600 Sports lens in a kayak is quite a challenge and I’m very happy about this shot. The image is not cropped and was shot with 1/1600s, f/6.3, ISO 320, at 600 mm.

 

CHANGING THE SUBJECT

Marie Louise Lake, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ---  

When I looked across Marie Louise Lake I thought that Sleeping Giant, the mountain range in the back that gave this provincial park its name, would be a good subject for a photo. While evaluating the scene I became aware how rough the wind made the lake surface and how the reflections on the water played a role how we saw the lake. Suddenly the lake with its subtle reflections was a lot more interesting and the Sleeping Giant played just a second role for this image. Sure, the eye will go briefly to the bright parts of the clouds in the back, but the clouds are not interesting enough in this matter and the eye will return to this beautiful light and the rough surface of the water in the foreground. It became one of my favorite shots from this trip around Lake Superior…