MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2022 #3 - WINTER RESTORED

Click the photo for a larger view of the panorama.

I went over to the neighbor state Illinois today and drove up to an overlook in Palisades State Park. There, high up on the rocky bluffs, you have a great view across the frozen river. At the horizon on the left is the Iowa side of the Mississippi Valley and to the right we look upstream towards the Northwest.

The image is the result from three single shots that were merged in Adobe Lightroom. I didn’t use the tripod, just handheld the camera and twisted my upper body for each shooting position. The software does an amazing job if you have components with a clear graphic shape, like these islands in the river, and the pictures have a big enough overlap with each other.

The ice was obviously melting already last week but a drop in temperature and a thin layer of fresh snow last night restored the look of winter to the valley again. As you know I write quite often about the wildlife in the Green Island Wetlands. The lakes and marshes of this preserve are located pretty much in the center of the photo, just behind the trees near the horizon line.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 70 mm, f/10, ISO 100, 3 images

THE DETAIL SHOTS

Apple Canyon Lake Falls, Illinois

Yesterday’s shooting below the dam of Apple Canyon Lake over in Illinois was one of the most enjoyable recently. Yesterday was also Ansel Adams 119th birthday, and with that in mind I thought to feed my desire to aim maybe for some new black & white images. Well, there is some potential in some of the over 100 pictures I shot yesterday but I usually like to sleep over them a few times.

To be honest, I’m happy how the color versions of some of the photos turned out. As mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, I never took the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 off the camera and the two pictures I show today were made at the long end of the lens. I wonder how this waterfall looks at the rest of the year, but the frosty appearance was definitely worth to make the trip over to Apple Canyon Lake in Illinois. Thank you again Kevin for the tip!

WATERFALL!! (OH NO, NOT IN ICELAND! 😉)

Waterfall at Apple Canyon Lake, Illinois

Today’s photo was made thanks to a call from my photography friend Kevin this morning. This waterfall is the overflow from Apple Canyon Lake in northwest Illinois. Kevin made me aware of some ice built-ups at the fall and he sent me a nice photo that was made yesterday. We expect much warmer weather for the next days and I knew the ice would not last too long. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to make the one hour trip across the Mississippi into the neighbor state this afternoon.

The photography was pretty straight forward. You shoot from a road bridge and decide how far left or right to move the tripod. The question is only about the focal length or how tight you like to frame the waterfall or its details. I started with the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 and never changed lens for the next 85 minutes. I like the water a little silky but not so much that it looks like it runs straight out of a milk cow. The BREAKTHROUGH X4 ND filter 1.8 (6-stops) was the tool that got me the desired results. Most photos were exposed between 4 and 8 seconds.

A thin layer of clouds made for very balanced shooting conditions. Just as I had shouldered my photo bag and was about to walk back to the car, the sun peeked through the clouds and changed the whole appearance of the waterfall. The colors looked nice, I started shooting again, but at the end I still liked my shots with the softener, called clouds, better. I guess this is personal taste and I’m just not a fan of the “postcard look”…

A CATBIRD AT APPLE RIVER CANYON

Gray Catbird, Apple River Canyon, Illinois

I admit, we have neglected one part of the TriState-Area (Iowa / Wisconsin / Illinois) more than the two others. After more than fifteen years of living here, Joan and I finally made it to Apple River Canyon State Park in the northwest corner of Illinois today. People were fishing for trout in the river at the bottom of the canyon, a sure sign that water quality is decent, and several short hiking trails allow to explore the canyon and enjoy birds and wildflowers.

At the end of a hike we sat down in our camping chairs right at the banks of the Apple River. Our dog Cooper took a short bath and we enjoyed just watching a pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers bringing food to their offspring in a dead tree on the other side of the river. As we were about to leave and go home, this Gray Catbird hopped along the river banks and tried to catch some insects by jumping up into the ferns that hung down. 

I had the Nikon D750 with the Sigma 150-600 in my lap and realized after a test shot that the exposure is around 1/40-1/50s at ISO 400. Optical stabilization of the lens (Sigma calls it OS) helped to make this image. It is not tack sharp, not even close, but I love the light and the gesture of the catbird as it looks for insects and gets ready for the next jump up into the ferns.

The canyon? Well, I thought I will wait for a landscape picture until another time. Light was really harsh in the canyon and I’m sure this was not our last visit.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 600 mm, 1/50 s, f/6.3, ISO400

GORGEOUS FEBRUARY DAY

Nikon D750, Carl Zeiss Distagon T*, 35mm / f2 ZF

I’m glad Joan, dog Cooper, and I went out on a drive along the Mississippi River yesterday. It was soooo nice to have the sun out again for a few hours. Today the sky is covered with a uniform gray overcast again, it snows a little bit, and just makes the “cabin fever” raising again…

During part of the trip we went on the Illinois side of the big river and after the kiss of the polar vortex and now temperatures still below freezing the river is covered with ice for the most part. We explored some new wetlands and discussed the possibilities we would have there during the upcoming warmer seasons. I had all my lenses in the car and decided for the one I had recently most neglected. The Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 is the only lens I own with nothing but manual focus. Most of the time I rely on autofocus for my photography. Eye sight isn’t getting better with age and I think there is nothing wrong with employing AF and the high tech we pay for if we buy a new lens or camera. However, the sharpness of the Zeiss 2/35 is fantastic but the main reason I love this lens so much is how it reproduces the colors. The snow is hard and crusty right now and I wanted to bring this out in the shot, taken at some backwaters of the Mississippi. The subtle changes of tones on the old melted and re-frozen snow in combination with the long shadows of grass in the mid afternoon sun tell hopefully the story of a gorgeous February day. Still love this lens…

“DE IMMIGRANT”

“De Immigrant” Windmill, Fulton, Illinois

Yesterday, at the turn around point of my trip along the Mississippi River, in the city of Fulton, IL, I stopped at the Dutch windmill that was built on a flood control dike. “De Immigrant” was fabricated by native millwrights in the Netherlands and shipped to Fulton, Illinois. It was assembled in 1999 and grinding of wheat, buckwheat, rye, and cornmeal started in 2001. It is a great attraction but the mill and the Windmill Cultural Center were closed for the season.

I arrived about 45 minutes before sunset and it was immediately clear that I had to use the warm sunlight on the backside of the mill for my photo. The color contrast between the windmill and the dark blue sky worked well, but the thin hazy clouds didn’t nearly create the drama as I finally found in the black & white version. It was important to have an eye on all the lines and geometrical shapes the wings, ropes, and structure create. I made other images, showing more of the windmill building, but this close-up shot at 24 mm made for a stronger picture, at least in my books…

If you like to read more about the windmill, here is a link: https://mississippiriver.natgeotourism.com/content/de-immigrant-windmill/mspe125a382cb0d9770e


CAN’T DO THIS ONE ANYMORE…

February 18, 2018

On February 18, 2018 I crossed for the first time the new bridge over the Mississippi River between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois. I thought it was interesting to see both, the old truss bridge and the new one, side by side and so I stopped and made a few clicks. Since around 10:30AM today the same picture cannot be made anymore because the old bridge was demolished and imploded with a big BOOM and clouds of smoke and sits now in the river. I read that cutting apart the remains started immediately and the pieces will be transported away by barges.

I didn’t really plan to publish this photo here in the blog. I was a little sloppy while taking the picture, not paying enough attention to the details around the edges and a different view point would have been probably better. After reviewing my photos on the computer screen I thought even about going back and shoot it again. Well, it is too late now…😏

Below are a couple pictures I took almost three years ago when I heard for the first time that the old truss bridge will be replaced. I even wrote a blog post about it. http://www.exnerimages.net/blog/2015/4/7/mississippi-river-stories-2015-5

It’s good to have these images!

April 5, 2015

27TH FLOOR

Chicago downtown

An exhausting week lies behind me. The annual trade show of the printing industry, PRINT 17, is history but took all my attention, hence the lack of any blog posts this week. All what I can offer is a few views from the 27th floor of my hotel room in Chicago. I always ask for a high floor and was lucky again to have a room that allowed for shooting the skyline of Chicago. With Willis Tower (the former Sears Tower) on the left, Soldier Field stadium, and Navy Pier on the right, it doesn’t get any better. The only difficulty for a shot like this is the fact that several sheets of glass were between the lens and the subject. This really prevents a high quality image, but I was aware of this limitations and nevertheless not unhappy with the results.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head, VELLO wired remote switch, @ 35 mm, 13 s, f/8, ISO100,

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2016 #9 - THE SHOT IN MY MIND

Mississippi River, Bridge between Dubuque, Iowa and East Dubuque, Illinois

I wished this photo could have been made an hour later, when the light was less aggressive, as it usually is closer to sunset. But I knew these puffy clouds would not last that long. The way the weather developed today the clouds were gone in the evening and shooting the bridge against a blue sky, well, as a tourist I would do it, but as a local I feel I can wait for my next opportunity. This picture was on my mind since a long time. I found the spot during the winter, when the light of the setting sun doesn’t hit the bridge from that angle. So I thought, I come back in the summer, and that’s what I did today…

BALD EAGLE DAY

Adult Bald Eagle, Mississippi River, lock & dam #14, LeClaire, Iowa

Today I finally had a chance for the first time this winter season to travel down south to lock & dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa for some Bald Eagle photography and for more exercise with the new Sigma 150-600 Sports lens. I like the late afternoon light at this location the best and so I took my time and visited several other locations along the Mississippi River on my way. The river has ice cover all the way down to Princeton, Iowa but it isn’t solid and there are open spots. South of Princeton I found nothing but open water, except for the bays and some backwater areas. This is unusual in January but except for the last couple weeks it was a relative warm winter. I saw lots of ducks and mergansers that just go so far south as the ice stretches.

Photographers lined up at lock #14, LeClaire, Iowa

The parking lot at #14 was completely filled when I arrived and I don’t think I have ever seen so many people with cameras in this place yet. I think it is great that more and more people go out for nature photography but I personally don’t like big crowds and try to avoid them. Well, I turned around and went across the river on Interstate 80 to the Illinois side of the Mississippi. Wow, I had it all for myself! There was nobody at the dam on this side of the river. The main reason is that shooting from the east side of the river is not always the best in the afternoon but I had my chances. The photo above shows only part of the crowd that gathered on the Iowa side. The river is here more than one kilometer wide. This is next to the exit of the lock and many photographers like this place because the eagles perch in the trees nearby, there is always open water, and you have a good chance to make a picture of a Bald Eagle catching fish.

Immature Bald Eagle, Mississippi River,dam #14, Illinois side

The bay next to the dam on the Illinois side of the river had ice and a nice snow cover. This worked like a giant reflector and the photo of this immature young Bald Eagle flying over was made without flash or bringing up much of the shadows in post process.

NIGHT GLOW

Last night it was the first time that we managed to be at the Great Galena Balloon Race over in Galena, Illinois. We arrived in time for the famous night glow of the balloons. Photographing balloons at night was a first for me and it was an enjoyable learning experience and some “candy for the eyes”. Having a tripod is a must for a halfway decent photo, unless you like to use blur as an artistic mean of expression, which IMHO is a valid way to go. As with many events where people gather by the hundreds, if not thousands, keeping the picture free of clutter (other people, golf carts, picknick coolers, etc.) is difficult, but something you need to have an eye on.

I went out with the Nikkor 24-120 mm, f/4 attached to the D750 and this was not a bad choice. The glowing of all balloons at the same time is announced over loud speakers but you only have a few seconds to make your shots. The zoom lens allows for quick changes.

Back home and in front of my computer I try to analyze where the mistakes were made and what really worked to tell the story about this event. I enjoyed this challenge very much and hope to have another chance to try it again soon.

On our way back to the car we saw this constellation of “heavenly” bodies above the road and trees. The moon was behind a thin layer of clouds while Jupiter and Venus were clearly visible despite the light pollution from nearby cities.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #4

Nikon D300s, Sigma 10-20mm / f4-5.6, at 15 mm

During my wildlife spotting tours along the Mississippi I visit frequently Sabula, Iowa’s only island city. Beside the road bridge and causeway that connects Sabula and Savannah, Illinois there is also the Sabula Rail Bridge. This wonderful single track swing bridge was opened in 1906. During the winter, with no barge traffic, the bridge was always open for the railroad. Last weekend I saw it in its other position, open for the boats. Both sides of the pivot point are navigable. The swing span of the bridge is 364 ft (~111 m) long.

The photo shows also that the Mississippi is relatively clear at the moment. The water we see is mostly from the snow melt up north and therefor not so muddy as after heavy rain sometime.