IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BACKGROUND (AGAIN)

Greater Sandhill Cranes, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands

Who can blame me? The transition between winter and spring is the most exciting time of the year for a lot of nature lovers and photographers. For the third weekend in a row I went back to one of my favorite wildlife spots in the area, the Green Island Preserve wetland area, about 40 miles south and part of the ecosystem of the Mississippi River. It was not as busy with ducks and geese as last weekend, but still a great place to enjoy wildlife, chase the light for a good image, or just inhale the sounds and moods of the season.

After trying hard on a pair of Sand Hill Cranes without an image even worth to mention, another pair of cranes gave me later finally quite a good display. The challenge in spring is always finding a good background. The cranes forage not so much in the water but in the marshes and probe with their long bills in the mud between reeds and grasses from last year. In addition the access to the Green Island marshes and lakes is almost everywhere from a slightly elevated position, on top of a dyke or the road. This makes the lens pointing towards the ground even if it is only a slight angle.

So, what’s different with today’s photo? The Sandhill Cranes were on top of a dyke. I was in the car on the road and a body of water between me and the birds. With other words we were on the same eye level. The area behind the cranes is lakes, marshland, more dykes, and flat overall. The trees in the back are about two miles away and border the Mississippi River. This is the kind of background I like to have. It gives a sense of location and even the grasses around the cranes become part of the story and leave no doubt about what time of the year the photo was taken. I wish the cranes would feed more often on top of the dykes…😉

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #02 - WHEN THE MOMENT IS RIGHT

Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

I have been asked before, Andreas, why don’t you take more landscape pictures of the Green Island Wetlands if you go there so often? I admit this is a valid question and I never have formulated a real answer.

As you have figured out by now, I love the Upper Mississippi Valley and one of my favorite places to go is the Green Island area, where the Maquoketa River meets the mighty Mississippi. A system of levees and dykes keeps the water level separate from both rivers and provides great habitat for all kinds of birds, fish, and critters. So far so good, but what is the subject for a good landscape photo? We have plenty of water, mud banks, reeds and aquatic plants, trees (many of them dead), and of course some wildflowers during the summer. If all these things can be combined it still doesn’t make automatically for a good picture, even if the light has some quality.

Today some good size thunderheads piled up during the afternoon and as soon I was done with my work I jumped in the car and drove down to the wetlands. The thunderheads dissolved quickly but still left some good clouds this evening, the additional ingredient for a landscape photo in Green Island.

What’s also special in this image is the fact that the water level has never been so high during the last ten years and since I visit this area. What looks like another lake on the left hand side is usually grassland and fields with maybe some puddles, but right now most of it is flooded. The lake on the right is most of the time very shallow and covered with reeds and water plants. It is my favorite spot to photograph sandpipers and other shorebirds foraging on the mudbanks. Well, mudbanks make not necessarily a good foreground, but without them, and good light, some wildflowers, and of course the clouds,…. Today the time was right for a landscape photo in the Green Island Wetlands.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Schneider Graduated ND filter 0.9, @16 mm, 1/80s, f/18, ISO200