MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #13 - TOWBOAT AND BARGES

My favorite place to walk our dog and let him run and roll around is down at the Mississippi River at Mud Lake Park, Iowa. The best time is just before the sun disappears behind the bluffs and trees, which is right now about an hour before real sunset. It was very warm today, the light was golden, and Cooper and I just enjoyed sitting at the river, watching the birds and boats. We were already in the shade when this towboat with 12 barges came down the Mississippi but the sun still reached the main channel. The barges did not sit deep in the water and their covers were open. Maybe they went south to a terminal to pick up coal for one of the power plants further north, who knows…

When you look close at the first photo, there is a little detail I saw when I framed the shot with the 600 mm lens. A Bald Eagle sat on a piece of stranded driftwood and ate a fish. Just a silhouette, not the subject of the image, but nevertheless interesting.

A towboat with barges passes the entrance to the Hawkeye Marina at Mud Lake, Iowa

IT'S NOT ABOUT FLOWERS...

Nikon D300s, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM                                   

No, this post is not about flowers. It is about light. Flowers can be very pretty but most pictures of garden flowers are boring. It is a little bit like taking the picture of someone else’s artwork. It may not be the photo that becomes art in both cases. Sure, using flowers as a subject for honing your photography skills on the technical level is a valid way to do. They are perfect for learning about depth of field, exposure, exposure compensation, and other things. Sheer beauty might be a reason for taking a picture but I have seen too many technical perfect photos of flowers that totally miss the story telling. So, what’s my solution for this? I don’t really have a universal one, but making the click at the right time of the day helps to tell the story about the season and this shaft of light just before sunset, that only occurs if there are no leaves at the trees in our neck of the woods…

LIGHT, GESTURE, AND COLOR

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

I went on a wildlife scouting trip today. The temperatures went up above freezing but there is plenty of snow still on the ground. The Green Island Wetlands were snowed in and it was very very quiet. I saw a couple Horned Larks and some Song Sparrows but that was all.

The last stop of my little trip along the Mississippi River was the well known lock & dam #14, just south of the bridge where Interstate 80 crosses the big river. I was late but still early enough for the best light. Seven Bald Eagles were sitting in the trees and at least new visitors had a chance to see them relatively close, maybe for the first time in their life. This is good and this is why this location is great for everybody, not just photographers.

Some photographers, that came long ways to #14 for shooting pictures of the eagles may have been not so happy because the lack of action. Means the eagles didn’t hunt for fish in the river. However, more than 25 American White Pelicans and numerous Common Mergansers made up for the inactivity of the eagles.

When I arrived at 3:45PM many photographers carried their gear already to the parking lot. At 4:30PM most of the people were gone. Big mistake IMHO! It was the time when the magic unfolded. 

Although the gates of the lock are closed during the winter, there is still plenty of water flowing through the lock chamber. This is where the pelicans go for the fish. The light of the low sun got reflected from the doors of the lower gate onto the water in front of it. This made for a spectacular golden color. These two pelicans face the warm sun light directly and from all the reflections around. In addition they lifted their wings simultaneously, which gives them the little gesture that makes it interesting. It doesn’t always happen but today it all came together, light, gesture, and color…