FALL LIGHT, UNBEATABLE…

Bankston County Park, Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, Iowa

It’s definitely fall, the leaves started to come down, but we don’t have really the fall colors yet. It needs a cold snap to make that happen but at the other hand we are not unhappy that temperatures are still in the “summer range”.

I love autumn, its colors, and the quality of light that follows the haze of summer days. Bankston County Park is located in a lovely valley along the Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River and was the destination for a short hike with the dog this evening. Every location where the rocks are exposed here in eastern Iowa reminds us that this was once just the bottom of a shallow sea millions of years ago. Just before the sun disappeared behind the ridge a shaft of “killer light” hit the layered rocks on the other side of the small river.

I underexposed by 2/3 of a stop. This hides some of the debris from recent flooding and brings out the colors of the rocks. An easy click that put a smile in my face…

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR

BACK TO THE BADLANDS

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

No, I didn’t go back literally to the Badlands, South Dakota, I just like to continue my little stories about the landscapes and wildlife in the Dakotas last October. 

The rock layers of the Badlands have been built over millions of years. The highest peaks are “only” 28 - 30 million years old and belong to the Sharp Formation, while the oldest rocks down below we can see today as a result of erosion are roughly 70 million years old. One of the most colorful formations are the 67 million years old Yellow Mounds. After the sea drained away, the black ocean mud was exposed to surface weathering. The upper layers of this mud developed into a yellow soil called Yellow Mounds. The gray formation above is the Chadron Formation and these sediments were deposited about 34 - 37 million years ago. Interestingly there is a gap of 30 million years in the geological record in between, the result of non-deposit and erosion. Excuse my excursion but I think this is just mind-boggling… 😆

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

The photographer could care less (but he doesn’t) and the Yellow Mounds formation is just perfect to tell a visual story about the geology and age of the Badlands. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a few rain drops that day and it was a blessing for working the landscape with the camera. You can’t get these colors on a day with bald blue sky and sunlight that burns the hell out of everything. Every focal length, wide or close, seemed to work and could lead to an image. It was just a matter to answer the question, what’s my subject, before pressing the shutter button…😉