BRENTON ARBORETUM, WITH AN EYE ON THE SKY

Summer sky over Brenton Arboretum, near Dallas Center, Iowa

We were introduced to an Iowa nature gem by good friends last weekend. The Brenton Arboretum near Dallas Center in Central Iowa is not just about trees, but also prairie, grasslands, ponds, and wetland areas. There were plenty of opportunities for macro photography, but as the avid reader of my blog already knows, I’m not so much into that field. Clouds were moving all around and I had my eye on them, hoping for some interesting light and maybe drama in the sky. Almost at the end of our short hike a picture unfolded, as the light hit the wildflowers in the prairie on this hillside, the clouds formed a pattern, and the sky took care for some color contrast.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 47mm, 1/1250 s, f/8, ISO 200

IN THE VIEWFINDER

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

In a blog post last year I called the mountain on the left hand side the ‘Winking Mountain’. I don’t know if it even has an official name but I thought that name would fit…  This is another picture I made in Badlands National Park during our vacation trip in 2020. It was made from a different vantage point, that includes the mountain, but doesn’t make it the central subject of the photo.

When you are on a road trip you can’t always be choosy about the time at a particular location. This was late morning and the colors were already kinda soft. Darkening the sky brings the clouds to our attention and gives the scene a bit more drama. Finally working on the contrast with the highlights and black sliders in Adobe Lightroom allowed me to create the photo I had in mind while looking through the viewfinder.

GRASSLANDS, BADLANDS, AND BIG SKY

Sky after sunset just outside of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Hi, we are back from a trip to the Grasslands and Badlands that stretch from South Dakota  into North Dakota and eastern Montana. Our tent was pitched most of the time in remote locations with no or very few people around, making social distancing easy. We watched lots of wildlife, small and big, and enjoyed some “Big Sky”. As time allows I will post some photos that hopefully tell stories about all this during the next few weeks and I’m glad if you find the time again to stop in here in my blog to read about nature and photography.

AGAIN AND AGAIN

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

I hope you had a good start into the new year. May it be a good one for all of you!

For many photographers the period between Christmas and a new year is often time to reflect on the work of the previous twelve months, by naming maybe personal favorites, or by looking back into the archive and finding pictures that may have been overlooked.

I kinda do the latter and open my first blog post in 2016 with an image that has clouds and sky as its subject. This was something I wanted to do more in 2015 and I did. It didn’t always work out the way I thought it would. Sometimes you may come across a great sky but have no foreground or interesting skyline. Other times you think you are in the right place, at the right time, and then the clouds dissolve or the light suddenly becomes crappy. The only way to do it is being out there and try it again and again...

ENDLESS SKY

This is the tent of a campsite neighbor at Sage Creek Campground in Badlands National Park. We had of course no control over the brightness of the light in their tent but I gave it a try anyway and included the sky with all its stars. The campground is in a remote location but there is unfortunately still some light pollution from the town of Wall, known for the “World famous Wall Drug store”.

If I remember this right, we had only two or three nights without seeing the stars during our trip through the Dakotas, but in the Badlands we probably enjoyed it the most.

A black background may help to view this image, and if you click on the photo you can see all the stars that were recorded by the sensor in the camera.

CLOUDS AND COLORS

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4, @24 mm

This shot was not difficult to make. The train was parked aside from the main track. To be honest, if it wasn’t for the nice clouds I may have skipped this one. The blue of the sky and the red of the engine in combination with the puffy clouds drew my interest. There is constant train traffic in the Mississippi Valley but most engines look kinda worn out and are not so photogenic anymore but this one is still a beauty. The bridge in the background helps to tell the story, even if the Mississippi is not part of the picture. The same scene without the clouds and just a plain blue sky would have had a lot less impact. In this case I probably would have moved in a bit closer to keep much of the sky out of the frame. As so often, the clouds made the difference… 

BIG SKIES

Although we can’t compete with the iconic landscapes of the western United States here in eastern Iowa, but we do have some great skies with terrific clouds at times. This image was made earlier this week at the Mississippi River. The view goes over a marsh land, just outside of Dubuque and next to the big John Deere plant, hence the name of it, John Deere Marsh. Hundreds of ducks, geese, and other birds have their habitat here. Well, that’s why I had the Sigma 50-500 on the camera. I just hoped to make some good wildlife photos. The car was too far away to get a better suited lens for this landscape photo. The light and mood lasted only a few minutes, too short for a plan “B” ;-). The best camera (and lens) is the one you have with you and so I zoomed out to 58 mm and made the click. Not ideal in regards of sharpness (especially around the trees) but still better than coming home without the shot… :-)