WAITING IS NOT ALWAYS BORING…

Sunrise at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

Yesterday morning I was waiting for my next flight in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in Texas. The glass of the airport window was not very clean, to say it mildly, but so close to the lens it worked like a diffuser. The light was ”killer” on the fuselage of the plane parked at our gate. The second photo was taken 2 minutes earlier, just before the sun came up at the horizon. I thought that shot works as well, with three airplanes in the sky at the same time and gorgeous light. Waiting for a connection flight is not always boring…

MINNESOTA NORTHWOODS - #9

Sunrise over Lake Shumway, Savanna Portage State Park, Minnesota

I climbed out of the sleeping bag before sunrise and walked over to the lake. A band of clouds covered the rising sun and it became clear I wouldn’t get the light on the lake as I was hoping for. It was very quiet, no noise from any traffic, neither cars nor airplanes, just a deep silence. When the sun came up above the tree line a few gaps in the clouds started to open and suddenly sun spots were reflected on the lake. I knew I had my photo, carrying the mood from this gorgeous and quiet morning.

THE EARLY MORNING BIRDS

Early morning at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California

During all my visits to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve at the Pacific Coast in Southern California over the years it always paid off to arrive early in the morning before sunrise. First, you find a place to park the car in the very small parking lot, but more important, nothing beats the warm morning light for making pictures of birds in the wetlands if the sun shows up. This wetland is a nature gem and is surrounded by the Pacific Highway on the ocean beach side and oil wells, local roads, and expensive residential homes on all the others. A weird and somehow noisy place that faces many environmental challenges but with an abundance of wildlife.

Northern Pintail

This photo of a male Northern Pintail was made exactly at the time of sunrise but a band of clouds prevented that the story could be told that way. No warm light on this beautiful duck. Still one of the best looking ducks with a tail that gave this bird its name.

Horned Grebes in their winter plumage

Twenty minutes after sunrise time the clouds gave way and these Horned Grebes in their winter plumage were busy diving for food under water. They are much more impressive in their breeding plumage during the summer, but hey, look at this eye standing out in the killer light of an early morning! I had to make the click.

Bufflehead

I have photographed the male Bufflehead many times before here in the Upper Mississippi Valley during migration time in March / April, but never in such warm light and often not as  close to the bird as I wanted and as it is possible in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

THE OLD RULE

I had an early flight yesterday morning from Las Vegas to Chicago. The sun wasn’t even high enough to touch the desert and mountains below after we had crossed Lake Mead, but its first light was reflected nicely by the clouds north of us and the inlet cowl of the jet engine nacelle on our aircraft. The Nikon Z6II was safely stored in my luggage in the overhead compartment and so the old rule, that the best camera is always the one you have with you, was confirmed to be true ones again. I shot this quickly with my iPhone camera before this brief and magical moment was over.

A GORGEOUS WINTER MORNING

After four really gray days in a row I had enough and I’m reverting to earlier this week when we were greeted in the morning with an accumulation of rime ice on every branch and twig in the trees. The photo below was made shortly after sunrise and the timber below the house showed a glow like the entrance to the palace of the Snow Queen.

About an hour later the sky had an incredible deep blue color that contrasted perfectly with the rime ice and when I saw an airplane approaching, I knew there was another photo opportunity…

MA-KO’-SHI-KA

During the height of a day areas of badlands do not always reveal their beauty completely. This is in particular true for days with a lot of sunshine and hazy weather conditions. That wasn’t any different at our next destination, Makoshika State Park in eastern Montana. It is the largest state park in Montana (11,538 acres, 46.7 square kilometer) and the name originates from the Lakota phrase Ma-ko’-shi-ka, meaning ‘bad land’ or ‘bad earth’. The park is not just known for its badland formations but also for fossil remains of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and others. (source: http://stateparks.mt.gov/makoshika/)

Getting out of the sleeping bag at dawn and having the camera ready before the first rays of sun hit the rocks isn’t always easy, but there was no regret when the warm light started filling the canyons below our campsite.

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

TWO FROM THE BLUE RIDGE

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, October 2017, Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, at 16 mm

As always towards the end of a year I do some housekeeping in my image library and sometimes I find another photo that I think deserves to be published.

This photo was made during our last morning in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia a couple years ago. There are some great views from the Blue Ridge in either direction, east or west. Here it is the morning light that gives the landscape on the east side some depth and reveals the beauty of these mountains.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

A few days earlier we watched the sunset at a different spot along the Skyline Drive. The staggered arrangement of at least eight mountain ridges, separated by the mist in the valleys, tell the story about a great evening on the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park.

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #1

Split Rock Creek State Park, Minnesota

Just back last night from a 16-day trip through mainly the north of Minnesota we have hardly time to unwind. I’m flying out to Dallas, TX for another trade show of the printing industry tomorrow, but like to keep the readers of my blog in the loop. Joan, our dog Cooper, and I went on another tent camping vacation. With fall colors in mind we searched again for the quite and joyful moments in nature and did not get disappointed. I will post photos during the next few weeks about this trip, but due to business travel it might be infrequent at times.

We started out in the southwest corner of Minnesota and pitched our tent for two nights at Split Rock Creek State Park, Why? I will get to this point in a later post.

Split Rock Creek is dammed up and many geese use the lake as a safe resting place during the night. Scouting the lake shore the morning before led to this photo at sunrise on day two. The Canada Geese stayed together for the night and gaggle after gaggle took off shortly after the sun was up in its full beauty.

PREPARATION

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, 2014

We still have a couple more weeks to go before our vacation starts. Beside getting all the camping and photo gear ready I try to prepare mentally for what I like to accomplish with the camera. I look at older photos and recall some of the great moments we had in past years. One morning at sunrise in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado is definitely among my favorites. No, we don’t head out in this direction this year, but finding these memorable light situations and vantage points is always a top priority no matter where we go.

OUT WEST #12

Morning in the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming

So, how about the moose? The next morning after the evening we watched the Red-tailed Hawk we went back into the valley where the North Tongue River flows along highway 14A. The rock cliffs above the valley and the aspen groves below were in beautiful morning light and the colors suggested that fall wasn’t too far away. The hawk wasn’t there anymore but we watched Mule Deer and some elk far in the distance. Later, after we had packed our tent and camping gear, we drove through the valley again, and finally we found this young moose bull munching on willow leaves. Hard to beat a morning like this…

Young Moose bull

DIGGIN’ FOR AN OLD STORY ABOUT LIGHT…

Lobster boat leaving harbor at sunrise ------   

Commitments kept me grounded today, at least photographically seen, but there is always the chance to go into the photo library and dig out an image that has not seen the light of the day yet. I have created a book about the coast of Maine some time ago, sure sign that I’m in love with this area, and I like to return to the photos I made in 2013 at the Atlantic coast of the United States.

I can ensure you this is not just nostalgic thoughts of an aging man. It was the incredible light Joan and I have experienced during early morning and late afternoon hours that made us fell in love with Maine. Well, Joan may add that 50% was the limitless availability of fresh lobster and I have a hard time to argue about that…😉

Back to the light, I think during our visit in Maine it was the first time that I started really to understand what the term “quality of light” means. The photo above is not in my “coffee-table book” (Deutsch: Bildband), but if there is ever a second edition, I will consider this picture. Light as seen makes story telling a breeze…

LIFTING FOG

Rabbit Blanket Lake, Ontario Canada

If an area of rain-laden clouds moves out of the area overnight and the weather forecast promises nothing but sunshine for the next day, you better get out of your sleeping bag early and put the legs of your tripod in the sand wherever you have spotted a good photo opportunity ahead of time.

At Rabbit Blanket Lake in Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario we camped right next to the lake. When the fog lifted in the morning the clicks were made quickly, while the gorgeous light of the raising sun was present. You can’t start better into a new day…

 

UP EARLY

Black-tailed Prairie Dogs

I shot a ton of pictures of Black-tailed Prairie dogs during last year’s vacation in the Badlands of North and South Dakota. The ones that stood out for me are those that show the critter with a great gesture or in beautiful light.

The whole prairie dog town was out of their dens already shortly after the sun raised over the mountain ridge. They probably tried to warm up a little after a long night and watched us very carefully while we moved closer with our cameras.

THERE ARE REASONS

Missouri River, near Bismarck, North Dakota

The photo was made on our way home, just southwest of Bismarck, the capitol of North Dakota. There are reasons why getting up early in the morning may lead to a desired image. Pitching the tent next to the Missouri River made it a lot easier to be on site before sunrise. A few minutes later a beaver swam down the river. Those are the moments when you realize, being in the right place, at the right time, is not solely due to just having a lucky day…

GETTING UP EARLY: ESSENTIAL

Pronghorn, Custer Sate Park, Black Hills, South Dakota

Getting out of the sleeping bag before sunrise is important for seeing some of the wildlife and for maybe getting the photo that makes the difference. Well, the sun raises and sets 365 days during a year around the world and sometimes I think about what it is, that triggers our desire to snap a picture of something that occurs every day. The quality of light during these times plays probably a big role. We maybe just can’t get enough of it.

Being up early beares another advantage, you have the roads, trails, and locations almost for yourself. Not much interferes between you as the photographer and the critter that may become your subject in a good image.

The first photo was made five minutes after the sunrise picture. The Pronghorn buck is still in the shade of the mountains but his ears and horns are backlit by the morning sun. What a great moment!

The last photo was taken the day before and the metadata reveal that the click was made about an hour after sunrise. Still good light, but you can already tell with every minute it became more and more difficult to work an animal like the Pronghorn Antelope with the camera due to the high contrast. As always, a click on each photo opens a larger version on black background for better viewing. I hope you enjoy!