MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #09 - ARRIVAL OF CELEBRATION BELLE

Ice Harbor, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa

Great clouds, combined with a short rain shower, made for good shooting conditions this evening at the Ice Harbor in Dubuque, Iowa. I took our dog Cooper for a walk on the dyke, a little further north of this place. Well, I call it a “dog walk” but sometimes he just sits patiently next to me while I’m fiddling with the camera on tripod. I tell you what, he probably understands how photography works… 😊

While taking a few shots of the old railroad bridge that crosses the Mississippi over to Wisconsin, I suddenly saw the CELEBRATION BELLE coming up the river from LeClaire, Iowa and taking a turn towards the harbor. We jumped into the car and drove down the short distance. It takes time to maneuver this big boat through the small entry and flood gates of Ice Harbor, giving me enough time to find a good position. The TWILIGHT was also docked in the port and I rushed to find a shooting position where both Mississippi River boats and the clouds would line up perfectly. The spot was found while the first passengers exited the CELEBRATION BELLE. The image was made with the Nikkor 16-35, f/4 at 16 mm focal length and the BREAKTHROUGH 2-stop GND filter attached. The rain shower earlier made the wood of the pier wet and darker. It takes out the glare and makes the pier a good part of the composition that doesn’t compete with the bright subjects in this photo.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #03 - CLOUD CHASING

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

The disadvantage of living in the woods is that we are the last ones that know when some interesting clouds are around. Yesterday evening some nearby thunder and a few rain drops made me grab the dog, jump in the car, and drive to a ridge in the countryside. Some quick photos were made of an old farm (I may show them another day) but the way the clouds were moving I expected that down at the Mississippi River some drama would develop in the sky. I just hit it right. The last rays of the setting sun over the banks of the river painted the landscape with some killer light. 

A minute later I was attacked by a bear, whose shadow you see at the bottom of the picture. Alright, I’m just kidding. The big shadow beside mine belongs to our little dog Cooper, who patiently followed me again, although he hates thunderstorms…

The time stamp in the metadata of both photos reveal that the second picture was made just two minutes later. The sun was gone, the thunderstorm moved along the river, and on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi parts of a rainbow developed.

These are the moments when I employ the Schneider Graduated Neutral Density filter 0.9, which darkens the upper part of the photo by 3 stops of light. Both Photos were made with the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 at 16 mm focal length. The ring of the Schneider ND filter creates a little bit of corner vignetting with the lens zoomed out to 16 mm, but this is easy to fix in Lightroom or Photoshop.

OUT WEST #28

T.A. Moulton Barn, Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park

Before the year ends I like to finish my little series about our trip to the mountains and grasslands out west in September. It was the third time Joan and I visited the Grand Tetons together and it was totally different than during our last visit eleven years ago. In 2007 we were lucky to have the first fresh snow of the season while the trees still had their fall colors. This made for some great photo opportunities. This time the leaves just started changing and we were too early for new snow.

I’m almost sure every photo enthusiast pays a visit to Mormon Row for a classic shot with the T.A. Moulton Barn in the foreground and the Teton Range in the back. This did not work very well this time. There was a smoky haze all the time in front of the mountains, due to some wildfires in Bridger-Teton National Forest to the east. At all close-up shots of the barn the mountains were hardly visible. But I thought the smoky clouds were part of the story this time and went for a focal length of 24 mm. I took more of Antelope Flats into the frame, showing how the smoke impact the whole scene. The image is cropped quite a bit on the bottom, leaving the illusion that this was shot as a true panorama. The foreground was shady from a tree behind me and not that interesting. Well, even a midsize print would reveal the truth but I’m not unhappy with the photo, even without snow and fall colors…😉

OUT WEST #17

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, @ 200 mm

Yeah, we were back in Yellowstone National Park! It hasn’t lost anything of its magnificence since our last visits in 2005 and 2007. Our plan was to revisit places that we liked in particular, take it easy, and stay away from the big crowds whenever possible.

However, there was no way we would skip the Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin, the world’s largest hot spring. The question was again the same as during previous visits, how to photograph this beautiful feature in the park? Before our trip to Yellowstone I looked at my old images from 2007 and tried to find out what I would like to do different. Going with a wide angle lens and including the elements of the touristic infrastructure, like boardwalk, road, etc., or a more intimate view without any manmade elements in the frame? At 16 mm focal length you can get the great memory shot you always wanted, especially if you have nice clouds in the sky. When the sun hit the right spot all the colors created by the bacteria in the hot water came to life, and at 200 mm focal length I got some shots I never made before and they became my new favorites.

Grand Prismatic Spring, @ 16 mm

NATURE CLICKS #384 - GREEN CLEARWING

Green Clearwing, Mississippi River, Deere Dyke, Dubuque, Iowa

What do you do if you find a nice subject in great light that would require a macro lens and all what’s available is your widest lens? Some may say, enjoy the view and keep going. Well not me, I tried to get as close as possible with a 35 mm focal length, and I mean really close, only a few inches away. This still doesn’t do the trick, there is a reason that a true macro lens has at least a reproduction ratio of 1:1 and a longer focal length. I shot the beautiful Green Clearwing in a reasonable size but still way too much of its surrounding. To make this image work a pretty hefty crop was applied in post. Not my usual way to solve a problem. but hey, it’s a dragonfly in killer light… 😊

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, @ 35 mm, 1/320s, f/4, ISO200, B+W F-PRO Kaesemann High Transmission Circular Polarizer MRC filter

POINT IROQUOIS LIGHT

Point Iroquois Light, Lake Superior, Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan ---------

Although we were running out of time towards the end of our trip around Lake Superior we still took every chance to visit lighthouses along the lake shore. Point Iroquois Light was constructed in 1870 and served until 1962. It is now a museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The photo was made at 16 mm with the Nikkor 16-35, f/4 lens and my Nikon D750. Working in black & white gives the image a more dramatic look and was finally my preferred version.

While entering the 20 m tall lighthouse tower the simplicity of the stair case caught my eye. The small window you can see in the upper photo shaped the light of the low sitting sun. Subtle shadows and the imperfections of the paint add charm and make this photo work for me.

OVERDUE VISIT

Grand Canyon, Arizona

I interrupt my stories about our trip to the Dakotas for a more actual photo. I’m stitching two business trips together into one right now. I’m in Arizona since Wednesday, spent the weekend here, and will will leave for Denver Colorado tomorrow morning.

The Saturday was used for a more than overdue trip to the Grand Canyon. I flew over it many times in the past but never had been actually in the National Park. I wished the big storm area that came through here last Thursday would have waited a couple more days but this is history and all what was left was a boring bald blue sky with not a single cloud in the air. Well, I deal with what is presented to me when it comes to weather and try to get the best out of it.

The Grand Canyon is magnificent and no words or photo can completely describe its beauty and vastness. 

I took a lot of pictures with the wide angle lens, the Nikkor 16-35, f/4. I love this lens for its incredible sharpness and relative small size and I have really embraced it during our trip in the Dakotas. It is a great tool for an outdoor photographer that needs to pack small and light and wants to come home with sharp images. More to come…