TRAVELS THROUGH THE DAKOTAS

Bison at sunset - Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Hello everyone! Yes, we are back from a 19 days long vacation trip in the Dakotas. We explored the grasslands, wilderness, and mountains of South and North Dakota this time. There were plenty of opportunities to see and watch wildlife and many stunning moments while visiting beautiful landscapes. Most of the time we pitched our little tent right where the action takes place, where the light unfolds, and where the only sound you may hear at night is the howling of the coyotes or the hooting of an owl. Of course, a “few” clicks were made along the roads and trails, and if this stirred up your interest, please stay tuned during the next weeks. 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #9

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

Today’s photos are still from my visit at the Deere Marsh last Friday night and both tell a totally different story. The first one is about migration of the Red-winged blackbird. They gather by the thousands and fly south, a sure indicator that winter will approach soon.

The second photo was made only a few minutes before the first one and at a first glimpse there is not much going on in the marsh or on the Mississippi in the background. But wait, if you look down at the bottom beside the shadow of my left leg, there is Cooper’s shadow. As so often he sits and waits until I’m done clicking and fiddling with the camera. Most of the time I can concentrate on the photography or on the critters we are watching. I don’t have to worry about all the time what Cooper is doing. He waits patiently. We couldn’t ask for a better dog! 😊

CUMULONIMBUS INCUS

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

I’m back from another business trip with very little opportunity to shoot some images. The exception was this beautiful anvil cloud (Cumulonimbus incus) I watched developing from my hotel room in Milwaukee, WI. They can form into super-cells resulting in severe storms, hail, heavy rain, lightning, and even tornadoes. This one dissolved shortly after I made this simple click through the glass of the window...

LATE SUMMER, BUT NOT FALL YET

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

I flew back from Texas today, drove home from the airport, unpacked the suitcase, grabbed the camera gear and the dog, and went out the door again… Couldn’t wait to go on a wildlife mission after a week of being away. Ok, I will talk about the wildlife in another post but like to show you a photo instead I made while returning to the car, just a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the ridge. I looked over my shoulder and across the pond and saw the potential for a shot. Although we don’t have any fall colors yet, it doesn’t mean you can’t “romance” the landscape. I switched the white balance from ‘Auto’ to ‘cloudy’ and exposed for the highlights on the tree trunks. This keeps the colors warm and strong and the darker shadows provide the contrast for the subject in this image. Some tree branches are already bare but many leaves are still green, and so are the reeds in the pond. A photo you can only make in late, late summer...

ROMANCING THE LANDSCAPE

I’m not a big hunter for sunset photos but sometimes I come across of one that sets it apart and romances the landscape in a special way. In August we had a few days when the smoke of wildfires in the western US made the sun more hazy and gave the sunsets a different mood. The photo shows how the last light of the day touches the hills and ridges here in the eastern part of Iowa along the Mississippi River. The white farm buildings and plastic covers of hey bales reflect the light and even some fog seems to creep into the valleys. To get the color the way it is I underexposed by 2 stops and set the white balance to cloudy. No reason to fiddle in Lightroom or Photoshop, just simple settings in the camera.

NATURE CLICKS #293 - PICKEREL FROG

I do not like the very warm and humid weather we have this labor day weekend but this frog didn’t seem to mind it. I found this little guy on the bottom of a canyon in the White Pine Hollow State Preserve, near Luxembourg, Iowa. I’m not one hundred percent sure if this is a young Pickerel Frog because I only have this image from its side. In Iowa the Pickerel Frog is only found in the very eastern part along the Mississippi. There is a chance that this is its cousin, the more common Northern Leopard Frog, but it looks like this frog has a paired series of squarish blotches extending down the back between the dorsolateral folds. No other frog in Iowa has paired squarish blotches. (source: The Salamanders and Frogs of Iowa, by J.L. Christansen and R.M. Bailey, Nov. 1991). I guess next time I pay a little more attention to the details while I see the critter … 😉

Both images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

The second photo shows the habitat, a slow running stream that runs between the rock walls of the canyon, and pools filled with crystal clear water. The reason I went to White Pine Hollow was because I wanted to try out a new photo technique that actually required fast running water. There wasn’t enough water coming down the creek this time and so this project had to be put on hold, but coming back with these photos was a nice reward for hiking into the canyon despite heat and humidity.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #8

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

Joan, I, and the dog went out this evening for a nice long walk into the Deere Marsh, a wetland area between the Mississippi River and the big John Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa. We had a fresh and clear day with a few puffy clouds in the sky, but unfortunately they all had disappeared before the evening.

Joan likes to shoot wildflowers and plants and this area had still plenty to offer for her. I just brought my favorite “walk around” lens, the Nikkor 24 - 120 / f4, and was hoping to chase some good light.

We had what I call a “dirty sunset”, a little hazy and not too pretty, nothing really special about it. But after the sun disappeared behind the ridge of the Mississippi Valley things started to unfold. Hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds were flying above us towards a grove with tall trees, located on a small island in the river. They obviously spend the night there after feeding on insects and seeds during the day between the water lilies and arrow heads that grow in the backwaters of the river. I would not have made any picture of the sunset because I didn’t have a middle-ground with an interesting silhouette, but the blackbirds took care for that and became the story telling element in this photo.

TURKEY RIVER (THE ONLY SHOT)

I’m sorry, it does not happen very often that I can’t choose from many pictures during a weekend filling event. Joan and I paddled the Turkey River here in Northeast Iowa, and of course, “kayak dog Cooper” was in the boat too. For the local visitors of my blog, we did the stretch between Elgin and Motor Mill, Iowa in three stages. Our last take out was at Motor Mill, between Elkader and Garber, and that is the location the photo was made. The Turkey River isn’t really difficult to paddle but I decided to leave the camera at shore this time. We stopped counting Bald Eagles sitting in the trees along the river after a while. They are here in Iowa in abundance and I think it is one of the best stories about bird restoration that is worth talking about. Many other birds, like Belted Kingfishers, Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and several unidentified flycatchers drew our attention. We saw the biggest White-tailed Deer buck I have ever seen and many fawns told the story about a new generation of deer growing up this summer. With other words, wildlife in abundance.

Sure, this sounds like a lot of missed opportunities but in reality shooting out of a fast floating kayak, with hardly any way to stop, may most likely not lead to a good photo.

However, here is the shot I made after the kayaks were back on the roof of the car. Motor Mill is an old Wheat Mill, built in 1864, and in a very good state of preservation. It is listed on the National Register of Historical sites. 

FINDING A COMPOSITION

My fascination for great clouds, especially big thunderheads, is unbroken. A few days ago we had plenty of them. All what it took was going down to the big river and find a composition. There is some water between me and the reeds in the background but I kept it out of the frame. The eye has no choice but going straight to the cloud, and that is how it was meant...

SAILING AND SOARING IN THE EVENING BREEZE

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, at 85 mm

The Mississippi River is a great place for all kinds of recreation and during the summer many people use it for fishing, paddling, or just running their speed boats. Seeing a sail boat with all sails set is not an everyday occurrence and the puffy clouds on the Wisconsin side of the river made for a nice background.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, at 420 mm

The guy handled his boat actually very well in the evening breeze. The photos were made just below lock and dam #11 in Dubuque, IA and the river is here only about 400 meters wide.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, at 420 mm

The soaring pelican may explain why I had the long lens on the camera during the little walk with our dog Cooper along the river. Unfortunately this was the only one we had within shooting range. Including part of a cloud was key for this image.

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… 

LEOPARD FROG AND SUMMER MOOD

Northern Leopard Frog

Hi friends, I’m back from Sacramento, CA where I spent the week on a business trip. There was no time for photography (explains the week without a single blog post) and finally I arrived a day late because of weather issues in Denver. Good to be back home and having the weekend for what I love to do the most, being in the great outdoors and using the camera.

There is a lot going on here in our woods and yesterday I did some bird photography. But let me start with a couple of my favorite pictures from today. Both images were made in the Green Island Wetlands. Because of last week’s rain the water level in the Mississippi and the wetlands is higher than normal. Except for the Canada Geese, who already escort their offspring, you can’t see much of the waterfowl. The grass and reed is tall and hides the ducks, coots, and mergansers pretty good.

I like to make the shot with some gesture of the critter but the Leopard Frog isn’t known for cute gestures ;-)  It just sits and waits probably for an insect to come by. Well, how do we make an image of the frog work anyway? We have to lay down and meet the critter at eye level. I tried this with two other frogs before but they didn’t like my presence and jumped into the taller grass. For this one I went down and crawled slowly towards the frog until I had it at a focal length of about 300 mm. It makes for a more interesting picture and it blurs the otherwise very busy background nicely

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

I like the summery mood of the second shot. Everything is lush and the duck weed and algae amplify the green and yellow colors of this very humid day. The reflections on the water are my subject, even if this is not so obvious since this is not a very strong one, but the sharpness will lead the eye. On a side note, I did not realize the Great Blue Heron in the background on the right while I made the photo but I think it adds to the peaceful scene. More to come…

TELLING THE WEATHER STORY

We have this typical End-of-May-weather, with the occasional thunderstorm and quick changes between sun and rain. An open area is better suited to tell the story about it than our woods here in the Little Maquoketa Valley. The Deere Marsh, located between the big John Deere factory and the Mississippi River, just north of Dubuque, Iowa , is a place that gives a sense of the marshy backwaters and leaves enough open space to let the clouds tell the story. The Little Maquoketa River actually helped to shape this landscape. It joins the Mississippi just behind the bushes on the right in this picture.

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… :-)