LOVE WHEN IT ALL COMES TOGETHER…

Mississippi River, Finleys Landing, Iowa

I often struggle with scenes that are backlit, in my wildlife photography and as well with landscape work. This evening I left the Mississippi River with a smile on my face, I knew I had something. I wished light would prevail always this way and the decision how to dial in the settings in camera would match my imagination about the final image as it did today.

Waters are high in the Mississippi right now, for example, the flood gates were closed at Ice Harbor in Dubuque, Iowa, but the higher water level makes the muddy banks below the grass in this shot disappear. Knowing the location helped to anticipate the shot before I even went there. Oh, I love when it all comes together sometimes…

CHASING CLOUDS

I have two photos for you today, both taken during my chase for some clouds and light this evening. We had thunderstorms moving out of the area and on the south side of Dubuque, Iowa, at the local airport, I finally found what I was looking for.

As some of you may already know, I like these images where the clouds are actually the subject and the horizon line gives you just a hint where the photo may have been taken, and otherwise giving nothing but a sense of scale.

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

LOCATIONS: BACKBONE STATE PARK / IOWA

In my last blog post I mentioned a location here in eastern Iowa we hadn’t visited for a while but a nice hike last Sunday made me considering it more often for future wildlife or landscape shootings.

Backbone State Park is a heavily forested area, mainly oaks and maples, measuring over 2000 acres (8.1 km2). As part of the driftless area it was left unglaciated during the last ice age. It has an interesting geology with ancient dolomite formations dating from the Silurian period. A large ridge of rock divides the park, resembling a spine, and lends its name to the park and adjacent forest. The area is characterized by active springs, caves, sinkholes and karsts. (source: Wikipedia)

A lake was created by building a dam across the Maquoketa River in 1933/34 and during my hike along the shore I found ducks, geese, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, and finally saw three Eastern Phoebes catching insects by perching on branches hanging over the water. The phoebe is a sure sign that spring is just around the corner, despite the fact that we had some light snow again today…

It was the pattern of old snow below one of the rock formations that made me push the shutter button. At this time of the year (no sign of any green yet) and with last Sunday’s gray overcast it was not so easy to “romance” the landscape. I tried to combine the textures of the grass, snow, rocks, and the trees on the slope and let the river guide the eye through the image.

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR, @ 200 mm, 1/320 s, f/8, ISO 200

CAN’T DO THIS ONE ANYMORE…

February 18, 2018

On February 18, 2018 I crossed for the first time the new bridge over the Mississippi River between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois. I thought it was interesting to see both, the old truss bridge and the new one, side by side and so I stopped and made a few clicks. Since around 10:30AM today the same picture cannot be made anymore because the old bridge was demolished and imploded with a big BOOM and clouds of smoke and sits now in the river. I read that cutting apart the remains started immediately and the pieces will be transported away by barges.

I didn’t really plan to publish this photo here in the blog. I was a little sloppy while taking the picture, not paying enough attention to the details around the edges and a different view point would have been probably better. After reviewing my photos on the computer screen I thought even about going back and shoot it again. Well, it is too late now…😏

Below are a couple pictures I took almost three years ago when I heard for the first time that the old truss bridge will be replaced. I even wrote a blog post about it. http://www.exnerimages.net/blog/2015/4/7/mississippi-river-stories-2015-5

It’s good to have these images!

April 5, 2015

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…

STAYING LATE AND GETTING REWARDED

In the Green Island wetlands before sunset --------------

This photo is from yesterday and could not have been made today, because we had rain pouring down most of the day. The gravel road that goes through the Green Island Wetlands area is on the left and one of the levees that separate the different ponds and wetlands is on the right. But most important is the light from the low sitting sun that puts a warm glow on the ice and reflects in the spots with open water. It’s always worth to hang out until sunset or at least the hour before and if things line up you might get rewarded with a good picture. You don’t get this kind of shot at noon or in the early afternoon.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2018 #01 - SNOW COVERED

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa --------       

Of course in 2018 I will continue my story telling about wildlife and nature in the Mississippi Valley with some photos. It still fascinates me that the big river is never twice the same, no matter how often I drive down to the valley and visit even well known places. This evening it wasn’t as cold as during the last week and daylight lasts a lot longer already as in January.

Canada Geese, Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa

The ice on the Mississippi has a solid snow cover at the moment but this can change very quickly. Nothing is static at this river. There was a spot with open water south of the Deere Marsh today and hundreds of Canada Geese used it for feeding and resting. It was a constant coming and going and I had some good opportunities to practice my panning technique.

Mississippi backwaters at Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa

I only took the Nikon Nikkor 70-200, f/4 lens with me today and it was a good choice. I acquired this lens mainly for my landscape photography but it will definitely be used for wildlife as well. I love how I can now separate a scene from surrounding and distracting elements. This is where I often have seen the limits of my Nikon Nikkor 24-120, f/4. The 24-120 is a great “walk around lens” but the maximum focal length of 120 mm is quite often too short for separation. Well, I can hear you, why don’t you zoom with your feet and get closer? This is a valid question but in a terrain with natural barriers, like water between the camera and the subject or a canyon just below my feet, a longer focal length is sometimes the only way to exceed these limits. And no, I’m not a fool and walk out onto the ice of the crazy river…😉

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

NOW ONLINE: VISUAL STORIES - THROUGH THE DAKOTAS

Castles-Slim Butte, North Dakota

Some projects take a long time to become reality and some take even a little longer…😉

I just finished a new set of VISUAL STORIES here in my blog. The collection THROUGH THE DAKOTAS is finally online and you can find it by clicking up in the “Collections”-bar or by clicking right HERE. Some of the photos about a journey through the Black Hills and different “Badland” areas in the Dakotas have been previously posted in my blog a while ago and a coffee table book “BADLANDS - North and South Dakota” has been created as well. The only thing missing was a slide show in the blog. Well, as people in Germany say, …. gut Ding will Weile haben!

FASCINATING WINTER WORLD

Hi friends, I’m back from the moon! (just kidding…). The photo was made today during a flight from Denver to Chicago. Business required my presence in Colorado this week and the only camera that was in the pocket was my iPhone. I don’t know the exact location of this shot, it was somewhere between eastern Colorado and western Nebraska. It was fascinating how every little creek and water vein was filled with snow or ice, while other parts of the fields below showed the blank soil. Back home here in the Little Maquoketa Valley in eastern Iowa the reality was more disenchanting. We don’t have any snow on the ground, very unusual for this time of the year, but the weather forecast says this may change during the next few days…

THE LONELY SYCAMORE

Down in our valley at the Little Maquoketa River is a lonely Sycamore tree (Platanus occidentalis) that has intrigued me many times before. It seemed in all the years I never found the right light to make a photo telling the story about this unique tree with its mottled and flaking bark, that makes the tree standing out from any other one around. Today, an hour before sunset, Joan and I went for a walk on the trail in the valley with our dog Cooper. I don’t remember a year without any snow on the ground in January but this abnormal weather situation suddenly delivered the photo opportunity I had somehow in mind. I exposed strictly for the highlights to make the almost white bark standing out. This would have not worked with a layer of snow on the ground. Although the sun was very low already, the light is not really warm and I was actually thinking of black & white when I took the picture. But I like how the crisp light strikes the scene and only the corn stalks in the foreground pick up a little bit of the warmer light.

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

2017 RETROSPECT / 9

Cranberry Wilderness, Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

One of the most interesting places we have been during our vacation in West Virginia was the Cranberry Glades in the Cranberry Wilderness, all part of the Monongahela National Forest. This photo was made not far from the glades near the site of the Mill Point Federal Prison camp, a former low level prison which was in operation from 1938 till 1959. It was demolished after its closure. Some interpretive signs and photos provide information for interested hikers. Nature took over and it needs some power of imagination to envision the former prison camp.

2017 RETROSPECT / 3

Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra, California

March held many good photo opportunities for me, especially with migrating birds, but the highlight was a visit at Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra in California. The tufa formations around the lake are a fascinating subject and with the snow covered mountains in the background you can’t go wrong, even if circumstances allowed me to be there for only a very short time around the noon hour.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The year ends with very cold temperatures and snow on the ground, ideal conditions for some bird photography in the backyard today. This young female Red-bellied Woodpecker posed nicely on the trunk of this gnarly Ironwood (American Hop Hornbeam).

Female Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dec 31, 2017, near Durango, Iowa

The weeks before Christmas the weather has been relatively warm and to our surprise we had a female Yellow-rumped Warbler at our bird bath and below the suet feeders. The northern edge of their winter range is normally several hundred miles south from here, but another birder told me that is not totally unusual to see a few here in eastern Iowa if the winter is mild. I was awed when the warbler still came to the bird bath and feeders today despite the fact that the temperature was at -18ºC (0º F) and with a solid snow cover on the ground.

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, October 2017

Usually I would end the year with a few “Retrospect” blog posts about my photographic highlights during the year, but some last-minute business trip between Christmas and now kept me from doing it. Maybe I find the time in January… However, I like to thank everybody for stopping here, for your emails and messages with opinions, critique, and advice. I appreciate all of them and would be happy to see you back in 2018!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MISPLACED TUNDRA (NOT REALLY)

Cranberry Glades, West Virginia ------   

If you walk on a trail through a bog in the fall, like the Cranberry Glades in West Virginia, the peak season for flower and plant photography is already over. The Glades resemble an arctic tundra that seems to be misplaced in the southern mountains. Many rare plants, critters, and birds can be found here that are usually common to the bogs in the far north. This is a botanical paradise but so late in the season you may have to look for other things. With open eyes for the light on the landscape pictures can still be made. This fir, standing exposed in the bog, became my subject when a shaft of light broke through the clouds. The remains of woolgrass put little white dots into the grass and the bare trees in the background tell more about how close this 3,400 feet high location was to winter already in October.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #11 - FROZEN OVER

Mississippi River, Finleys Landing, Iowa

I made a short trip to the big river yesterday morning. It was actually not very promising with a uniform gray sky hanging over this part of eastern Iowa. To my surprise the Mississippi was almost completely covered with ice. Not unusual for December but it has been way too warm for this time of the year lately and we had only very little snow so far. 

This is a view across the river, shot with the Sigma 150 / f2.8 and the 1.4x Teleconverter attached. This combination makes it a 210 mm focal length on the Nikon D750. I thought the compressed view works good to make the ice on the river my subject. It keeps most of the gray sky out of the frame without giving up on the mood of the scene.

I know, it’s not the most flattering photo but it tells another one of my little Mississippi River stories.