PHOTOGRAPHY OUTING WITH THE DCC

Clouds over barn and pond, near Blanding Landing, Illinois

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9,   @16 mm, 1/100 s, f/9, ISO100

Last week the Dubuque Camera Club had its first outing in a long time. Led by photography artist Henry Matthiessen III, owner of “Stoned Art Studio and Gallery” in Dubuque, Iowa, the group visited several locations in the Mississippi Valley, over in northwest Illinois. Fast moving clouds in the sky allowed for some good shooting around dusk. I have been at some of the locations before, but never at that time of the day. After seeing the results from some other photographers already on Facebook, I think it is very interesting how many different ways can be found to shoot basically the same subject, the landscapes and light that were present for all of us. Thank you again to Henry for introducing us to some new locations! Here is my take from that evening.

Barn in the woods,  near Blanding Landing, Illinois

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4,   @200 mm, 1/80 s, f/5.6, ISO100, slightly cropped

Tranquility,  near Blanding Landing, Illinois

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9,   @20 mm, 1/200 s, f/5.6, ISO100

Oak tree, Chestnut Mountain Resort, Illinois

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4,   @116 mm, 1/125 s, f/8, ISO100, cropped

Mississippi backwaters at dusk, Blanding Landing, Illinois

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9,   @82 mm, 1/30 s, f/9, ISO100, slightly cropped

EVERY SPRING…

Bloodroot, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa

Easter weekend and the last couple days have been warm, or at least mild, and nature responds to that. Wildflowers started blooming in large numbers. We went on a hike through ‘Lost Canyon’ and ‘Valley of 13 Caves’ in the Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area here in Dubuque County on Easter Sunday. Well, we could make similar pictures in the woods behind our house here in the Little Maquoketa River Valley, but it was nice to get out and explore something away from home. Yeaah, I say that every year, I’m not a flower photographer, but at the end it’s hard to resist to look for the light and make a click whenever nature’s beauty unfolds in front of the eye…

Hepatica, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa

SECOND APPEARANCE

Hard to believe this was almost a week ago. A few days earlier our crocus and snow bells showed their first blossoms until they got all covered again during a snow storm last Monday. So, here is a couple photos from the second appearance of spring flowers in our yard this year.

It’s not really macro photography but the old SIGMA 150/f2.8 macro lens is still in my bag and finds employment for shots like this. Most modern lenses focus much faster, but if the camera is locked on the subject, this lens delivers still tack sharp results. Another reason for me to use this lens sometimes is the Minimum Focusing Distance (MFD), which is 15 inches (0.38m). A ‘killer tool’ for any detail shots!

LAST FOR THE SEASON: ICY ART

With winter coming slowly but surely to an end I thought to wrap up my little project for the season. I had fun to find patterns, shapes, reflections, and colors in ice, on rivers, lakes, on glass, or even just at the surface of a frozen bird bath. Not all pictures made it into the new collection but I thought a few were worth to be shown. If you like to see the whole gallery, just click on the photo and it will open the ICY ART collection for you. Have a marvelous weekend!

SNOW, AND MORE SNOW

Deciduous forests without their leaves are not always the prettiest thing to photograph, except after a storm that makes the snow cling to trees and branches. Suddenly all kinds of lines and shapes are revealed and we are reminded how beautiful winter can be. All photos were made just in the neighborhood, here on our ridge above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. I hope you enjoy!

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4

NEW COLLECTION: ICY ART

I have quietly started a new little project, called ICY ART. I don’t know yet where I’m heading with this one, but for now I like to show some of the results here on my website. The idea to photograph frozen water as a natural appearance came already several years ago but I have not pursued it seriously until recently. I’m in the great outdoors almost every day, sometimes only for a few minutes and sometimes for a whole day. I like the idea that nature alone is the sculptor and light can reveal or conceal shapes, colors, and reflections, sometimes just depending from what angle we look at the subject. If you like to see what made it into the ICY ART collection so far, click on the photo above and it will take you right there.

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…

SHAPES IN ICE #3

Mississippi River, Finley’s Landing, Iowa

I wish all of you a happy and successful year 2021! I start the new year with this photo from the collection SHAPES IN ICE. I thought the gas bubbles frozen in the ice were picturesque or at least very interesting.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, @ 200 mm,

WINTER WONDERLAND LOOK

Today was the first day of real winter. It rained yesterday, and changed to snow during the night. The heavy and wet stuff clung to the branches of all trees and bent many of them down, some even all the way to the bottom. The photos were made in our driveway early this morning, still in my pajamas. You don’t see a driveway? Well, that’s one reason I took the photos…

It was still slightly snowing and the sky had an overcast, which means the snow would render just gray, if I would let the camera do its thing with White Balance set to “Auto” or “Cloudy”. Instead I chose “Day light” and that gives the whole scene a bluish tint at this time of the day. I dialed the intensity and saturation a little bit down in post until I had this “Winter Wonderland” look you see here.

SHAPES IN ICE #2

Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, Bankston County Park, Iowa

Here in eastern Iowa we have a good number of small creeks and rivers. They all have one thing in common, their water ends up in the Mississippi River. Unless it has rained heavily and a lot of runoff from the fields comes down the valleys, their water can be crystal-clear. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stocks some of the creeks with trout at times and people like to come for fishing. 

The Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River is such a stream. Last weekend a little bit of light got reflected by the rocks at the bottom and made for some color contrast to the thin ice at the river bank.

SHAPES IN ICE

Little Maquoketa River, Iowa

Time to calm down after last Friday’s excitement about birds and wildlife. We don’t have any snow on the ground but temperatures have ben below freezing at night and hoar frost and ice started creating natural shapes along the shores of our rivers and ponds. Let’s see if we can find some light there…

BACK-LIGHT

I’m not known as a “people photographer” but when these two young runners passed by I had to make the click. This was a month ago and I walked with our little dog at sunset on the Heritage Trail in the valley below. Due to the wildfires in Colorado, Montana, and California the sun had this hazy, almost dirty appearance and made for interesting back-light on the leaves and logging equipment in the background. While I was still debating with myself if this would be enough for a picture, the girls entered the scene. And suddenly I had a photo that made sense…

FALL COLORS AND LIGHT

Hard to believe that was already a week ago. The Dubuque Camera Club had invited to a little photo walk at Eagle Point Park in Dubuque, Iowa. The park is high up on the bluffs above the Mississippi River and lock & dam #11. It is tempting to shoot only the great vista across the river, but with the low sitting afternoon sun I thought the fall details in the park deserved our attention as well. There is a small pond, built from big limestone rocks and that’s where I found the most inspiration.

It was an afternoon well spent, with good conversation and I can’t imagine that anybody who participated didn’t have fun shooting the colors and light of autumn.

FALL COLORS - NORTHEAST IOWA AT ITS BEST

Turkey River, near Motor Mill, Iowa

The five photos I show you today don’t need a lot of text. Gorgeous weather and fall colors probably at their peak last weekend in Northeast Iowa. We pitched the tent for a night at Motor Mill along the Turkey River. Finding the colors wasn’t the problem, finding a way to let the light tell the story is the challenge that is left to us…

As always, a click on each photo gives you an enlarged view.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2020 #7 - RAINBOW BEFORE SUNSET

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

Visiting the Mississippi River during the hour before sunset can always lead to a good surprise. A couple days ago we took our dog Cooper down to Mud Lake, one of his (and our) favorite places. The rain cloud you see in the second image moved in quickly from the northwest. The rain drops started falling and we rushed back to the car. Suddenly a full fledged rainbow appeared right over the big river. Who cares about a few drops, but the dilemma was that I had the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 on camera, too long to capture the full rainbow while it lasted. The compromise was to shoot one end in tall orientation as you see it here. 

I was hoping for more, ran back to the car and changed lenses quickly. The Nikkor 16-35, f/4 has everything what it needs for a full rainbow, but the cloud had moved on to the southeast and with it what was left of the rainbow. Still one of the occurrences that will be remembered on the positive side for this crazy year…