CAN THE OTHER SEASONS DELIVER?

I love the colors of autumn as you may have seen in recent blog posts. The coloration of the leaves tells a visual story about the season easily. Can we do that in black and white by using light and gestures only? Well, here is a trial. Winter, no tall grass…spring, grass still very short…summer, grass growing, but still not as tall and light never at this quality from that angle…. I guess it must be fall! I’m not totally serious about this, because at the end it’s all about the light that wraps around the swaying grass. Spring, summer, and winter just can’t deliver the same way for this shot…

FALL COLORS CONTINUE

Cottonwood leaves cover the foreground almost completely but the focus is on these young willows next to the marina. In the background, on top of the bluffs over in Wisconsin, the colors continue.

Mississippi Valley, Mud Lake, Iowa

After a busy week in the noisy and glitzy city of Las Vegas, NV it was nice to enjoy the Sunday back home in the Mississippi Valley. The colors of autumn have passed their peak but there was still plenty to find that makes fall such a beautiful season here. Many trees in the valley have lost their leaves already and warm wind and rain this evening may end the golden and red fall beauty faster than we may like.

The Nikkor 70-200, f/4 with attached polarizing filter was the lens of choice. It allowed me to isolate my subjects from clutter, like dead leaves or already bare branches, or focus on light and colors in the distance.

The red leaves of the sumac are always an eye catcher.

Mines of Spain State Recreation Area, Dubuque, Iowa

I photographed this solitary tree at the beginning of my hike but a bare blue sky made it kinda boring. When I came back these clouds moved through and in addition the slight blur of the leaves told the story of a very windy but beautiful fall day much better.

Mines of Spain State Recreation Area, Dubuque, Iowa

Cottonwood leaves carpet the grass below the trees. The traces of fast decay make for an interesting texture beside the golden colors. Just another way to tell a story about autumn.

Mississippi Valley, Mud Lake, Iowa

IT’S THE MAPLES

A cold snap last weekend, much cooler temperatures this week, and wow, we have fall colors here in the trees. Much needed rain during the last couple days and strong winds brought quite a few leaves down. But it is the maples here in the Mississippi Valley and in all the side valleys around that take the stage for the fall color show. I love the orange and yellow against darker backgrounds, as we can find it along the steep slopes, it’s my way of telling the story of autumn… Wishing all my friends and followers of this blog a wonderful weekend! Go out and find your colors!

FIRST BE PATIENT, AND SECOND, DON’T FORGET THE POLARIZER

A hint of fall colors, Walnut tree, Mississippi Valley, near Guttenberg, Iowa

Another great day with warm weather and some hope to find the unbeatable light of autumn here in the Mississippi Valley. It has been a dry year for the most part and many smaller trees loose their leaves without putting on a great color show. But we are not at the peak of fall colors yet and it may take a little time to find the spots that satisfy the eye and mind. I’m not a big fan of bare branches and dead sticks in my tree photos and some decent light has to be present before I make the click. This walnut tree below the steep slope of the Mississippi Valley caught my attention. I love the shape and how it stands out against the background and the surrounding trees. When the layer of clouds thinned out and more light revealed the colors of the leaves, the click was finally made.

If you like to photograph the fall colors for the first time during the next few weeks, here is a little tip that may help you to come back home with some good shots on the memory card. Don’t forget to bring a polarizing filter! No, we don’t need that for a better blue in the sky anymore, but it will remove the glare from the sky on the surface of the leaves and it will reveal the true colors. This works for leaves that either still hang from the trees or maybe make a nice pattern on the ground already. Glare on a surface is one of the things you can’t “fix” in post process.

OVERCAST DAY? HOW ABOUT DETAIL SHOTS?

Roots / Stones / Leaves, Backbone State Park, Iowa

Erosion on a steep slope has washed much of the soil and stones away that ones covered the roots of this old tree. A few rocks are still trapped between the roots. Fresh green surrounds the old tree trunk. The soft light reveals the structure on these exposed roots and let us wonder how old the tree might be.

Joan and I, and of course dog Cooper, went tent camping last weekend. We used Saturday for a couple hikes in Backbone State Park. With being it mostly an overcast day it wasn’t the right light for great vistas, although some leaves started changing colors. If a uniform gray overcast is good for anything, its for detail images in the landscape and that’s what I was going for.

Virgin’s Bower has many common names and I like “Old Man’s Beard” the best. The tails of the seeds are very feathery and inspired me to make this shot.

This is the flow of Richmond’s Spring in Backbone State Park. It’s water has a constant temperature of 48ºF (8.9ºC) as it comes to the surface. With 0,4 seconds exposure time I had the look I liked for the flowing water, not too milky, not too detailed…

FOLLOWING A STORM CELL

Storm cell, near Belmont, Wisconsin

I talked about drama in the clouds in yesterday’s blog post and using black & white to tell the story. Today I came across another dramatic weather development and that took a different approach. I was on my way to a business meeting with a customer in Wisconsin this morning and watched a small thunderstorm cell ahead of me during the first forty-five minutes of driving. Sure enough I drove right into it and a short heavy rain and even some hail cleaned at least the car. The light on the cell looked very impressive but I had a hard time to find a spot to pull of the road for a picture. Finally I found an exit and luckily this smaller side road had a nice curve that could be used in the photo as a foreground element. The rain still poured on the east side while a clean blue sky followed the dramatic cloud.

Almost always when I go on a one-day business trip I take the camera with me. Most of the time I never get it out the bag because not much happens, nothing interesting is waiting to be photographed, or time pressure dictates the course of the day. Today finally the passion paid off… Great moment!

NATURE CLICKS #533 - MONARCH

Monarch butterfly, Bowstring Wildlife Area, Eastern Iowa

In July the monarch butterfly was officially designated as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Scientists estimate that the species' population has dropped between 20% and 90% over the last several decades. This migratory butterfly is known for its spectacular annual journey of up to 4,000 kilometers across the Americas. We still see them at flower meadows, in patches of re-planted prairie, or along the edges of rivers and lakes, although this year I have not watched them in large numbers. Any time I see one I try to make a photo. I only had the 150-600 mm lens with me during a hike in the Bowstring Wildlife Area, located along Lytle Creek between Zwingle and Bernard, Iowa. Zoomed all the way in to 600 mm I like how the insect got backlit, pronouncing its colors nicely. This wooded area has several patches of restored prairies and would be a prime habitat for many butterflies. Unfortunately only two Monarchs crossed my way today. I have a hard time to imagine that this beautiful insect may disappear…

NATURE CLICKS #532 - RED ADMIRAL

As summer comes to an end I realize that we didn’t have a great year for larger butterflies here on top of the bluffs along the Little Maquoketa Valley. Yes, in early summer we had thousands of Hackberry Emperors again, most likely due to to the abundance of Hackberry trees around here, but a lot less of any kind swallowtail butterflies. However, today I saw this Red Admiral in the front yard. The photo was made at one of our Autumn Joy Sedums. This flower seems to be a preferred feeding plant for many insects. We see large numbers of bumble bees, different species of wasps, all kinds of bugs, ants, and for the first time in years even some real bees. This is good news. We have lots of other flowers but the nectar of the sedum must be good or they like how easy the access is. The admiral let me get really close with the Nikkor Z 24-70. Not a macro lens but capable to deliver the environmental shot I mostly prefer.

FIRST FALL PICTURE?

Giant Sunflowers beside the road, Green Island Wetlands, Eastern Iowa

These Giant Sunflowers swayed heavily in the wind while rain clouds still moved through the Mississippi Valley. A short visit to the Green Island Wetlands yesterday afternoon didn’t lead to a lot of wildlife sightings but these yellow beauties and color contrast with the dark clouds tell the story of a cooler day after some much needed rain the night before.

I wanted to freeze the strong movement of the flowers and and started shooting with about 1/1600 s, at f/6.3 and ISO400. While this worked somehow, I was not happy with the blurred clouds in the background. Drama was missing. After closing down the aperture to f/14 I was left with 1/800 s at ISO1000. Still good enough to freeze the action and adding much more pronounced cloud shapes. Warmer weather is coming back tomorrow but I guess I have my first fall picture of the season…😉

SELECTION FROM THE PRAIRIE

All photos: Pine Valley Nature Area, Jackson County, Eastern Iowa

We used Labor Day weekend for some scouting and exploration of nature areas we had never visited before. One of them was Pine Valley Nature Area in Jackson County, located about 3 miles northwest of Maquoketa Caves State Park. I’m posting the location below for those who like to discover it as well. This 676 acre woodland and prairie area is a gem for any nature lover. It is a great place to study different types of prairie grass and at this time of the year you will find an abundance of wildflowers on the prairie. I’m sure in spring and early summer we can find a lot more birds than we saw last Monday. It looks promising for wildlife photography.

I traveled light, with just the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 lens on camera, during our hike on some of the trails. This is not a macro lens but I tried to isolate certain flowers, grasses, and other plants from their dense surroundings. Not my usual kind of photography, but thinking about how to place the subject in the frame or trying to find a good background was a lot of fun during this hike. I hope you enjoy this little selection of images.

All photos: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4

SUMMER AT ITS BEST

Giant Swallowtail

Pleasant temperatures allow for all kinds of activities at the moment. I spent some time this afternoon at the flower garden in front of the house. Plenty of hummingbirds are frequent visitors, but wait, this is for another blog post.

It seems the number of large butterflies is lower this year, but let’s wait until August is over before I may give a final verdict. At least this Giant Swallowtail gave me a number of opportunities today. It feeds on the purple coneflowers with very fast wingbeats and in the past I tried to make this kind of a picture with the 150 mm macro lens. Since I was actually out for the hummingbirds, the Sigma 150-600 was on camera and that allows much better tracking of a fast moving butterfly in the viewfinder. A few clouds made for quick changing light conditions and so I used the Nikon SB800 speed light with the MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender to add a hint of light for boosting colors, in particular when the sun disappeared for a minute.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender      @ 600 mm, 1/160 s, f/8, ISO 640

DETAILS FROM THE HOLLOW

Stream at the bottom of the canyon, White Pine Hollow State Preserve, Eastern Iowa

White Pine Hollow, a densely wooded state preserve, is said to be the only old-growth patch of white pines still growing in Iowa. (source: Wikipedia) It is not very far from our home and last Sunday I thought it was time to revisit this interesting place of wilderness again. The old pines are impressive but it is the surrounding deciduous forest that gives the visitor at the bottom of the hollow a jungle-like feeling. A little caution is advised, especially if you hike with a dog, because at this time of the year you may have a good chance to pick up a tick in the woods. A nature lover who can overcome this fear is treated with a great wilderness experience. White Pine Hollow is said to contain 625 species of plants and two endangered species of animals. If macro or detail photography is your field of interest you will be in photographers heaven. A day with a slight overcast is perfect and I recommend to travel light, because it can be very humid in the canyon. Also a pair of good hiking boots and the use of common sense in this wild environment is not a bad idea for a trip to White Pine Hollow.

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, FTZ adapter

Wild Geranium, easy to find almost everywhere

A mossy log of a fallen tree provides the base of life for this mushroom

 

WITH A LITTLE IMAGINATION

The snow is almost gone and it takes a little imagination to make a photo with bare trees and vegetation from last year that is more or less brown and grey. When the sun sets above our ridge and the wind has calmed down, it’s time to pour a glass of wine, sit down in a chair on the porch, and enjoy the first evenings of the year with mild temperatures. With at least one f-stop underexposure and white balance settings at 6000 Kelvin or higher, the colors of decaying grasses in the front yard don’t play a role anymore. The setting sun and the backlit silhouettes of grass, swaying in the wind, are enough to let us forget about the dull colors that dominate the landscape after the winter…

YELLOWSTONE - 150 YEARS

Black bear mother with her two cups, October 2007, Nikon D200 with Nikon 80-400-D VR

On March 1st, Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, was created 150 years ago. I had the pleasure to visit the park with its beautiful mountains, over 10,000 hydrothermal features, and abundant wildlife, together with my wife Joan in 2005, 2007, and 2018. In 2005 I still used mainly a Nikon N2020 35mm film camera but played a little with a 3.2 Megapixel, Minolta Dimage Xt digital camera. At the second visit I just had started with serious digital photography and little did I know how to create an image with some impact. But it is nice to have these old images as a memory. It was interesting to see in 2018 how the National Park had changed and how the park administration tried to deal with the vast number of visitors that pour in the park every day, even in the off-season. It still remains a magnificent place to visit and to photograph. Yellowstone National Park has inspired conservation efforts around the globe since its inception in 1872 and in order to celebrate this event I pulled a few pictures from the library and like to share them with you.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, September 2018, Nikon D750 with AF-S Nikkor 70-200, f/4

Wolf watchers, Lamar Valley at Slough Creek, October 2007, Nikon D200 with Sigma 18-50, 2.8

Mammoth Hot Springs, September 2018, Nikon D750 with AF-S Nikkor 70-200, f/4