PREPARED FOR THE MOMENT

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

The digital age of photography allows us to shoot endless numbers of pictures without making a dent in our wallets. All what it takes is to hit the delete button if something doesn’t work out. Sometimes, and hopefully more often than not, it only takes a few clicks to make the image you have in mind or envisioned, even in wildlife photography. Knowing the biology of a critter, its habits, and natural time schedule will help you to make the click. Being for a few days in the same area, studying the light, and watching every movement in the woods and in the grassland, can lead to the desired shot. 

The photo of this deer was made between two locations where we wanted to shoot landscapes. Attaching the long lens to the camera ahead of time was essential to make the shot just beside the road.

CRAZY HORSE

If you ever want to see a great human endeavor in progress you need to see the Crazy Horse Memorial while in the Black Hills area in South Dakota. It is the worlds largest mountain carving and far from being finished. The first rocks were taken off by a blast in 1948 and millions of tons have been removed since. Oglala Lakota leader Crazy Horse has been chosen by the Indians for this sculpture and sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908-1982) accepted the invitation by Indian chiefs to carve a mountain. Realizing that this project would span several generations Korczak and his wife set in place various forms of guidance, plans, scale models of the sculpture, and the Crazy Horse Foundation. Today six of their children and some grandchildren carry on the family legacy. The memorial is strictly funded without state or federal funds. (source: Crazy Horse Memorial visitor brochure 2015) For those who like to read more about it: https://crazyhorsememorial.org

The photo was made at the visitor center and shows a 1/34th scale model on the left and the sculpture in the distance. To give you a better idea about the dimensions, the four heads of Mount Rushmore Memorial would fit completely into the area of Crazy Horse’s head dress!

I have been familiar with Tashunke Witco (Crazy Horse) and his role in history through several books I read in my younger years. He was a great leader of his people. After I learned about this memorial I wanted to see it sometime in my life. I admire the artistic vision of Korczak Ziolkowski and as an engineer have a deep respect for the logistics of this ongoing project.

NATURE CLICKS #310 - SHARP-TAILED GROUSE

I always call it a great day if we have a first sighting of a bird or critter. This may not always be the best photographical moment but at least I try to make a documentary shot and hope to work my way up to a better image sometime later. We were told that getting close to some Sharp-tailed Grouse would be not an easy task and we would be very lucky to see them at all. I think it payed back to get up really early in Custer State Park and during this early trip along Wildlife Loop Road, we saw close to a dozen already the first morning. It was good that I fired away immediately, handhold and just supported by leaning myself against the car, because we did not see them at any other time again. Having part of the road in the frame is not very flattering but making “a” shot is always the priority if I see a new species. The Sharp-tailed Grouse gave us about 40 seconds until they took off. This is the best I could get, but hey, it made it already a great day early in the morning… 😊.

ROUGHLOCK FALLS

Roughlock Falls is in the Little Spear Fish Creek Valley in the Black Hills. It is one of the places that are liked by tourists and you can get close safely to the waterfalls on well built boardwalks and bridges.

A few days ago I posted an article called “Communicating Motion”. Today’s image was made with the same technique, a combination of multiple shots into one image. The camera can do this automatically and the Nikon D750 is able to combine up to three shots. Other, more expensive models, are able to work with up to ten shots. To be honest, I’m very happy with the results. It takes some test shots to find the best exposure compensation. The interesting thing is that no two pictures look alike and that leaves you some room for your creative process. I have photographed waterfalls before, mostly with a neutral density filter in front of the lens for a long exposure time, which creates the silky look of the water. The goal with both techniques is to tell your own story about motion of the water and to reveal the beauty of a waterfall or creek. The advantages of the new way are that you don’t need any filter, the colors seem to look better, and most important you can shoot these kind of pictures even in bright daylight.

TURKEY DAY

Happy Thanksgiving to all friends and readers of my blog here in the United States! I’m sure I didn’t think about this holiday when I made this photo in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota last month. It may not be Wild Turkey, but a farm raised one, that will be served traditionally for dinner in many families on Thanksgiving. However, I thought the picture is appropriate for todays holiday blog post. 😊

We have turkeys in the woods around our house. In spring, during their mating season, we can hear them calling every morning but I still have not managed to make a decent photo yet. Up in South and North Dakota we had several opportunities to see Wild Turkeys and even to get close to these shy birds. Most of the time you see them down in the grass with a close and very busy looking background. More than a dozen turkeys had just crossed the road and continued foraging on a small ridge before they finally disappeared in the valley behind. It is the far away and out of focus background that makes the big difference between many previous shots and this one, which became my new favorite instantly…

DEADWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA, SALOON NO. 10

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4,  1/3 s, f/8, ISO 1000, @ 16 mm

You can’t travel to the Wild West without visiting a bar once in a while… Gosh, Joan had to twist my arm very, very hard to get me into Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, South Dakota. OK, you knew that was a lie… 😉 We were actually drawn in by an actor who played the old west legend Wild Bill Hickok in a little reenactment in the back of this bar. Lots of fun!

The photo of this charming bar, with all its memorabilia, was made after the performance and until that moment I didn’t know that I can handhold 1/3 s exposure time without a tripod 😊. Thanks to all the gimmicks, like vibration reduction in the lens and shooting with ISO 1000, the photo turned out OK, not tack-sharp, but sharp enough. But who knows, maybe a couple beer works better than any “VR” in a Nikkor lens…😉

THE BURROS OF CUSTER STATE PARK

One animal in Custer State Park in the Black Hills is hard to miss. Known as the “begging burros”, the herds can be encountered along the Wildlife Loop Road. The burros in the park are feral. They have been introduced by humans to the area and have reverted to a semi-wild state. The donkeys descend from pack animals that were once used for treks to a summit. They often block the road and pander for food from tourists. Because you have to stop anyway, you can’t help but take some pictures of these charismatic relatives of the horse...

EARLY SNOW

I don’t remember that we ever got so much snow in November within a day since Joan and I live here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa Valley. It sure looked pretty in the morning and even later, just before sunset when these photos were made, there was still some snow in the trees.

The farmer who works the small fields along the Little Maquoketa River, was a little late with the harvest of his corn this year. I saw the combine and tractors with trailers Friday morning getting the job done. Well, it was obviously not too late and the people that “plowed” the fields with their snow mobiles just a day later must have thought the same. I know, the sun in this picture is a little “burned out” but I wanted this picture for today’s story. I can promise you it will not end up in my portfolio… 😉!

Down in the valley the Heritage Trail, follows the highway to Dubuque, Iowa. The snowmobilers were obviously very happy about the early start of the winter season and used the trail heavily. The photographer found his pleasure in the light of the evening...

COMMUNICATING MOTION

Our next campsite was in the Little Spearfish Creek Valley, which is located in the northern part of the Black Hills. The forest is denser than in Custer State Park and we were higher up in the mountains.

This arm of the creek was running not far from our small camp site and it was the right subject for trying out a new technique I recently learned from an article by Moose Peterson. It is about creating a long exposure look for moving water in order to communicate its motion. Without attaching a neutral density filter or very long exposure times we can achieve this look even in daylight under relative bright light conditions. The trick is to use the multiple-exposure function that is built into some cameras. If this triggers your interest, click on the link for the whole article. http://www.imagechaser.com/creating-long-exposure-look-without-wait-nd-filter/

The interesting thing is that not two pictures look alike and at home, in front of our computer screens, we can choose the pattern of blur that we like the best. After reading Moose Peterson’s article, about a month before our trip, I really was eager to try this new technique and finally along the Little Spearfish Creek, with its waterfalls and cascades, I found the perfect “testing ground”…

BIG BOY IN THE MORNING

Many people come to Custer State Park in the Black Hills for the bison. In the fall the majority of the herd is round up and the bison are kept in a large fenced area. This is done to maintain the health and size of the herd and some animals are sold. We were told that this is the biggest spectacle every year and ten thousands of people come to Custer State Park to see the round up. Today many of the about 250,000 bison that live in other herds across the US and Canada have their origins in the herd from Custer. Some bison still roam free after the round up and we saw mostly solitary bulls or smaller groups.

One morning we came across this big bull and with a photo opportunity like this, it is very easy to get carried away and end up with tons of images on the memory card. After making the usual “safety shots” we really worked this guy with our cameras. The light was good and we waited for some extra gestures a bison bull has in its portfolio. As you can see we were not disappointed… 😊

JEWEL CAVE

As a visitor of the Black Hills you have several options to visit a cave. We decided to see at least one and our choice was Jewel Cave, which is also a National Monument. There are books and websites out there that will tell you every geological and historical fact about this cave. We really enjoyed this visit and all the information we got from a very passionate ranger during our tour in the cave. Don’t miss it if you ever go to the Black Hills!

Within a few minutes being in the cave I figured out that it is impossible to catch the magnificence in just one “signature photo”. Instead I approached it with just composition and color in mind. I did not want to make just documentary shots. When the ranger asked who would volunteer to be the last person of the tour, to make sure nobody is left behind, my arm went up immediately. I may have missed some of the ranger talk, but being the last one leaving any part of the cave gave me a little more time for the extra shot without being pushed by another person.

The first image was made with the help of a speed light, which was used to throw some light into the foreground by pointing it towards the ceiling. Everybody who has a phone in their pocket can be a photographer these days, and I really believe this is a very good thing. As you can see in the lower right corner, I have not been the only one who was impressed by this cave and tried to capture the moment.

No flash light here, and by exposing strictly for the highlights, the black space around separates the viewer from this side track of the cave. Shapes and colors are talking.

This geological formation is called the “cave bacon”, and if you have ever watched how a piece of bacon changes its color if heated up in a pan, you know why… Oh boy, my good friend Anja will love the “meaty part” of this blog post…😉

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES AT MOUNT RUSHMORE

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

If you go to the Black Hills for the first time you probably want to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It is impressive and definitive worth a visit. We had done this before a few years ago and skipped it this time. However, there are some interesting viewpoints around that give you a good opportunity to see the four presidents from different angles and perspectives.

The first photo was taken at a parking lot along the road that goes around the monument, called Profile Viewpoint. We didn’t have very many clouds during our time in the Black Hills, but here the deep blue sky and some white clouds brought some dynamic around the face of George Washington.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

Another good point to stop the car was behind one of the road tunnels south of the memorial. In both images the Ponderosa Pines lead the eye to the subject and provide some color contrast to the blue sky and clouds.

NATURE CLICKS #309 - MULE DEER BUCK

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

Back to the Black Hills and Custer State Park again. Sometimes a photo doesn’t tell the whole story about what was going on at the moment the click was made. And this is OK as long as your picture has a subject and tells the story that is important. Here it is the encounter of a young Mule Deer buck in the early morning sun on a slope of tall grass prairie. This is why I really wanted to go to Custer State Park so badly! It is the place to make pictures like this one. What you don’t see is the presence of a second buck right in front of this one. Within a second I had to make a decision about how to frame the picture. The deer stopped briefly but they were not waiting for a photographer to make up his mind slowly. Shooting them separately led to a better composition and allowed to use the full focal length of 500 mm to get close to the subject. Nobody will miss the second deer in the photo… 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #10

Tundra Swans, Harper's Slough, Mississippi River, Iowa

I like to interrupt my series about our trip to North and South Dakota for a more actual story from right here, the Mississippi Valley. Yesterday, and again today, I drove up north along the mighty Mississippi River in search for migrating water fowl. North of Harper's Ferry, near lock and dam #9, I found what I was looking for. The area is closed to all migratory bird hunting and the birds obviously have figured that out. What I found was overwhelming and I was stunned by the numbers I saw. Several hundred Tundra Swans were present, maybe even close to one thousand. Beside them ten thousands of ducks and coots covered the Mississippi. There was no way to even just guess the numbers. The river is about two miles (3 km) wide at this point and the sanctuary stretches almost all the way across and is about 4 miles long. More than a dozen Bald Eagles were sitting in trees or messed with the ducks. The sound of all the ducks and swans was incredible and the distinctive call of the eagles was music for my ears. With certainty I identified Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Coots, Gadwalls, and a single Wood Duck. There were maybe other species further out on the river but even with my binoculars I couldn’t see them clearly. The Tundra Swans have quite a journey behind them already. Their breeding grounds are high up in Alaska and far northern Canada. They are easy to separate from the Trumpeter Swans, who breed here in Iowa, by a small yellow spot on the base of their black bill.

Ten thousands of ducks during migration

The tip where to look for ducks came actually from a couple local duck hunters, who just came back from a hunt and pulled their boat out of the river in Harper's Ferry. They claimed that we haven’t seen the peak of the migration yet because of the mild weather. After I outed myself as a photographer they were very helpful and gave me a good description how to get to the sanctuary.

Bald Eagle

The photo of the Bald Eagle was probably the easiest to make. The low afternoon sun lit the bird just right. The high contrast between the white of the Tundra Swans and the darker colors of the ducks were quite a challenge. Exposing strictly for the highlights was the only way to go for these documentary shots.