THUNDERSTORM, BUT PEACEFUL VIEW


A line of thunderstorms made it through the northwest of Iowa in the evening of the Fourth of July holiday and the camera was rattling while the storm moved out. I have photographed this farm on the hill across from the family farm of my wife before, but never with so much drama in the sky. The storm was violent, trees were down in the nearby city of Remsen, Iowa, and some branches hit the ground on the farm as well, but the grazing cattle in the foreground make it look very peaceful.

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

 

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…

BIRD UPDATE


Male Baltimore Oriole

My blog has been always about a little bit of photography, some trivia about the subjects I tried to photograph, but mostly about creating awareness what does surround us in nature and how we can protect our natural heritage for future generations. When neighbors tell me, I saw the bird you were talking about the other day in your blog, but didn’t know we even had something that beautiful here, I feel inspired to continue my work.

So what’s going on these days here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley? 

We see lots of young woodpeckers, House Finches, and sparrows. The young nuthatches are in training for future challenges, and the Barred Owls , who raised an owlet right here next to the house this year, call from different places in our woods. From time to time we see a Scarlet Tanager at a suet feeder, a sure sign that at least one pair has a nest nearby. The House Wrens just started feeding their young ones in one of our nest boxes a couple days ago, while Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and American Goldfinches still have some time before they will present their offspring.

As always in early May we saw a number of Baltimore Orioles, most of them migrate further north, but usually we have at least one pair here during the summer. We are not sure about it this year, because we can’t hear their beautiful songs in the morning. We don’t worry about it too much. If all the orioles we saw this spring will have a nest somewhere north, we are perfectly fine and just look forward to see them again next spring.,,

HUMMER IN THE RAIN


Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Hard to believe that the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are here since two months already, although today I hardly saw any of them. We had very high temperatures and humidity today and it doesn’t look much better for tomorrow. But maybe this was the reason for their absence from our feeders?

The photo was made a week ago, and the drops on his bill are the result of a rain shower. Boy, I wished we would have one of those again… 😅

THE BEST LENS OR CAMERA?


Black-winged Damselfly

The answer is always the same. It’s the one you may have with you when the light is right and a subject of interest is present. I like the walks in the evening with our dog Cooper and try to go to different places every time. Today we went down into the valley below our bluffs. There is an abandoned gravel road, perfect for a quite walk, nature observations, or just to calm down after a busy day. I don’t have to take the dog on the leash since there is no traffic, and Cooper waits patiently if I stop and fiddle away with the camera.

The Nikon Nikkor 70-200, f/4 was not the perfect match for a shot of this Black-winged Damselfly but it was the lens I took with me for our walk. A real macro lens, like my SIGMA 150, f/2.8, works much better, not just because of its true 1:1 magnification, but also because of its shorter minimum focal distance (MFD). Well, not exact macro quality, but I like the light, the shadow of the insect, and overall a damselfly is just a beautiful insect...

ADDING SOME SCALE


Another photo from yesterday’s shooting at the Dubuque Airport. This little helicopter flew by several times at the new observation deck. As already mentioned, I was there for the clouds, but having a flying object in the frame may change the subject. Well, the picture is still about the clouds for me, the helicopter just adds scale to the image. Other than that, shooting aircrafts is always a great exercise for birds-in-flight-photography.

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

CASTLE HOTEL


Althörnitz castle hotel, Saxony, Germany

I have nothing new worth to show or talk about in the blog today but some of my faithful followers have asked to see a little more from our recent trip to Germany. As mentioned before I pursued photography not very seriously this time, nevertheless a few clicks were made.

This is Schlosshotel Althörnitz (Althörnitz castle hotel) where we stayed for my mom’s 80th birthday celebration. It is located in the southeast corner of Germany, the tri-state area between Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany. Some of the rooms are in a modern addition to the castle, that has been greatly integrated into the old structure. The big trees on the right allowed me to keep it out of the frame, although the integration of the new part into the complex is one of the best I have ever seen. The castle lies in the foothills of the mountains to the south (Zittauer Gebirge) and its setting in an old park makes it an architectural jewel. The oldest part of the castle was built between 1651 and 1654. It had many different owners over the years and it opened as a hotel in 1996.

WOODPECKER OFFSPRING


Young male Downy Woodpecker

We had a bit of rain the last couple days and the air finally cooled down, but I take this any time over the heat and humidity we had recently. However, no matter what kind of weather we have the birds and critters need to feed their offspring. I had some fun this evening standing on the porch behind the camera watching two young Downy Woodpeckers. Sometimes the parents still brought them a seed from the suet feeder but most of the time they tried to figure it out by themselves. They are only a little smaller than the parents but it is the clumsy behavior that reveals who has still to learn the lessons of life.

A little fill flash helped to get the exposure right and bring some colors out because the dark overcast this evening didn’t let much light come through here in the woods.

RETURNING TO THE SAME SPOTS


Dickcissel, Dubuque, Iowa

If people ask me about a good tip for wildlife photography, there is one that will be always on my list. Get back to the same spot over and over again! Sounds boring, right? But I think it really helps to know a location well, have an idea how the light may turn out, and most important , what critters might be present and how do they approach the site.

We went this evening to the flower meadows, I just call “Behind the Mall”, at the city limit of Dubuque, Iowa, and tried to see the birds again I had reported about recently, like Dickcissel, Bobolink, and Savannah Sparrow. We saw them all, but for the most part they were not within a good shooting range today. Watching them is still fun, and making the click is the cream on the ice. Today’s photo is already a few days old. The male Dickcissels guarded the nests that were obviously deeper down between grass and flowers and this is just the gesture you may see most of the time. Did I mention that their songs sound beautiful?

LITTLE TREE SWALLOWS


It’s the time of the year when many birds raise their next generation. Food is here in abundance and we are all happy if we have less mosquitos and flies around us while spending time in the great outdoors.

Down in Mud Lake Park at the Mississippi River a pair of Tree Swallows took possession of one of the nest boxes. At least three little swallows were in the box and stuck their heads out from time to time in expectation of the next food supply.

As always, I stay away from the nest and use the long lens with its maximum focal length of 600 mm to make the click. I act fast and walk away quickly from an active nest.

BERLIN, ALEXANDERPLATZ


I knew ahead of time this was the perspective I would consider at Alexanderplatz, in the center of Berlin, for telling the story about location and the pulsating life there. I grew up in eastern Germany and Berlin was the playground during my time as a young engineering student for almost three years back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The famous World Clock in the foreground, S-Bahn station (rapid transit train station) Alexanderplatz in the back, and the whole scene overlooked by the Berlin Fernsehturm (television tower) was the way to go. I took a few shots but wasn’t happy at first. When the yellow street car pulled into the station I knew I had my picture. The color contrast helps to overcome the harsh light of an early afternoon and draws away the eye from an almost cloudless boring sky.

STREET ART


Street artist, Berlin, Alexanderplatz, Germany

As you know, I’m not a big portrait shooter or people photographer. So let me file this image under travel photography, at least that’s how I do it in my books. This young artist delivered an incredible performance with his puppet and the music they produced was just great. I have seen a lot of street artists in many countries of the world but this was one of the best I have ever seen in my life. It was a sunny day back in May and high contrast scenes were the standard all day long. I was happy that this young artist was in the shade of a building, right at Alexanderplatz in the center of Berlin, Germany, making it easy to get a shot.

BAUTZEN / UPPER LUSATIA / GERMANY


Oddly enough we had only a few hours to visit my over 1000 years old home town Bautzen in the Upper Lusatia / Germany. It was a holiday weekend and almost all my friends were out of town for a hiking weekend (a tradition we established when our kids were little), but Joan and I used the short time for a walk across the whole city from west to east.

This photo is one of my favorite views of the old part of the city, taken just a stone throw away from where I used to live before I came to the United States fourteen years ago. The picture shows several of the landmarks always worth a visit. In the foreground is the Old Waterworks, to the left Church of St. Michael, and the tower behind it belongs to St. Peter’s Cathedral, Eastern Germany’s only historic interdenominational church edifice. The tower on the right marks the town hall, the center of the historic city.

Other than with my wildlife photography I have no problem to clone out elements in Photoshop that hurt my esthetic feelings (to say it mildly). On the balcony on the right was a satellite dish, GONE! Down at the bridge that crosses the Spree River were some new tourist information signs, GONE! And a contemporary street light disturbed the view as well, GONE! Would you have known if I hadn’t told you? 😉

THE ZWINGER / DRESDEN / SAXONY


The Zwinger, Dresden / Saxony / Germany

We are back from our trip to Germany since two weeks and I have only shown one photo made during our journey. On the day of our arrival we used the afternoon and evening for a nice walk through parts of Dresden, the capital of my home state Saxony. It was late in the day when we wandered through the Zwinger, a palace, built in Baroque style and designed by court architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. It served as the orangery, exhibition gallery and festival arena of the Dresden Court. Today, the Zwinger is a museum complex that contains the Old Masters Picture Gallery, the Dresden Porcelain Collection and the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments.

Dresden is visited by over 4 million tourist every year and it is difficult to take a picture of any of the attractions, like the Zwinger, without any people in the frame. It was almost 8PM when this shot was taken and even then we were not alone on these historical grounds. I guess a little luck is sometimes necessary…😉