MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #11 - LANSING, IOWA

Here is a little location tip, not just for photography. Coming back from a short business trip to LaCrosse, Wisconsin today, I stopped at one of my favorite photo locations along the Great River Road. Just south of the little river town Lansing, Iowa is the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center. From there you have a great view upstream with Lansing and the Black Hawk Bridge in the background. The scene reflects really the character of the driftless area and the Mississippi Valley. As a bonus a small local thunderstorm developed quickly and provided drama and some great clouds and colors.

I used the wide angle lens to catch as much of the clouds as possible and walked down and across the street to keep the road out of the foreground. If you don’t have any clouds or if they are not important, you can shoot with a longer lens and still keep the road out of the frame. What about the railroad bridge? This old beam bridge has character and becomes part of the storytelling.

If photography is not the only thing you have in mind, the Mississippi river town of Lansing has a lot to offer. Founded in 1851, downtown still has some authentic period architecture and little antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants are behind the storefronts. If you like to learn more about this scenic town and the area around it, check this link out: https://www.lansingiowa.com

AT PLATTE MOUND “M”

On top of Platte Mound, above the big “M”

Four miles east of Platteville, Wisconsin is Platte Mound. On its slope is the largest hillside letter “M” in the world. It is the symbol of the College of Engineering and was created in 1937. The M was constructed from limestone found on the mound. It is whitewashed every year by students. Here is a link where you can find more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platte_Mound_M

Many times we drove on the highway to or from Madison, Wisconsin we have seen Platte Mound and the big “M” during the last fourteen years. However, we have never been at this landmark until yesterday.

Platte Mound M

Joan counted 290 steps to the top and from there you have a great view to the southwest. Several patches of prairie flowers made for a nice foreground in the first photo. A mile long hiking trail leads to the other end of the mound through a deciduous forest and along some interesting rock formations. 

I love to photograph clouds and I consider coming back for a more dramatic sky to Platte Mound and its unobstructed view.

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.6

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #10 - “CLOUD FINGERS”

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.6

Heading back home from a business trip in Wisconsin a couple days ago I saw some nice clouds formations developing on the horizon over the Mississippi Valley. Just before crossing the river into Iowa I was finally able to pull off the highway to a rest stop, located on top of the bluffs that border the valley. It was too late, the magic I saw while driving, with sun beams breaking through the “clouds fingers”, was already gone. Still not bad, but too much of the sun in the west was covered. Color didn’t really play an important role in the scene for the story and doing this in B&W brings back a little bit of the drama in the sky.

NATURE CLICKS #435 - BROWN SNAKE

It has been 10 years and one month ago since a Brown Snake was in front of my lens. I have lamented numerous times about the fact that we hardly see any snakes anymore around here, probably due to snake fungal disease (SFD). This photo is a few days old, because I was out of town for business, but my excitement hasn’t really settled yet. This is not a photo for winning an award, but for me it is a very important documentary shot.

While filling a hummingbird feeder in the front yard I discovered this snake between our Brown-eyed Susan sunflowers. Brown Snakes are primarily woodland snakes and eat earthworms, insect larvae, and slugs. They are docile and harmless.

The problem with making this photo was finding a “window” between all the flowers where nothing obstructed at least the head of the snake. This looks easy but a little wind made things moving around the snake and I have several shots where this was just not the case.

AGAIN: 10 OF SOUL (PART 1)

People know me maybe as a nature photographer, and I guess my love for music and performance has been in the second row, at least here in the blog. Last Friday I couldn’t resist. Dubuque hosted again “Dubuque and… All That Jazz!”, a concert series that takes place downtown once a month during the summer. Great bands , well organized, and a good way to finish the week. The act last week was 10 OF SOUL from Minneapolis, MN, a band I had photographed already in 2014 and 2015. Eleven musicians played soul, funk, and blues. The crowd enjoyed their performance very much, many people danced and it was a great party atmosphere again.

I waited until it almost got dark before I took the camera out of the bag. No dealing with buildings, antennas, or wires in the background this way. Other years in the past the SIGMA 150, f/2.8 was used but last Friday I had the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 on camera. Yes, this costs a full stop of light, but I really like the versatility, and looking at the metadata at home revealed that almost every focal length between 70 and 200 mm was used this evening. I shot the lens wide open at f/4 the whole time and just changed my exposure compensation according to what scene I had in the viewfinder. The light intensity and color changes constantly during a concert, depending how crazy the guys behind the mixer work. I prefer to process the images in black & white for my concert photography. It appeals to me more than a crazy color mix due to ever-changing spot lights.

Special thank you to the members of the band for letting me shoot from every direction, including the backstage area!

Six photos today and maybe a few more later this week of this great music event…

ON THE PERCH

Male juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird

It is just relaxing to sit at the edge of the porch in the evening and aim the lens at one of our numerous hummingbirds. Today we had a slight overcast with occasional appearance of the sun. To me ideal for hummingbird photography. This time the Micro softboxes were not used as a light modifier and instead the MAGMOD Magbeam flash extender on a flash bracket above the lens was employed. Click on the link “WHAT’S IN THE CAMERA BAG?” if you like to see how this setup works. A hint of flash is concentrated on the bird and the reflected light boosts the colors, even with a gray overcast. The tricky part is to dose the amount of flash and balance it with the ambient light, so it is not apparent that a flash light was used and the bird looks like a “Christmas tree”.

Some of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds show more character in their behavior than others. This juvenile male doesn’t even have the ruby throat yet but acted like the “neighborhood bully” at one of our feeders. Hummingbirds are very territorial and obviously that starts at an early age. As photographers we can use that behavior to our advantage. The bird returns frequently to the same perch, in this case the stem of a maple leaf. From the perch they can observe what they believe is “their feeder” and start attacks against intruders, most likely their siblings and in-laws.

1/60 s, f/6.3, ISO 320, @600 mm, -1/3 EV, flash -3.3 EV,  with Nikon D750, 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.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #09 - ARRIVAL OF CELEBRATION BELLE

Ice Harbor, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa

Great clouds, combined with a short rain shower, made for good shooting conditions this evening at the Ice Harbor in Dubuque, Iowa. I took our dog Cooper for a walk on the dyke, a little further north of this place. Well, I call it a “dog walk” but sometimes he just sits patiently next to me while I’m fiddling with the camera on tripod. I tell you what, he probably understands how photography works… 😊

While taking a few shots of the old railroad bridge that crosses the Mississippi over to Wisconsin, I suddenly saw the CELEBRATION BELLE coming up the river from LeClaire, Iowa and taking a turn towards the harbor. We jumped into the car and drove down the short distance. It takes time to maneuver this big boat through the small entry and flood gates of Ice Harbor, giving me enough time to find a good position. The TWILIGHT was also docked in the port and I rushed to find a shooting position where both Mississippi River boats and the clouds would line up perfectly. The spot was found while the first passengers exited the CELEBRATION BELLE. The image was made with the Nikkor 16-35, f/4 at 16 mm focal length and the BREAKTHROUGH 2-stop GND filter attached. The rain shower earlier made the wood of the pier wet and darker. It takes out the glare and makes the pier a good part of the composition that doesn’t compete with the bright subjects in this photo.

NATURE CLICKS #434 - TIGER SWALLOWTAILS

Male Tiger Swallowtail, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

It has been a good year so far with the butterfly population in our woods here on top of the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. We see a nice variety and overall numbers are better than during some other years. The stars of the bunch are always the three different species of swallowtails.

Female Tiger Swallowtail, black form

Friday night I saw a male Tiger Swallowtail interacting with another black looking swallowtail. First I thought he was fighting with a Black Swallowtail, a species we see here as well, but after it landed on one off our house plants it became clear that it was a female Tiger Swallowtail. I guess love was in the air. Males are always yellow while the females can be yellow or black. The yellow form is pretty common while black females are found more southwards according to my books. The last time I had one in front of the lens was 2015.

Both photos were made with the long lens at 600 mm (SIGMA 150-600 Sport), because I was actually on the hunt for hummingbirds. Like with my other wildlife photography I prefer to make an environmental portrait. Though I feel it is not so important to count every little hair, the insect still has to be sharp.

OUT OF THE HOUSE

Today around 10:30AM I heard the House Wrens intensively calling while I worked in my office. They just didn’t deliver any food to the nest box in the flower bed of our front yard anymore. I ran downstairs and saw #1 leaning out of the hole but still hesitating. I knew immediately that the time was right and that the little chicks would follow the calls of their parents and leave the nest. The camera was already in position on the porch, ready to shoot.

At 10:37AM #1 finally jumped out of the upper hole, tried briefly to hang on to the wall of the box, and landed on the perch of the lower hole. From there it jumped to nearby bushes, through the grass, and made it safely into the woods where the parents called frenetically.

#2 followed shortly after. #3 didn’t hesitate at all and flew straight into the woods to the parents. I had a look at them from the distance when suddenly a #4 showed up next to me and joined the whole gang in the trees.

This is a photo still from yesterday. The parents had chosen a good time for raising this gang of four little House Wrens. During the last 17 days we had nice weather and there was food in abundance. Here it is a spider but we saw lots of caterpillars, moths, and crickets disappearing in the hungry bills of the juvenile House Wrens.

FEEDING TIME AT THE NEST BOX

Friends of the blog have asked already how the little House Wrens in the nest box doing. The parents feed since July, 23rd and as you can see the size of the food is getting bigger. We know for sure that we have at least three little chicks in the box. I shot a few pictures yesterday morning and I liked this one in particular. It’s always hard to tell what’s on the menu because the feeding happens very fast. But here the shadow on the white wall reveals that a cricket was stuffed into the open bill. The new generation makes a lot of noise if the parents arrive with food but in a few days it will be quiet and the little wrens will have left the nest.

WEEKEND ON THE WATER

Cox Hollow Lake, Governor Dodge State Park, Wisconsin, Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.6

On the list of our favorite spots to spend a warm or hot summer day is Governor Dodge State Park in Wisconsin. This is about an hour away from home. This wooded area has two lakes and although man-made, they remind me a lot of places in Norway or Sweden I have visited years ago.

Joan had to work yesterday and so it was just “kayak dog” Cooper and myself who went on a paddle tour on Cox Hollow Lake. No camera was on board at all! Today we repeated the tour but this time Joan launched her kayak as well. The lake has pretty clear water and swimming was of course on the agenda both days. We know a good spot, away from the busy beaches this lake has to offer, where we can land the boats and go for a swim.

I had two lenses in the boat, the SIGMA 150/f2.8 Macro and the Nikkor 16-35, f/4. The SIGMA macro lens was used for some shots of dragonflies and for the image below. For the photo above the new Breakthrough GND 0.6 filter was employed and delivered just what I had in mind after my observations the day before. Luckily we had the same kind of puffy clouds again, with great reflections on the water and a little bit of blue sky for a nice color contrast. At 16 mm focal length Joan’s blue kayak seems to be far away and Cooper’s head in front of her is just a tiny dot. 

“Kayak dog” Cooper, Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, in-camera flash

Here is the story behind this photo. Cooper loves to be on the water and in the kayak but he is not really a “water dog”. However, we took him into the water a couple times to cool him off and clean him a little. Oh boy, when Cooper came back to shore he rolled immediately in a pile of pine needles, dust, and sand, just to tell us that our “cleaning efforts” are a hopeless idea…After the second time he climbed on a big rock along the shore and the expression on his face tells it all (at least to us). First, you will never get me down from here again, bastards! Second, I ignore you anyway!… Well, tonight after a delicious chicken dinner, Joan had created on the grill, we were good friends again…😉

HUMMINGBIRDS

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I spent three hours behind the camera in our front yard this evening and was only after one target: The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds who raise their offspring here during the summer. Inspired by a video famous wildlife photographer Moose Peterson had on his blog, I tried to push the envelope for my own hummingbird photography and tested new ways of lighting the subject. I used two flash lights with a mini soft box for boosting colors but I can tell you, I’m not there yet. These photos are a start.

Here is the idea for today’s shooting. Since the female and young Ruby-throated Hummingbirds do not offer too much color variety I tried to incorporate parts of the surrounding flowers into the background. I thought this works better for the storytelling than just a plain green. Wide open, at f/6.3 and 600 mm, the background is nicely blurred and flowers leave no doubt that the bird is in a perfect environment, with plenty of nectar from host plants, even if our feeders won’t be there.

NATURE CLICKS #433 - PAINTED LADY

Our yard is the feeding ground for many different butterflies, including three different species of swallowtails. They are all here theses days but I still couldn’t resist to point my lens at one of the most common butterflies in North America and even around the world, the beautiful Painted Lady. Joan manages to grow a nice patch of Purple Coneflowers every year in the yard. The butterflies like them and they make for a nice background.

Although a little slow with focus, the 12 years old SIGMA 150, f/2.8 is still sharp as a tack and a macro lens I always have recommended. The newer models have OS (optical stabilization) and probably have faster focus, but I’m sure they are as sharp as the old one in my bag.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, @ 1/800 s, f/8, ISO 400

BACK IN THE WETLANDS (PART 2)

Male American Goldfinch

Here is another photo from yesterday’s trip to the Green Island Wetlands. You can’t miss the goldfinches between the grasses, thistles, and everything that produces seeds. I know, I had a picture here in the blog less than three weeks ago with some facts about this late breeding bird. Click HERE if you have missed it or like to read it again.

BACK IN THE WETLANDS

Family of Pied-billed Grebes, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

It was about time to go back into the wetlands at Green Island. On a sunny day it doesn’t buy you much to be there before 6:00PM, when the light gets softer and warmer. The water level is still very high but for the first time in months no roads or dykes were flooded and the area was complete accessible again.

I talked to an old farmer in his eighties, who owns land adjacent to the Green Island Wetlands, and he told me that the numbers of ducks and geese are the lowest he has seen in a long time. This might be due to the fact that many nest sites were under water for such a long time and still are.

Well, some life can still be found. There were large families of Wood Ducks and the young Canada Geese have almost adult size. I counted three successful broods of Pied-billed Grebes along the main dyke. The one above is my favorite image of this evening, three little chicks stayed close together while their parents dived for food and delivered promptly when they had success.

Paddling is not the best idea at this time of the year. An abundance of water plants, duck weed, and algae make it difficult to move in the backwaters. We have done that before, it’s not impossible, but the fun of paddling is cut in half to say it mildly. I did not regret to leave the kayak at home. The low sun created some dappled light in the foreground, making the “green mess” not so dominant, and with some puffy clouds in the blue sky the picture got some depth and tells today’s story about a perfect summer day along the Mississippi River.

Trumpeter Swans

About 7:45PM I drove slowly back on the main dyke and this pair of Trumpeter Swans enjoyed the last sun of the day as much as I did. Maybe they just found each other this season. Trumpeter Swans often mate for life and most pair bonds are often formed when they are 5-7 years old. More to come… stay tuned!