MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #15 - ICE PILED UP

Mississippi River, Mud Lake

When I took our dog for a walk to the Mississippi River this morning I was almost tempted to leave the camera at home. It was just a gray and cold day. I hardly ever go without a camera to the river and I was glad I didn’t change my habit today. The photo was taken from almost the same spot as the one in my last post, which I called “Dynamic in the sky”. Well, there was no dynamic in the sky at all today, but the cold temperatures we had earlier this week, followed by some warmer weather, had broken up some ice upstream and a lot of drift ice was piled up. The river is about 2.2 km (1.375 mi.) wide at this point, but the Wisconsin side looks much closer due to the compression effect of the 200 mm lens. 

Another occurrence that had an impact is heat shimmer. The cold air above the ice is mixing with warmer air and makes it impossible to see the ice on the other side of the river really sharp. I shot this with f/8 and focussed on the piled up ice on the Iowa side of the river. A smaller aperture, like f/16 wouldn’t help a bit in this matter. 

Snow, ice, and a gray overcast don’t go very well together and in order to make this image work I left the white balance a little more on the colder side. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4,   at 200 mm, 1/320s, f/8, ISO100

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #14 - DYNAMIC IN THE SKY

Storm cloud over the Mississippi, Mud Lake, Iowa, June 2019

Here is another image from earlier this year. A thunderstorm had just passed our area and moved across the Mississippi River into Wisconsin and northwest Illinois. The storm was moving very fast and I made quite a few shots. The light and shape of the clouds in every photo looked quite different from the one before. I have photographed the Mississippi River at Mud Lake many times before and in every kind of weather. Rarely was I able to capture such a high dynamic in the sky.

TWO FROM THE BLUE RIDGE

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, October 2017, Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, at 16 mm

As always towards the end of a year I do some housekeeping in my image library and sometimes I find another photo that I think deserves to be published.

This photo was made during our last morning in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia a couple years ago. There are some great views from the Blue Ridge in either direction, east or west. Here it is the morning light that gives the landscape on the east side some depth and reveals the beauty of these mountains.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

A few days earlier we watched the sunset at a different spot along the Skyline Drive. The staggered arrangement of at least eight mountain ridges, separated by the mist in the valleys, tell the story about a great evening on the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park.

A FAVORITE SUBJECT

Railroad bridge across the Mississippi between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois

Almost any time I drive south from the Green Island Wetlands to the little island town of Sabula, Iowa, in the middle of the mighty Mississippi River, I take a picture of the railroad bridge that crosses the big river. It is one of my favorite subjects along the river.

According to the bridge documentation on historicbridges.org , this is an unaltered example of a historic railroad bridge over the Mississippi River. Nearly all the historic railroad bridges on the Mississippi River are at a general risk for demolition or severe alteration. The bridge has a variety of pin-connected truss designs, and most noteworthy has a 365 foot (111 m) swing span. The engineer in my blood gives me always a great pleasure to look at this wonderful bridge and I see it almost as a duty to capture this interesting piece of our historic heritage whenever I have a chance. I’m afraid the day will come and “new economists” will win the claim that it is less expensive to built a new bridge than rather preserve the historic structure and find the money to built a parallel solution that can keep up with increasing loads and traffic. The old road bridge, 2.8 miles up the river, was blasted away not very long ago and is lost forever. I think my worries are not unreasonable…

Photographically it was not a big challenge, although with a blue sky it is easy to make a boring picture. A few flurry clouds and using the highlights on the turbulent water in front of me brought some dynamic into the frame. The color contrast between the bridge and all the blue does the rest…

BACK IN THE GREEN ISLAND WETLANDS

I had a little break from writing here in the blog during the last two weeks. Some other projects had priority this time.

My records show that I haven’t been in the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi for almost three months. Some gravel roads in the wetlands are closed during the duck hunting season and I avoid the area during this time anyway. Well, today it was time to go back and see what’s out there. I was greeted by these two Trumpeter Swans, who flew across the water. They possibly joined another large group of swans that I saw later in a remote part of the area. It was too far away to count them exactly but 50 is probably not exaggerated. I hope we can see them sometime this winter at a closer distance.

The photo is not tack sharp. The Trumpeter Swans approached suddenly and very fast and I wasn’t able to get out of the car so quickly. The picture was taken from the car window and that makes it difficult to perform proper panning technique with the long SIGMA 150-600 S lens on camera.

This photo was a lot easier to make. The pair of Canada Geese posed nicely in the soft light of this afternoon. I waited patiently until the geese were very close together but did not overlap with their heads or necks. Canada Geese usually mate for life but they are gregarious and during the winter they gather and feed often in large flocks. There were larger numbers on the fields and grassland that borders the wetland on the west side. This part is actually a bird refuge and sometimes I wonder if the birds can actually read the signs…😉

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

IT HAS TO BE SPECIAL

Downy Woodpecker

With the snow now gone bird photography needs a different approach again. I could use a flash for bringing out the colors, especially on a day with an overcast or in a low light situation, like at the end of the day. I have done that many times and it works very well in a lot of situations. The Downy Woodpecker is a bird we have in our woods all year long, many photos were made over the years, and making another image has to be special. Friday evening, when the sun sent its last rays through the trees, I realized how the soft light touched the old cedar tree in the front yard and the bird resting on it. When they hold a position like this there is usually a predator around, but other birds were present, so I think the Downy Woodpecker just enjoyed this shaft of warm light as much as I did. Yeah, that’s what I mean, it has to be special…

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #13

Sunset at the St. Louis River, just outside of Duluth, Minnesota

Jay Cooke State Park was the last campsite for one night at the end of our journey through the Northwoods of Minnesota. We had some snow and rain during the trip and shooting pictures of fast flowing water just seems to be a logic consequence. Well, I love to make photos of creeks and rivers. It is never boring and always a challenge.

I have talked here in the blog some time ago about a technique to make these kind of pictures without the use of a neutral density filter. There are sometimes situations where combining multiple exposures in one image, right in camera, is a valid solution. In particular at narrow and busy places, like famous waterfalls, with lots of visitors. Observation decks for example often vibrate and make any effort with a long exposure useless.

For this photo things were just great. At this time of the year, mid October, the low sun covers the river and the surrounding rocks with warm light for quite some time before it disappears behind the trees. With the Nikon D750 on a solid tripod I used the BREAKTHROUGH X4, 6-stop ND filter in front of the Nikon Nikkor 70-200, f/4 lens. For the final image a 5 second exposure at f/18, ISO 100 was used. Sure, some people like to see the water even silkier, it’s an unfortunate trend at the moment, but the wild St. Louis River, with its waterfalls and cascades, is not smooth at all at this place. The story of that evening was the combination of soft and warm light with the fast flow and turbulences of the river. If weather allows Joan and I will be back in the Duluth area very soon. Can you sense my excitement…? 😊

WATCHING MIGRATORY BIRDS

Sandhill Cranes, Mississippi River, New Albin, Iowa

Last weekend I made the two-hour drive along the Mississippi River into Minnesota. My destination was the Brownsville overlook, a place where ten-thousands of birds take a rest on their way to the south. Every November you have a chance to see thousands of Tundra Swans, who take a break on their journey from the arctic to their wintering grounds along the Atlantic coast from the Chesapeake Bay to North Carolina. Beside that this refuge in the river is a great place to see many Bald Eagles and ten-thousands of ducks.

Just before crossing the Iowa - Minnesota border I checked the road that leads east from New Albin, Iowa to the boat landing at the Mississippi River. This is usual a good spot for bird watching but it has been flooded for a big part of the year. The water had just receded and it was still quite muddy. To my surprise I heard the call and saw about two dozen Sandhill Cranes taking off and flying south through the Mississippi Valley. After all the snow we had, I thought they were long gone already.

Tundra Swans, Mississippi River, Brownsville overlook, Minnesota

The two overlooks along the road between New Albin, IA and Brownsville, MN are a popular destination at this time of the year. You can meet many like minded people that enjoy bird watching or want to make some pictures. Not always the best place for a great image, due to the distance between the birds and the overlooks, but always worth the trip, if you like to witness the wonders of nature and for feelings of pleasure.

There was educational material on display and a naturalist on site, who was happy to answer the questions visitors had. She told me that the first Tundra Swans were already here three weeks ago. The backwaters were already partly frozen last weekend but this bay had open water. With the warmer temperatures right now you may still have a chance to watch them this week. If the river freezes over, the birds have to move on…

My pictures today are not really for “gourmets”, but since my blog is about nature and photography I like to share my observations with other nature friends and photographers in the area.

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #12

Bear Head Lake, Minnesota

Exactly a month ago we spent part of the day 2341 feet below the surface in the Soudan Mine, the deepest and oldest iron ore mine in Minnesota. It was operated until 1962. It is hard to imagine that the miners quite often didn’t see the sun at all during their working week. Thinking about that made us even more enjoy the crisp and clear moments around sunset, back in our camp at Bear Head Lake State Park.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head

WILDLIFE AT HOME (2)

Virginia Opossum

Since a few days we have another visitor in our front yard. Although mostly nocturnal this Virginia Opossum used the daylight in the early afternoon to feed below our bird feeders during the last couple days. They can vary in size but this one is rather small and so we believe it is a young one. Opossums are omnivorous and eat a wide range of plants and animals. Probably due to their relative low body temperature they are resistant to rabies. The possum helps also to limit the spread of lyme disease because they successfully kill off most disease-carrying ticks that feed on them. (source: Wikipedia) 

Yesterday I made a number of clicks but wasn’t really happy with the results. A gray overcast and snow just don’t go together very well, especially with a critter that has some white and gray in its fur. Today the sun was out and that was a game changer. The sun didn’t have a lot of power and with an exposure compensation of +1.33 EV the highlights were still in a healthy range.

As I’m writing this blog post I just read that one Virginia Opossum can kill and eat up to 5000 ticks in a single season! I tell you what, this little guy can live here as long as it wants…

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

WILDLIFE AT HOME

White-tailed Deer, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

With snow on the ground since late October things are a little different this year. It feels like January and I’m almost sure the critters in our woods think the same way. The White-tailed Deer are in the rut and during the last few days I have seen a couple bucks roaming around down at the river and here up on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa River Valley.

Today a doe with her fawn were hanging around the house in the late afternoon. It is the time of the year when I have the camera always ready to use in combination with the long lens. We see the deer not just during the winter but it is a lot easier than during the summer to make a photo, if the light is just right. I made several clicks with each of them being the subject in the photo, but in a few shots the faun tried to fondle with its mother. Gesture wins over technical perfection in my books, and today’s photo tells the story about their presence this evening the best.

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #11

Bear Head Lake, Minnesota

I admit, this photo was made with some quick instructions shouted across the water. I told Joan to paddle very slowly in front of the tamarack tree, that was for a brief moment perfectly illuminated by the sun. It could have been a great fall shot with its color contrast between the beautiful tamarack and the blue kayak, and as the ice on the cake a nice reflection on the water, if… Yes, if there wasn’t the dead trees in the picture. To be honest I didn’t even see them until I was back home and viewed the pictures on screen. Sure, I can invest another hour and remove all the dead wood from the photo. Photoshop and other software gives us endless possibilities to tinker with an image. But is it worth the time? I clean up a landscape picture if necessary, especially around the edges (called “border police” by other photographers), but I rather go out and shoot again instead of removing a bigger flaw in post process. Every photographer has to make their own decisions about how much time to spend for fixing a problem. Unless I try a new technique in post process I hardly ever exceed ten minutes for working with a RAW file and bring out the romance in the photo. Life is too short and the world doesn’t come to an end if a photo doesn’t get published…

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #10

River Otter, Bear Head Lake, Minnesota

We didn’t come across with the big animals that have their home in northern Minnesota this time, like moose, black bear, or wolf, but we had a good number of wildlife encounters during our trip last month. The best and most memorable was a brief meeting with a River Otter at Bear Head Lake in Bear Head Lake State Park. I went for an early morning walk with the Nikon D750 and 70-200 attached. There were some deer in and around the campground and I was hoping to get a glimpse at them. As I approached the lake an otter just entered one of the logs in front of me. What a surprise! I have seen otters here in eastern Iowa before, but never had a wild otter in front of my camera. I made a number of clicks but should have dialed in an ISO beyond 1600. A shutter speed of 1/100 s was just not enough to freeze the action for a tack sharp photo of this fast moving beautiful otter.

Ruffed Grouse, Lake Vermilion State Park, Minnesota

Movement didn’t play a role with this Ruffed Grouse a couple days earlier, but it was the same kind of low light from a heavy overcast. The grouse just sat at the edge of a parking lot and let me get very close. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to keep the blacktop out of the frame.

White-tailed Deer, Bear Head Lake State Park, Minnesota

The deer are usually not very shy in and around many campsites. For them it is a relative safe place because predators, like wolfs or coyotes, stay away mostly from busy human places. None of the campsites were really busy in October anymore, some of them we had for ourselves, and the deer can graze pretty undisturbed before the snow covers everything up. This photo was made near our campsite from the kayak during a paddle tour on Bear Head Lake. I liked the environmental aspect of this setting, with the white bark of the birches, some fall colors, and the big pines on the right.

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

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #9

Looking out the window and seeing the snow that came down last night makes me want to think about something different. This was already the fourth time this season and with temperatures forecasted at -15º C (5º F) for tonight, it is a save bet to say, winter has arrived. About a month ago, back in Itasca State Park, Minnesota, fall colors were at their best. Alright, let’s wallow a little bit with those colors for now…

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #8

Between seasons, Big Bog State Recreation Area (North Unit), Minnesota

The snow from the morning was melting away quickly when we entered the Big Bog for a second time. We had been there the day before (without snow) and were totally fascinated by this landscape and its plants. Before you enter the small part that is accessible of this 500-square mile peat bog you walk along a lake. The colorful leaves, mirrored in the lake, stood in a nice contrast to the white stems of the birches and of course the fresh snow. The clouds moved rapidly and a hint of blue sky added to the scene and made for a nice color contrast. A photo that tells the story of the changing season.

A mile-long boardwalk leads into the bog. It allows visitors to get a good look at the unique plants and wildlife and at the same time protects the fragile ecosystem below. The open-work plastic grates let sunlight reach the plants under the boardwalk. Without light, they would die, and a shallow water trench would form. It would take many years for the plants to recover.

This photo was made at the end of the boardwalk. Another shower of sleet and rain came down on us. I had the camera on tripod and wanted the snow and rain be visible as trails in the picture. The new 3-stop Breakthrough graduated neutral density filter was mounted in front of the 16-35 and prevented the burnout of the highlights in the clouds. I shot in aperture priority mode and at ISO100 and f/18 the exposure went to 1/40s, long enough to produce some subtle snow trails.

This grassy trench is the result of human efforts to drain the bog many years ago but this project luckily failed. I used the compression effect of the long lens and made this photo at 400 mm focal length. The light on the tamarack trees, whose needles had turned already yellow, caught my eye.