How does it look in the Green Island Wetlands...?

 

Usually you see photos of birds, amphibians, or the occasional mammal here in my blog when I talk about my favorite shooting location, the Green Island Wetlands. This area of lakes, marshes, and swampy forest right beside the Mississippi River is about 30 miles south from where we live and most of the time I go there during the day. Of course, I'm always looking for great natural light for my wildlife photography, and sometimes I can find it and other times a flash light is the  light source of choice. Friends have asked me, why don't we see the landscape itself more often and how does it look in the Green Island Wetlands? Well, most of the time I'm there during day time and that may work for a wildlife photo but is quite often useless for good landscape photography. Remember, I don't do photography for a living and have to use the time frame around my professional work, which means mostly during weekends.

This weekend was a little different. Joan and I opened our personal camping and kayaking season (We know, it's late!). We took the dog, some food, the boats, and the tent and went camping to Bellevue State Park, which is only six miles away from the Green Island Wetlands. When the light for wildlife is not sufficient anymore I usually drive home but last Friday night we were able to stay and watched the play of the clouds and the sun breaking through them in a dramatic manner. All what it takes is to put the camera on a tripod, set the white balance to cloudy, and dial in some negative exposure compensation. The question here is, what is the subject? It is not the grass in the foreground, nor is it the lake itself or the woods in the background. All settings are made for the opening in the sky, the sun rays that break through, and their reflection on the water. This is what I went for when I made the photo and even if none of the landscape elements is the subject of this image, it still answers the question, how does it look in the Green Island Wetlands...?

I go on a business trip again tomorrow but have a few more images from the wetlands to show here. So please stay tuned. I always enjoy your comments, messages, and emails about my posts and I'm very thankful for any of them! Have a wonderful week!

Chasing angel rays

 

Yesterday evening was pretty much the last time we saw the sun. It rained here almost all day long and more rain is in the forecast. I drove home from another visit at the nest of the Great Horned Owl when I saw that the sun sent some "angel rays" through the cloud cover. Shots like that are not always easy to get. It is sometimes difficult to find a place to park the car safely along the narrow roads between the valleys and ridges here in Eastern Iowa. In addition the electrical grid is still very old fashioned here and almost all cables are above the ground. This is probably not only a nightmare for the people who have to service it in every weather but also for a landscape photographer who tries to make a clean unobstructed image. With other words, it takes some efforts and sometimes the good light is gone before you have all your ducks in a row. However, the landscape with all the little valleys, ridges, and hills here along the Mississippi has its charm and in combination with some cool clouds and great light it is always worth to go out and try to make the click.