Autumn in Wisconsin

 

The forecast for the weekend promised warm and dry weather, so we decided to pack the tent, throw the kayaks on top of the car, and go camping in Gov. Dodge State Park over in Wisconsin. The majority of the leaves is on the ground but little patches of yellow, red, and orange are still part of the landscape here in the Midwest.

Saturday morning thick fog covered Twin Lake Valley below the campground and every valley around. Pretty soon the fog lifted and left us with a clear blue sky for the rest of the day and into Sunday morning.

The water is a little chilly already but who says you have to go swimming? Joan and I paddled both days and as you can see our little dog Cooper didn’t mind it either. One of the reasons we like this state park so much is the variety of activities you can enjoy in and around this area. After yesterday’s paddle tour we went on a hike for a few hours and visited some old spring houses, Stevens Falls, and the Stevens homestead, the old farm of this pioneering family. Their life is described and documented on interpretive signs along a trail. Why do I mention this? Some of the photographs displayed on signs were made by a family member way back in the old days. Although none of the farm buildings exists anymore, except for the foundations, the photos of the old farm give us today, over 100 years later, a pretty good impression how this farm has grown and supported the life of this family. Photography at work! ;-)

Bare trees are hardly photogenic but if the light hits them just right, you can still make a photo that may have an impact on the viewer and tells the story about autumn. I tried this minutes before sunset and from the same location, a rocky bluff above the valley, as during the fog in the morning. The white stems of the trees stand out and even if the eye goes to the long shadows of the shrubs in the foreground for a few seconds, it will go back to the sunlit bare trees.

Today's Mississippi River story

 

I had some other things in mind for today’s blog post but this one is fresh out of the camera. I went to the Mississippi this evening again and wanted to check if the Sandhill Cranes use the same spot as last year to spend the night. It was a nice tour with the kayak but I didn’t see or hear any cranes. Instead this Great Blue Heron was standing in the reeds where the cranes used to rest for the night.

The sun was diffused by a cloud and the light was nice and soft. I used a little fill flash in order to manage 1/250s of exposure time and to boost the colors. Remember, in the boat I have to handhold the heavy lens and shooting with a slower speed didn’t deliver a sharp image today.

Iowa landscape: Upper Iowa River

 

Joan, Cooper, and I went out for another paddle adventure last weekend. This time we explored the Upper Iowa River, northwest of Decorah, Iowa. This is a very popular river among paddlers and people that just want to drift downstream in an inner tube. We used a shuttle service on both days that brought us and our kayaks to an access point of our choice upstreams and then we paddled several hours back to our campsite in Bluffton, Iowa.

I didn’t take the camera with me on Saturday because we had never paddled a river with partly fast flowing water and ripples before. After the first tour I felt more comfortable and really wanted to make some images of this gorgeous river valley and the rocks and bluffs. Sunday was also a lot more quiet and we saw more wildlife than the day before.

Creating the photos was a little like making lemonade out of vinegar. The wonderful sunny weather created of course some very harsh light, but this was the only challenge that I had to face beside keeping the gear dry.

My subject is the landscape and I used the canoes and kayaks on the water mainly to create some scale for the image. Since we paddled part of the river the day before I had already some ideas where to stop. By using the reflections of the bluffs and rocks on the water as part of the composition I tried to give the scene in these photos a romantic touch.

We have paddled only a few sections of the Upper Iowa River yet, but there is a lot more to explore and we really want to go back there. And the dog? Well, Cooper “The Kayak-Hund” decided to jump out of the boat into the water a couple times, always at moments when he was not supposed to do it… But this is the fun you have when a dog is on board… ;-)

On the water again

 

A nice holiday weekend lies behind us. The weather was mild, but not hot, and we took the kayaks to the Green Island Wetland Preserve for some paddling and exploring new routes in this backwater area of the Mississippi. The water level in the river was still way above normal, which is not necessarily bad for paddling in the backwaters.

Many birds take care for their offspring and you may not see them much out in the open water. It is always a challenge to take the camera with the long lens into the boat but if everything comes together the results can be very rewarding. Shooting on eye level with a bird that swims or just sits along the shore leads to a more interesting perspective than shooting from an elevated road along the shore.

This pelican didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence as I approached it carefully and with very slow paddle strokes. I really wanted this photo because of the nice background with the blooming bushes and the story it tells about the fact that every island and peninsula is flooded.

2013 – Looking back, part 5

 

The key for wildlife photography in my opinion is getting close to your subject. This is quite often easier said than done. If you followed my attempts over the years to get close to some Sandhill Cranes you know what I’m talking about. Yep, I got them, but almost every picture was cropped because these very shy birds like to keep a distance between themselves and the avid photographer. The breakthrough came in 2013, when I used a kayak and a lot of time to approach the cranes in the backwaters of the Mississippi River, not far from home. The cranes that stay here during the summer come back to their resting places for the night usually after sunset. Well, that fits my working schedule pretty good but shooting a 500mm lens from a kayak in low light bares a challenge that isn't that easy to overcome.

The images of wild Sandhill Cranes were an accomplishment that I’m very happy about because they were made from a close distance. I love those birds and you can bet that adrenaline rushed through my veins any time I was able to press the shutter release… (see my posts about the Sandhill Cranes in 2013 by clicking HERE and HERE).

Going for the good light

It is this time of the year when I like to look back and see if there was any evolution in my photography. Working with the available light in low light situations was one of the things I wanted to focus on in 2013. I’m still not done reviewing all photos in detail from our trip to Maine this fall but I'm getting there. A day with heavy overcast and nothing but dull light, like we had today, is the perfect time for sitting in front of the computer and do nothing but post-processing. I dug up a few images that I like to share with you. I hope you enjoy.

The first one was made at 8AM, just after shooting a lighthouse all morning long (see my last post). The light was about to loose its “morning quality” but still good enough to work with the reflections on the water, the fall colors in the upper left corner, and the beauty of this little wharf.

Exposing strictly for the highlights by compensating with -1EV was the key for this image. All clutter in the water or elsewhere is left behind in the black that surrounds the boats. The photo tells the story that everybody shares the same dock, the lobster man who needs his dingy to go to his lobster boat as well as the tourist, who uses his kayak or canoe for recreation.

One of my favorite things to do in Maine was to watch the lobster boats going out very early in the morning. If the harbor faces East, like New Harbor, there is a good chance to photograph the boats while the first rays of sun light strike. It doesn’t get any better than this and there is no light for the next 10 hours that comes even close to this quality.

Every lobster man can identify his lobster traps by a unique color pattern on his buoys. After they are out of service the buoys are quite often used for decoration, like here at a restaurant right beside a lobster wharf. I left my dinner alone for a couple minutes when the last sun of the day made the colors even more pop on these old buoys.

River stories, part 4

 

I told you that the best part of my kayak tour on the Mississippi would still lie ahead of me after enjoying the eagle, the water lilies, and the company of the blackbirds. While paddling back to the boat ramp I saw four Sandhill Cranes landing in the water about half a mile ahead of me. This part of the Mud Lake area was already in the shade of the trees but I paddled a little harder, hoping that I would still have some light for a picture. Suddenly two more cranes flew almost over my head and towards the sun. They made a circle and finally landed somewhere between the huge patches of water lilies and arrow heads out of sight for me. Within a second I realized that shooting against the sun would only work if I aim for a silhouette shot of the cranes. I switched quickly to Auto-area Autofocus mode and dialed in -2/3 EV exposure compensation. The sun is a little too bright in this image but not blown out.

After that the light was fading away fast and I rushed to see if I could still get a glimpse of the other four sandhill Cranes. The last hundred yards I slowed down and approached the birds very quietly and carefully. In every photography class you will learn that it needs 1/500s for a halfway sharp image with a 500 mm lens. I was already up at ISO 400, and this is where I draw the line with the Nikon D300s for my wildlife photography. The best shutter speed I was able to get with these settings was 1/125s. Being in a kayak and the cranes not standing still didn't help either. :-o My keeper rate dropped dramatically but a few images turned out sharp enough to be shown here in the blog...

River stories, part 2

 

Part two of the "River Stories" took place last Monday evening. I still had the kayak on the roof top of the car and decided for another trip on the Mississippi River. Shortly after leaving the boat ramp in the marina at Mud Lake Park (the closest access to the big river for us and only 10 minutes away from our home) I saw a juvenile Bald Eagle sitting on the trunk of a big disrooted tree that was stranded in a shallow part of the Mississippi. I expected the bird would fly away as soon as I came closer but things developed in a totally different way. A couple crows also claimed the big tree for themselves and the eagle just hopped around, flapped its wings, and tried to scare the crows away. This wasn't very successful and after a few minutes the young Bald Eagle gave up and sat down on one of the roots that were sticking out into the air. I approached the bird very slowly and carefully and it just tolerated my presence. I had Cooper with me in the boat but the little dog stayed quiet and didn't move. He hardly ever spoils my wildlife encounters and I can't ask for a better dog in that regard. Because the shallow water the weeds kept the kayak from just drifting away and I got my chance to frame the eagle and make the photos I was hoping for.

And here is the second benefit you can have while shooting from a boat (I talked about the first one in yesterday's blog post). It allows me to get physically closer to a subject on a lake or river. The shore doesn't limit an approach necessarily anymore. Of course, it doesn't always work out and I consider myself very lucky to make these images. However, it increases the chances to make a click you could never make from shore and to get closer to the animal you like to have in the viewfinder of your camera. There is more from this trip on the hard drive, so please stay tuned for another "river story"...

Weekend on the water

 

We spent last weekend over in Southwest Wisconsin and explored Yellowstone Lake State Park and ones more Governor Dodge State Park. Both have wonderful lakes to paddle and swim and that's how we took advantage of the nice summer weather. It was also a nice opportunity to practice shooting again from the kayak. There is no room for error when you take the camera with a long lens attached in the boat but I managed to come back with dry gear. ;-) The flat parts of the lakes have a lot of water plants that cover the surface and this is right now the playground of thousands of dragonflies, damselflies, and other insects.

I believe these damselflies are Circumpolar Bluets but I have not been able to identify them yet for sure. They hardly sit still and even fly around in a "double pack" while obviously in a mating mood. I tried the 50-500 with the tripod fixed to the kayak but this didn't give me enough flexibility to work with insects. It works for birds if you can get close enough. I finally had better results with the Sigma 150/f2.8 macro lens and the camera just loose on a strap around my neck. Of course, the keeper rate is not as high as on solid ground but as I said here in the blog before, if I come home with one image that I like, I'm a happy man... :-)

More impressions from the wetlands

 

You may say, "Just one picture? We still like to see a little more from the wetlands!" Ok, here are a few more. The Mississippi has a pretty high water level at the moment and so have the Green Island Wetlands. All the little islands and big parts of the woods are submerged and it was a very interesting experience to paddle in places that are usually above the normal water level.

Taking pictures from the kayak is a totally different game. There is always a little fear to drop the gear into the water and of course holding the D300s with the Sigma 50-500 steady without shake is not easy at all. The wetlands are wide open for the most part and approaching ducks or coots undetected is nearly impossible. We had an encounter of a Barred Owl that got attacked by a number of blackbirds. Everything happened so fast that I wasn't even able to point the lens at the bird. However, it was exciting watching it.

Our dog Cooper isn't always sure about the whole kayaking experience but as you can see he is very relaxed most of the time. I think he just doesn't enjoy wearing his life vest. We put it on for him so we don't have to worry about him so much in case something happens.

We enjoyed paddling on a channel surrounded by large trees and somehow it reminded us of the mangrove forests of the South. There were lots of birds up in the trees and we tried to identify them by their calls. We saw a Prothonotary Warbler, a first sighting for Joan, but the photos I made did not deserve the attribute sharp :-(

Did we see some wildlife other than birds? Yes, we did, but this will be for another post here in the blog, so please stay tuned...