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.

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.

2012 – Looking back, part 9

 

I like to continue my series about the 2012 photography opportunities and highlights. July was very special for us. My youngest sister Claudia visited us on her way back to Germany from Sydney, Australia. She worked at the University of Sydney during the last couple of years in chemistry research. We did a lot of different things together with her, paddling in Wisconsin, local sightseeing in Iowa and Illinois along the Mississippi, and even a visit of the world famous spam museum in Austin, Minnesota was on the agenda (Well, I had to take her with me on a business trip to Austin and while I had my meeting she spent time in the museum, the only attraction in this town :-) ). Finally we spent three days in Chicago before she took the plane home to our mom in Bautzen, Germany. The kid moved on and lives and works now in Basel, Switzerland. What a small world... ;-)

Landscape and architecture photography can be quite a challenge in the heat of July here in the Midwest and it wasn't any different this time. From harsh light, like at the "bean" in Millennium Park, to killer light on the Trump building at the Chicago River, we had a little bit of everything. Photography wasn't the purpose of the trip to Chicago but I can't  go out without my camera over the shoulder...;-)

Expanding the range

Nikon D300s, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

We decided to go camping to Gov. Dodge State Park over in Wisconsin this weekend. The weather doesn't get any better than what we had the last two days but we also wanted to take our new kayaks out on the water for another tour. After seven years of talking about we finally bought two kayaks a couple weeks ago. We have tested them already twice on the Mississippi River and Joan and I really love it. Beside the fun and good exercise a boat tour can bring, I in particular also hope to expand my range for wildlife photography in the future. The big question this weekend was, how would our little dog Cooper behave in a kayak? He is afraid about almost everything that is new in his life and we had concerns he wouldn't like being on the water. I guess sometimes we worry too much, he seemed to enjoy every minute we spent on the water.

The State Park has two wonderful lakes with very clear water and both are surrounded by trees and rocks. It is a paradise for paddling. We saw several birds, a muskrat, and fish but I didn't take the camera with me into the boat this time. However, I had a great wildlife encounter this morning during an early photo shoot, so please stay tuned for my next "Nature clicks" post...