Weekend getaway

 

A long weekend is coming and we chose to get away for a few days. We drove up to Door County, the peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan in Northeast Wisconsin. We stay in a little cottage in Sturgeon Bay with a nice view over the bay. I missed the sunset (a very beautiful one tonight) but the sky was still good for a click afterwards. It is unusual warm for this time of the year but temperatures will drop during the weekend. I don't mind a crisp and cold day and just look forward to get my mind off the daily things. Weather changes are the photographers friend and I hope to get maybe a few good shots of this lovely landscape. Happy Thanksgiving Day to all friends and family! Thank you for taking the time to stop in my blog.

Nature clicks #130 - Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

 

It was already two months ago that we have been in the Rocky Mountains and I'm still not done telling stories about our adventures there. OK, you can call my blog "the most out of date blog in the world" but to be honest, I don't really care. Circumstances have not been in my favor recently and I do not have new pictures that I like to show here. If you don't mind about that, keep reading and put up with "the old stuff"... ;-)

During our vacation we kept looking for Bighorn Sheep but didn't have any luck until two days before we returned home. We had seen these wonderful animals in Glacier National Park a few years ago and were hoping to have another encounter in the Rockies. Finally we had our moment.

These photographs were made near Summit Lake, just below the 14,264 feet high Mount Evans. Bighorn Sheep are excellent climbers and you may see them at very exposed steep mountain slopes. This herd didn't have a "big ol' ram" with curled horns but several ewes with lambs and also some younger rams. I made quite a few clicks but although it was mid afternoon the light was way to harsh for my taste. An hour later would have made a big difference, but hey, Bighorn Sheep have obviously their own schedule for showing up ;-) and we were just thrilled to see them so close.

Warm day, busy place

 

I have a ball watching the birds that hang around here in the timber and our front and back yard in big numbers at the moment. There is a big flock of American Robins that was here every day this week and the birds enjoyed bathing and drinking at the bird bath. With them was an "ear-full" of Cedar Waxwings. We had very warm weather today (T-shirt time in November!) but this is changing while I'm writing this and I wonder if the birds will move further south if the temperature will drop in the next few hours. Today I tried to keep the white bird bath out of the frame and finally got the shots that I really wanted to make. I hope you enjoy. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Nature clicks #129 - Red-breasted Nuthatch

 

I have enjoyed being home for a couple weeks now and work from my home office. This will change next week when I have to hit the road again but right now I enjoy watching all the birds that get ready for the winter here in our timber. One little guy that is present at this time of the year is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. I have written about this bird before (see "Nature clicks #63" by clicking HERE ) and I was happy to make a couple clicks while the nuthatch visited our bird bath. I'm not a big fan of having this white piece of plastic in my picture, but hey... it makes a nice, snow-like reflector that bounces the light underneath the birds... ;-)

Nature clicks #128 - American Pika

 

Back to nature related photography today. Joan and I spent quite some time to look out for one of our favorite animals, the American Pica, during our trip to the Rocky Mountains. Knowing a little bit about their habitat, steep boulder-covered hillsides at an altitude above 8,000 feet, helps to find them. This photo was made on the slope of 14,264 feet high Mount Evans. I had this pika here already in my viewfinder when a hawk suddenly soared over the rocks and the pika disappeared between the boulders with cyberspeed. It took ten minutes before it showed up again and continued sunbathing. But maybe it was just on the watch from this well exposed rock hanging over a very deep valley. I sure enjoyed watching these critters and was very happy to make some good clicks.

Celebrities and busy people

 

The advantage of being in the backstage area at an event like yesterday's campaign rally of President Obama in Dubuque, Iowa is the fact that the chance for a photo of one of the celebrities that supported the campaign increases exponentially.

I made a few clicks of TV actress Kate Walsh, who spoke at the rally. To be honest, I didn't know much about her until yesterday but for someone like me, who doesn't watch much TV, this comes at no surprise. However, she was well received by many people in the audience.

Better known to me is musician John Mellencamp, who played a few songs with his band before the President arrived. Great music, well played!

Probably some of the busiest men on the planet at the moment are Barack Obama's Campaign Manager David Axelrod and Press Secretary Jay Carney. I made a few clicks of Axelrod but didn't like the  results this time. The photo here is from August 2012. It shows both men during Barack Obama's speech at the old Star Brewery in Dubuque. I have no idea who the gentleman on the right hand side is that grinned into my camera. OK, if I don't know a person it doesn't mean it isn't a celebrity, who knows... ;-)

Three days before election

 

When the President of the United States visited Dubuque in August 2012 I thought I got pretty close and had a once in a lifetime chance to make some good photos. Three days before the presidential election both candidates came to Dubuque again, of course to different locations, and held campaign rallies  in order to get the votes of the people from Iowa. Barack Obama had his event in Washington Park, Downtown Dubuque. After passing security I realized that a big crowd had already gathered around the stage and I tried to find a spot on the side where I could snap at least a few pictures with my longer lens while the president would have his speech. Suddenly the gate I was leaning against got moved away and security guided me and other people to an area that was actually reserved for people in wheelchairs. Bingo! It was slightly behind the stage and right at the fence where the President would enter and leave the arena. Would I have a chance for a close up picture again like in August?

To make a long story short, seconds after Barack Obama arrived he turned towards our side of the aisle and had a brief conversation with a gentleman just next to me. I clicked away, the lens wide open at f/4, ISO 400 dialed in, and shutter speeds between 1/60 and 1/90s, just hoping that one image would be sharp.

Despite the stage was illuminated by big spotlights and a little bit of daylight left, I had to crank up the ISO to 800. Not my preferred shooting mode with the D300s! At the end, after a very good speech that summarized what Barack Obama stands for, he walked along the fence and talked with people. The secret service guys told us to keep the cameras down, and that's what I did. Well, here was my chance to shake hands with the President of the United States, and we did... :-)

Nature clicks #127 - Cedar Waxwing

 

We keep track about all the wildlife we have around the house since we live here in Eastern Iowa. Some species are here all the time while others have been sighted only ones within the last eight years. One bird that we see briefly almost every spring and fall is the Cedar Waxwing. Sometimes they come in big flocks and feed on the berries in the cedar trees. Unfortunately I have never been able to make a good image that I would have liked to share with you here in the blog or over in my Iowa wildlife gallery at Pbase.  www.pbase.com/deadmoon

Today I watched a couple American Robins drinking out of the birdbath in front of the house. Suddenly they were joined by two Cedar Waxwings and that made me running for the camera, tripod, and long lens. They are such wonderful looking birds and in this matter I don't mind that the birdbath is in the frame. The leaf in the water, the bird that just took off, the colors, they all tell the story of autumn and bird migration. Can't ask for more...

Talking about clouds

 

One of my favorite subjects to shoot is clouds. Not any ordinary ones, I'm talking about clouds that create some drama or an interesting pattern. Last Saturday I was cutting some wood behind the house when I saw a line of flame-like clouds showing up behind the trees that surround our neck of the woods. I dropped the axe immediately and ran inside to get the camera. We had a nice blue sky but color didn't give me the drama I saw in the shapes the clouds were producing. I knew I was shooting for a final Black & White.

Nobody wants to see their house on fire but I thought it looked quite dramatic. The clouds were moving fast and after ten minutes the sky was completely covered with a thin layer of clouds, which of course didn't hold any drama anymore.

A few words about the post processing. As always the RAW files get imported into Adobe Lightroom, where I usually do just the RAW sharpening and some noise removal if necessary. From there I kick out a tif-file and move over to NIK's Silver Efex Pro 2. Since I had done some other B&W images with clouds recently I created a preset that I can now use as a starting point. The next step is to open a copy of the file in Photoshop where I use pre-recorded action sets that do the downsizing and final sharpening for the web. Presets and action sets can be a big time saver sometimes if you go for the same effect. However, I never just apply them and walk away. I always do some fine tuning and tweaking of a particular slider if it improves the image.

Keeping the memories alive

 

It is hard to believe that this image was made  already 24 days ago. The colorful leaves are history now and most of them decay in the timber behind the house. What remains are the memories of a wonderful fall and this photograph, created just minutes before sunset, may keep them alive for awhile....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!