Wisconsin history

 

Actually I had other things in mind (Bald Eagle photography!!) when I went out today for a trip on both sides of the Mississippi River. Despite gorgeous weather it didn't work out and I ended up taking this image of the "Denniston House" from 1836 in Cassville Wisconsin. Before I wreck your nerves with my "Sauerkraut-English" what this house is all about, I like to cite the website www.cassville.org :

DENNISTON HOUSE (1836)

Built by the Daniels-Denniston Company, land speculators from New York, to house legislators and officials should Cassville become the capitol of the new Wisconsin Territory. When Madison was chosen over Cassville to become the capitol, the building and village went into decline until 1855 when former State Governor Nelson Dewey   purchased the Denniston interests. He converted the building into a proper hotel. It operated as a hotel, dining room and bar until 1985. Today it stands empty. Many additions were added to the "Big  Brick" as it was proudly called; but they all have been removed, along with the fifth floor ballroom and widow's walk on the roof.  Built of solid brick on a limestone foundation, bricklayers used the sturdy Flemish bond method of laying brick. You can clearly notice its pattern on the side wall. The building still stands proud, though a bit drab, extolling the dreams of a past era.

It think it is too bad the house is in such bad shape. I'm afraid if all buildings like this will be gone and be replaced by industrial architecture with no "soul" at all, villages like Cassville may have no charm anymore and will be good for passing through only. I just hope this will never happen...

Critters dealing with new snow

 

Winter and its weather have never left us really since December last year and today we were reminded that any thought about spring is ridiculous right now. A winter storm came through today and left plenty of the white stuff on the ground. I could talk about birds that have been here all day long but I also took some images of the critters with four legs that came close to our house today. We have lots of Eastern Gray Squirrels here that try to get a good share of the bird food in the feeders. Most of them are really gray but we also have a few black morphs here in the neighborhood. There is one exception and this little guy has really some color in its fur. We wonder if some Red Squirrel was mixed into the equation. We have never seen a Red Squirrel here up on the ridge but we know there are a few down in the valley. The one I show you is definitely as big as a Gray Squirrel (Red Squirrels are much smaller) and we really wonder how this guy got its color.

Any time the ground is covered with snow there is a good chance that the White-tailed Deer will show up in our yard at dusk. Today we had our usual group of two does and two fawns here. I saw them too late to open the window before they arrived and had to shoot through the glass. It was still snowing and the falling snow messed a few times with the autofocus system in the camera. Daylight lasts much longer now already and this image was made at 1/60 of a second. I know, the books will tell you that you need at least 1/320 of a second if your focal length is 320 mm, as in this picture, but I try to shoot long exposure in order to keep the ISO settings as low as possible for best detail in my photo.

Quick decisions

 

Here is another photo from last weekend's action on the ice of the Mississippi in Guttenberg, Iowa. Sometimes nothing happened for several minutes and suddenly quick decision had to be made where to focus on and how to compose. I like having the dam in the background in some of my images. No matter how cold it is the water below is always open and it is the place where the eagles feed when the rest of the river is frozen over.

Nature clicks #136 - American Tree Sparrow

 

The landing of the Cassville Ferry near Millville, Iowa was another spot along the Mississippi where we went to watch Bald Eagles this weekend. While observing the action on the river I noticed a pair of American Tree Sparrows landing in a bush not far from where my tripod legs were put into the sand. They were not afraid about my presence and landed finally on a piece of driftwood right beside me. That was an easy click. Enough time to compose and focus, no crop, and very little time to finalize the image in the computer. It doesn't get much easier than this.

Action on the Mississippi

 

It was by far the best day for shooting Bald Eagles at the Mississippi River during this winter so far. The river is only partly ice covered and this allows the eagles to hunt for fish at many different places. We learned already yesterday that many eagles were present at lock and dam #10 in Guttenberg, which is about thirty miles north of Dubuque, Iowa. I decided to go back there again and spent a few hours in the icy wind. Warm boots and a down coat are very useful while hanging out at the river for an extended time. But I can tell you, it was worth every minute because there was a lot of action today. It is difficult to count the eagles because they move around all the time but it is safe to say that more than 50 birds were within sight.

There was a lot of push and shove going on and catching a fish wasn't always called final success. The eagles tried to steal the fish from each other and some were very competitive. Yesterday I tried mainly to shoot eagles in flight because the sky was blue and made for a good contrast and background. Today it was a little more hazy and therefore I focussed on action shots on the ice.

Distance was a little bit of a problem because the Bald Eagles stay at the edge of the ice or circle over the open water and that was quite a bit away from my shooting location. There is not much I could do about it, except for cropping my photos a little bit. Walking onto the ice is no option! ;-)

Adding to my previous story

 

It was a great day for being outside. It was chilly but the air was very clear and the light just perfect for all kinds of photography. Joan and I went on a road trip this afternoon. We followed the Mississippi north to Guttenberg in search for wildlife or just a good view over the river valley. But let me start with the final stop of our tour. On our way back home I wanted to show Joan the location from where I made the image you can see in my last post. The clouds were not nearly as good as two days ago. Not far away from the farm house we discovered an old graveyard, named Platt Cemetery. The light doesn't get any better for a photo like this. I tried different angles and views, and different depth of field settings by changing my aperture, but always included the farm in the frame. I wanted this image telling the story who might be buried there, probably farmers and their families that tried to make a living in Iowa after coming over from Europe. The date on the gravestone in focus is not 100% legible but the stone is probably from 1868, according to the website iowagravestones.org.

Landscape photography in Iowa?

 

Iowa is not so famous for its landscape beauty as some other states in the US are but I tell everybody who is asking me about this area that, if you go around with open eyes you may find some lovely spots. If the weather ingredients are right you can even get some interesting views out in the open farmland.

I took off from home in the late afternoon when some mixed clouds crossed the area and even the sun came out occasionally. I like to watch out for farm settings that don't look completely industrial yet. This is not easy anymore. Farmers need to have modern production facilities, no matter what kind of farming they do, in order to stay in business successfully. As a result the old farm buildings disappear more and more.

I found this farm house on the hill, surrounded by old trees, that probably have been planted by the Great-grandfather of the current owner. The remaining patches of snow tell the story about the still ongoing winter and the dark top soil in the foreground lets you know how fertile the land is here and why farming plays such a big role in this part of the country. It's my kind of photography when the photo tells a story and if you just add some clouds and subtle late-afternoon-light you may have a good landscape image, even in Iowa... ;-)

Getting closer to a final result

 

You probably know the feeling after you have something created and accomplished that it is still not finished in one way or another, or that there is still potential for improvement even if you like the results. This is what happened to me with the image I show you today. It is from last years trip to the Rocky Mountains and the first version was made in full color. You can click HERE to see the color version of this photograph. I liked how the picture conveys the drama of this weather situation, with lots of rain and a short break through of the sun. The color version lives from the color contrast between the green of the grass in the foreground and the different shades of blue in the clouds. I received some good words about the photo in one of my online galleries but I still had the feeling that the first version did not reveal the essence of this particular moment. For my taste it still had too much information. The approach I'm taking now with this black and white version is to reduce everything just to the light and luminosity. For me it reflects the mood of this moment much better and now I have the feeling that I came a little closer to a final result that I like to print and hang on a wall.

At the "Woodpecker tree"

 

I believe today was the first day in almost a week that we saw the sun coming out. The days are already a little longer and the time after 4PM bears potential for some good light. You might be tired seeing woodpeckers and nuthatches here in the blog but I experiment with a new "Woodpecker tree" at the moment and like to share my first results. This Red-bellied Woodpecker is a real beauty and making the click is a "must" if the light is right. They are very shy and a fast move  will drive them away immediately.

The Downy Woodpecker is much easier to get. I wrote a couple weeks ago that we have about six here in our neighborhood and they usually tolerate my presence much better. They are a great subject to hone your shooting skills, except when they hang on a suet feeder and try to knock something loose and eat. With other words, motion blur is the main reason for putting an image into the trash can. Light was lovely and this female seemed almost to pose for me.

Showing me the tongue

 

I drove half way across Iowa today to meet with a customer and was surprised how little snow was on the ground in the central part of the state. Here in the woods along the Mississippi we still have plenty of snow to make life difficult for many animals that live here during the winter. The White-tailed Deer have a hard time to find enough food and they come right up to the homes here in our neighborhood.

Unfortunately this happens mostly in the dusk, after 4PM, when the light is not very flattering, but I try it anyway to make a click or two. I do not have "the shot" yet. I'm happy if an image is sharp, despite long exposure times. Nevertheless, it does not satisfy me if the background has flaws, like in these pictures where a tree grows out of the head of the deer. The doe seems to tell me with her tongue, Na-na-na-na-na-na....(like the gesture with the middle finger sticking up in the air...), but hey, one of these days I hope to get sharpness and background right!