We had a conclave of Northern Cardinals here all winter long but they usually show up very early in the morning and late after sunset when the light is not sufficient for bird photography. Today they changed their mind. A short but intensive snow shower hit our area today and covered everything with white for a couple hours. As many other birds the cardinals gave our feeders a try and I was actually able to make a few clicks in great light.
If you don't live in Eastern Iowa but have checked our local weather on your phone, tablet, or whatever device you may use for this task, you know that this image is not from last weekend. Warm temperatures have brought lots of rain, fog, and most importantly for a photographer, a gray overcast. With other words, I took a break and haven't made a single click this weekend. I used the time to look into future adventures and projects. Today I visited Canoecopia in Madison WI, a canoe, kayak, and outdoor expo. It is presented by rutabaga, a well known paddle sports outfitter. Beside seeing or shopping for every possible product related to this kind of activity you have the opportunity to see all kinds of presentations. I attended two of them and one of course had to do with photography. David Morlock, a photographer from Minnesota, showed some of his images and was talking about "How to make better photos on your paddling trip". All what I can say is, it was time well spent. Shooting from a moving boat is a different story than having the camera on a tripod and it was interesting for me to learn where the challenge might be, if I ever want to come back from a kayak trip with some decent photos.
As much as I like shooting birds in the winter, and especially in a snow storm, I can't wait until we can finally enter the wetlands and backwaters of the Mississippi with our kayaks again. Last year was so dry that it was nearly impossible to use a boat in my favorite location, the Green Island Wetlands. All the rain pouring down on us at the moment gives me hope that this may change... :-)
I spent the last two evenings down in the valley of the Little Maquoketa River. The sun is already very strong and melts the snow we had lately very quickly during the day. Beside giving our little dog (and of course ourselves ;-) ) some badly needed exercise I wanted to use the fact that there was still some snow on the ground in combination with the nice weather for making some clicks. There are an awful lot of bare trees and branches along the trail in the valley that make it difficult to get a clear view over the river and the valley. But when I saw the light hitting this tree against the dark background of the lime stone rocks I knew I had a shot. Nothing spectacular but it left me with a feeling of accomplishment while driving back home...
I had recently an image of an Eastern Gray Squirrel here on the blog but can you really blame me if I like to show you a couple more if they were shot in really great light? Snow is in general a nice reflector to get some light underneath a critter but if the sun is out it gets even better and the colors come out in a much better way. Some pixel peepers may say, but wouldn't it be better to color correct the snow so it doesn't look so bluish? I'm a big a fan of leaving it just the way it is. The blue is the reflection of the sky and there is no other color that tells the story about cold temperatures better than blue.
I come back today with a few pictures from yesterday's hiking and driving around trips.
Snow and ice are wonderful elements to reveal the beauty that can lay in a landscape. Look at this image to see what I mean. Without the snow cover and the broken ice floes in the river the muddy walls of the river bed would just blend into the color of the harvested fields at this time of the year. The snow and ice gives the river and the fields in the background some structure and creates depth in the photograph.
This old church near the little town of Graf is built from lime stones that were probably quarried locally. Their color was pronounced by the evening sun and made for a nice color contrast to the blue sky and the snow in the foreground. The German inscription above the church door tells the story about who attended the service in the old days.
Earlier in the day I went to lock and dam #10 in Guttenberg, Iowa again. I worked on a picture of an eagle in a tree but I thought this image of a returning fisherman, who had a hard time to get his boat back to shore, was much more story telling about the conditions on the Mississippi yesterday. These ice floes below the dam were jammed against the old, solid ice on the river and the water was just freezing over again.
Laziness never pays in photography. Instead of walking over to the car and get a lens capable for good landscape photography out of the bag I just used the short end of the Sigma 50-500 for this view across the river. It was mounted to the camera for the eagles but as you can see the photo lacks detail, especially in the background, and it was therefor not a good choice. Well, next time... ;-)
I hope you enjoy my impressions about the Iowa winter. It's supposed to snow 8 - 10 inches (20 -25 cm) tonight again...
As we drove out of this valley this evening, not far from home, I had to stop and make the click. I knew the final image would have something to do with lines and shadows in the landscape, and would hopefully tell the story about how a wonderful winter day in Eastern Iowa comes to an end.
It is the time of the year when plans for photography projects in spring or summer have to be shaped and research for specific locations or critters needs to be done. It is hard to believe that is already six and a half years ago that we have been the last time in the Badlands, South Dakota. This landscape has already fascinated me long before I came to the United States. It played a role in books I was reading as a young boy. I read a lot about the Lakota, their nomadic life on the prairie, about hunting bison, and the fights between the Indians and the white men.
One of my spring projects is to spend an extended weekend in Badlands National Park and do nothing but wildlife and landscape photography. We stopped in the Badlands twice before on our way to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons but it was never enough time to explore the area in detail.
A first step of the planning was to look at my images from 2005 and 2007. In 2005 I was still shooting film (Nikon N2020) but also had a small Minolta point and shoot digital camera with me. Oh boy, little did I know about how to make a halfway decent image at that time! The photos I show here are from 2007, made with a new Nikon D200. It was about the time when I discovered that nature photography was really what I wanted to do.
The Badlands in South Dakota have a lot of wildlife to offer. We have seen bison, mule deer, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, and pronghorns. The pictures of the Black-tailed Prairie Dogs you see here were made with a Nikon 80-400mm lens that I had borrowed from a friend of mine. It was my first experience with a focal length longer than 300 mm. One of the reasons I like to go in spring this time (we always have been there during fall season so far) is that I hope to see a lot more wildflowers and the grass a little more lush than it was after the dry summers. As more I dive into this project as more I get excited. If I can squeeze it in my work schedule you will be the first to read about it here in the blog. :-)
Ok, I'm having the blues. No new snow today but a uniform gray sky didn't boost my creativity either. I haven't touched the camera for almost a week now. Instead I'm digging in my archive for pictures that were made in great light and where the sun played at least a role.
I came across this image of a Snowy Egret. It was made in 2010 at my very first visit at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Southern California. The egret enjoyed the last light beams, just minutes before the sun dived into the Pacific Ocean. I think it is important to look back sometimes and analyze why some images worked out great while others didn't work at all. I do not delete all misses. They help me quite often later to remember how a particular shooting situation was approached and maybe prevent me from making the same mistakes again. Having a few better ones in reserve isn't so bad either, especially if you can use them after a week with no shooting at all... :-) Have a great weekend!
I follow the blogs of many photographers and the link list on the left side of my blog is only a fraction of all the websites I visit frequently. All of them provide education and inspiration, and most of the time it is just fun to read what other photographers have in mind. One blog I never miss if a new post is released is the one of Moose Peterson. He is certainly the photographer I learned the most from for my wildlife and landscape photography. His writing style is fun to read and he inspires me greatly.
One of his recent posts was titled "Can One Click Tell The Story?" and he answers that question with a great image of the Grand Canyon and a video sequence that makes you understanding his thoughts.
I haven't been able to go out and shoot during the last four days but I still have some unfinished business on my hard drive. The photo above was made last September in Rocky Mountain National Park during a rainy day and a fast moving cloud scenario. I have several shots of this mountain range and they are all ok, but this one, taken at a brief moment when the sun kissed the mountain in the foreground while anything around got really dark, is the image that tells the story of that day and it is the only one I like to show you. No, I haven't asked myself the question "Can One Click Tell The Story?" while I was making the click but I'm sure will in the future. Thanks Moose!
One of my winter projects this season is to get a frame filling image of the Brown Creeper. I'm trying hard but I'm not there yet. For a long time I thought this little bird was only here during migration but this is the first winter we see it repeatedly. They are fast and always keep a safe distance. At least I got some sharper photos now than in December when I introduced the bird in the blog here. Will keep trying again...
