Feeling of accomplishment

 

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...

Winter in Eastern Iowa, part 2

 

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...

Not what I had in mind for today's post

 

I closed my last post about Sunday's driving-around-photo-shoot with the remark "More to come...". I continued my trip and went to Green Island, my favorite wetlands along the Mississippi for wildlife shooting. Well, after reviewing my images I decided not to post any because none of them meets my minimum quality standards. It does not mean I didn't have a good time there. It is still duck hunting season but I saw hundreds off geese and ten Sandhill Cranes in the sanctuary that is not accessible for hunters. It always makes me smile if I hear the sound of a crane. It is music in my ears...:-)

I got some shots of a hawk but it wasn't made in good light. After fiddling with one of the photos in Lightroom for some time and not getting a result, that was at least equal to my previously posted pictures of a Red-tailed Hawk, I decided to send it to the trash can.

Instead I show an image from the Little Maquoketa River down in the valley below our house. I made it mid morning while walking our dog on the Heritage trail. There isn't much real beauty in the landscape at this time, between fall colors and the snow cover of the winter, but I tried to work the triangle shape of this bend in the river and the light of the low sun that gave the grass some shape. The reflections on the water are a bonus... ;-)

The last time that I showed a picture of this river in my blog was during the flood last year. You can click the archive tab "July 2011" on the left hand side to see those photos. It was the day with by far the most clicks in the short history of my blog... I guess I need to shoot more catastrophes...!?

Flood in Dubuque County - part 2

Durango, IA 11:11AM, A layer of mud covers the highway

Heritage trail and surrounding fields were still flooded

A few more pictures from yesterday's flood. The images from yesterday were made between 8:30 and 8:50AM. At 11:11AM the water level was already lower and left the Highway covered with a layer of slick mud. The Heritage trail and the surrounding fields were still under water. It was raining again and there were concerns about more water.

Durango, IA at 4:42PM

At 4:42PM the water had retreated for the most part to the river bed but was still flowing with high speed. The rain had stopped and the people in Durango were already cleaning up the mess.

Flood in Dubuque County

Little Maquoketa River in Durango, Iowa

My blog has never been as actual as at this moment. What you see here is still going on while I'm writing this. We had heavy thunderstorms with a lot of rain all night long rolling over Dubuque County. As a result the Little Maquoketa River and probably all other creeks and rivers around are flooded. That puts us on an island since all roads to Dubuque are blocked. I feel bad for the farmers down in the valley. Their crops are just washed away or drowned. The Heritage trail, a very nice recreation trail in the valley, will probably be damaged again as we have already seen it two years ago. Stay tuned...

At the bridge on Clay Hill road

Highway 52 between Sageville and Durango, Iowa

Little Maquoketa River near Durango, Iowa