The early bird makes the click

 

I was hoping I can show you images from our Maine adventure on a daily basis but the weather has been gorgeous the whole time so far (some rain is in the forecast as I write this). We really started out almost every day before sunrise in order to catch the first morning light and we never returned to the campsite before it was pitch dark. This is the only way to make images like the one of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse I like to show you today. It was still half an hour before the first sun hit the American continent but I like the blue hour as much as the actual moment of sunrise. More to come, so please stay tuned....

It's all about lobsters... :-)

 

We spent the first three days in the region around Freeport, Maine. Everything here seems to rotate around lobsters. Beside eating them every day (yes, you read this right!! :-) we spent quite some time in the little harbors with their lobster wharfs to watch and photograph the lobster boats going in and out. Before they leave the dock they take big plastic barrels full of fish that are used as bait on board. When they come back the lobster men can hopefully unload boxes full of lobster. It doesn't get easier to see if they loose or make money...

We had great weather so far with killer light in the mornings and evenings. It isn't difficult to make an image that can tell a story. Watching the highlights on the boats is essential for the story telling. It is very easy to blow them out and have a picture that looks just "blahhh". I can promise you that I will post more photos of the lobster boats in the next time. They all look different and are such a great subject that tells the story about the life along the Maine coast. More to come...

Lovely coast of Maine

 

The first three days at the coast of Maine were really lovely. The days started out very foggy but became warm and clear during the late morning. We explored the area around Freeport with its bays and little wharfs. Everything is colorful and it is not difficult to find interesting things to put the lens on. Most things here have to do with catching lobsters. Every restaurant has lobster on the menu in different variations and many people here try to make a living from this industry. I love to watch the lobster boats, even if they are just moored in a harbor. None of them look alike and even in the fog they make for a nice photography subject.

Stop at Niagara Falls

 

My German photography friend Maren guessed it right already, our next stop on the way to Maine was Niagara Falls. We are really not big fans of going to places with a lot of tourists but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. The main vacation season is over and the falls were not so crowded with people as we expected.

If something had really impressed me there, it was the vast amount of water that shoots down Niagara Falls every second. Beside all the touristy stuff, Niagara Falls is still an impressive place that shows the beauty and the forces of nature.

The falls have been photographed many million times and there was not much to add from my side. We went there late morning, which is not the best time for landscape photography anyway, but some clouds made at least for interesting backgrounds and a constant change of light.

We are enjoying the coast of Maine since three days already and if time and internet availability allow, I will post here again soon. Please stay tuned for more...

Lake Erie sunset

 

Another great sunset finished off our second day of driving to the coast of Maine. This image was made at Lake Erie in Evangola State Park, not very far from Buffalo, NY. I have seen Lake Erie only from an airplane so far and now enjoyed just being at another one of the Great Lakes. Not many people think camping in a tent is unbeatable, like us, but we had almost the whole campsite and the lake shore to ourselves. Stay tuned for more images of the adventures of our journey...

Start in the sand

 

Yippee yeah!! We are finally on vacation and reached the wonderful coast of Maine. We took several stops on the way up here to make the long drive a little more pleasant. The first one was at the famous Indiana Dunes on the South side of Lake Michigan. We are very flexible with our plans because we stay in our little tent. You know already how much I dislike landscape images without a single cloud in the sky. Well, I tried to work with this as good as possible... ;-)

I will probably not post every day here but hopefully can let you participate along our journey a few times. So please stay tuned...

What happened?

 

This is a valid question after I haven't posted in my blog for three weeks now. September is usual a very busy time for me because of an annual trade show at the McCormick Center in Chicago. As always, our company was  an exhibitor at PRINT 2013 and right before, during, and after the show is very little time for me to pursue any photography projects. But the real reason for my time of silence is that my MacBook went out of business just a couple days before the show started. The repair took longer than expected and it was a painful time to deal with it. I will spare you all the details, I'm just happy to have the darn thing back... :-) Thank you to all of you who visited my blog despite nothing new was posted here!

We are packing the stuff for our upcoming vacation. However, the weather was too nice to be inside all day long and so I took Cooper, our little dog, and went for a walk on the Heritage Trail. The trail down in the valley of the Little Maquoketa River was once a railroad track. This grasshopper enjoyed the warm September sun on one of the new boards that tell about the history of the little towns in the valley and the railroad that ones connected them. We have plenty of grasshoppers here and I usually don't pay too much attention, but I really liked the light and the colors it revealed on this little bug.

Emotional attachment

 

I have to admit I have a little bit neglected my old friends the Trumpeter Swans this year. Those of you, who followed my blog during the last three years, may remember that I documented the restoration of the swans at the Mill Creek Ponds between La Motte and Bellevue, Iowa for quite some time.

In 2011 I was able to report that one cygnet was in the nest and had been raised successfully. Last year I made photos of three young Trumpeter Swans, proof  that the program to bring the Trumpeter Swan back to Iowa seems to work very well. 2013 I stopped only once in early spring at the ponds and saw the swan couple again. So until today I didn't know what happened during this year's breeding season. It made me really happy to see that two cygnets were in company of their parents when I drove around the corner and looked at the pond.

I have a very emotional attachment to the Trumpeter Swans for two reasons. First, I really think it is a wonderful majestic bird, and seeing their numbers grow over the years is just cool. Not just for my generation but knowing that our kids and grandkids may have a chance to enjoy them as well is a good thought. The second reason is that working with the swans and making photos of them has taught me so much for my wildlife photography. I spent countless hours at the Mill Creek Ponds during the last three years. Many frustrations started here (how would you feel after shooting 500 pics and all of them suck because lack of sharpness...??!! ;-)  ), but coming back over and over again and working with the same subject made me seeing some progress, slowly but surely. Do I have the perfect image of a Trumpeter Swan yet? Hell no, I may never have it, but the swans played a big role for my decision to focus on wildlife photography and I'm thankful for that.

If you like to see some of the older blog posts about the Trumpeter Swans just type "trumpeter swan" into the search field in the side bar on the left hand side of this blog, hit the Enter-key, and you will see all of them.

Fine Art Gallery - "Thunderstorm moves out"

 

I had to make this image in black and white because that's what I really saw when I framed the scene in the viewfinder a few days ago. I love the absence of colors in a photo like this. I think it is a lot more dramatic and tells the story of the moving out thunderstorm a little better. The white on the weathered boards of the old barns doesn't overpower the clouds and the eye will always end up in the back.

One question I debated with myself for a while. Would it help this image to remove the power lines on the left hand side or not? I finally decided to keep them because they do not really cut across, they kind of lead into the picture. I don't like power lines and especially here in rural Iowa it is sometimes difficult to find a spot that isn't "polluted" by their presence. I may change my mind about this. I will make a print and look at it for a while... ;-)

Iowa storm chase

 

We were lucky this evening to get a local thunderstorms that brought some much needed rain. Not much, but better than nothing. When the rain slowed down I drove down to the valley, and up again to the plateau into open area. I didn't have to go very far to see where the dramatic of the light unfolded while the storm moved away.

Both images were made within six minutes from the same location and that's when landscape photography becomes real fun in Iowa.

I chased the storm at a couple more places but the drama diminished quickly. Old farm buildings can make for a nice picture but quite often a uniform blue sky or dull light make it less interesting and I don't even bother taking the camera out. Turning east the tall thunderheads gave this farm the background that I like to see in a photo like this. Will try this one in black & white sometime...

Wishing all of you here in the US a wonderful Labor Day weekend.