Evening Sky

We were biking one evening last week and saw this incredible light.  It feels like summer is past and fall is on the way.  I had a very good August with images from North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  September will be great!  Traveling to New York and back may limit posts in the next few days.

Scientist or artist?

What do you see?  Do you see bracts, sepals, and petals?  Do you see a bright, energetic morning?  That's the beauty of photography.  Photographed in Burnett Co., WI.

August Blues

As summer progresses the predominate flower colors change to blues with the bottle gentian leading the way.  This is a unique flower only pollinated by bumble bees who are strong enough to open the tight petals.  My dream shot is a bee coming out of the flower, maybe I'll see it this year.  Photographed in Burnett Co.

Morning Dance

 I like the lines created by the grass and damselfly wings.  Recent mornings have been excellent mornings to photograph webs and dragonflies.  Photographed in Burnett Co., WI.

Kite Bush

Sometimes the mind wanders and imagination takes over.  At the end of this morning's session I came across this collection of spider webs.  My first thought was "Look at those kites in the air." I'm sure the spiders have another thought when they were building their webs.

Dreamcatcher

The Ojibwa tradition tells us that bad dreams are caught allowing only good dreams to enter at night.  I can imagine the first person watching a web and the tradition developing over the millennia.

Looking at You

This is the time of the year I concentrate on dragonfly photography.  The heavy morning dew really accentuates their delicate features.  Not only that, they hold still.  The water drops magnifying the eye lenses made me look twice at this image. A couple of extension tubes would have been nice to get an even closer look.  Captured in Burnett Co., WI.

Sunflower at Sunrise

A week ago it felt like summer with a warm, bright morning in eastern North Dakota.  This morning's 35 degrees in western Wisconsin felt more like autumn. This was last Friday's sunrise in north of Medina in Stutsman Co. last week.

A challenge

This image had multiple challenges, not just the extreme range of light that could only be managed with HDR technique.  The challenge you do not see is the open space below the wall that opens into the basement.  What was lurking in the basement?  My biggest fear was wakening a skunk.  Nothing was disturbed and the shots were taken.  Taken in Stutsman County, North Dakota.

Where Antelope Play

I'm continuing to look through North Dakota images taken earlier this month.  This pair mated shortly after we drove off.  If you look closely you can see the swollen neck on the buck.  The female was scent marking the sage and the buck was raking its horns on the scent. Taken in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Lost Dreams

I'm posting shots from my wanderings around North Dakota this month.  I've seen so much more than I had imagined possible and developed a love for the place, especially Stutsman County.  The prairie light at dawn is magical.

Pelicans, pelicans, pelicans

I recently returned from Chase Lake NWR in North Dakota where there are over 30,000 pelicans.  The challenge is getting an intimate image since the nesting colony is off limits and on an island.  The adults return from feeding late morning so that is the best time to get flight shots.  Perhaps I could have gotten them leaving if I had stayed another day.  Refuge staff and Rick Bohn were helpful but it is a big area.  The first day was spent exploring and the second morning was devoted to intense photography that was amply rewarded with several good images, ranging from landscape to pelican flight shots. the website: chaselakefoundation.org has helpful information and Rick's email address.  I'm already planning my next visit.

Youth

One of the challenges of photography is to catch the essence of an animal.  Young bison are no exception.  Their bounding run is not smooth and difficult to pan especially when they suddenly change direction.  This is the best of my attempts, although not quite what I want.  Another reason to try again next summer.

Caught!

This prairie dog looks like it has been caught with it's hand in the cookie jar.  One of the challenges of wildlife photography is capturing the peak action.  Most animals eat, eat, and then sleep.  I watched prairie dogs for a couple hours and didn't get my dream shot: the near jump and squeak that they occasionally do.

Prairie Transition

A quiet summer morning on the prairie, cool and little breeze, with a light dew.  The flowering blue stem and this open swamp milkweed pod are a reminder of the passing summer.

Ominous Sky

We just returned from a short trip to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The emphasis was on hiking and exploring the badlands, possibly getting a shot of bison rut behaviors.  The bison were there but not very active in the extreme heat.  We started this day with blue sky and ended our hike by racing back to the car during a lightning show.