Second Attempt

I normally need three visits to feel satisfied with the exploration of subject. The first visit documents what I see but usually does not show any depth of vision for a subject. The second visit builds on the documentation seen in the first and is a more in depth exploration. The third visit confirms the completion of the subject or adds a minor twist to a previous image.  This image was taken the day after the first vision and shows more of the river that I was trying to capture. The sunburst adds time day to the time of year information seen in the leaves.

November Transition

I was out locally for the first time in a month and testing my new Sony. This image reflects both the transition of seasons and my transition in camera brands.

Cottonwood River

Returning to my roots of landscape photography has been fun. My dusty ND filters are getting a workout and when used in conjunction with digital techniques really make images pop. This was created with a 3 stop graduated ND filter and basic Lightroom adjustments. 

Ice Out

The sure sign of spring is ice leaving the river. We may get false hopes up when the temperature temporarily rises or some snow melts but once the ice is out winter is over. It's reassuring since the forecast is predicting another winter storm today. Always looking for the silver lining, it will make for a good snow melting time-lapse in a couple days.

Last morning of tranquility

This is the morning on the day ice left the Cottonwood River. Little did I know that this tranquil scene would be replaced 10 hours later  with ice floes racing downstream in dark muddy brown water. 

What deer?

That's what my wife said when after watching yesterday's time lapse video. Each video is watched a dozen or more times in the editing process so the minute details seem obvious to me by the time the finished product is ready to share. The same can be said when editing and enhancing still shots. We see the flaws others overlook making us at times our own worse critic. In case you missed the deer yesterday here it is in a moderately cropped image.

The season of change

Spring's transitions can be hard to capture in a single image, especially in March, so I have started using time lapse to show change. Time lapse is a faith driven exercise since there is no predicting what will occur over a 6 hour period that is recorded in a 10 second video. 

Technical: 1 minute intervals for 6 hours, manual exposure, Giga Pro T used as the intervalometer on a Canon 30D, JPEG capture. Edited in iMovie to half speed, deer further reduced to 25% speed.

Cottonwood River Sunset

After a dark, gray day there was a rim of brightness on the horizon just before sunset; an excellent opportunity to do time lapse! 

Technical: manual exposure 1/60, f 8.0, ISO 1250, 3 second interval using Magic Lantern, JPEG files, images connected with Quicktime 7.

Cottonwood Color

I walked along the Cottonwood River one morning last week and its namesake trees produced this brilliant reflection on the river.  With most color past peak it was good to see some color remaining.

Technical: 70-200 lens, strong contrast curve used in Lightroom

Greater Yellow Legs

I watched a pair of greater yellow legs along the Cottonwood River several evenings last week trying to get a tight shot of them feeding. Thursday I set up a blind and waited for them to arrive.  After two hours I gave up waiting for them.  After starting to put the blind away only to hear their familiar calls and see them land where I had been watching. Technical: f8, 1/60 second + 6 hours over 3 evenings.

Hungry Beavers

The Cottonwood River is open and no spring flooding so I have been watching beaver feed on the brush along the river bank.  As long as I'm sitting and quiet they carry on although most evenings are not very exciting.  Recently the pair ate for an hour and groomed for half an hour, after all that excitement I had to leave.  This video is from one of the more interesting evenings.