High Water

While crossing the St. Croix last weekend I noticed police officers and spectators on each side of the bridge. I pulled into the canoe landing and saw the river almost touching the bottom of the bridge. On Crex Meadows ponds and lakes also were filled almost to capacity . This photo was made with one leg of the tripod resting on the asphalt.

Mornng Mood

Cool colors and light, early morning fog: What more could you ask for? As the sun was rising I raced to the west side of Namekagon Barrens to catch it and the back lit bushes.  Landscape photography is an intense race to the best location in quickly changing light all with the goal of creating a calm, peaceful scene.

Technical: HDR technique with blending in Lightroom

Round Prairie Bison

This is where I like to start my day and work back to Mammoth. I'll frequently start in near darkness hoping to see moose. As local sun rise nears ground fog increases and there can be incredible mood shots. If a bison will model for me, all the better. Of course if he had been exhaling steam it would have been better. The curse of a photographer, always hoping for better.

Bison and Mill

These transplanted bison have become the rage for visitors at Minneopa State Park. Given the limited viewing times and the variability of bison behavior it took awhile to get a shot I had visualized. The Seppman mill in the background has long been the prairie shot to give a sense of place. Putting the two subjects together makes this a 21st century shot. The bison are one step in a very slow moving process of prairie restoration.

November Color

The golden color of October has faded. I'm grateful for blue sky in November. One of my current projects is recording squirrel behavior. Yesterday I donned an orange vest and went out looking of them. I saw a nice deer but the final shot of my sequence did not happen. 

Feeling Small

Standing among the cottonwoods, in the middle of Lamar Valley, in the Yellowstone National Park after sunrise on a September morning. From the road the valley is vast, from this perspective not only is it vast but I also felt very small.

September Dawn

I went out to Cottonwood Prairie last week in hopes of catching early morning dew and ground fog. However, a light breeze and crystal clear skies greeted me. 

Technical: Sky brightness was balanced using both  3 stop and 5 stop graduated neutral filters. I tried to do HDR in Lightroom but did not bracket a wide enough range.

Winter on the Prairie

Warm light is expected at a January sunset, a warm breeze is not. A great afternoon was spent exploring Cottonwood Prairie SNA enjoying the fresh air and open space. My eyes need to be stretched to the horizon every now and then.

An Hour at Norris Geyser Basin

I arrived late in the afternoon to photograph the basin with warm light and found this composition. I wandered around taking in the atmosphere, inhaling the vapors, and getting some shots until I saw the same composition in different light. The time between the images is 1 hour, 10 minutes. Both shots developed to maximum potential in Lightroom

Cloud over Lamar River

With the early arrival of winter it's a perfect time to review images from Yellowstone last month. A bright rim of light on the western horizon one evening encouraged us to stay in the valley after sunset. My daughter and I worked the edge of the river as the color was changing. Shadows were brightened in Lightroom.

Fish Lake Sunset

This was shot near the cabin after I raced out for sunset but in trying to find a good foreground missed the hot orange clouds that I originally saw. In rapidly fading light I managed to get a few images using a ND filter.

The gate and the fence theory

The Fence

The Gate

So where are they? When I find a subject my first question is "What do I see?" In this case I saw not the rocks but the wide open space. The first image is a fence which doesn't show the wide open space that made me stop and look it is just three rocks on the prairie. On the second image I start looking at the rocks and visually flow to the high clouds giving me the feeling of expansive space. What do you see?

Prairie Clouds

 I've been playing with time-lapse for a couple years and am still learning the craft. I recently discovered software called Sequence that is cheap and works well for removing the flicker which is a major problem in time-lapse photography. The basic camera settings I use are: 1/60, f22, manual focus, cloudy WB. If I can see the clouds moving I shoot at 2 second intervals, if not then at 3 second intervals. There is some math involved since at least 300 images are needed for a short clip.

Yellowstone Thoughts

Clouds over Lamar River

We just returned from a week in Yellowstone Park and as everyone there is a lot of reviewing, reliving, and editing to do for the next couple weeks.  This was our first trip during May and it was a beautiful time to go. The crowds were tolerable and wildlife is magical, as always in Yellowstone. My theme for the trip was "spring" and the shot list included water, young wildlife, and spring landscapes. I rarely photograph in the presence of others so being around tourists and other photographers was enlightening. I was reminded of the universal love of wildlife regardless of age, race, or nationality. 

Lines and Space

Sometimes simple lines and space represent the state of mind which occurred as I was looking over the south unit of Namekagon Barrens. Space, distance, curiosity, dreaming, wonder, peace are words that come to mind looking at this image

Technical: Red leaves anchor the front of the image with curved lines gently leading into the distance. 

Moonlight at Dusk

We see snow as white in almost all light conditions just because that is what our brain is telling us the color should be, then we take a shot and see the color as the camera does. Sometimes that color works to create the mood we have envisioned, other times it doesn't. This night shot was taken recently and blue snow bothered me. Using the split filter in Lightroom I desaturated the snow making it white. 

Open water in February

It's unusual to find quiet open water this time of year, especially after the recent temperatures. This rust laden water along Main Dike Rd. in Crex Meadows stays open and can be a winter viewing location for otters and mink, but none on this day. The setting sun and water added color to an otherwise gray winter afternoon. White balance set at the cloudy preset to enhance the colors.

Parallel Lines

I'm going over sots from last Sunday and noticed this version of a previous post. After looking at the flower heads I see parallel lines in the stem shadows, then the parallel lines of snow drifts, and finally the stems themselves. I wonder if this is what I subconsciously saw before taking the shot. I didn't "see" the lines until this afternoon.

Prairie Snow

This is another image from Cottonwood Prairie SNA. Despite all the snow in northern Minnesota this area has not had that much. The beauty of space and sky keep me returning to the prairies.

Prairie Sunset

Yes, this is a Minnesota prairie. I made a trip to Cottonwood Prairie SNA yesterday afternoon. While returning to the truck I was rewarded with a sunset with character but not much color. Technical: Lightroom used to converted to B & W and lighten the foreground