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This winter’s weather has not presented many opportunities for wintry photography. I did manage to get to a frozen section of Wherspann Lake here in Omaha and do some leaf and ice abstracts. While leaf in ice photographs are fairly common, each is still beautiful in it’s own unique way.
Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 50 CM lens, f/11, 1/100 sec.
Chalco Hills Recreation Area, Nebraska
Badlands National Park is a playground of shapes and forms, patterns and colors. Whenever I visit I explore these rock formations with a longer lens to capture a more intimate view of the park. The light was especially nice on this morning giving a warm pre-sunrise glow. To see what this area looks like from a wide-angle lens check out Morning Illumination taken 2 years previously. On the right side of that image you can see the area on which I chose to focus for today’s post. I also decided on the panoramic view because I felt the wide horizontal lent itself well to exploration of the shapes and colors in this image.
Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 127mm, f/9, .6s
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
The Sandhills of Nebraska is an ecologically sensitive region that has been the subject of heated discussion due to the plans of TransCanda to build the Keystone XL pipeline across the area.
While I am glad that an increased awareness of this area has finally come, it should have come sooner and in a more positive light instead of the crux of a international debate.
The Sandhills is an area that is both beautiful and subtle, undulating hills and prairie as far as the eye can see. This is not the stereotypical Nebraska of corn and agriculture, but it is an area that comprises 1/3rd of the state. I have had the opportunity to photograph it several times and each time I know I will return. I encourage everyone to visit this place at least once if for nothing else, to hear prairie grass speak with every breath of the wind, to watch the clouds slowly traverse the azure sky and to experience the quiet solitude with only your thoughts as company.
Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska
For years I have visited DeSoto, my family often in tow. My eldest daughter, Riley loved to run the halls of the visitor center and look at the artifacts of the old Bertrand steamboat that had met its end in the mud and muck of what became DeSoto lake. I would occasionally visit by myself, finding a quiet solitude on the Cottonwood trail or on the shore of the lake.
The flooding of the Missouri this past spring, summer and into the fall affected lives, changed landscapes, and even modified the course of the river. Nuclear power plants stayed shut down, roads and highways were under water and destroyed, houses and farms were devastated. DeSoto was among the areas that was hit hard. The lake rose several feet and aerial photographs showed a large body of water covering the land that once existed in the former oxbow of the Missouri River.
The water has now receded. A week ago I returned to photograph it once again with a friend, Jayson Alder. Today I am presenting some images from that trip. I invite you to also check out Jayson’s blog to see what he captured as we hiked along the Cottonwood trail. I would also like to thank him for letting me use his 100 2.8 Macro lens. I really don’t need any help in wanting more equipment, but I must say the lens performed well. From the short time I used it, I do recommend taking a look at getting one if you are interested in doing some macro. Right now I use a 50 CM lens which works well, but you have to be close to your subject and it autofocuses ssssllllloooooowwww. Of course, it is one of only two lenses that remain from Canons original EF lineup from the 80s! The faster focus and longer distance of the 100 2.8 Macro was nice!
Since the winter hasn’t really come yet, I feel the need to go back to my Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado photographs I captured in May just to get something wintry. Yes, May for a winter feel photo and 50s for January in Nebraska. Different for sure.
Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 24mm f/3.5L TS-E Lens, f/11, 1/3 sec., 2-stop Singh-Ray Soft Grad
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Following the lead of my An End of Year Retrospective for 2010 and An End of Year Retrospective for 2009I am presenting my favorite images of 2011. These have been mainly chosen not only because I personally liked the image, but in many times because of my experience while capturing the image.
I begin with one of the first images I captured in 2011, an image of Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge. This made the list for two reasons, first, because of the flooding of the Missouri River, Boyer Chute has not been accessible and I am not even sure how it will look. Second, this was the first image I made with my Tilt/Shift 24mm TS-E II and it really showed me how much fun I was going to have with that lens.
This image almost didn’t happen. As I mentioned in my post from July, I don’t normally capture agricultural scenes, but as I was driving to my destination, I couldn’t help but stop and capture this image. The wheat, the clouds, the silos all just seem to come together.
This image made the list for a similar reason as the previous entry, I was driving on my way somewhere, saw these two horses hanging out in a field and I stopped and made a quick image. Later, upon review, I found that I liked the composition and the poses the horses had.
I included this image because it was a little outside of my norm of shooting, much like “Almost Harvest”. Due to high winds across the prairie at Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, these tumbleweeds had piled up against a long fence. I liked the contrasts and patterns and decided to spend a little time, probably almost 2 hours, working various compositions. Although I captured a few I liked, this was the one that resonated with me the most.
Every Time I go to central or western Nebraska, I have to shoot the Milky Way. Toadstool Geologic Park lends itself well to this type of photography, so naturally, I had to take advantage of the opportunity.
This photograph made the list, well, because pheasants are darn hard to shoot and I feel like it came out pretty well!
This image made the list because I wanted a unique perspective on Snake River Falls in Nebraska. I found this high vantage point after searching and hiking for a bit. Additionally, because of new developments, Snake River Falls is endanger of no longer being publicly accessible, so this could potentially be the last image I capture of it.
Forty mile per hour winds, pelting sand, lousy light, everything seemed to be against me for this image. Then, only 10 minutes prior to sunset, clouds rolled in and the sun’s light shot out from behind with a beautiful intensity. It’s good to be patient.
Fog, trees, contrasts, shadows and patterns, I like the simplicity of this image.
After walking about a mile in waist deep snow before sunrise, the sun finally crested the horizon and bathed snow covered Rocky Mountain National Park and Long’s Peak in warm light.
Lastly, after a spring snowstorm came through Rocky Mountain, I ventured to Moraine Park and waited for sunrise. The light was good and by using my Tilt/Shift I was able to shift for greater detail. That’s when a plan really comes together – good plan, great weather conditions and cooperative gear!