Chimney Rock and the Nebraska FrontierPosted by drfl on July 9th, 2009

Today I am going to take a break from my “Missing the Mountains” series which will return tomorrow.  About over a month ago I posted an image to Darwin Wiggett’s Life and Learning Through the Lens monthly contest.  The theme was an alternative view to icons.  I submitted this image of Chimney Rock with the following tidbit:

While the state of Nebraska in the United States has very little that many would consider “icons” it does have Chimney Rock – the pinnacle by which many of the early settlers guided their wagons in their journeys to the west.  No photography book on Nebraska would be complete without an image of this prairie landmark.  Almost all the photographs I have seen have focused on the rock almost solely, with its jagged features dominating the composition.  In my rendition I choose to show it more from a distance, as the early travelers would might have initially seen it – a distant beacon of the next waypoint.

As it turns out, Mark and Leslie Degner, chose my image as this month’s winner!  More details and great submissions can be seen on Darwin’s Blog.  This image has always had some great memories associated with it.  I was really starting to get into digital photographer around this time and I took a great trip through South Dakota and Nebraska with my wife.  It was a wonderful trip and we both agree that this is one of our favorite images so it was pleasing to see that others enjoyed it too!

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 17-40 f/4l @ 27mm, f/9, 1/50 sec.
Chimney Rock National Historical Site, Nebraska

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/photo.asp?pictureid=ChimneyRock&xmlfile=/journey06/xml/color/midwest.xml&x=0.

Twilight ThunderPosted by drfl on July 1st, 2009

A warm breeze, the rustle of nearby cottonwoods, the faint sound of thunder in the distance.  On this evening, I visited a field very close to where I live.  I originally went to photograph the foxtails and found these delicate flowers at the edge of the field.  With the storm rolling through the sky darkened as twilight fast approached.  I managed to capture a few shots of the yellow buds before it became too dark to capture a still shot.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 23mm, f/7.1, 1/60 sec.
Field near Omaha, Nebraska

Peaceful GlowPosted by drfl on May 20th, 2009

While growing up my parents always thought it was important to travel the area in which you live.  This doesn’t mean that’s all we did, but we would make it a point to see some of what the area has to offer.  Since I grew up in Nebraska I had the opportunity to see western Nebraska, Scottsbluff, Chimney Rock, Pioneer Village, and other parts of the state many people never see.  Now that I am adult with my family, I have also tried to plan trips for my family to see the different areas close-by. 

Today’s post comes out of my recent trip with my family to the Valentine, Nebraska area.  It’s an image of the grasslands and prairie in the sandhills at Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.  At sunset on this particular evening the grass glowed golden with the light of the setting sun and the clouds reflected the last color of the warm light in the distance above the hills. 

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/14, 1/8 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

Someday we’ll find it…Posted by admin on July 30th, 2008

This is the last photograph that was taken during the storm near Herman, Nebraska. In this image, I offsetted the rainbow in the distance with the fence in the foreground. I also captured a bit of the reflection of the rainbow in the rain water in the fields.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 23mm, f/11, 1 sec.
Near Herman, Nebraska

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.

From the Archives: An Eastern Nebraska FieldPosted by admin on March 7th, 2008

For today’s image I dug deep into the archive, way back to May of 2006 and found this image. On this day in May my wife Holly and I had been on a driving excursion looking for hay bales to photograph. We didn’t find any, but we found this field and I stopped and snapped a few images. I have never processed this image previously since it did not have the dramatic landscape light that I prefer. While going back through my old images again, however, I stopped on this image due to the contrasts between the yellow of the field and the cyan in the sky. Further exploration fo this image led me to the barn and the trees in the background of the image. I consider this to be a stereotypical Nebraska image, which I sometimes try to avoid, but it is still a serene view. Incidently, this was taken the same evening as one of my most popular photographs, “A Country Road”.

Technical Details:

Canon 20d, 10-22 ef-s @ 22mm, f/10, 1/60 sec., May 2006
Eastern Nebraska near Greenwood (I think)

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.