Starry Night...

I went out about midnight to find a place away from town to try and photograph the Orionid meteor shower. The sky was clear and the moon had set a little earlier.

I found a large oak tree, framed the shot and made exposures of about 25 seconds.

 

 

I was trying something new for me. In the past I had used low iso settings and long exposure times of minutes and hours to create star trails. This time I was using an iso of 3200 and 25 second exposures to try and capture the sky more as the eye sees it.

 

 

I was seeing lots of meteors but wasn't able to capture them in my images. I did capture this photo of light from a farmhouse diffused through trees.

 

 

It was a beautiful night to be out in northern Wisconsin.

 

 

Before heading home I found this large white pine tree in a field. I still didn't capture the meteors as they fell just out of frame, but I heard several packs of coyotes singing in the distance. All in all it was a very good night.







 

No pain in the aspen

Many trees had already lost their leaves by the time decent fall color showed up near Clam Lake Wisconsin.

So I was pleased to find this stand of quaking aspen

 

 

 

 

 

Looking resplendent in gold against the blue afternoon sky. 

 

I was near Clam Lake to try and photograph wild Wisconsin elk and finally found a lone bull just after sunset.

 

 



 

 

Still no elk, but a little fall color

I hadn't had much luck photographing Wisconsin elk near Clam Lake.


 

So I decide to try the fall color. 

 

 

I found pockets of maple trees with beautiful leaves of gold and orange.

 

As a few clouds moved across the sky.

 

 

After photographing the colorful trees I resumed my search for elk before the sun set.

 

 

I didn't find any elk, but I did capture these jet contrails reflected in the water at sunset.

 

 

And a little bit of color just before dark.



It only lasted a moment

I was looking for elk with no luck when I noticed the clouds and sky.

I grabbed my camera an ran to the waters edge.

Just in time to capture this sunset.

 

 



The light only lasted for moment, but it was enough. 

 

As I looked around trying to find other interesting compositions I saw a mosaic of roots reflected in the water a ways off.

 

I rolled my pants legs to my knees and made my way along the shoreline. I kept my pants mostly dry, but my boots were soaked.



Here's one of the images I made of the trees upturned roots.

 

 

After a few more photos I headed towards shore and walked back through a tangle of pine branches and downed spruce.

 

I paused along the way and noticed this view out to the lake.

 

It was only 45 minutes from the time I stopped until I got back to the car, but what a beautiful night.

 

 

Before leaving the Clam Lake area I walked out among some tamarack trees and made this image of the night sky.

 







Elk & Frog & Toad

I found this bull elk just before sunset near Clam Lake Wisconsin.

 

 

A day later this bull was staying near a couple of cows in a shaded forest.

 

I was hoping to photograph a larger bull so I headed back to Clam Lake.

 

I didn't find any good bulls, but I did find.....

 

a beautiful mink frog

 

 

 

 



and a really nice American toad. 

A little sunshine

I found these sunflowers just before sunset & only had minutes to make a few images.

 

 





 

 

 

 



Before the light was gone.

These photos are from Fish Lake Wildlife Area near Grantsburg, Wisconsin.

It Rained and Rained and Rained ...

And rained up to ten inches in Duluth Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday June 20th. Pattison State Park is located about twenty miles south of Duluth in the state of Wisconsin. On Thursday my dad and I drove to Pattison State Park where the Black River plunges over the Little Manitou Falls.

The river was roaring as is leaped over the falls.

I spent a couple of hours at the base of the falls waiting for good light and trying to make interesting compositions. The water washed over my feet and pushed at the legs of my tripod. All the while the falls thundered and large bubbles were formed in the pool in front of me and whipped into the air by an intermittent wind.

The sun stayed mostly behind billowing clouds so it was catch as catch can. I shot when the sun was out and found a rainbow just before I lost the light for the afternoon. I only had enough time to create four or five images with the rainbow at the base of the falls and it was over.

The volume of water rushing downstream and crashing over the rocks at the brink of Little Manitou Falls created a pulsing that I could feel and hear. For a little while I was alone in my happy place.

Only a day or two

This mayfly will only live for a day or two as an adult.

Just long enough to dry its wings and look for mates.

 

 

 

 

I only spent a few minutes making these images before this mayfly flew away to live its very brief adult life.

On the way home..

from dropping my son off I saw a couple of sandhill cranes.

The cranes were feeding in a field near the road.

The birds were near a residential neighborhood.

As I photographed them from my car people were driving, biking, and even walking by. It seemed like the birds were pretty accustomed to people. After a little while they layed down in the grass.

After getting up, the birds stretched and started feeding again.

Before they walked off.

I spent more than an hour with the birds and it made for a nice drive home.