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.









Making Do...

Making do with what I've got.

Sandhill cranes on a strip if land surrounded by water at their night time roost.

I only had a 100-400mm lens and an extension tube with me as I walked around an urban wetland near Madison.

Almost as soon as I got there I found a snapping turtle crossing one of the man made dikes.

I used the extension tube and was able to make relatively close up images like these three.

I like the duckweed on its shell.

By pulling the extension tube I got the turtle walking away.

I found this thistle flower along the path and then headed back to the sandhill cranes.

The lens I had wasn't long enough to isolate individual cranes so I had to get creative and shoot the group.





By waiting for the birds to remain nearly motionless I was able to make some nice silhouettes in spite of the slow shutter speeds.

While I was photographing the cranes on their roost, pairs and single cranes would fly in and join the flock. I caught this sandhill with its wings set and ready to land just after sunset.

I'm glad I took the camera on my walk and made do with what I had.