On the way home.....

 

Thunderstorms rolled through and heavy rain fell all afternoon in Madison Wisconsin.

 

 

Then just before dark some light slipped through the heavy cloud cover, 

 

 

and the sky seemed to glow yellow and orange. 

 

 

I found a place to pull over and did my best to make some useful photos with a limited foreground.

 

It was still raining steadily so I hand held the camera, shot from inside the car, and counted on the image stabilization to do it's job.

 

 

Normally I wouldn't chose a street light and parking lot as a subject, but tonight it was all about the light,

 

 

 

and by making due I was able to catch it. 

 

 

If only every stormy day would end like this.

 

 

Yellowstone sunset......

Here's a tip for photographing interesting sunsets when you're on the west side of Yellowstone Park.

 





 

Say you've been photographing elk along the Madison River and the sun has just dipped behind the mountains leaving both you and the elk in the shade.

 

If you head to the car and drive towards Old Faithful you will find there is still plenty of light at the Lower Geyser Basin.

 

 

At the far point of the Fountain Paint Pots trail is Clepsydra Geyser, which erupts almost constantly.

 

 

 

At sunset Clepsydra Geyser offers you the opportunity to make some cool images right from the boardwalk.

 

 

 

The amount of clouds in the sky will make a big difference in the amount of color in your photos.

 

 

By adjusting the aperture you can paint with the steam from Clepsydra Geyser. Freezing it with a fast shutter speed or allowing it to flow with a slower speed such as the 1/20 of a second I used here.

 

 

 

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and the time you have before the sun goes down.

 

 



Just keep composing the shots you like and enjoy your surroundings.

 

 

The sound of the geyser erupting.

 

 

 

The smell of the nearby lodgepole pines.

 

 

 

 

And the feel of a cool breeze on your face as the sun sets. By continuing to follow the light and knowing that the Lower Geyser Basin has lots to offer at sunset you won't miss a thing.

 

 

 

Including these dead lodgepole pine trees silhouetted on the way back to the your car. If and when you photograph the Lower Geyser Basin at sunset I hope you have a night as good as mine.











 

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.

 







Just getting wet

It was still 90 degrees just before sunset when I got to Lake Superior. I kicked off my shoes and got in the water. I had only a few minutes before I lost the daylight as the sun went down.

There were almost no clouds in the sky and the day just sort of slipped away. 

This is what it looked like just after sunset.

Since I had no subject and wasn't in a hurry to leave the water, I screwed around and made a few self portraits. I'm glad I did, because about ten minutes after sunset the sky to the west got a little color.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this.

It surely wasn't a spectacular sunset, but I was glad to be standing knee deep in the lake on a such a warm night.

Another self portrait with the western sky behind me.

I made the mistake of setting my camera bag down on an exposed sandbar in the lake as I took my camera and tripod and went further out to get photos. About twenty minutes later I looked back to what had been the sandbar and saw only my camera case on the water.

It was already pretty dark as I made my way back to see if anything important had gotten wet. My extra memory card was sealed in a Ziploc bag and seemed no worse for wear. A couple of filters and an owners manual got soaked, no big deal.

I'm gonna have to google it, but I'm pretty sure that Lake Superior has tides similar to an ocean's. The water had risen a few inches in just half an hour.

All in all it was a good night. I didn't get the photos I was hoping for, but I had fun trying.

Update- I did google it, and found the water fluctuations in Lake Superior aren't actually tides, they are called seiches(pronounced saysh).

You can click here to learn more 

 http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2000/02/bonanza_for_lake_superior_seiches_do_more_than_move_water.html

or; http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/seiches.htm

Far away

Several years ago my life went to hell. Important things weren't working, people lied and cheated and I wasn't doing well. On an August afternoon I got in my car with no luggage, no plan, and started driving west.

I drove for about an hour before I had a choice to make. The interstate highway split; to the left was I90 which headed through southern Minnesota to South Dakota and Montana. Going straight I94 went through central Minnesota and North Dakota before it rejoined and became I90 near Billings  Montana.

I didn't know where to go, I just wanted to get away. I pulled to the shoulder of the expressway and sat there for a couple of minutes.

I chose left.

It had been awhile since I had spent any time in South Dakota.

The sun was already getting low as I crossed the Mississippi River and the road climbed the bluffs above LaCrosse Wisconsin.

As I came to the top of the hill and started driving west  across Minnesota and into the sunset, I didn't know where I was going, but it felt good to be there.

Just a few hours later I had passed through the farmlands of southern Minnesota into South Dakota.

The skies were clear and the night uneventful as I continued west. Nothing but a little truck traffic and lots of time to think.

I started to get tired so I stopped to sleep for awhile at a rest area somewhere in South Dakota. I fell asleep lying on a picnic table watching shooting stars cross the night sky.

The sun rose in my rear view mirror. It was a good start to another warm and sunny day.

I decided to stop in Wall South Dakota just because I could. 
There had been signs advertising Wall since Minnesota. Wall is a made up destination for tourists heading west. I had been there before, but that was a long time ago.

So I pulled off the interstate and pulled into a parking space in front of an old west (in a movie sort of way) looking building advertising free ice water. I walked in, got some water, and stretched my legs. It was a spacious building with lots of souvenirs and mementos. Though it was still early, quite a few tourists were milling around and living their dream in Wall South Dakota.

I was glad I had stopped, but I didn't stay long.

There were signs for Badlands National Park but I decided not to visit. I had spent a little time there in August years before and could still remember the 100 degree plus heat.

It wasn't long and I could see the Black Hills in the distance. I could feel the cool breezes and picture the shade from big ponderosa pine trees in my mind. Maybe that's where I would go.

An hour later and I was in Rapid City South Dakota and it was time to make another choice. Go left, and I'd be headed towards Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and the Black Hills. Go right, and I'd be in Wyoming and eventually Yellowstone National Park.

I'd always loved Yellowstone. For me it was good for the soul.

I turned right.

The road I was on, I90 swung north along the edge of the Black Hills. In the distance on the right side I could see a tall hill standing all alone on the open plains.

I didn't know anything about it, but thought maybe I should go there.

As I got closer to the hill there was an exit for Sturgis South Dakota and I got off of the highway.

Every year Sturgis holds a huge motorcycle rally which draws 100s of thousands of people to a town with a normal population of about 6,000. 

I got into Sturgis just after the rally had ended. There were still vendors taking down their tents and storefronts, but very few bikers around. I stopped at a grocery store and got  something to eat and a local newspaper.

The paper said a mountain lion with a radio collar had been hit and killed on the road that led to Bear Butte. The hill I had seen was called Bear Butte.

Since I was a kid I had wanted to see wild mountain lions, live mountain lions, not dead ones. It was good to know they were around.


I found signs leading to Bear Butte and followed them a few miles out of town until I got to the lone peak. I stopped to pay the daily user fee and drove up to a parking lot at the base of the hill.


Although there was a nice visitor center, I only used the bathroom and water fountain to fill two empty water bottles I had with me. 


It was already evening as I took my water and started up the trail towards the summit of Bear Butte. The weather was beautiful and occasionally a cool breeze blew along the edge of the hill.

I stopped often to soak in the amazing views. The Great Plains stretched into the distance flat and unbroken in three directions and to the south rose the bluish colored Black Hills.

Bear Butte had been called Bear Mountain by some Native Americans and from the right direction it resembles the silhouette of a bear. 


As I walked the trail two prairie falcons cried out and coasted along the side of the mountain. A mule deer doe and fawn stood up and started to eat on the hillside below me. I only saw five other people and they were all heading down as I was going up.


As the trail came around the side of the hill I found some rocks jutting out from a ridge line where I could stand, stretch out my arms, and lean into the wind. The wind was blowing strongly enough that It could actually hold me up. For a few minutes I smiled broadly and laughed out loud as the wind whipped against my face and body holding me upright as I leaned forward trusting it not to drop me. 

What a great day!

A little later as I sat facing northwest on the side of the hill I had a 'different' experience. It'd be hard to explain and maybe unbelievable to some. All I can say, is that I got some much needed help from an unlikely source and my perspective had to shift to accommodate what happened. 

At the top of Bear Butte the trail leads to an observation platform. I had the place to myself and the views were outstanding so I stayed at the top until the sun set and then slowly followed the trail back to my vehicle.

I made some notes about what happened and then headed back through Sturgis towards the interstate and home.

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pictures left from that trip. A couple of years ago malware got the better of my computer and I lost the few images I had made that day with my point and shoot camera.

I did go back to Bear Butte a year later hoping to have a similar experience. I didn't. But I took a small camera and these two photos are from my second trip.

Ponderosa pine trees at the top of Bear Butte.

I noticed that the shadow from the mountain forms an almost perfect pyramid shape on the ground to the east at sunset. Some of the shadow can be seen on the right side of the above photo.

Beautiful sky at sunset from the summit.

Looking for Wisconsin elk

One afternoon my dad and I drove to the Clam Lake area looking for elk.

Just a few minutes into our drive we saw a group of mallard ducklings and I was able to get this image.

 

Once we got to Clam Lake we started driving some of the roads hoping to find elk. It has been my experience that the only way to get decent Wisconsin elk photos is to locate them from the roads and shoot from the car.

We found this painted turtle soon after we started driving around. I learned a long time ago to photograph the subject I do have when there is good light. So on this day, the turtle in the hand was worth two or more possible elk in the bush.

The turtle wasn't particularly patient with me so we left her to find an appropriate place to lay her eggs and got back to elk.

No elk, but we did see lots more painted turtles. I kept an eye on the clouds and sky planning for possible sunset shots and located a patch of wild lupines that would still be in sunlight later on.

The shadows were getting long and there were still no elk to be had when we headed to the lupines.

As I walked into the patch of flowers it was quickly apparent that a black bear had been there too. Flowers were knocked over and every couple of feet there were bear sized areas where all of the plants had been flattened as the bear sat on them.

I was glad the bear had walked through first, as I could follow its path and knock down a lot fewer flowers myself. I tried to create some decent images before I lost my light.

 

I silhouetted this lupine as the sun got low on the horizon.

 

I was optimistic as we headed for Day Lake hoping to capture some good sunset photos. It turns out, the light never really showed up, but quite a few mosquitoes did as I watched the sun dip below the horizon.

I made only a few images and sat down to enjoy the view as daylight slipped away.

Here I am watching the colors fade after a fun afternoon photographing elk with my dad.



Winter Sunset

I went out to see if I could find anything to photograph just before sunset yesterday.  This is what I found.

The light at sunset on a recently frozen Lake Kegonsa. It was 12 degrees, but I'm glad I didn't miss this.

Glacier National Park, Montana

I was in Glacier National Park Montana for a couple of days one August. The daytime temperature was near 90 degrees and in the evening big thunderstorms rolled in from the west.

I was sleeping in my tent at the Saint Mary campground and woke to thunder and the most beautiful display of lightning I had ever seen. The storm brought very little rain but the lightning was incredible.

The photos below show the sky and clouds as the storm came in over Wild goose Island on Saint Mary Lake. The following morning was beautiful and clear. A couple of days later smoke and fog from the fires the lightning had started filled the valleys and hugged the base of the mountains.

Clouds started to form in the sky to the west in the middle of the afternoon.

Sunset over Wild Goose Island on Saint Mary Lake

The colors in the sky just kept getting better.

Saint Mary Lake in Glacier Park just before the storm.

Just after dark.

The next morning was crisp, clear, and beautiful.

A few days later smoke filled the valley below Mount Cannon. Lightning associated with the thunderstorm had started several wildfires in the park.

Morning reflections of Divide, White Calf, and Curly Bear Mountains at Saint Mary Lake. Smoke from the forest fires and early morning fog hangs low on the mountains.

Smoke billows into the sky from a fire burning near Anaconda Peak and Flattop Mountain.