I never expected this....



Steam fog blowing off of Day Lake just before sunset



It was 40 degrees near Clam Lake Wisconsin with steam fog rising from Day Lake and blowing across the road we were on.

The weather was really different, with the air colder than the water and steam fog rising from the lakes. But the sun never made it through the clouds, so we decided to get up early the next day and hope for similar conditions and some light.

We made it back to Day Lake by 6:20am but the sun didn't. Just dark gray and gloomy clouds and a steady rain. I wasn't very optimistic about getting good photos, but I was with my dad and he was. So I started driving west towards Namekagon and was hoping for some light.

I don't know what flower this is with fog steam obscuring the trees and lake in the distance.



 

The rain let up, I glimpsed a sliver of blue sky through a crack in the clouds and saw some small pink flowers by the road. 

 

 

I haven't looked them up yet and don't know what they are, but it was nice to find some color. 

 

 

I was happy to find this blue flag iris looking it's best near some water by the road.

 

And even more excited by this female hooded merganser with her ducklings resting on a log in a small pond.

 

 

 

 

It was fun watching the baby ducks pile on top of each other, stretch their wings, and briefly nap, before jumping off of the log into the water. 

 

 

 

 

 



 

I didn't expect to find much to photograph with the way the day started.

 

 

On the way home I stopped to shoot a patch of wild lupines growing along the road. 

 

 

It was overcast and the colors were really vivid, but the mosquitoes were more than I could take. 

 

 

I had bugs on my eyes and in my ears and heard an almost incessant buzzing by my head as I tried to make these images. It was a struggle to keep the pictures sharp with a breeze moving the flowers and the bugs moving me.  

 

 

Yet, in the end it all worked out better than I could have hoped. Some days are luckier than others I guess. Hope you had a good day too.

Finally....

A few years ago I noticed a blue flag iris like this growing at the edge of a pond in summer. I never took any photos, but really liked how it looked.

At the time I didn't even know what kind of flower it was.

Over the next couple of years I noticed the flower growing near different ponds and lakes I visited.

Every time I found them, either the flowers were past their prime and not looking the best or I didn't have my camera with me.

This past weekend everything changed.

I went looking to photograph elk near Clam Lake Wisconsin and only saw two elk after sunset. Needless to say, I didn't get any elk photos, but I did find a great looking blue flag iris growing at the edge of a small pond.

 

The first evening I found the flower I only had a couple of minutes to take pictures before the sun went behind the trees and I lost my light.

So I was there the next morning by 6:30 to get another shot at it. In my head I had an idea of the image that I wanted to create. 

I'm glad I went back because I was able to get the photo that I had imagined and a bunch more as well.