On the way home from capturing sunrise in Bay City this a.m. I made a quick stop at the back channel of the Mississippi River. The steam was rising wide and high this morning. It was a pretty magnificent sight.
My favorite shot is a vertical panorama.
Here are a few more.
Views: 256
I didn’t sleep in this morning. The weather forecast was good as was the Photographer’s Ephemeris Skyfire sunrise prediction. It was a titch chilly, but with a hot cup of Caribou and the proper clothing, this wasn’t going to be a big deal. It was a Brrr-b-b-beautiful sunrise. The pre-sunrise color was spectacular.
The sunrise wasn’t too bad either.
At 16mm
At 150mm
Beautiful morning all-the-way-around.
A short time lapse of the sunrise and steam this morning
Views: 170
After missing sunrise and quick drive down the lake and back I stopped in to Colvill Bay. Per usual this time of year, there was a flurry of activity. Ducks in the water and eagles flying overhead and perched in trees.
I was greeted right away by a mature eagle perched close by. The snow was falling pretty good at this point; it sat there eye-balling the ducks below.
There were quite a few very active eagles there this morning. As I was shooting, a poker theme emerged.
It was tough shooting with the steam rising off the water and snow falling from above.
It is always interesting to see what variety of ducks will be in the bay.
Views: 177
I know better. When in doubt…go anyway. Even in sub-zero weather. You can always go back home.
This last Friday I looked at the forecast and figured I should pass based on the cloudy forecast and pending snow. The Photographer’s Ephemeris Skyfire, however, was predicting a good sunrise.
I elected to sleep in. By the time I woke up and looked outside it way beyond sunrise and it looked like I missed a good one despite the forecast.
By the time I reached Bay City, the snow clouds were moving in and the sun was barely visible.
I drove to Maiden Rock to see how the ice looked there. The ice heaves are nothing closed to what they have been in years past. I stopped by the Warrentown Coulee Wayside before Maiden Rock to capture the wide-open vastness from that location.
Lots of ice fisher people. The clouds were closing in and the light fading fast. It didn’t take long for the sun to disappear altogether. By the time I arrived back at Bay City is was almost a complete white-out.
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The eclipse will happen on the night of the year’s first of three straight full supermoons, meaning the moon will be nearly at its closest to Earth for this January, as the eclipse takes place.
Many are calling it a Blood Moon eclipse. Why? We’re not entirely sure, but you can read more about Blood Moons here.
Now here’s a single, sad last thing. This will be the last total lunar eclipse to grace Earth’s sky until May 26, 2021.
~earthsky.org
I don’t care what you call it, shooting the moon is something to experience. The weather can be challenging and then there is always gear performance. Camera batteries do not like the cold; when they get old, they only go down hill faster. I can relate.
It was -7 to -11. I switched out batteries once. Covering the camera with a blanket helped tremendously. A bonfire would have been wonderful.
I am pretty happy with the time, effort and results. It was worth enduring the bitter cold.
Views: 409
Every time I see the steam rising off of the open water one of Abbas songs starts to play in my head with queen replaced with steam. You know the song I am referring to. Good luck getting that out of your head now. You are welcome 🙂
This a.m. I remembered my spotlight and managed a short snippet of the steam. It was -11 and the camera froze up in just under an hour.
It was a pretty spectacular sunset this a.m. The color was beautiful.
Here is a panorama I shot; you can see the long line of steam
No drone photos/video this a.m. Too cloud to stand around for very long.
Views: 236
It was a subzero sunrise this a.m. Albeit only by a degree, it was enough to bite your exposed fingertips and slap you in the face. The camera bared most of the cold atop the tripod just outside my toasty warm car. You can see that Jupiter and Venus have ventured significantly closer to one another.
I forgot my spotlight this a.m. that I use to aid in obtaining a focal point. I ended up with a short and out-of-focus time lapse sequence. It is still a bit interesting; especially the steam rising off the opening in the ice.
Panoramas.
360 converted to sphere
Views: 175
The conditions were favorable and I was able to get home at a reasonable enough time to get out and enjoy a midweek sunset. Maiden Rock, WI is another favorite spot; mostly for sunsets given the angle of sunrise throughout the year not being as favorable in this location. There are typically large ice heaves just off the shore, but not this year. Plenty of cracks and other interesting designs in the ice though.
Fellow photog, Jeff Marcus, joined me this beautiful afternoon. We had the beach all to ourselves this fine January afternoon.
The ice on Lake Pepin was smooth and had no snow cover. There were a handful of ice fishermen trying their and people ice skating too all over the bay.
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That was definitely the case this cold January morning. It was just under 30 degrees, but the 5 mph breeze out of the east (across a huge sheet of ice) made it seem significantly colder. It was mostly cloudy upon arrival and after a bit, there was only a hint of color on the horizon; them boom! The color came. And just like that the color was gone just as quickly as it appeared. It was a fleeting moment of spectacular color.
Some moments are nice, some are nicer, some are even worth photographing in the cold January weather.
Here are three frames captured 40 minutes apart.
A 4 second clip that encompasses those 40 minutes.
I am really happy with both the vertical and horizontal panorama shots.
Mavic 2 Pro | ISO 100 | f/3.5 | 1/20 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames
I shot my first automated drone 360 sphere this morning. The images looks interesting.
After a bit of manipulation in Photoshop – viola. Sunrise-o-sphere.
Out low across the ice and back high
Here is an aerial view of Bay City Campground.
A shot of two fellow photog friends capturing the sunrise this a.m.
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River Terrace Prairie Scientific and Natural Area at sunset Friday January the 11th, 2019.
Even viewed from a mile away, is a striking feature on the landscape. This site was protected as an SNA for its dry sand – gravel prairie (Southern subtype), which is ranked as an imperiled native plant community in the state. It occurs here on glacial outwash atop an isolated terrace of the Cannon River that rises sharply 30 feet above the surrounding lower terrace.
~MN DNR
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