Category Archives: Nature

Nature, Photography, Wildlife

COLVILL BAY – Red Wing, MN #exploremn

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COLVILL BAY

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.

COLVILL BAY
4 of a kind
COLVILL BAY
A pair
COLVILL BAY
A full house

It was tough shooting with the steam rising off the water and snow falling from above.

COLVILL BAY
Joker

It is always interesting to see what variety of ducks will be in the bay.

Red-breasted Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Mergansers
Mergansers
Mallards
Mallard

Views: 177

Nature, Photography

GO ANYWAY – Don’t trust a forecast #sunrise

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GO ANYWAY

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.

Weather Underground
Photographer’s Ephemeris  Skyfire

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.

GO ANYWAY
Bay City
GO ANYWAY
Bay City

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.

GO ANYWAY
Warrentown Coulee Wayside
GO ANYWAY
Maiden Rock

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.

GO ANYWHERE
Bay City
GO ANYWAY
Bay City

 

Views: 147

Nature, Photography

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE – Super Blood Wolf Moon?

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TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

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.

The composite

Total Lunar Eclipse

Views: 409

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

SUBZERO SUNRISE – Bay City, Wi #sunrise

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SUBZERO SUNRISE

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.

Subzero Sunrise
Nikon D700 | ISO 200 | 16mm | f/7.1 | 6 seconds

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.

Drone Video

Drone Photos

Subzero Sunrise
Critter Trails

Panoramas.

360 converted to sphere

 

Views: 175

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes, Time-lapse

MIDWEEK SUNSET – Maiden Rock, WI #sunset

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MIDWEEK SUNSET

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.

Midweek Sunset
Nikon D700 | ISO 200 | 16mm | f/11 | 1/160 second
Midweek Sunset
Nikon D700 | ISO 200 | 16mm | f/11 | 1/60 second

Drone Photos

Drone Video

D700 Time lapse Video Clip

 

Views: 228

Drone, Nature, Photography, River-scapes

A FLEETING MOMENT – Bay City, Wi #sunrise

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A FLEETING MOMENT

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.

D700 | ISO 200 | f/7.1 | 4 seconds | 16 mm
D700 | ISO 200 | f/7.1 | 1/20 second | 16 mm
D700 | ISO 200 | f/7.1 | 1/30 second | 16 mm

A 4 second clip that encompasses those 40 minutes.

I am really happy with both the vertical and horizontal panorama shots.

A FLEETING MOMENT

Mavic 2 Pro | ISO 100 | f/3.5 | 1/20 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames

A FLEETING MOMENT
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.

A FLEETING MOMENT
Mavic 2 Pro 360 sphere

After a bit of manipulation in Photoshop – viola.  Sunrise-o-sphere.

A FLEETING MOMENT
360 sphere

EXTRA

Out low across the ice and back high

FLEETING MOMENT
Bay City Campground

Here is an aerial view of Bay City Campground.

A shot of two fellow photog friends capturing the sunrise this a.m.

Fleeting Moment
L. Jeff Marcus | R. Kevin Gardiner

 

Views: 213

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, Steam-scapes

PINE CREEK – Maiden Rock, WI #aerialphotography

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PINE CREEK

After shooting sunrise in Bay City Friday morning  and heading further down river to Maiden Rock chasing the sunrise, I went to a favorite spot of mine close by to explore it from a whole new perspective.   I have many fond memories of Pine Creek as child.  There was a pretty amazing restoration project in this area and the recreation area open to the public is very nice.  Here is an article about the Pine Creek Project from August 2018.

PINE CREEK
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/2.8| 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 5 Frames
PINE CREEK
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/2.8| 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames

The views directly overhead were pretty great.  Love capturing this new point of view.

 

 

Views: 221

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

RISING SUN – Maiden Rock, WI #sunrise

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RISING SUN

After shooting sunrise in Bay City Friday morning, I headed further down river to Maiden Rock.  I made it there just in time to see the sun rising over the bluffs.  The sunlight warmed up the blue-cold landscape instantly creating a lovely scene.

RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro | ISO 100 | f/5 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm

Maiden Rock Panoramas

RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/5 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames
RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro | ISO 100 | f/4.5 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames
RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/3.2 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 5 Frames
RISING SUN
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/3.2 | 1/640 seconds | 10.26 mm | 8 Frames

The ice is pretty fascinating as seen from above.

Ice
Ice
Ice
Downtown Maiden Rock

 

Views: 134

Drone, Nature, Photography, River-scapes

BAY CITY BEAUTY – Bay City, WI #sunrise

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BAY CITY BEAUTY

Bay City Beauty – I never tire of the beauty of this shoreline, this bay, the bluffs and the sunrises that happen here.  Another work gone and an early morning spent marveling at the palette of colors mother nature painted the sky with today.

D700 ISO 200 | f/10 | 4 seconds | 16 mm
D700 ISO 200 | f/10 | 1 seconds | 16 mm
D700 ISO 200 | f/10 | 1/160 seconds | 16 mm

It was also another opportunity to practice drone photography.  I’ve always leaned toward portrait orientation in my photography, but I am really liking the result of the vertical [portrait orientation] panoramic images from the drone.

BAY CITY BEAUTY
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/6.3 | 1/25 seconds | 10.26 mm | 7 Frames

Two more panoramas.

BAY CITY BEAUTY

BAY CITY BEAUTY

And a few more single frame shots.

 

 

Views: 139

Drone, Nature, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR – Lake City, MN #sunset

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ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR

Having had so much fun this a.m. shooting sunrise, I decided to head out this afternoon and see what I could do with the afternoon golden hour.  I brought the best wife ever along so she could see how much fun this is.  Here she is standing next to me for a selfie.

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/20 seconds | 10.26 mm

The light was wonderful.  The limestone faces of the bluffs on the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin glowed orange as the sun went down.

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm

Panoramas

The practice continues on drone panorama photography.  It’s all completely manual at this point as I have not delved into the automated features of the Mavic 2 Pro.

The wayside rest next to Hansen’s Harbor between Frontenac and Lake City was an interesting location.  I was a nice wide open expanse to practice flying around.  The ice on the lake was very interesting, colorful and full of texture.

ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames
ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 11 Frames
ELEVATED GOLDEN HOUR
Mavic 2 Pro| ISO 100 | f/8 | 1/50 seconds | 10.26 mm | 9 Frames

A few more single shots

 

Views: 211