Category: Landscapes

Death Valley National Park

1/20/2019

We spent three days in Death Valley National Park last week (January, 2019). While many of the areas were closed due to the shutdown of the federal government (grrrr), we did see some of the notable features including the salt flats of Badwater Basin 282 feet below sea level - the lowest place in the western hemisphere, sand dunes, mountains and valleys, desert, a 200 year-old volcano crater, and very little wildlife (see previous post about the coyote). It is a pretty hot dry place most of the year, but it was cool, cloudy and rainy for most of our visit with one good day of sunshine.
(Click the photos to see larger.)

Badwater Basin Salt Flats 282' below sea level

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Merry Christmas 2018 and Happy New Year!

12/24/2018

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We have driven by this tree many times in previous years but never taken the time to stop and enjoy it. The tree, a few miles south of Faribault, MN, has been decorated for several years by Jerry Lageson and has something like 45,000+ lights on it. Most people go whizzing by at 70+ MPH on Interstate 35 and get a fleeting glimpse. There is not an easy exit to get to the side road and requires a few miles south on I-35, then a few more miles back north on county roads, across the interstate, them back south again to get to the tree. This was a perfect early December night right after a new fallen snow. Here is a news feature (after the commercial) from KARE 11 TV.

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Full Moon, Prairie Flowers and more

6/28/2018

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The setting Moon (Click to see larger)

I missed the full Moon rising last night (I should put these things on my calendar), so I got up early to see it setting this morning. The moon set at 6:03 AM, so I needed to be out to the spot where I wanted to take a photo of it setting behind a local windmill about an hour earlier. When I went out in the dim twilight there was a clear, cloudless sky, bright moon and I could see clearly where I need to be, but the moon was still too high in the sky to get the photo that I wanted. Then it happened. Out of nowhere a thick fog rolled in across the fields and I could no longer see the windmill, and the moon was hazy. Ugh! Well, I waited around to see what would happen and as the sun came up, the fog did dissipate a little. I got a few photos, but the moon was rapidly fading away as it sank in the the fog. Not the sharp, clear picture of the moon behind the windmill that I had hoped for.

The morning was not a total disappointment. In the road ditch where I was standing to take pictures of the moon there were many wild prairie flowers blooming, Monarch butterflies flitting from flower to flower, and I got a photo of a Dickcissel singing on a fence post. Click the photos below to see larger.

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Milky Way over the Utah Desert

5/1/2018

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On our recent road trip to Utah national parks I was able to get out and photograph the Milky Way in a very dark sky in the Mojave Desert in Southern Utah. Only a few wispy clouds, no moon and almost no light pollution. Incredibly bright stars. I've never seen the Milky Way this bright and clear in Iowa because we have too much light pollution, humidity and haze in the air.

One more Milky Way photo, taken at Balanced Rock in Arches National Park, Utah. This was just after the moon set and just before sunrise one night last week. There is a bit of light on the horizon from the city of Moab, but otherwise a very dark and clear sky.

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Lake Superior in Winter

1/10/2018

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Some years the North Shore of Lake Superior is frozen over or has huge ice flows by now, but despite several days of below zero weather the lake was still open when I was there last weekend. I like how the water washing up on the shore freezes on the rocks, creating an icy shore-line environment. Watch your step.
[Click the images to see larger.]

Lightning over Lake Superior

8/11/2017

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Lightning over Lake Superior at Grand Marais, MN on a June moonlit night. Multiple 8-second exposures blended in Photoshop. After taking some sunset photos of the lighthouse (below) and waiting for the northern lights which never appeared, I was heading south to find a place to sleep before taking some sunrise photos. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw a couple of lightning flashes and turned around back to a lake view of the storm. Setting up the camera on the tripod with an intervalometer set to take continuous 8 second exposures, I took photos of the storm moving across the lake for about 45 minutes.
The sailboat and lighthouse photos below were taken earlier in the evening at Grand Marais with a rain shower on the horizon. [Click the photos below to see larger.]

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Fireworks over Clear Lake

7/5/2016

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I couldn't resist a few fireworks photos on such a beautiful night at Clear Lake, Iowa. I love how the fireworks paint their abstract colors across the water. ISO 400, f/16, shutter on the 'B' setting for continuous exposure for an undetermined time. I would open the shutter and watch the fireworks as they blossomed and cover up the lens with my hat when they had reached the peak. Some of these are multiple exposures as I would uncover the lens and add another burst, then close the shutter when I thought I had enough on that frame. Confused? Well, I have to take a lot of pictures to get a few good ones because I never know what they will look like. Happy Independence Day!

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Rain Drops

5/29/2016

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I took a walk around the yard and gardens between rain showers yesterday and took a few photos of the raindrops on the leaves and flowers. (Click on the images to see larger.)

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The Milky Way Returns

4/13/2016

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As our Earth races around the Sun there are a few months, from November to February, when the Milky Way is not visible because it is blocked by the Sun. From March to October the galactic center (the brightest part of the Milky Way) is visible in the Northern Hemisphere and best photographed on a clear night with a new moon. I use an app called Photo Pills to determine what time the galactic center will rise above the horizon and the location - southeast sky in the spring, south in the Summer and southwest in the fall. On this night in April it would be visible from 2:03 AM til 5:07 AM and then the sky would start to get light from the rising Sun. Because there was haze on the horizon I couldn't really see the brightest part until about 3:30 AM and later. These photos with the lonely tree and the windmill were taken between 4:30 and 5:00 AM, ISO 1600, f/3.2, 25 second exposure with a 20mm lens and a sturdy tripod. They are single images. I could get brighter stars by using a higher ISO, but would get more noise (grain) in the sky, or use a technique of image stacking by combining multiple exposures in to one. Something to try next time. (Click the images to see larger.)

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Fall Colors

10/24/2015

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Mississippi River at Pikes Peak State Park, McGregor, IA

We recently took a drive over to the Mississippi River near McGregor, IA to look for Fall colors in the trees. The colors weren't as intense as we had hoped, perhaps because of the dry weather, but we did find some pretty trees. The image above and the first three below were at Pikes Peak State Park. Left to right below - wild ginger and trees, a dry gulch, Bridal Veil Falls (not much water flowing), and last - colorful trees at Effigy Mounds National Monument north of Marquette, IA. (Click the images to see larger)

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Lightning

6/5/2015

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Lightning tonight. According to my weather app the storm was about 50 miles away. I take lots of long exposures with the hope that I will get a lightning strike in one or two of the frames. The camera is on the tripod, and I use a remote timer (intervalometer) set in this case to take 20 second exposures repeatedly. I never know if I will get a bolt of lightning during that exposure or if it will be in the frame, but sometimes I get lucky. I would never do this when the lightning is close or if I can hear thunder. 112mm, f4.5, ISO 250, 20 second exposure and cropped.

Below is a second image taken earlier with a wide angle lens while there was still a bit of light in the sky from the setting sun. I got a triple! The three lightning bolts didn't happen at exactly the same time, but they happened within the eight-second exposure. The length of time the shutter is open has little to do with the exposure because the lightning strike is so fast, but does allow a wider window of opportunity to capture one. The exposure is controlled by the f/stop and ISO (and perhaps a bit of post-processing in Lightroom and Photoshop). 35mm, f/5, ISO 100, 8 second exposure and cropped.

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Sunset from Our Backyard

5/24/2015

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There is a special moment that occasionally happens at sunset when there are scattered clouds in the sky and a clear break in the clouds on the horizon. Just after the sun drops below the horizon the sun will sometimes shine up on the under side of the clouds. The rays of the sun skimming through hundreds of miles of of the earth's atmosphere at an oblique angle, coloring the light with brilliant reds, oranges and pinks. It often lasts for less than a minute, so you had better be ready with your camera if you want to get a photo. In this case I had another camera on a tripod taking time-lapse photos for a video of clouds and the sunset. I took this photo with my iPhone, bracing the camera against a tree to steady it.
(Click the image to see larger.)

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Cerro Gordo Photo Show

5/19/2015

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2nd Place Photo

Three of my photos were accepted in to the 35th Annual Cerro Gordo Photo Show at the MacNider Art Museum this year. My photo of 'Niagara Falls in Winter' won Second Place. The photo was taken on the Ontario side of the river at Horseshoe Falls (also called Canadian Falls) on a very cold February morning. A long exposure gives the water the milky flowing look. I'm honored just to have three of my photos selected, but thrilled to receive a recognition among so many fine submissions by many talented local photographers. The photo below mine by Don Barnes, received Third Place recognition. The Photo Show is on display until the end of July 2015. Stop in to see the many wonderful photos by local photographers.
The images below are my three photos accepted to the photo show.
Click the images to see larger.

Niagara Falls in Winter, Horseshoe Falls, Ontario. 2nd Place Recognition

Alberta Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Screech Owlets

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Clouds Over Iowa Video

5/8/2015

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Last evening I tried out the new digital remote trigger (intervalometer) that I have for my camera. I had it set to take one exposure every 15 seconds for about an hour and a half as the clouds came rolling in ahead of a storm. I stopped taking pictures when it started raining. Then I opened the 300+ still images in Adobe Premiere Elements and made them in to a time-lapse movie. (This is part-1. I'm working on a longer version over several days.)

Clouds Over Iowa from BruceGMcKeePhotos on Vimeo.

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Niagara Falls, Ontario

3/14/2015

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It was a very cold and snowy February. We had heard stories and seen photos of Niagara Falls nearly frozen over, so we decided to visit Niagara Falls, Ontario on February 27-March 1. We arrived late Friday night and we walked down to look at the falls, "a few blocks" according to the lady in the hotel, and we literally froze our butts - a very cold walk downhill to the dark falls. We could hear an incredible roar of the falls and barely see it. I set up a camera and tripod and took some time exposures and got a few nice images, then we hurried back up the hill to the hotel as quickly as our frozen feet would take us.

The Horseshoe Falls of Niagara Falls, night time exposure

Horseshoe Falls at sunrise

Saturday morning I got up early to take sunrise photos of the falls, this time equipped with all of my cold-weather clothes and toe and hand warmers. I was shoulder to shoulder with photographers looking over the Horseshoe Falls on the Canada side of the river. The falls were flowing quite strongly but very frozen along the edges and the river below, with a rolling cloud of fog and mist boiling up from the bottom of the falls. I tried exposures from many different angles and then when to eat breakfast.

We came back out after breakfast to a huge crowd of visitors and photographers looking at the falls and taking pictures. I was surprised at the number of visitors on a cold February weekend and the large number of international visitors. The late morning and afternoon sunlight caused a rainbow over the river that lasted all day. I heard some say that it is visible all year around on a sunny day. We took more photos of the Horseshoe Falls on the Ontario side and with the telephoto lens photos of the American Falls across the far side of the river which were much more frozen over and flowing more slowly.

We came back at night to see the light show that starts after sunset until about 10:30 PM. Hugh spotlights paint the falls with changing white and colored lights on both Horseshoe and the American Falls. While it was pretty, I preferred the natural beauty of the falls. It was a long day of taking pictures in different lighting conditions. But very beautiful and stunning to see.

[See more photos of Niagara Falls here.]

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<<Previous

Death Valley National Park

Merry Christmas 2018 and Happy New Year!

Full Moon, Prairie Flowers and more

Milky Way over the Utah Desert

Lake Superior in Winter

Lightning over Lake Superior

Fireworks over Clear Lake

Rain Drops

The Milky Way Returns

Fall Colors

Lightning

Sunset from Our Backyard

Cerro Gordo Photo Show

Clouds Over Iowa Video

Niagara Falls, Ontario

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