MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2012

AURORA 7666

"Spruce Tree Moon and September Aurora"

Last night's display of the Aurora Borealis was mostly overpowered by the light of the full moon, but for a brief period around 11 PM the lights exploded and were easily visible over the light of the moon. This photo was made right in my yard over the top of a spruce tree next to my house. I composed the photo so the moon was behind the top of the tree. I can only imagine how much more powerful these lights would have appeared if this had been a moonless night. Even so, I do very much like this photo and I think the moonlight adds some nice additional atmosphere to the overall feel of the image.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 20 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 400

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012

AUTUMN 7559

"Foggy autumn morning on Swamp Lake"

This past Saturday we got up early to catch the morning light over Swamp Lake and photograph the (hopefully) awesome fall colors. On the drive up the mountain the colors were FANTASTIC but when we got to the top and looked down at the surrounding ridges we quickly noticed that the leaves in the valley below us were already past their peak color. That didn't really matter, though, because the fog stole the show. I've seen plenty of morning fog this time of year on the lake, but never this thick. It spread for miles and miles beyond the lake. We had about half an hour to view the lake and surrounding trees before the fog enveloped us. Once we were surrounded by fog we headed back down under the tree canopy to enjoy the fall colors up close and personal.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 220 mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 400

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2012

ABSTRACT 3704

"Autumn Abstract - Trees reflecting in Turtle Lake"

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 400

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2012

BALD EAGLE 6957

"Eagle on a cliff"

A couple of weeks ago we were driving along Highway 61 on our way to do the hike to Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota. As I was driving, Jessica was gazing out at Lake Superior when all of a sudden she exclaimed "There's an eagle sitting on that cliff!". Of course I had to turn the car around to check it out, since I didn't see it when we first drove by. As we slowly approached the view where she had spotted the bird, sure enough, there he was sitting on the edge of a small (approx. 20 foot tall) cliff overlooking the lake. It was such a strange sight. I've seen eagles on the beach before, mostly going after fish that have been recently cleaned by commercial fishermen. But, I've never seen one perched on a cliff like this. He sat there for a few more minutes before taking off and landing in the top of a nearby tree. The sighting of this bird was a great start to our day, and I took it as a good sign, since we were going to be hiking Eagle Mountain that day :-)

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 800

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012

FOREST 7017

"Leaning Tree"

Here's a discovery from one of our recent fall color outings... I'm always on the lookout for interesting and uniquely shaped trees with the idea in mind of photographing them silhouetted against the night sky. I think this one could work quite well in that respect. I got lucky with the clouds in this shot, as I spotted the tree while driving down a Cook County backroad and only had a few moments to stop and photograph it. This tree is still living, as it did have a few leaves on it, but I don't think it's going to live very much longer. It seems to be on its way out :-(

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/60
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 400

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2012

AURORA 2213

"Mt. Maude Aurora"

Grand Portage is sitting beneath a thick blanket of clouds right now, but I am optimistic that the clouds will part later this evening and we will get a glimpse of the Auroras that they say MAY be happening tonight. I definitely need an Aurora fix... the last really good ones I was able to photograph were in mid-July. I've seen a few since then, but they weren't anything to write home about. They also occurred during a full moon so they were difficult to see and even more difficult to photograph. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good opportunity tonight! In the meantime, today I was going through some more Aurora shots from last year and found several that I hadn't worked up yet. Here's one from the night of September 10, 2011.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 13 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 800

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

GRAND PORTAGE 5716

"Autumn view of Grand Portage Bay from Mt. Rose"

Our fall color season seemed to pass in the blink of an eye this year. I didn't do nearly the amount of fall color shooting that I've done in past years, but I did manage to get out and find some beautiful scenes to photograph. One of my favorite examples is this scene from the summit of the Mt. Rose hiking trail in Grand Portage National Monument. It was a windy day when I made this shot, and the lines of waves coming in off Lake Superior gave additional character to the water that I found intriguing. If you've never done the Mt. Rose trail, you should do it sometime. It's a beautiful hike with a very rewarding (as you can see here) view from the summit.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 23mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 500

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2012

SPIRIT TREE 0773

"Early evening Milky Way over the Spirit Tree"

I made this image a couple of months ago but just uploaded it to my website and wanted to share it with all of you. This was taken in the early hours of the night as the sky was just beginning to get dark enough to see the Milky Way. I love watching and photographing the night sky at the Spirit Tree, there is always something beautiful to see.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 3200

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012

PIGEON RIVER 7701

"Autumn at Partridge Falls"

Yesterday we went up to Partridge Falls, one of my favorite places to visit although only the second time this year I've been there. I've been wanting to make it there for a while, since the river is pretty low and I find the waterfall more fascinating and beautiful when the water is low than when it is high. No matter what the water level, Partridge Falls never disappoints. Thanks to some recent winds the rocks at the base of the falls were littered with sheds from nearby cedar trees. I wanted to show the color from the fallen cedar, so I chose a composition that showed more foreground than I usually show when photographing the falls. Because of the high contrast between the very dark rocks in the foreground and the brightness of the waterfall, I had to shoot 3 images at different exposure settings then blend them together using photo software in order to show the complete range of light in the scene.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 2.5 seconds
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 50

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012

SANDHILL CRANES 7764

"Sandhill Cranes in early morning fog at Crex Meadows"

This weekend we visited Crex Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. We went there because we wanted to see Sandhill Cranes, and Crex Meadows is a great place to see Sandhill Cranes in the fall as they migrate south for the winter. We were a little worried when we got to the refuge early in the morning, though, as it was incredibly foggy. In fact, it was so foggy we could not see the birds. We knew they were there because we could hear them, but the fog was just too thick to see them. We drove around the refuge roads for a while, and soon the fog started to lift. At first we could only see a few birds here and there. The views were cool, though, as you can see by this first group of cranes that we saw that were standing on a sand bar.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 350mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012

SANDHILL CRANES 7798

"Sandhill Cranes - Ready to Fly #1"

As the sun continued to rise the fog continued to lift and at one point there was a small opening in the cloud cover that let some beautiful golden sunlight shine through. Once that sunlight came through, the cranes started to take flight.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 400

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012

SANDHILL CRANES 7799

"Sandhill Cranes - Ready to Fly #2"

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 400