I can't even remember the last time I was able to shoot a sunset... I've been missing sunsets lately because my work schedule has me working during the "magic hour" when the light does wonderous things. SO, here is a sunset image from late October, 2007. I like to call this image "In the beginning" because when I viewed it for the first time on the computer screen it had the feel of being prehistoric... harking back to the days of single-cell life forms... kind of a "dawn of creation" feel, if you will. I don't know if it's the color of the sky, or the rocks on the shoreline, or a combination of the two, but that's what I think of when I view the image.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :-(
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 :-)
