The fog this morning was incredible. Unfortunately I did not make it out to take any pictures of the fog at sunrise. So, it made me go back to some photos from a foggy morning in July 2012 that I never posted. This photo was made after a night of photographing the northern lights along the Arrowhead Trail in northeast Minnesota. As I drove home via the backroads I noticed that there was quite a bit of fog in the Pigeon River valley below me. I pulled over at the Pigeon River Helipad Overlook along Otter Lake Road and waited for the sun to come up. I knew that once the sunlight started to hit the fog it would be an incredible view. Sure enough, as the fog started to glow from the light of the rising sun I was awestruck by the beauty and depth of the scene laid out before me.
I get to drive by this view every day on my way to and from work. This is what it looked like yesterday evening on the way home.
Now that the rain and cloudy weather from earlier this week is gone, the high water level in the Pigeon River combined with bright, sunny days means that the rainbows at High Falls are incredible! I captured these photos today at Grand Portage State Park throughout the morning and early afternoon hours. With clear skies and mild temperatures in the forecast for the next few days it looks like it's going to be a perfect weekend for waterfall watching!
High Falls on the Pigeon River is RAGING right now! After 3+ inches of rain over the past 3 days the gauge height on the river is almost 10 feet. Never have I photographed the falls at such a high water level before. I've photographed it with a gauge height of 9 feet before, but never 10. It really is a challenge because there is SO much mist and spray coming off the falls it is almost impossible to get a shot off before your lens is covered in moisture. You literally have to have one finger on the shutter and use your other hand to wipe moisture from the lens. Immediately after you pull the cleaning cloth away from your lens, you need to fire off a shot and if you're lucky you'll get a photo without any water spots on the lens. I took quite a few shots of the falls, and each one was so different due to the different patterns in the spray shooting up from the base of the falls. Keep in mind that this waterfall is about 120 feet tall... and often times the spray would shoot up beyond the top of the falls! I am showing you two different shots of the falls here. The first one is a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement of the water, the second one is a half-second shutter speed to blur the movement of the water a bit. I like them both, but I'll leave it up to you to decide which one you like best :-)
Here are a few more shots from the incredible auroras that I witnessed in the early morning hours of May 18, 2013.
Last night before going to bed I saw that the aurora index was rising and that there was an expected CME impact to occur overnight, so I decided to head out and see what I could see. The lights were pretty good as soon as I left the house, but faded quickly. I decided to stay out until at least midnight since the lights often flare up around then, and sure enough they did! Between midnight and 1:00 AM there was a pretty spectacular show, with dancing lights directly overhead and somewhat to the south as well. By 1:00 AM the clouds had moved in and the lights were no longer visible. It sure felt good to photograph the aurora again, as it has been way too long since I've seen a good display such as this!
I stepped outside for just a moment the other evening, not expecting to see a colorful sky since it was so cloudy. However when I got out in the yard and looked to the west the sky just above the horizon was on fire! The clouds just above the trees had this amazing pink glow from the setting sun. It sure was a nice surprise!
