Posts in Category: lake
6/21/2012: Prairie Perspective
On my first full day in North Dakota for the Potholes and Prairies Birding Festival, I took a field trip which toured much of the Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge. Arrowwood sits in the valley of the James River, which, given the slow current of the James, is a surprisingly broad eroded depression in the high prairie, giving the impression of actual hills at its boundary if you look east or west. This is a view up the valley to the north…and the valley bottom itself is even flatter than the rolling prairies that surround it. The Refuge contains several larger bodies of water where the James has been dammed. The largest by far is Arrowwood Lake. What you see in the relative distance in this image is Mud Lake, the second largest on the refuge. The lush green growth along the road has its own story: a year to the day before this image was taken, all this was under 10 feet of water as the James River flooded for the second time in 2 years. Looking to the east or west you can easily see the “high water line” where this green growth meets the more subdued prairie grasses.
That evening, also at Arrowwood, I met a British film-maker, Freddie, who was on assignment to produce a trailer for birding show to pitch to National Geographic Channel. He had flown direct from London and, after a frustrating day stranded at the Chicago Airport, had continued to Fargo, where he rented a car and drove to Carrington across the prairies. He was now a day into his North Dakota experience, and was simply, as he put it, “blown away.” (Apt considering the 20 mph wind blowing around the edges of the new Arrowwood Visitor Center where we were standing, or trying to stand.) Nothing in his considerable experience of the world (he is a trekker and has traveled extensively) had prepared him for the Potholes and Prairies country of the the Dakotas…the sweep of the rolling landscape, the vastness of the sky, the isolated farms with their shelter belts dotting the prairie. He kept using the word “unimaginable” and I can identify. That was my impression of the place when I first visited it the mid 80’s. Unimaginable.
This image catches, I think, just a bit of that unimaginable grandeur. The people (fellow birders who had wandered away from the bus) and the road give it scale. The storm clouds moving over (and away…it cleared a few hours later) provide the drama. And the unbroken, wide horizon stretches the eye and the mind to vast dimensions.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view. f4 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/17/2012: Champlain Layers, Burlington VT
Another shot from our short trip to Burlington Vermont this week. Among the attractions of Burlington is a series of beaches and parks in towntown Burlington along the shore of Lake Champlain. This marina would be full in another season…it will in fact fill up quickly over the next 6-8 weeks, but for now it is a study in graphic design, with the lighthouse on its breakwater forming a middle ground and the layered mountains behind. It stretches the eye and challenges our sense of space but I think it works exactly because of that.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. 90mm equivalent field of view. f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity and sharpness.
3/14/2012: Champlain Blue, Burlington VT
My wife, daughter number 5, and I took a brief overnighter to Burlington Vermont to visit daughter number 3, who attends Burlington College. By the time we got there the weather had closed in, but we still spent a few hours walking along the shore of Lake Champlain. The Adirondacks across the water were faded to blue on blue, or grey on grey, but the light was soft and lovely, and I had fun playing with simplified compositions.
Canon SX40HS at 84mm equivalent field of view. f5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. Lightroom 4 has changed many of the develop tools I used every day, and I am having to relearn to get the same effects.
1/14/2012: Snowscape with Birches
Another shot from Thursday’s snow storm. This classic country estate with its long reach of pond and covered bridge is pretty in any season, but particularly striking in this winter scene.
Canon SX40HS at 24mm equivalent field of view. f4 @ 1/100th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast. –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Dynamic Photo HDR, and then final processing in Lightroom.
10/12/2011: Old Falls Pond, West Kennebunk ME
I have quite a few images of this pond, mostly in the fall when it really comes to life. I would have preferred some clouds in the sky…but I took this on my last day home before a week away, and by the time I see it again, the leaves may be completely off the trees. We shall see, but for now this is my Old Falls Pond pic of the year. The UFO above the tree line on the left is actually, if you look closely, a leaf.
Canon SX40HS at 24mm equivalent field of view. f7.1 @ 1/160th @ ISO 125. Program with program shift for the smaller aperture, and iContrast.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
9/20/2011: Summer’s Gone :(
This is a case where the built in HDR on the Nikon Coolpix actually worked! I took the shot without, and of course, in this lighting, the tree went black and the clouds went featureless white. The built in HDR produced a result that was a bit flat, but toning up in Lightroom produced a good rendering of the range of the scene.
The racks of resting boats at the Lakeside Sailing Club and School testify to the lateness of the season, and the tree and building provide a compositional frame.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 22mm equivalent field of view, f3.4 (nominal) @ 1/1000th (nominal…this is the sum of several exposures), @ ISO 160. Backlight HDR mode.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness, with special attention to the intensity of the scene.
9/18/2011: Late Lake Erie Dawn: Happy Sunday
I went out early yesterday to see if I could find some birds and maybe digiscope a few before the Midwest Birding Symposium vendor area opened. Birds were in fact somewhat scarce, at least where I was, but I got to East Harbor State Park and the shore of Lake Erie just as the sun made its first brave attempt to break the hold of the overcast. Though it was well past actual sunrise, the horizon was streaked with orange, and contrasted sharply with the cold grey waves of the lake.
I took a number of shots. These three move from a wide angle view to zoom in on the details of the dawn.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm, 100mm, and 300mm equivalent fields of view. ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
And for the Sunday thought: that bit of warm light forcing its way under the edge of the solid cap of cloud and out over the cold waves speaks of hope and the irrepressable surge of day. The light of life has come into the world and the darkness can not extinguish it, as John wrote, thinking of that other light of the world…and mornings like this it is that much easier to believe. Happy Sunday!
9/16/2011: Lake Erie Morning
The Midwest Birding Symposium is at Lakeside Ohio and, as you might guess from the name, it is right on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio’s resort belt. I always forget that Lake Erie is a major body of water…an inland sea in fact. The “lake” label obscures the actual nature of the experience. It is, in my experience, a pretty wild stretch of inland sea at that…with its own weather even.
A front was passing yesterday morning as I was headed out from Lakeside to Magee Marsh and Ottawa NWR, and I had to run down to the lake to catch a bit off the action before getting in the car for the drive. Amazing waves and clouds.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm equivalent field of view. 1) f4.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. 2) f3.4 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
8/27/2011: Another Mood of Rutland Water
Rutland Water is one of those places I could photograph over and over again…which is fortunate since this is the view out my window (so to speak) for 3 days every August. I have already posted two different moods of this view. This is yet another, and about as different as different can be. From the final day of the British Birding Fair with lots of weather drama in the sky.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm equivalent field of view, f8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160. Programed auto with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity, Sharpness, Intensity and color temperature. Cropped slightly at the top for composition and to eliminate some brunt out clouds.
8/23/2011: Rutland Water, Rutland UK
I am just back from a few days in England, working the British Birding Fair for ZEISS Sports Optics. This is the view, more or less, from our tent. A small lagoon at Rutland Water, part of a large wildlife refuge on the shores of a major reservoir. It is a typical English Midlands view…never the same for more than a few moments. It might look like this second image a day, or an hour, later.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 1) 28mm equivalent field of view, f4 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160 and 2) 23mm equivalent, f4 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. On 1) I used dueling graduated filter effects, darken from the top, lighten from the bottom, to increase the apparent dynamic range.