Waiting on the Moon, again
Sticks in the Water
Earlier this month I decided it was time to try and photograph another moon rise. Checking The Photographer’s Ephemeris I found that the moon was going to rise over a nice little cove on Tuttle Creek Lake. The cove is not far from my house and filled with really interesting dead trees (only a photographer could say that not sound too weird, right?). Perfect for some moon rise photography. I arrived at the cove well ahead of when the moon was supposed to make it’s appearance so I did a little scouting of the area. It was a nice still day, a great time to shoot some reflections of the trees in the cove.
Reflected?
After making some wide angle landscape shots of the cove like the first photo in this post, I switched to isolating some of the trees in the cove and their reflections.
Floating
It was interesting looking at the trees in the water through a telephoto lens. It looked like the trees were floating and was a little disorienting. After I got home I wished I had zoomed in closer and really isolated some of the smaller trees in the cove and their reflections. I think I could have made some really interesting abstract type photographs doing that, guess I will have to go back for that!
Wandering the Shoreline
As the sun started dropping below the hills behind me, the sky started to pick up a bit of color. I switched back to a wider angle lens and started working my way along the shoreline making photographs of the rock formations in the foreground with the cove and sky as my background. I really liked how the sky was looking with the interesting clouds that were moving in. It was about this time as I was really noticing the clouds when I remembered why I had come out tonight with my camera…for the moon rise! Lucky me the clouds were the heaviest right where the moon was supposed to show up. Sigh.
Piled in Place
Well if life hands you clouds when you didn’t really want them…keep making landscape photos! (I never have really liked lemonade anyway, yuck). So I continued to work along the shoreline looking for interesting rock formations to photograph.
Watching the Sky
I could see a bit of the sunset behind me and it looked like it was a really colorful one. Often times the eastern sky will pick up some of the color from sunset and I did get a bit of color to work with.
All of the Cove
I’ve photographed this cove a handful of times now (and blogged about here and here). The trees in the cove really do make for interesting subjects (and I’m lazy and it is close to home). I’ve tried a few times now to make a pano of the cove and haven’t been happy with the results. On this night though, the sky was interesting enough and reflecting well in the cove that I thought the pano turned out pretty good.
The Sky Behind
When I left the cove and walked back up to my car I got a good look at what was left of the sunset that had been behind me. Looked like it was a good one judging from its remnants. I spent a little bit of time photographing some tree silhouettes before calling it quits for the evening. I really like photographing trees in the winter, you can see their shapes so much better.
I didn’t get my moon rise photo and it looked like I was shooting the wrong way during a really colorful sunset but I still enjoyed my evening. The good thing about moon photography is that you will always get another chance soon!
In: On Location · Tagged with: Tuttle Creek Lake
Gyp Hills Road Trip Part 3 – The Drive Home
Patterns in the Clouds
(click on any photo in this post to enlarge it)
I just realized today that I had not finished my series of blog posts from my road trip down to the Gyp Hills. At the end of my Part 2 of this series Dad and I had just finished our second day of photography on the road trip. Time to bring us home now (can’t stay down there forever!).
Our last morning of the road trip we woke up to almost solid cloud cover, didn’t look like we were going to get much of a sunrise so we decided to just start the drive back. We were planning on driving over to Coldwater and heading back home from there. About half way between Medicine Lodge and Coldwater the clouds started to break and we did get a bit of sunrise. We made a few stops along the highway and were rewarded with some really interesting patterns in the clouds.
Colors and textures
We were out of the hilly, more rugged landscapes by the time we started shooting (it was very windy and bitter cold, it took us awhile to get brave enough to start shooting!) but the colors and textures were really pretty. I’ve always liked the landscape around Coldwater.
Fall's Palette
We timed our trip almost perfect for the fall colors. The vegetation in the area looked to be at about it’s peak in terms of colors. With the colder temps moving in on our last day and the wind really picking up, I doubt there was much color left in the area in a few days. With the cloudy sky on our last morning the colors were really popping out; we had a great palette of colors to photograph.
I See You
After leaving Coldwater, we worked our way back north and made a swing through the park near the dam at Kanopolis Lake. I’ve been to Kanopolis several times, but always just to the hiking trails near the end of the lake. I was really impressed with the area near the dam. I’m going to make it back there next fall for sure, the trees were gorgeous. We were watched pretty carefully by some deer while we were exploring the park which was okay with me as they didn’t seem to mind having their picture taken (and they stayed off the road!).
After Kanopolis it was only a relatively short drive and we were back home. I can’t wait to get back to the Gyp Hills again to do some photography, maybe I’ll have to move the next road trip up to the spring!
Kanopolis Lake Pano
In: On Location · Tagged with: Deer, Gyp Hills, Kanopolis Lake, road trip
And Then the Sunset
Sticks
(click on any photo in this post to enlarge it)
I had the chance Saturday to do some exploring around Alma with the gang from Kansascapes. We had hoped to photograph the moon rise out in the Flint Hills, but the clouds weren’t cooperating with us; a predicted 25% cloud cover had turned into 95% cloud cover. We had fun shooting around a small lake, especially closer to sunset when the winds calmed down.
In a Puddle
As it got closer to sunset the clouds cleared a bit in the west, enough that the sun was shining through the clouds. I thought the photograph above was probably going to be the only sunset shot I was going to get. Since the clouds were clearing out a bit, we decided to head up to skyline and see if we could catch the last of the sun as it went down. I really wasn’t expecting too much of a sunset.
Sundown
Turns out I was wrong about the sunset that was developing for us. The clouds had broken enough right on the horizon that the setting sun was really starting to put on a show as it went down.
Afterglow
The color in the west really intensified as the sun slipped below the horizon. We were about to be treated to a really fantastic light show, a sun pillar. You can just see the beginnings of it in this photograph.
Sun Pillar
The pillar was really visible for the next few minutes. Combined with the great texture and shapes in the clouds and this was a fantastic sunset! Good thing we didn’t head back into Alma early.
Tire Tracks
The sky stayed fantastic for quite a while after sunset. This last photo was made almost 30 minutes after sunset. I was interested in trying to compose a photograph of the tire tracks leading off into the color along the horizon. Of course this late after sunset, the dynamic range of the scene was way too high for my camera to capture with one photograph. To create this photograph I made 5 brackets of the scene for a HDR photograph.
Even without the amazing sunset and sun pillar this outing was fun, some good food at Deb’s, some even better BS while we ate, and then an afternoon out in the Flint Hills. The show we got from the sunset was the icing on the cake. Having said that though, I’m really glad we didn’t miss the icing!
In: On Location · Tagged with: flint hills, Sun pillar, Sunset, Wabaunsee County
