Carnahan Creek in the fog

We have been having a lot of foggy days lately, but today was by far the foggiest. I don't think I've ever seen fog like we had today. I headed to the Carnahan Creek area on Tuttle Creek Lake to get some photos. Visibility was only about 30-40' down around the lake. Click on the link below to view my photos from this morning:

Carnahan Creek Park foggy morning photos.

Last of 2009

I was out at Stockdale Park on Tuttle Creek Lake to catch the last sunset of 2009. Turned out it was a good one (aren't they all?). I set up on a boat ramp to shoot the sun as it was dipping down below the far hills. It was really quiet that evening and I could hear the ice on the lake making all sorts of eerie noises.

After shooting the sunset, I drove farther down the cove where it opened out onto the lake to wait for the moon rise. This happened to be a "blue moon" which despite the name isn't blue. A blue moon occurs when you get 2 full moons in one month, which on average occurs every 2.5 years. The next time a blue moon will occur on Dec 31st will be 2028. Maybe if I'm still around I'll come back to this spot and try to photograph it again!

The moon photo shown in this post is from a sequence of shots showing the moon rising above the hills. These were taken over a 4 min span.

I also got to see a couple of foxes crossing the frozen lake and one of them came right up to my vehicle. One the way that evening I saw several deer and some quail. I'll take that over Times Square any day!

More photos from this evening are at the link below:

Last Sunset and Blue Moon, 2009, Stockdale Park, Kansas.

Halloween Moonrise

With the almost full moon rising on Halloween night I thought it would make a great photo for the holiday. I've always enjoyed photographing the moonrise (see my previous post about how I got hooked on the moonrise here). Normally, 1-2 days before the actual full moon the light is right so that you can expose both the foreground and the moon with one shot...this can be tricky to do without blowing out (over exposing) the moon unless the light is just right.

On this particular evening I was trying to think of what scene would be interesting to photograph with the moon included. I happened to remember these trees in the water at Stockdale Park on Tuttle Creek Lake. A friend had recently told me about the software program, The Photographers Ephemeris which will tell you the location of sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset, which I used to determine that the moon would rise behind these trees (I recommend checking out this software). It was also a clear evening as well...perfect for getting some good shots of the moon.

The light was fantastic when I first arrived at Stockdale and I was able to shoot the moon and the trees in the foreground still lit by the setting sun. As the sun went down, the sky picked up more color...it was a fantastic show of color. I couldn't have asked for a better Halloween treat!

I was very pleased with the photographs for a number of reasons, but for me, this was one of the first times I was able to "pre-visualize" the scene I wanted to photograph and then go out and make it happen. Sometimes trying to pre-visualize a scene gets in my way of finding a shot, but in this case it worked out well. You can view my photos from the evening by clicking the link below:

Halloween Moonrise, Stockdale Park, Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas

Out and about this weekend

Fall colors have probably been at the peak around Manhattan this past week. I managed to get up early Saturday morning before sunrise and headed out to the Carnahan Creek area on Tuttle Creek Lake to see if I could get some shots before all the leaves were off the trees.

As I drove out across the dam at Tuttle Creek Lake I could see fog coming off the lake so I went first down to the boat ramp at Carnahan to try some shots off the fog coming off the water. The fog wasn't as thick as I would have hoped for but it was a beautiful morning. Quiet, only a slight breeze and all the plants were covered in a light frost.The sun wasn't high enough to be shining into the cove when I first started shooting which left with a nice cool blue color to work with. I was able to frame the fog on the lake with some interesting rocks in the foreground.

As the sun came up and started lighting up the trees on the opposite shore I drove around to the over end of Carnahan to get some front lit shots of the trees. Front light (where the sun is shining on the front of your subject. which means the sun is behind you) is great for showing off colors. The colors were excellent. After I was finished in this area, I drove up to Wildflower Road, which is an excellent place to get photos of the Flint Hills, here again I was able to photograph the fall colors front lit by the sun and had some great colors to work with .

On my way home, the skies clouded over and diffused the harsh light as the sun continued to rise so I stopped below the Tuttle Creek dam and took a few more photos of fallen leaves.

My favorite shot of the morning came from Carnahan though. While shooting the sun lighting up the far shoreline I noticed that behind me a single cloud was reflected in the stream feeding into Tuttle Creek Lake. I really liked the shape of the cloud and the symmetry produced by its reflection in the water (this is the second photo shown above). Photos from this outing can be viewed here: Fall Photographs on Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas.

Saturday morning sunrise

After hearing from friends about how beautiful the sunrises have been the last few days, I decided to try and get up early Saturday morning to do some photography. I'm not a morning person and I got up later than I would have liked (and missed the really spectacular color) but still managed to catch the end of great sunrise. After shooting the sunrise, I headed down to Tuttle Creek lake to try and get some shots of the fog rising over the outlet area.

A few photos from this morning's trip can be viewed here.

Enjoy!

Spring Photos

Here are some color and IR pictures I shot this past spring at Pott County State Fishing Lake and Willow Lake (below the dam at Tuttle Creek Lake).

Enjoy!

Olsburg Marsh

Here are a few photos from tonight's sunset taken around the Olsburg Marsh area at Tuttle Creek Lake.

Enjoy.

Amazing Sunset

Here are a few photos from a recent sunset that was absolutely amazing. These were taken just outside Manhattan, KS at the outlet area (the "tubes") of Tuttle Creek Lake.

Enjoy!

Solstice Sunset....almost

I went out recently to get a picture of the sunset on the winter solstice, I thought that would be kinda cool. Fortunately there was a good sunset that evening, the only problem was that I went out a day early! A few pics from that evening can be viewed here.

Enjoy!

Winter is here

Winter weather has finally arrived. I was out at Tuttle Creek Lake during our first real snow storm. The snow was beautiful and my wife noticed the snow flakes and I was able to get a few macro shots of them. We also saw several Bald Eagles at the river ponds. Here are the photos from this outing.

Happy Holidays!

Morning Fall photo trip to Tuttle Creek Lake

Here are a few photos I took on a rare morning photo outing for me. I went out to the River Ponds area and then to the Carnahan Creek area on Tuttle Creek Lake. The colors were fantastic on this morning.

The River Ponds park has really been expanded recently, I found a really nice campground on the 'backside' of the River Ponds that must be relatively new. I will be visiting there again.

Enjoy!

Carnahan Creek Area

Earlier this month I was out around the Carnahan Creek area checking on the fall colors. Some of my photos from this trip are here.

Enjoy!

Carnahan Creek

I went out to Carnahan Creek recently and ended up shooting some pics there and also on some country roads nearby. The evening was beautiful with a fantastic sunset. After I was down shooting I just sat down on a hillside and enjoyed the peace and quiet for awhile, something I hadn't done in a long time when out photographing. It was nice...that is until I woke up the next day covered with chigger bites from sitting in the grass!

Photos can be viewed here. Enjoy!

A Drive in the country

Here are some photos from a drive from Waterville to Blaine to Westmooreland and then along Tuttle Creek Lake (near the Oldsburg Marsh). This is also an area I will be returning to.

Enjoy!

Tuttle Creek Lake Tubes and River Ponds

I went out to the outlet area and River Ponds area of Tuttle Creek lake this weekend hoping to see some bald eagles. No eagles, but plenty of other things to photograph. The photos are online here.

Peace.

Stockdale Area at Tuttle Creek Lake

Went out to Stockdale Park on Tuttle Creek Lake this past Saturday evening with my wife Jill. We caught an awesome sunset and enjoyed how peaceful it was out there. My photos from the trip can be viewed here.

And back to Carnahan

Some photos from another trip back to the Carnahan Creek area at Tuttle Creek lake in Kansas and some back roads nearby.

Carnahan Creek

I went to the Carnahan Creek area this fall hoping the oak trees would have the color that they did last year here. The trees weren't that spectacular, but the sumac was really pretty for a few days. Click here to view some of the photos I took.

Carnahan Creek Hike 6-8-07

Besides shooting with my UFM class, I have also recently been out to Carnahan Creek on Tuttle Creek Lake doing some shooting. Some info on the trails in this area can be found here. With all the recent rain, the water level in Tuttle Creek Lake is high! A lot of the Carnahan Creek area is under water (including campsites). Compare the photos above, both show the same restroom, you can see the camping area behind the restroom is dry in the fall picture (bottom pic) and flooded in the one from the 8th (top pic). I was at the trails fairly early while the light was still harsh so I ended up shooting a lot of IR photos with both a Sony Cybershot and Canon 20D. The IR shots can be seen here and color images from the hike here. Poison ivy was thick around the trail in spots. I didn't bring home any ticks which was nice, though I'm sure they were out in force! I've had really good luck keeping ticks and chiggers off me by treating my clothes with permanone (permethrin).