Idlewild Falls

A few weeks ago I went back to the waterfalls at Lake Idlewild just outside of Waterville, Kansas to see if there was much water running and if there was any ice on the waterfalls. It turned out that there was moderate water flowing and still some ice frozen over the waterfalls.

Getting around the waterfalls was a bit tricky with all the snow covered rocks, but the climb over the rocks was worth it. There are 2 major waterfalls here, I first went down to the lower level falls and then worked my way back up the falls right below the lake. This was my third trip to photograph these waterfalls and I'm sure I will be back many more times. Click on the link below to view my photographs:

Photographs of Idlewild Falls outside of Waterville, Kansas.

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.

Alcove Springs

My Dad and I braved the cold Saturday to head up to Alcove Springs between Blue Rapids and Marysville in search of a frozen waterfall. A couple of years ago we had gone up there during a really cold spell and the ice formations were amazing. This year though no such luck. It looked like the waterfalls had frozen over, but either the ice had naturally broken or someone had helped nature along. In any case, I was able to get some pictures of the setting sun and the shadows falling across the snow. Best thing about this evening was the silence, there was virtually no sound...I could have spent a lot of time there, except for the cold! Click on the link below to view my photos from this trip:

Alcove Springs, Winter Photographs

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.

Winter at Pillsbury Crossing

With all the snow lately, Pillsbury Crossing has a lot of water flowing right now. I came home with some really cold feet after shooting these, but it was worth it. Click on the link below to view the photos:

Winter Photographs of Pillsbury Crossing, Kansas.

Happy New Year!

Finally, some snow photographs

We have had lots of snow lately around here including a nice little blizzard on Christmas that I'm sure messed up a lot of travel plans. Everyone wishing for a white Christmas got their wish this year!

I've been wanting to get out and get some photos of the snow, but it seems like if it hasn't been snowing we have had pretty poor light for photography. I did manage to get out this past week and get some shots around Tuttle Creek and along Marlatt Ave, just outside of Manhattan. A few photos from this outing are available at the link below:

Winter photographs from around Manhattan, KS.

Enjoy!

Little Blue River

I had a chance this weekend to sneak out to catch the sunset over the Little Blue River just outside of Waterville, Kansas. Ice was starting form in pretty big sheets and it was interesting to watch (and hear!) it break up and flow down river. I think I'm ready for some winter photography now! You can view a few of my photographs from this trip by clicking the link below:

Sunset, Little Blue River, Kansas.

Pillsbury Crossing in Shutterbug Magazine

I found out today that I got another photo in Shutterbug Magazine...always good to open the mail to good news instead of bills :)

I took this shot at Pillsbury Crossing, after returning there again and again to photograph over a period of years. I was looking for something different than the standard wide angle shot of the falls so I put my telephoto lens on and started isolating smaller pieces of the waterfalls...it really opened up a new way of looking at Pillsbury Crossing. If I hadn't been going back again and again, I probably wouldn't have thought of trying this. Another benefit of shooting close to home, you can revisit a place over time and try different views and compositions. You are probably never going to fully capture the sense of a place with just one visit. Yes some places you only get to visit once, but don't overlook returning to places close to home. You might be surprised what you see!

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

Catching up - Photos from "out west"

I'm catching up on photos from this spring and summer (finally!). Early this past spring my Dad and I made a spur of the moment trip out to Gove County, Kansas to photograph Castle Rock and Monument Rocks. This is a very unique part of Kansas that many people aren't aware of. The limestone rock formations in this part of Kansas used to be the bottom of a large inland sea...which was around not long ago, only about 80 million years! I was born in Scott City, Kansas and it was good to get back to this part of the state. My family used to go out to similar limestone rock formations and find sharks teeth and other fossils. It is really amazing to hold something in your hand that is that old...helps keep everything in perspective.

My Dad and I arrived at Castle Rock just about the perfect time to shoot the sunset. I didn't remember much of the area and the thing that really surprised me were the wildflowers. The area was covered with them. It was hard to start photographing because I couldn't decide what to shoot first!

After the sun was down, we drove into Scott City and crashed for the night, got up early the next morning to catch the sunrise at Monument Rocks. We had a beautiful morning and after shooting the sunrise we headed back to Castle Rock to photograph the last of the morning light before driving on home.

We had a great trip...spent lots of time driving, but it was worth it. I can't wait to get back to that part of Kansas when I have time to stay for awhile and do some exploring.

You can view some of my photos from this trip by clicking on the links below:



Photographs of Monument Rocks, Gove County, Kansas.










Photographs of Castle Rock, Gove County, Kansas.














Black and White Photographs of Castle Rock and Monument Rocks.









If you get the chance to visit this part of Kansas, take it!

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.

Chase County Road Trip

Took a road trip yesterday down to Chase County with a couple of friends and fellow photographers (Bill and Adam) to photograph an old mill in Cedar Point, KS. We were hoping that the trees near the mill would be in their fall colors, but we where about a week early. On the way down we stopped at Cottonwood Falls to photograph at the Cottonwood River Bridge and then headed on to the Chase County State Fishing Lake to check out the waterfalls. There wasn't much water flowing, but some (more than the last time I was there). The trees above the falls had some nice fall color on them, which made for some good photographs.

After leaving the lake and waterfalls we drove down to Cedar Point (well actually we drove past it first!) and caught the last of the light at the mill. It was a beautiful day and a great trip.

My photos from this road trip can be viewed here.

Bogg's Landing, Sunset and Sunrise

I recently had the pleasure of shooting photos together with a couple of friends and fellow photographers from Nature Photographers, Wayne Rhodus and Angela Classen. Both of Wayne and Angela are amazing photographers and you should check their websites out when you have a chance.

We decided to shoot the sunrise on Saturday at Bogg's Landing on the Kansas River just outside of St. George, KS. None of us had been there before so I went over on Thursday evening to do some scouting and photograph the sunset. It turned out to be an amazing evening with fantastic color in the sky. The sunrise on Saturday was good, but the sky wasn't quite as spectacular as the Thursday evening. The pre-dawn light was great though...a good lesson for me (I don't like to get up early in the morning!). It was a fun outing and great to shoot with some fellow Kansas photographers. My photos from these 2 trips to Bogg's Landing can be viewed below.

My Sunset Photos
My Sunrise Photos

Fall color is coming - Wildcat Park

Ahhh Fall, my favorite time of year. Fall colors are on their way, I can't wait! Here are a few photos from this past weekend taken at Wildcat Park just outside of Manhattan, KS.

Marlatt Ave Sunset

We had a pretty nice sunset tonight. I've been hoping for a chance to get out and photograph some sunflowers, so tonight I took Tucker for a walk at Marlatt Park and then shot the sunset as we were leaving on Marlatt Ave. I used to walk Buddy at Marlatt Park a lot and take pictures...it was strange to not have him there tonight. Tucker did great though, I think he is going to be a great hiking and photography partner. A few of my shots from tonight are online here.

Hope you enjoy!

Close to home

A lot of times people think they need to go to faraway locations to get good nature photographs. Yeah it is fun to go someplace new, but you don't need to in order to find nature to photograph. Shooting close to home has several advantages. If you are familiar with your home turf you know where to go when the conditions are just right, you don't have to spend time scouting. You also know what there is to photograph when...what flowers are blooming, what wildlife you are likely to find, etc. A couple of places close to home to get started...local parks and your backyard. Both of these locations can provide great photo ops. Give yourself an assignment, photograph one park throughout the year and your backyard. I think you will be surprised at what you come up with. I've got 2 sets of photos included with this post, the first taken in my backyard earlier this summer and the second shot at Marlatt Park, one of my favorite spots and only about 10 min from my house.

Enjoy!

In the Sun

Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time... This photo was taken on Marlatt Ave just outside of Manhattan, KS.

Walsburg Kansas

Another update with some photos taken near Walsburg, Kansas in Riley County. I had never heard of Walsburg before stumbling on it while driving some back roads this spring. I didn't think I was going to find anything to photograph with the beautiful sunset until I found this tree. Here are a few of the photos.

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!

Sunrise this morning

I got up early this morning to try and beat the heat and get some photos of sunrise. I had a bit of color in the sky before the clouds (and rain) moved in. Here are a few photos from this morning.

Show coming up

I'm way behind on updating my blog recently, I've been shooting too much and processing too little! I did get some great news this summer though, my work is going to be on display at the Lee Dam Center for Fine Arts in Marysville KS this summer. The opening night is July 31st and I think the show will run for 6 weeks. If you are in the area, stop in and check it out and let me know what you think.

Marshall County Waterfalls

Earlier this spring I was up in Marshall County to photograph the waterfalls at Alcove Springs and Lake Idlewild after some heavy rains. It was well worth the trip. A few pics from this trip can be viewed here.

Enjoy!

Horse Thief Canyon

I had to get out of the office and enjoy the great weather we had last week so I headed down to Kanopolis Lake to do some hiking at the Horse Thief Canyon area. Kanopolis was the first state park created in Kansas and has 31.5 miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. Hiking Horse Thief Canyon and Red Rock Canyon will give you some unique Kansas landscapes to go through.

Here are a few of my pictures from this hike.

Peace.

Drive to Cottonwood Falls, part 2

In my previous post I put some photos from the drive down from Manhattan to the Chase County State Fishing Lake and back to Council Grove lake, where I got to see a really beautiful sunset. I did get to photograph some fires on my way down to Chase county, which was the purpose of my trip, but they were early in the evening, I was really hoping to catch some nighttime fires as well...and the drive from Council Grove to Manhattan did not disappoint. Here are some photos of some of the fires I found on this part of the drive into Manhattan.

If you are wondering why the prairie is burned off in the spring, read this article. The spring time burning is necessary to maintain the grasslands found in the Flint Hills...without the burning trees would eventually take over the prairie. Many people are not aware that the prairies were being burnt long before Europeans settled the Midwest... and even without human intervention the prairies often burned when ignited by lightning strikes.

If you haven't ever seen the Flint Hills being burned off in the spring, mark it down on your calendar and plan to visit...just use common sense and stay out of the ranchers way and stay safe...and enjoy the smell of the smoke, it just isn't spring without it.

Drive down to Cottonwood Falls

I've always wanted to drive down into the heart of the Flint Hills during the spring burning season, so early this month I decided to head down to the Chase County State Fishing Lake to photograph the waterfalls there and hopefully catch some nice fires on the way down and back. I hit the jackpot! I got to photograph some fires on the way down, the waterfalls were really pretty, I had some nice light at the state fishing lake there and I had a beautiful sunset to shoot at Council Grove Lake on my way back to Manhattan. It doesn't get much better than that for a drive through the Flint Hills....always a treat. Here a few photos from this part of my trip, I'll post the rest later. Hope you enjoy!

Spring fires along Old K-18 and K177

I have been out looking for prairie fires a couple of times lately. These pics were some I took along Old K-18 road (one of my favorite drives) and along K-177. The last one was shot across Tuttle Creek Lake. I love the smell of the fires in the spring!

Fort Larned in Infrared (IR)

When I was out in the Great Bend area last month I stopped at the Fort Larned historic site to photograph the fort in Infrared. I had intended to convert all the photos to black and white IR, but I really liked how some of the shots looked in color IR. I really liked how the blue in some of the uniforms came through in the IR. You can view the photos here.

Enjoy!

Washington County State Fishing Lake

Here are some shots taken at the Washington County State Fishing Lake in northeast Kansas (does anybody but me think the name "...County State Fishing Lake" sounds funny?). Looked like we just missed a fire, but a few spots were still smoking which made for some nice shots. The picture shown at the left is a 3 shot HDR (high dynamic range). I decided to do an HDR of this scene to be able to record both the detail in the trees and the wonderful color of the sky. The dynamic range of the scene was too great for a single shot to work (unless you used split neutral density filters). Shooting an HDR (or using filters) is often the only way you can capture the dynamic range that the human eye can see.

HDR's are not difficult to do. You need to bracket your exposures when you shoot, I normally will bracket 3-5 shots in 1 stop intervals depending on the scene. There are a number of software programs that will combine the shots into 1. I use primarily Photomatix or Enfuse directly from Lightroom. There are plenty of options out there though. You also need to watch out for movement between your shots, either you moving or your subject moving. You will get the best results using a tripod, though you can make handheld HDR shots work. Wind can really cause problems as well.

Quivira National Wildlife Refuge

A few of my photos from sunrise taken at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in central Kansas are online here. This is another major wetlands in Kansas not far from Cheyenne Bottoms.

The photo shown above (you can click on it for a larger view) is a 5 shot panorama that was stitched together using Autopano Pro. When shooting a pano it is a good idea to make sure you have your camera in manual exposure mode...unless you are sure the light is even other the entire scene. If the light isn't even and you are in an automatic or semi-automatic exposure mode (like aperture priority) your exposure will change as you move through the scene, resulting in bands or stripes in your pano. To avoid that, put your camera on manual exposure and set your exposure on the most important part of the scene. It is also a good idea to put your camera in manual focus. If you haven't ever shot a pano before, give it a try...it is a lot of fun!

Enjoy.

Trip to Cheyenne Bottoms

Here are a few photos from a recent trip to Cheyenne Bottoms. If you haven't been there before, this is a unique place and worth a trip to see, especially during the peak times for the bird migrations through the area.

This was a beautiful evening and I was hoping to catch a nice sunset across some of the open water at Cheyenne Bottoms. The picture shown at the left was one of my favorite from the evening. I really liked how the water was reflecting the colors of the sky and the little "islands" in the water. I placed the horizon down low in the picture to emphasize the sky and included a strip of shoreline in the foreground to add some depth to the photo. I set my camera at f11 to hold sharpness in both the foreground and in the little islands and my exposure was based off a spot meter reading from the sky in the center of the scene. I didn't make any adjustments to the meter reading, the scene I was reading light from was close to neutral toned (maybe slightly above), and I wanted the scene dark so I was able to just shoot at my initial meter reading.

Hope you enjoy!

Pillsbury Crossing

If you follow my photography at all you'll know that I like to shoot at Pillsbury Crossing a lot. I love the sound of running water, it is so peaceful, I think that is what draws me back to Pillsbury. There is usually enough water running to drawn out the rest of the world, which is a good thing sometimes. If you haven't ever visited Pillsbury Crossing you should if you get a chance. Late winter is probably the least of my favorite times to go, but even now it is pretty. Hope you enjoy and find some peace in these shots.

Twin Mound Road and Olsburg Marsh area

Here are a few shots from this past February I took on Twin Mound Road near the Carnahan Creek Area and around the Olsburg Marsh. Twin Mound Road turned out to be a great place to get some nice shots of the Flint Hills.

Enjoy!

Olsburg Marsh

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

Enjoy.

NPN outing

A few people from the central states forum on the Nature Photographers Net got together to shoot the Flint Hills recently. It was a bitter cold morning, but great to meet everyone.

Here are a few photos I took that morning.

Peace.

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!

13th Road

A few photos taken along "13th Road" outside of Waterville, KS.

Rare morning photos

These are a few rare sunrise photos of the Flint Hills just outside of Manhattan, KS. I don't normally do mornings very well, but I'm going to have to start, it was absolutely beautiful out this morning.

Enjoy!

Chase County State Fishing Lake

These are some pictures from a trip earlier in January to the Chase County State Fishing Lake (except for the first 2, they were taken outside of Council Grove Lake). I've been to this lake a few times before looking for the waterfalls, but this is the first time I found them (I never went far enough across the dam to find the trail leading to them). I will be back to visit this place again many times I'm sure, the waterfalls where really beautiful. This is another really beautiful spot in the Flint Hills and there are lots of things to see in this area (the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Chase County Courthouse, Council Grove, etc).

Enjoy!

Photos on Display at the Lawrence Public Library

These 4 photos are on display at the Lawrence Public Library until Feb. 28th. There are 8 photographers showing photos of the Flint Hills this month, some great work is on display! If you get a chance to stop by and check them out let me know what you think.

Lyon County State Fishing Lake

A few weeks ago I spent a couple of days photographing around Emporia. These are a few of the pics I took at and near the Lyon County State Fishing Lake. It was bitter cold and windy, so if the photos look cold...it was! But it was a beautiful place. I had been there once before and will be back.

Enjoy!

Pottawattamie County State Fishing Lake

Here a few sunset photos from Pottawattamie County State Fishing Lake outside of Manhattan, KS.

Enjoy

Perigee moon rise

These are some pics of the recent full moon which as a "perigee" moon (more about that here). It was a beautiful evening, but a lot colder than I thought it would be!

I went out to Deep Creek Road and Old K18 for these shots. That is a really beautiful drive to see the Flint Hills. The first few shots are from Old K18, if you want to see some great views of the Flint Hills, take Old K18 to Alma and then drive the Skyline Creek Scenic Drive to Alta Vista and then K177 back into Manhattan. Make sure to go early in the morning or in the evening when the light is just right to catch the shadows falling across the hills.

Doesn't get much better than that!

Misty Flint Hills Morning

Here a few shots from a recent foggy, misty morning. I went out to Deep Creek Road to try and get some shots of the fog, but it was gone by the time I got there. The clouds were moving really fast that morning though and it was nice to see how the sun would break though and light up different parts of the hills. Deep Creek Road some really nice views of the Flint Hills.

Enjoy!

Lake Idlewild Outlet Area

One of my favorite things to photograph is running water, especially waterfalls. As you might expect, there are not all that many opportunities in Kansas for this, but we do have more than one might think. Of course these are not the 90-100' type waterfalls, but still pretty and peaceful to listen to. This set of photos was taken at the outlet area of a small lake, Lake Idlewild, near Waterville, KS.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Christmas Sunset

Sunset on Christmas Day was fantastic! Didn't really get a good shot of it, but here are a few photos I took that evening.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Peace.