My parents grew up on opposite sides of the Mississippi river. They still have a place in Illinois and I still have a lot of extended family in the area. So, Lorrie and I went back to visit the family and check out new material. 2 years ago I took a trip out there and got some beautiful shots...
Unfortunately, cellular coverage is pretty bad on a farm and they don't have any internet access (not even dial up!). So I am just now getting around to writing about our trip.
The mid-west is notorious for the heat and humidity this time of year and this trip was no different. The weather served as a reminder as to why we pay so much for everything in California. (BTW, for those of you who don't know... it's for the weather!)
Because of the heat (or really the humidity) much of the week was spent hiding in the relatively safety of the house air conditioning. However, the evenings did cool off enough to get out for some pretty good shots on some days.
One evening we were driving along as the sun was setting. The sunsets are pretty spectacular with the humidity and various types of cloud cover in the mid-west. This time the sun was spectacular but the freeway landscape was not. We made a dash off the main highway looking for something "country". I did not have much time for this shot. I was kind of looking for a barn or something. I know, "cliche and not very original", especially as I already have a bunch of shots of barns. So when I saw this field I thought "this is it". We made a quick U-turn and dashed down a gravel road. (Another nice thing about the mid-west is roads are not very crowded and parking is plentiful!) We had just a couple of minutes to get the shot. I knew right away that the shot would have to be HDR or a graduated neutral density shot. The sun was much brighter and I really wanted the subject to be more of the hay bail and field without a totally blown out sky. I like the result a lot. I think this is one of my more successful HDR's.
I used photomatix to do the original HDR and then blended in a shot with the field properly exposed using photoshop. This really brought down the "HDR'y" look as well as brought up the contrast and detail in the field. I really like this shot, even though Lorrie thinks it too cliche. She might be right but I still like the shot.
From there we had to get back across the river. We swung down to Quincy Il. Quincy is a pretty good sized city with an official population around 40,000 people. Where the 4 lane crosses the river there is actually 2 bridges each with 2 lanes. I don't know for sure but I think that one is the "old" bridge and the other the new one which was built to handle the increased traffic. Anyway, the photo below is of the south bridge. It was a bit late in my mind but the blues of the sky really came out with the long exposure. The other nice thing is how the water smoothed out. I have tried a couple of different crops and I still might change it before the final print, but I really like the shot.
The shot below is of the north bridge. I believe this is the "new" bridge. Again I really like the way the water smooths out with the extended exposure.
As I said, I really felt like we were late getting to the bridges. So the next night we went back earlier, in time sunset. I think it worked out very well. I have the excellent app on my iPhone called
The Photographers Ephemeris. Since Quincy is a larger city it has good 3G cell coverage and I was able to use it to plan the shoot. With it you can place a pin on a map and it will show you where the sun will be setting in relation to that spot. I knew that the sun would be setting over the north bridge from the place we were the night before.
I don't know why but I think the truck in this shot really adds something. Some context I think.
I tried some portrait oriented shots as well. I think this one works really well. I have to admit I have enhanced the color on this shot a bit. I did not do an HDR, although that would have worked I think. Instead I just exposed for the sun and brought up the blue channel for the sky and water. I really like the colors. And contrast between the blue and yellow/red of the sun.
The Mississippi is a fascinating river. Like all large rivers it has it's own character. Lorrie was quick to find some Water Lily's which grow quite a ways from the shore. We had to drive a while to find some close enough and in a good spot to get down by the river to get a good angle on them. I ended up with this shot. Lorrie is somewhat jealous but she got better shots.
This was late afternoon and even though we were dripping with sweat from being in the heat I had to get a shot of this old house which was right down by the river. My dad grew up on Keokuk Iowa. Keokuk is home to dam number 19 on the Mississippi. This house is up river of the dam and therefore is not in much danger of flooding. Down stream most of the houses on the river are being rebuilt on stilts due to the heavy flooding they have had over the last decade and a half. As a result they don't have the character of this place. I think the house has a more southern feeling. Like something you might find down in Louisiana in an open swamp area. The crop really makes this shot. I tired a number of shots to get the bank of the river in but they all turned out to be to distracting from the subject, the house. This panoramic crop gives you all the context of the river you need while letting you eye settle on the house.
I think it was Monday night when we saw our first thunderstorm. I looked out the window late that evening and saw a flash. I grabbed the camera and headed outside. Unfortunately (for my photographs) the storm was way to far away and not really strong. (No lighting bolts.) I was kind of disappointed. I don't want to wish bad things on anyone, but we don't get thunder and lightening in the Bay Area much and I really wanted to get a chance to shoot it. Thursday night I got more than I bargained for. Once again I looked out the window to flashes of light. I grabbed the camera once again. I was thinking about what I wanted my foreground to be as I walked around the house. I was out for about 2 mins, having not even set up my camera, when there was a flash over the house and thunder right behind it. I don't know what the "rule" is for how long the thunder takes after the flash to tell how far away the lightning is, but that strike was way to close for me. Especially standing out in an open grass area... So I ran like a coward back inside. Lorrie and I watched through the windows as we heard the "severe thunderstorm warning" on the radio. The storm was headed our way and producing some impressive bolts. My father woke up and remembered he had some windows open in the shed. He went right out to close them. I went out to help and I figured if he did not think it was dangerous then I would go out and try some shots. His shed provided the perfect cover from the rain. I rolled up the large door and set up to shoot towards the Southwest. I did not have much luck. Every time I moved the camera the bolts would hit were I was aiming the time before... :-( The shot below is actually the tail of one of the most impressive bolts I have ever seen. It lit up the sky and snaked it's way across 3/4's of my field of vision. The photo below only catches the tail in the edge of the frame. The lights from a neighboring farm do bring some foreground to the shot which make it kind of nice. However, having been there I know if my camera was turned just 1/2 frame to the left it would have been spectacular!!! Sometimes you just have to take what you can get!
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We spent a lot of time driving around meeting people and scouting locations. More than anything I have realized that is what Photography is all about. I love Joe McNally's quote "If you want more interesting photographs, stand in front of more interesting things." I think he is so right. Of course what is interesting to one person may not be to others and it could be said that everything can be fascinating if one shows it in the right light. (pun intended.) Anyhoo, I digress. We spent a lot of time scouting locations. Like I said the sunsets (and rises although I was way too tired to get up for those.) are pretty spectacular out there. I saw this barn along the road and had a good feeling about it as we drove past. I noticed the tractor first. We were cruising down the road and I had to get turned around to get back for the shot. Once again we were late for the sunset. I fought with my dads SUV to get the tail hatch open and got off a couple of quick shots for an HDR. Those are still "in the can" so to speak. I processed them with Photomatix but they just have not come out. Since it was pretty clear we missed the shot that night we had to go back again. We did not have the nice cloud cover of the first night but I got at least 3 shots I am proud of. As well as a couple more HDR series's which I am still playing with.
That was our last night. I have a few more shots I am processing and playing with. As I said in the beginning of the post, it was hot, really hot. So we did hide in the AC a lot and ate a lot of Dairy Queen. It is somewhat interesting that I find Dairy Queen here in Livermore to be sub-par but back there it just seemed right to eat it every day! I guess it was the heat. ;-)
Until next time, happy shooting,
Light Cipher
