A winter sunset with swans…what could be better? Well OK, maybe more swans but still… One of the good things about Iowa…if we have a mild winter…if certain pools of water remain open or reopen from an early ice up, the Trumpeter Swans seem to find them. And they’ll remain in the area for as … Read more
Sometimes it’s more important to look back, rather than ahead. Lest you think I’m getting all philosophical and such, I’m referring to photography. This day had been a rainy one…just dull, overcast, and nothing to brag about. Towards evening though, the clouds started to break up and whenever that happens, sunlight has a chance to … Read more
With the warmer, thawing weather, I came across about a hundred swans at Cone’s Marsh the other day. Trumpeters have no choice…if they want to fly…they have to run first. They’re big, heavy birds that take a lot of gusto to get airborne. You can hear the unmistakable slap of their wing tips on the … Read more
Some say the middle child is always the rambunctious one. I’m not really sure about that but if I had to guess in this case they are probably right. While the other three swans were calm and composed, the one of the right never stopped fidgeting, flapping, and being an amusing, and ever-lovable, disturbing element.
This image reminds me of a couple of things. First, at times it’s hard to beat the Iowa sunsets. This late-day shot was taken after a day of rain and thunderstorms. This however was not the photograph I had expected to get.
To the north of this location, lies a shallow marsh and pond, that at the time, was loaded with blooming lilies. The storm clouds over this pool looked very nice and my intention was to go to the marsh and shoot that if it looked good…and it did.
While I shot away though, I did actually look around a bit, and behind me I saw the golden orange clouds and light taking shape, so I thought it might be worth it to run down a tree line to an open area and see what developed. And this image is what came from all that.
It’s just a good reminder to always keep an eye on the scene behind you. I can get so locked in to just working with what’s in front of me, that I forget everything else. How much might we miss by doing that?