An eagle, if necessary, will hunt from dawn, till dusk…and compared to us, they seem to be able to see pretty well in lower light. With the sun already set, this young eagle was still successful…making it a better night ahead, despite the sub-zero windchills.
Mark Twain and Muscatine Iowa have a bit of a history. In 1853 Mark Twain’s brother Orion Clemens became a part-owner of the newspaper. Beginning when he was eighteen years old, Twain’s contributions to the Journal represent his earliest attempts at travel writing. Twain once remarked that he remembered Muscatine for its summer sunsets. I’d suggest that the … Read more
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
As the sun sets behind this farm in Iowa, not far from where I live, I can’t help but think it’s symbolic of our times. There’s no question that over the years, particularly those from the early 1980’s on, we’ve seen a notable reduction in the family farm. It’s hard to make ends meet in farming. When you rely on things as fickle as the weather, and commodity prices…well, you’re working with some pretty volatile things.
Some of my high school friends, their families, more specifically, ran small farms. I worked on a few…bailing hay mostly…it didn’t seem all that fun then. But it was purposeful. And although the work could be hard, hot, sweaty, and dusty…you knew you accomplished something at the end of the day. It was the first place I learned, that with every day, there was always something productive that could be done.
I miss these family farms. I think our country is the lesser for them not being here in great abundance.
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?
The first time through Arches National Park near Moab Utah can be a little overwhelming. There is a lot to see…many formations and arches, and each one uniquely different from the others.
This was a very fast and brief stopover, but it gave us time to look around a little bit and get to know the place better. One of the iconic spots that is very accessible is Balanced Rock. I dare to think how many photos have been taken of this formation but it’s probably 10’s of thousands by now.
The park was first established as a national monument back in 1929, and designated as a national park in 1971. For many years it had a few seasonal visitors but with increasing exposure, much of it coming from Edward Abbey’s excellent book Dessert Solitaire, awareness of the wonders here grew quite quickly. Abbey was a park ranger here for a time and came to know the area well.
The image above was taken pointing west as the sun set. It was the last, and probably best image I got the entire day.