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Mitchell Heritage Prairie

At the end of last summer I learned about the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie over near Wamego, Kansas. I made it over once last September to do some photography. The wildflowers were incredible, it was a very beautiful spot.
Several days ago I had the chance to go back while the prairie was being burned and do some more photography. That was a great experience! It was interesting to watch how the burn was done. I can't wait for the flowers to come back this year and I'm planning on being a more frequent visitor this year. Photos from my trip over last September and from this year's burn can be viewed at the links below:

Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie - Sept. 2009 Photos
Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie - Spring burn

If you get a chance, I would recommend a visit!

Some Infrared Photos

Well since spring has apparently decided not to show up yet, I'm catching up on photos from last spring and summer. I've put together a few infrared photos from Konza, Marlatt Park, and Old K18 in this post. You can click on the link below to view them:

Kansas Infrared Photos

I'm using a new gallery for my photos, the first one should load full page. You can scroll through them using the arrows or numbers on the bottom of the page.

The first image (and the one shown above) is a shot of my favorite tree on Konza Prairie. I don't what it is about this tree, but it has a very majestic, peaceful feeling to it. I've photographed it many times and never felt like my photos were capturing the spirit of the tree. I think this infrared shot comes close though. The infrared really makes the tree standout and shows it's structure well. As soon as the weather cooperates I'm going to head to Konza and spend some more time with this tree.

Washington County

I was up at Washington County, Kansas this week doing some photography with my Dad. A cold front was coming in with snow forecast for the following day. We drove into some new territory and I didn't think we where going to find much to photograph, the clouds where interesting and the sunset was starting to show some nice color. I was starting to get a little frustrated that I couldn't find a place to stop and shoot. However, we found an old barn and homestead that provided some good subjects. You can click on the link below to view a few of my shots.

Washington County, Kansas

Catching up on photos

Despite vows to do otherwise, I've fallen behind on processing images. I made some progress catching up this weekend and I've posted some a my favorites of the photos I went through. You can view them by clicking the link below:

Photos from last spring and summer

I've also changed the format of the image gallery, let me know what you think of it.

Enjoy!

Wildcat Park

Last weekend I was at Wildcat Park with my photography class. This is a really nice little park. There are several lines of black walnut trees that were planted in a clearing which makes for interesting lines and shadows in the evening. I took this first photo facing down one of the rows of walnut trees.

After photographing some geese in the stream that runs along the edge of the park everyone started back towards the parking lot and some nice color started showing up with the sunset.

Near the parking lot the trail crosses a small stream which was reflecting the colors of the sunset.

Marlatt Park

I was out at Marlatt Park last weekend with one of my photography classes and we lucked into a great shooting situation. The light was pretty good with a decent sunset, but the best part of the evening occurred as the last group of students and I were leaving.








As we turned to go back up the trail we were greeted with this view of the nearly full moon rising above the horizon.
The moon is a lot brighter than many people think and it is often hard to get the moon properly exposed and still have enough light to retain detail in the foreground. However, between 1-3 days before the actual full moon is almost always a perfect time to balance the exposure between moon and ground as the moon rises and the sun sets. This happened to be the day before the 100% full moon. We were also in a perfect position on the side of a hill so as the moon rose higher in the sky, we were able to back down the hill and keep the moon close the horizon. This made for some great shooting.






























I think this last shot is my favorite from the evening:



Enjoy!

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Flint Hills Digital Photography Workshop April 24th, Alma, Kansas

I am very excited to announce that the "Flint Hills Digital Photography Workshop" is now accepting registrations. This workshop will take place in historic Alma, KS on April 24th. The workshop is geared towards anyone wanting to get more out of their camera and their photography. The workshop is being lead by myself and Wayne Rhodus of Rhodus Photography.

More information and registration instructions are online at the link below:

Flint Hills Digital Photography Workshop.

Hope to see you there!

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

Judd Patterson's Canon Photography in the Parks

Canon Photography in the Parks
Originally uploaded by Judd Patterson

When you get a chance, stop by the Canon Photography in the Parks photo contest and check out the finalists and vote for your favorite. One of the photos was taken by Judd Patterson. Judd is a Kansas native and an amazing photographer so be sure you check his photo out!

You should also stop by his webpage and check out the rest of his work, I guarantee it will be worth your time!

http://www.juddpatterson.com/

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!