Lunar Halo

Took Taylor (our dog) out tonight before bedtime and saw this! Stayed up a while longer. :-)

Sun Dogs & Blowing Snow

Taylor (my dog) and I set out to capture the blowing and drifting snow on this frigid evening a few weeks ago. I think only photographers (and dogs) like to brave the cold all for the chance to capture a good image. Taylor just likes to be included, and make snow angels. While in route to my intended destination, sun dogs appeared. What’s a photographer to do? Stop, of course, and seize the moment. The backlight of the sun helps show off the snow racing across this field.

Mingling Seasons

Fall and winter are my two favorite seasons. This scene expresses both!

Untitled (Snow Texture & Reflecting Light)

I’m a sucker for fresh untouched snow.

Old Rugged Fence In Drifting Snow

Country Road Snowdrift

I was frantically driving the country roads looking for composition that would compliment the nice light that was happening. While standing in a ditch knee deep in snow, a car pulled up next to me to kindly make me aware of the spectacular full moon rising behind me (they were out taking photos too). I certainly appreciated the kind gesture but wasn’t where I’d need to be for a good moon composition, so I was intending to stick it out at this location a bit longer. The fellow photographer drove past me to turn around and managed to get a bit too close to the ditch before getting sucked in about 75’ in front of me, adding an SUV to my composition. It was a little disappointing for both of us (for different reasons), but mostly funny looking back. Guess it keeps things from getting boring. I did mange to capture a few frames before the SUV got sucked into my frame.

First Snow

It was our first real snow of the season and I was out wondering the countryside. I drove past this pond a few times trying to visualize a composition, from the warmth of my car of course. Not seeing anything, I finally convinced myself to take a little hike and explore the area on foot. Upon reaching the waters edge, I discovered these cool patterns in the exposed ice in an otherwise snow covered scene. Good reminder that it often pays to get a bit uncomfortable and explore the area beyond the view from the driver’s seat.

Iowa Dairy Farm

Growing up, I drove past this well kept dairy farm nearly every day. Since getting into photography, I thought this place would make for a good photograph under the right conditions. A fresh blanket of snow seems to be just what the scene needed.

Untitled (Lake Shoreline Snow)

Since we haven’t seen much snowfall this winter here in Iowa, I dug through some unprocessed images taken prior winters and came across this. While likely not wall worthy, I really like the texture and curves of this 2015 February snowfall along a local lake.

Peaceful Meadow

I get to drive past this scene every day. When the morning fog reveals itself through these Iowa rolling hills, it reminds me of some of the Smoky Mountain views. While Iowa doesn’t have things like dramatic mountains and waterfalls, it does have a unique beauty to it when you take the time to look.

Milky Way Silo

Got out for some Iowa astrophotography a couple times in the past few weeks. Testing a new technique to capture the night sky but with less ISO noise. I'm impressed...

Change of Seasons

An ice storm rains on fall’s parade, competing for the attention.

Memorable Iowa Cornfield Sunrise

On June 18, 2015, Justin Rogers and I set out to photograph sunrise at this scenic Iowa field. I was planning to capture a panoramic of the scene that morning and had I not made some technical errors in the field while shooting, it would have been an epic one! The light this morning was nothing short of stunning. My heart sunk when I got back to the computer and realized my pano attempt was a failure. I tried multiple methods to fix the error in post, and to this day, I hang on to the files for the day my Photoshop skills improve enough that I might be able to rescue the image. Fast forward two years, I was doing some culling and found this image from that memorable morning. It was the first of the images taken that morning as I was setting up for the pano. So not all was lost. I did manage to come away with a ‘keeper’ from that morning and some valuable lessons to boot.

Catching Some Rays

These two hay bales caught the warm morning rays as the sun came over the distant horizon.

Corn Leaf

Highway Sunrise

Low lying fog made a great mood for this winding highway sunrise.

Winter Fog Tree Stump Reflections

I love the simplicity of these tree stumps reflecting in the small pools of water surrounded by ice on this cool, foggy, January morning.

Winter Fog Tree Stump Reflections

I love the simplicity of these tree stumps reflecting in the small pools of water surrounded by ice on this cool, foggy, January morning.

Morning Light Reflections

The calm conditions gave way to beautiful morning light reflections on the water.

Morning Light Over Raccoon River

It was a cool but still morning as I watched both the moon and sun rise over the Raccoon River. Everything was reflecting the colors in the sky, even the driftwood! I never get tired of mornings like this.

Iowa Corn Crib Under Morning Light

This old corn crib stands alone in an Iowa field after harvest season. Looks quite majestic in its own way.

Nighttime Sky

I was out shooting the Milky Way over a landscape and looked up and saw this and was taken back to all the times as a child I would stare up at the nighttime sky.

Morning Valley Overlook In Loess Hills

A peaceful morning overlooking a valley of prairie grass highlighted by a patch of red vegetation in the Loess Hills area.