Untitled (Snowdrifts)

I’m probably one of the few people that actually loves winter…mostly the snow. Last week’s snow was light enough to blow in the cold, windy conditions and form snowdrifts along open country roads. Combined with the last light of the day, the textures and patterns made interesting subject matter. Totally worth standing out in the arctic cold conditions. (The most challenging part of shooting in arctic temps is keeping my camera hand warm!!)

Beauty In The Midst Of Chaos

I love how snow can completely transform an otherwise bland landscape. Things I’ve walked past a hundred times suddenly become more interesting. Put snow and fog together and you can see things that would otherwise be utter chaos or simply unnoticeable.

(Untitled) Evening Light On Drifted Snow

I love snow and the many ways it transforms a landscape. Roadside snow drifts are one such way I particularly enjoy photographing.

Untitled (Old Corncrib Details)

Crazy to think what old farm buildings like this have witnessed and experienced during their lifetimes.

Untitled (Cornfield and Gentle Hills)

This view seems to go on forever.

Flowers

All About That Sky

Untitled (Sunset To Remember)-4

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Untitled (Sunset To Remember)

The skies on this day were all sorts of interesting. One of those days that kept getting better. The type of conditions that cloud good judgement as you frantically search for a complementary foreground. Shot on my way into work and again on my way home but had to stop to attend our HOA meeting. Made it out just in time for the big climax after racing Beth home (safely of course). There was literally awesomeness in every direction. Here is one of the last images from that day. More to follow.

801 Grand

Shattering Silence

Des Moines Sunset Skyline

Iowa State Capitol Under Smoky Skies

Under smoky skies, the sun looks like I copied and pasted it into place over the Iowa State Capitol…but I didn’t. The density of smoke from surrounding wildfires filled our skies this August morning and acted like a neutral density filter providing a bit of detail to the sun that we’re simply not used to seeing.

Des Moines Street Lights

Sunset At The Iowa State Capitol

Iowa's Loess Hills Terrace Farming

The more I explore, the more magic I find in Iowa's Loess Hills. Taken Fall of 2017.

Glowing Hilltops Of Loess Hills, Harrison Co.

I just liked the way the hills caught the morning light. Really gave them extra dimension.

Gold Tree In Setting Sunlight

This tree caught our eye and made us pull over to the side of the road to photograph it in the setting sunlight.

I Don't Know What To Title This Image

I just thought this scene looked beautitful....

Gold Leaf On Burnt Log

The loved the contrast of this gold leaf on the burnt log.

Golden Road In Loess Hills

So many of these winding roads throuhout the Loess Hills area, but I love how this stretch of country road is lined by golden trees.

Gold Skirt

This tree is showing off its golden skirt.

Glowing Ridge At The Loess Hills Scenic Overlook

The rising sun lit up the east side of this ridge of prairie grass in the Loess Hills area.

Old Ford Truck

Not at all what I normally photograph, but I was out, it was there, and the light wasn't doing anything interesting at the moment.

Cattails

Just some cattails bathing in the last light of the day.

Untitled (Sunrise, Tree, and Fog)

Untitled (Sunrise On A Madison County Pond)

I love conditions that add an additional dimension to a scene, fog and haze being among my favorites. Scenes like this are good for my soul.

Untitled (Crawling Fog Over Cornfield)

Saw fog out our window this May morning, so I grabbed my camera gear and darted out the door. Found this scene just a few miles from home. | Nikon D610, 70-200 mm f/4.0 |1/30 sec at f/16, ISO 100 | Processed with LR, PS & Nik | joshkaiserphotography.com

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!

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.

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.