Daniel Ruf

Enjoy The Leaves

       

                                              Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.Albert Camus

One morning I was looking out a window looking at the autumn leaves hitting the ground and realized that the previous frost had done its damage and I needed to get out to gather what pics that I could before every leaf had hit the ground. I grabbed my camera gear and ran to the truck to start my sleuthing for the autumn views.

The trip was a lot of stops and starts as I would get out, set up camera gear, take the shot, gather the gear up and place it all in my truck and head to the next opportunity, if there was one.

After cruising up and down roads I started to head back toward the lakes areas for a different scenic view which turned out to be a good decision or listening to that other voice that does tend to show up quietly at times. As you can see in the blog pic above not only did I have some nice shadows to work with there just happened to be a dock and a person to create the attraction that was needed to complete the image.

My experience over the years have taught me that the best pictures are the ones that included a bit of a surprise to fill in the blank spaces.

Thank you  all for visiting my blog site and I wish you the most beautiful Christmas this year.

More of my work can be seen at Arts On Grand in Spencer, Iowa

Close up

"There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea,

and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more." Lord Byron

When I saw this iPhone close up of leaves on the floor of a forest I was astonished about the eye popping color that existed as well as the details and textures that came with the capture.

All to often I believe that we lose sight of the loveliness of small parts of our world as we spend more time looking forward than looking down at the delicate space beneath our feet.

Take the time...take a walk!

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Autumn Passage

"Autumn is the second spring when every leaf is a flower"  Albert Camus

Yesterday morning I visited the edge of East Okoboji Lake to watch another sunrise break the sky into multiple shades of color when I noticed the remaining leaves of summer that were backlit by the morning light. It was a reminder that Autumn was fading fast and its colors dwindling. In just a few months this landscape will give way to an iced lake and a white covering of snow. With this in mind I spent the rest of the day capturing every hint of color that I could find and rejoiced in each gift found.

Thanks for visiting my web blog and enjoy the remains of color that Autumn is giving to us

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Road Trip

"The love of family and the admiration of  friends is much more important than wealth and privilege."   Charles Kuralt

This past week one of my best friends, Mike Houge, and I made a trip to Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota with all our camera gear and big expectations. we realized that autumn color was a thing of the past, but had hope that some interesting subject matter would still be available for discovery. Mike had recently sold his business and was just beginning to enjoy retirement and we both knew that we would share some time together sharing creative photographic ideas and skills.

When we got to Luverne, MN we stopped to see the work of  Minnesota photographer, Jim Brandenburg at his gallery in Rock County Veterans Memorial Building in Luverne. The work was fabulous and worth the time.

Blue Mound is not far North of Luverne and has always been a favorite spot and is about and hour and a half from NW Iowa. We did plan on seeing the buffalo herd that is the major attraction, but, as usual, they weren't around. We did some scouting for subject matter, did some "warmup" shooting and then found this grouping of trees known as the "Three Sisters" to concentrate on while waiting for the sun to set and the moon to rise.

Mike had just purchased a new Canon 5D Mark IV, which I have as well, and was getting acquainted with the settings, buttons and options. 

It was an enjoyable day with plenty of time to talk photography on the way home

Thanks for visiting my blog. I will be spending the rest of my day taking down my exhibit at Arts On Grand.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Transition

"Autumn's the mellow time." William Allingham

A rainy day, leaves are falling and the color is silently disappearing. While it was the prettiest autumn that I have seen since  moving to Northwest Iowa in the 80's it feels like such a short visit this year. Last year at this time I was wearing out my camera in Maine during my first visit and the color was blazing. Color in our part of Iowa is a little more subdued and a smaller variety of tones.

The blog shot was taken a couple of days while it was raining. Boredom had taken it's toll and I was planning to take my chances that some fog and haze might have some nice options for photography. I decided to handhold my camera rather than drag a tripod around and it was a little test of a new freedom. There was no setting up of the "pod" as well as no extending and retraction of the legs for each photo session. It was fun.

As I passed this scene I happen to catch the reflections in the water and then the "subtle" blue tone in the background. I quickly made a "U" turn and glad I did. With some fog in the background and spots of color in the last tree of autumn I felt that I had some options to work with.

Processing was done in Lightroom and Photoshop and then some dabbling in NIK Color Efex Pro 4. 

The docks are coming out and the area is going through its regular autumn alterations. It won't be long before the scene is covered in ice and white stuff. Actually, the weather report is calling for some snow this weekend.

Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're in the Spencer, Iowa area the last couple of weeks of my exhibit at Arts On Grand is still showing

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Autumn.....So Soon?

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."  Albert Camus

It's unbelievable that it is autumn already! It seems like just yesterday we were watching the new flowers bursting and having to mow the lawn. The fact is the this is the norm for people of retirement age. It just seems that weeks fly by while we get older. 

The blog image is from a local park on a morning when an unannounced thick fog spread over our landscape. Of course the weather sources didn't happen to mention the fog in the forecast and I had a late start and had to choose the closest location that might have promise.

Just behind me was a totally different composition with the suns rays warming up the color of a grassland landscape. It was a morning of treasures as the fog was around for another hour or so. Since then high winds have shaken a lot of leaves off the trees and the landscape is getting ready for the winter season. 

As I was concentrating on getting these shots I could here pheasants and owls adding their say to the show adding the the autumn feel.

Thanks for following my blog and have a great week and a safe week.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had an unexpected opportunity to hang and exhibit at Arts On Grand in Spencer,Iowa this past week. The show will be up until November 7. The title of the show is "Along The Way" and is a collection of not only lakes area themes, but other places where my wife and I have been outside of Iowa the last couple of years. If you're in the area Arts On Grand is worth the visit.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Trips And Stuff

"There's a quality of life in Maine which is this singular and unique. I think. It's absolutely a world onto itself."   Jamie Wyeth

This past autumn my wife and I decided to finally check off a item on our bucket list by traveling to the state of Maine....as well as New Hampshire and Vermont.  The biggest item was to hit the Fall color right on target. Having had the experience myself of trying to target the Fall color in Minnesota as well as Wisconsin, I new we would have our hands full.  As it turned out we didn't do so badly.  I'm a believer that all Fall color has to have a little green to make the seasonal color more intense.

Our main point of interest was the Arcadia National Park since we were new to the area and had a limited amount of time due to travel issues. The above shot was taken in the town of Mechanic Falls, Maine. At the time the falls part, behind me, was being blasted by the morning sun. This side had some cloud formation and a moderate bit of sunlit back lighting taking place. Plus the added attraction of traffic zooming past my backside. I don't care if it is going at 35 mph, it's still dangerous.....but worth the chance.

I was using my Canon 5D Mark 4, which I still love after about 3 years of the engagement, and a  24-105 zoom lens.I also had a split neutral density filter latched on to muffle the skies brightness. Of course, in my world, I was praying for a nice shiny train to go rolling past on the bridge, but that didn't happen. I just had to be satisfied with the splashes of color.

Since the weather here in NW Iowa has been gloomy for awhile I thought I'd throw in a second shot from a morning along the Sunday River, near Bethel, Maine. I'm standing on a covered bridge, which was another bucket list item (the more covered bridges, the better). The morning was cold, but foggy....another wish come true.  Another treat was our short stay at the Holidae House Bed & Breakfast in Bethel. The house was a beautiful place with plenty of restaurants nearby as well as some of the nicest owners one could ever hope to meet. We only spent one night there, but wished we had spent more time afterwards, but the road beckoned and moved on.

Thanks for visiting and Spring is getting closer

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Wild Weeks

"There's never on sunrise the same or one sunset the same." Carlos Santana

This last couple of weeks the sunrises and sunsets have been really over the top for color. The above scene is an East Lake morning that started really slow and dull and then went on steroids. I'm not sure what atmospheric conditions are creating these phenomena, but it has been entertaining.

The docks are out and the geese are headed south, except for those that seem to find a hole in the ice and stay through the winter.  The weather has been such that the lakes have been covered with thin ice off and on with the warming spells. It's really been an unusual autumn for us.

Thanks for visiting and have a great Thanksgiving

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Home Again

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."  George Eliot

Just back from a two week "bucket list" trip to Maine and other parts northeast. The autumn color was about perfect, especially considering that we've never had to coordinate a trip as well as trying to hit the hight of the autumn color. Acadia National Park was especially beautiful, decked out in the autumn flames from yellows, to orange, to reds as well as reflective ponds and wetlands to reflect same.

It was a long road trip, but as my wife said, "why would you fly over all of the beauty getting there?"  We got lost a few times and our car navigating system led us on some wild goose chases that took some time to get back on the right track. Love technology!

We spent some time at Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania which was fantastic with more waterfalls than you can consume in an afternoon.

Thanks for visiting

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.org 

500px.com

 

Far Away Lands

A couple of years ago my wife and I made a trip to England...Our second together, although my wife had been there several times before with her mother.  Our first time it only took me a few minutes to fall in love with the English countryside as it was like dipping back into the 40's with  buildings built of stone, quaint country towns and delicious food.  I couldn't put my camera down as there was so much to photograph and little time to see everything.

The second trip my wife knew that photography was going to be my  agenda and she obliged me the time to get it done.  While most of my work with the camera was done early in the morning as we traveled the country we stopped and I was able to do "snapshots" of the more intimate areas of England that caught my attention. My approach there was not much different than here in the states as I looked for soothing beautiful scenes that drew me in.

The above scene is one of many that I came across and, as anywhere else, timing is everything along with some luck thrown in for good measure.  It was early autumn with some color, but that typical dewy touch that is so England. Sheep in a green pasture and dots of color and a simple fence line adding to the rustic quality.

Sometimes I think that I am attracted to such scenes, even in our lake area, so that in the near future when I've forgotten the places I've been and things I've seen I will at least be warmed and comforted by the subtle atmosphere that I enjoy in the present. At times I even feel like the stage has been set for someone to show up with a camera and I was the lucky one that got in the way just in time. 

Thanks for visiting again and try to remember to treasure your scenes.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

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