Daniel Ruf

Is March Fading?

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."  

Aaron Siskind

It's been a long time since I've refreshed my blog site, but it's been a pretty ugly winter here in Iowa with little snow and precipitation and the miles of skeleton shaped trees leaving us to wonder if Spring was ever going to show up. Right now on March 29 we're still wondering if Spring is getting any closer. There are some indications with some little sprigs starting to break the surface and my yelling "not yet, not yet". Both myself and my camera are aching to see wild flowers showing us with tulips, coneflowers and many others blasting through the surface of the earth and developing into beautiful heads of color.

I'll wait and my camera will have to wait, but being anxious for Spring cannot wait any longer. Let's have the "fireworks" of flowers...the yellows, reds, purples and many other colors be out of control in showing off their Spring beauty.

Thanks for joining me here and you can view my work at Arts On Grand in Spencer, IA as well as the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji, IA.

"It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it."

John Burroughs

We've had many days of frosty/foggy mornings this past couple of weeks up here in NW Iowa and it's a gift for a photographer. Its importance in an image comes forward once the sun throws it's bright rays on the frost laden trees. I've spent a lot of time waiting for the foggy skies to clear so that clarity comes to the rescue. I even managed to remember to pull out my polarizer and attach it to my lens. Doing this even made the scene  perkier .

Atmospheric occasions like this make winter scenes really perk up and will be candidates to send into Our Iowa Magazine for the 2021/22 winter next year. It always feels weird to think that I'm shooting for next year now. It will be that same thing for every season. And what makes it even more unusual is that the call for entry to next winter likely come in the summer when I'm shooting summer scenes.  

A few days later I went to another one of my favorite places that had the frosty covering and enough opacity int the sky to get some color from the sun.Without the sun this scene would be pretty dull and gray. 

Both blog images were captured with a Canon 5D MarkIV and edited in both Lightroom and Photoshop. 

This has been a great start to the new year as I don't think I saw much fog and frost last year or the year before. We're at the point on the calendar that I can start thinking that Spring is just around the corner.Granted, it's a few blocks away yet, but I feel better thinking it's closer.

I wish you all a fabulous New Year and encourage you to get out to enjoy the season of winter wherever you are.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

 

 

 

Transitions

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountains and sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.  John Lubbock

It seems like the transition from autumn to winter has happened at least three times here in Northwest Iowa. We have seen the East Okoboji Lake surface freeze at least 4 times and each time the ice succumbs to another warming system that passes through for a week or so at a time. We've had about 3 inches of snow which has also disappeared leaving more leaves to collect, which I hope I've done for the last time this year.

The blog image is a morning a couple of weeks ago showing the ice retreating and the sunrise glowing. This has been a year of many glowing sunrises and sunsets and I presume it's largely the result of the western forest fires which have resulted in days and days of haze over the landscape.

This image was captured with my Canon 5D Mark IV using the HDR process in camera. The editing processes started in Lightroom with finishing touches in Photoshop CC, which mainly was focused on brightening the shoreline landscape.

Thank you for joining me here and I hope you have a marvelous Thanksgiving. Stay safe, use your mask and be aware of social distancing. I'm sure we are all tired of hearing the well meant warning, but when I'm out in public it seems that there is a certain deafness to caution by many.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Winters Last Breath ?

"To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image

becomes a great physical and intellectual job."  Henri Cartier-Bresson

Almost a week ago we had one of the most vicious blizzards I've ever experienced followed by several days of below freezing temperatures overnight. It became another several days of covering and uncovering the the tulip beds with plastic. From here on out it looks like things are going to switch gears to Spring.

Yesterday morning was my first outdoor adventure in many days. At 5:30 in the morning "social separation" is not difficult especially in a state park that is still covered in snow. The blog image was about the only interesting item to photograph, but at least I had a number of selection options when it came to ice formations sculptured by the lake water during the aforementioned storm.

The blog image was taken with my trusty Canon 5D Mark IV. I was looking for a simple composition with morning color and reflection on the water. I got most of that plus the reflection of the sunrise color in the icy fingers. The image was first processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, then finishing touches in Adobe Photoshop CC, with some final touches in NIK Viveza.

Because of the quarantine I've been spending a lot of time watching photography videos on my computer. All decked out in my earbuds I enjoyed seeing different ideas, results, processes, and links to other treasures.

I happend to find a photographer, Nigel Danson, through some online search. He's a photographer of the United Kingdom and found his video tutorials quite helpful and informative. They're short, mostly 18 minutes or so, and full on info and options and includes a lot of images of England rural ares, which made it all the more fascinating, since I have a real interest in the countryside of England Mr. Danson's photography is softer in results as is English landscape. I would recommend his videos as a great way to learn simple facts and processes as well as waking up one's brain and slipping away from "cabin fever".

As the U.S. slowly starts back to the norm that we have all have been separated from over the past month, I hope to be able to get reacquainted with my camera on a more regular basis.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to stay safe, enjoy the leisure and wash your hands often.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

  

 

 

Crisp Mornings

It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fires  of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it."

John Burroughs

Days of foggy mornings gave way to colder mornings with crisp chilly winds, which gave way to sub zero temps and frosty coverings on stiff creaking trees. It was such a morning when I made my way to Gull Point State Park with hopes of ice, strong shadows and frosty trees.  I got all that plus fog blowing in from open areas of water across West Lake.

The trees were glittered like crystal and the sun rays broke through a fork in the nearby tree making for strong shadows acting as definite leading line into the scene. The view was more than I could have hoped for especially since the lake near our home had no indications of fog, but West Lake is a deep lake and holds on to its deep warm water for as long as possible.

Standing here, putting tripod together and setting up my Canon camera, the feeling of winter surrounded me. The patches of autumns earth were gone, the shards of ice hid the lake edges and the sky had the deep blue color of a winter day. The beauty of winter was finally here.

Thank you for visiting my blog site and I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a bountiful new year.  Be safe and enjoy the season of winter

 

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Remains

"To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy."    Henri Cartier-Bresson   

Enjoy the winter!

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  

 

Winter Ice Reflections

You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved. Ansel Adams

Spent some time shooting off of  Eagle Point  in the Wahpeton area this past week and came upon some ice slabs that I enjoy shooting, but in the last couple of years that haven't been too impressive. It was a nice morning with partly cloudy skies which helps to break up sky area and give the sunlight something to reflect from. It was a nice morning and I got to try out my pull over ice cleats on my boots which made it a lot easier to walk around on the ice.

The above is a better example of what i normally manage to find but this was back in 2017. It's a real treat to find and work around this size and then positioning for sunrises or sunsets which helps to illuminate the interior of the slabs. These were probably 4 - 5 feet tall and I haven't been able to find an explanation so I can understand the cause.  Whatever it is we haven't seen any in the last two years.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to comment or even tell me the secret of this event.

Happy New Year, if I don't see you first.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography