Daniel Ruf

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

 

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

 

Posing

"Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!"  John Muir

Trees have had my attention for many, many years. From my work with the U.S. Forest Service during my summer vacations away from college, to traveling the the country and hiking miles of trails. I see them as ballet dancers, comedians, and statues. The first blog image reminded me of "high five"! And glad I was since I didn't really want to work on removing the leafless branch touching the clouds.

I've spent more time than I can remember walking among miles and miles of trees during my life and only to become even more amused by their color, stature, grace and strength.

This colony above, joining limbs in togetherness and laying patterns of color at their base created by the pattern of their limbs and clusters of leaves. How can one not be drawn to this spot of light, shelter and warmth? They are inviting, inclusive, and dancing. How can one not be drawn to this meeting of limbs?

And then there is the ballerina; graceful, inviting, and welcoming. In front of a backdrop of color and softness surrounded by fog. A tree that is leaning forward asking to dance. Almost bowing a graceful thank you and at the same time pointing to the dance floor that is perfectly lit for this occasion.

Being alone in the forests of the Northwest obviously did a number on my cranial functions, but, in reality, trees are quite beautiful to me as well as entertaining. Yet everyday we lose them, sometimes one by one and sometimes acres at a time. We are losing an element that not only holds this good earth together, but shades us from the miserable heat of the sun, from a flash drenching of rain and shelters the musicians of the forest...birds.

Thank you for dropping by...go plant another tree

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Waiting

   

"Patience is the art of concealing your impatience."  Guy Kawasaki

Several years ago my wife and managed to make our way to the Joshua Tree National Park on our way to the West Coast. Neither of us had been there before and were excited to see in person what we had seen in pictures. We were disappointed that our timing wasn't right for seeing the Joshua trees, but it turned out that as evening approached it was a good time for some landscape photography. The above scene of layers of landscape defined by fog is something I have always enjoyed working with. It is a panorama of approximately 8 exposures.

It was enjoyable for me to stand and wait with some measure of hope that other scenes would follow as the sun got closer to setting on the Western horizon. My wife has always been good at striking up a conversation with people and before I knew it we were talking to a family from Sweden. We did a lot of laughing, talked a little photography and time passed quickly.

Little did I know that the upper blog scene would develop into the above dynamic of light, form, and color. We waited until the last drop of light was beginning to fade and then started the walk on the trail back to the car. I remember distinctly that my mind was full of wishes and hope that once back home I would be rewarded for the patient efforts and chance.

Thanks for visiting....keep safe....wash hands often.....Love one another.....Normalcy will return.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Color Addiction

"Lost-yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes.

No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.   Horace Mann

When the sky is right in Arizona the colors are blazing finishes on a day of hiking and photography. On this particular trip clouds were at a minimum, which means that the options for color in the morning and evening were few and far between. But this infrequency of dazzling color is also typical in Iowa. Not every day can be a rose, but one can only hope for a bouquet once in awhile.

But the eloquence of light is not limited to morning and evening. It can surprise a person throughout the day if conditions are right or the geology plays a part to cause the bending of light beams.

Just turning around and looking into the blinding light make the difference. And, as tourist and hikers pass questions are asked about what one is doing, seeing, or what? But I see a portrait....one tree, glistening light, and a tapestry background. It's a gift! They are all GIFTS! One just has to be prepared to open ones arms and embrace i

Thanks for visiting and Spring is getting even closer. Make sure your lenses are clean!

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

 

Light is light...or is it?

"What makes photograph a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time."  John Berger

And light and time I have plenty of!  

While many occupations today require some real industry, sweat and skill, when I'm working behind or near the camera I'm also able to enjoy the landscape in front of me...or behind me, or both.  The joy of photography for me is catching the right situations in the right light, and, in my case, catching the right situation is harder than catching the right light.  Catching the right light is generally checking a few apps that give times and angles of the sun or moon and being somewhere to wait for the "magic".  Finding this grouping of cows was the accident of driving around to places I feel might have the right landscape and "animal attraction".  This is the time consuming process of getting to know the local landscape, be it lakes or rural.  If I wasn't here early enough this lighting would be long past and would probably have been replaced by awful full daylight. The hills and valley would be blasted with unfriendly light and contrasts and little color.

In such situations I would get to a location early enough to watch the changing of early sunrise to dawn and enjoy the watching, thinking and mental processing.  In this case I remained in the truck as not to give the cows an excuse to leave me standing alone with a sad face.

Just thoughts!

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  

 

Miles And Differences

"I live in a landscape, which every single day of my life is enriching."  Daniel Day  -Lewis

I remember standing on this spot, waiting for the light and clouds to do the evening magic, and thinking what a geological difference from less than 400 miles from my home in Iowa. From topsoil to bedrock, prehistoric bedrock at that, and each place holds its own beauty. Yet my Iowa is a product of glaciers, while this is a product of eons of course sands wearing away the soil and floods of water cutting a pattern through the landscape that is now the Badlands. 

The Badlands story is played out all over our great America, but in different ways and circumstances.  Mountains in the West suffering the heaves of the inner earth and the heartland being formed by not only glacial activity, but also tons of soil being blown in from the western landscape to form our luscious hills, with water carving the valleys. If you could flap your wings and fly 100 to 200 miles in any direction and the story and landscape if different and loved no less by those that roam those spaces.

Despite the place, the year, the altitude, the heavenly light does its dance and creates its magic making each and every nuance of the landscape an amazing miracle of lights and darks and colors.

Thanks for visiting me again and I wish all of you the most blessed Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for your attention and that I have been lucky to witness each and every location that has splashed across these pages. 

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  (I can't believe I'm on Facebook again???)

Autumn Song

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."  Thomas Merton

The multi colors of autumn escape us in Northwest Iowa so a week in the Three Lakes area of Wisconsin is the next best thing. I have connections via relatives in Three Lakes and also, over the years have begun to understand the lay of the land.  It's the area where one of the largest chain of lakes exists (if not the largest) and a place where my wife finds her soul. She spent summers there at her grandparents summer home and together with her "linked at the hip" cousin enjoyed summer days and nights boating, water skiing and time with family.

Over time and after retiring from the life of a farmer, I began to experience her joy of Wisconsin and the Three Lakes area. It's beautiful lake background as well as a landscape of forests and shorelines is enough to make a landscape photographer feel at home. Surrounded by a fabulous caring family of relative and friends the experience of the area is complete.

Our experience this year was one of putting sweat equity into rehabilitating a boat that her cousin had spotted for us.  Along with his being very generous with his time educating us on the skills of wet sanding, patching,scrubbing,fixing, and painting it was a week of long days going into the night and being fed by his caring wife when we plopped down at the table in exhaustion.  We learned so much, shared so much, and grabbed any free time to immerse ourselves in the fall color that I think we squeezed out as much of Wisconsin that we could.

We are still Iowans, but are well aware that are places beyond the borders that are waiting for our attention. We will try to get to them one at a time.

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the Fall color and share with your families.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Just Down The Street

"Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace."  Christie Brinkley

Whitby, England was a vey nice city in Yorkshire and its situation along the east coast as well a vibrant harbor meant a lot of interesting shops, galleries and restaurants to visit. Since carrying an iPhone can be much more convenient than dragging a tripod and camera around, this image is straight out of the phone and the HDR Pro app.

There were a couple of galleries and shops that my wife and I enjoyed visiting as well as making the 99 step climb to the Whitby Abbey and learning more about English history. On the weekend this street, which I believe is Church Street, is bursting full with people, and yes, cars will try to make their way down this narrow passageway at a very slow pace. The abbey is up the street behind me just a short distance and well worth the time and climb. Pets (dogs) are more than welcome in most of the shops and cafes and were enjoyable to see and meet. As we are a "little" partial to the Golden Retriever breed, we were pleased to fill the hole in our hearts that was left by our Bailey years ago by petting many.

As it got closer to dinner we found a recommended cafe/restaurant called "Humble Pie And Mash" and made our way into a small space with quaint tables and interior.  The tables were already full so we were going to have a wait of some time and decided to sit outside.  On our way out the door a young girl asked if we would like to join her and her father at their table. We accepted the invite and not only had a delicious meal of steak and ale pie, but a wonderful conversation with our new friends. We covered everything from English and American politics to the huge size of America, which I think we always take for granted. The father had an amazing knowledge of American history and its presidents and the young lady was a jewelry designer. The evening passed quickly, but will long be remembered by us.

I think the most enjoyable part of England, other than the beautiful countryside and towns, was the kindness and generosity of its people.

Thanks for following my blog.

Other sites where you can find my work:

http://500px.com

Summerwind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com