A life’s End

Back in September 2014 I created an image of this tree as a part of my 90-day project. Part of this project was to not only create an image but to tell a story about the photograph. This was day two’s image, and this is what I wrote.

“I was drawn to this tree due to the low branch a few feet above the ground and the almost stereotypical hole that needs an owl to fill it. The texture of the tree and the branches gave this tree this character of something from a book. And you know its old because you can almost read a story about its life here, the people who lived there and the events over the years in the bark of the tree and the twists of the branches.”

Well this spring when I was walking my dog, I visited the tree and come to find it in not so good of shape the branches were bare where other trees were sprouting leaves. Still, we had a wet season there maybe some hope. As the season changed it became clear that the tree had died and soon it too would be cut down.

Today was the day that the tree was cut down.

Look No Farther

In the world of landscape photography, it seems that the cooler and more extoic place you create images of, the better you are as a photographer. Well at least the more noticed you are is more to my point. And that is great! We need to see the beautiful places of the world to remind us of how precious our planet is. But  I believe that you should Look No Farther than your own backyard to find unique beauty to share with the world, because that is what everyday people see.Where they live and not the Rocky Mountains or National Parks of the world. By taking that challenge on, you push yourself to look at a landscape in a way that makes it interesting and engaging not only to you but to your viewer. That is what I am working on this year. And  right now, I find it has been tough but I love the challenge. 

With a purchase of the camper, my wife and I have spent 4 weekends at 3 different parks; Palisades-Kepler, Pleasant Creek and West Overlook down in Coralville. We stayed at Palisades-Kepler twice. I have created a lot of images of Palisades-Kepler over the years so when I couldn’t get out due to rain or extreme heat, it was ok. So far both Pleasant Creek and West Overlook has had the most images I have created. Now I found a couple of good images to post with the rest not being worthy and that is ok. My failed images are what I learn from and a few of them I may try again to see if I can create something that I love. 

By creating images of my own state, a place I grew up in, I have an idea of what I do and don’t want to present. Barns, cornfields and dirt roads are typical Iowa and that is good for most people but it is not what I want to show. I would love to show off our little towns, rolling fields of prairies, the northern bluff like landscape of Northeast Iowa, the rivers and lakes we fish on. These are the images that I feel have been ignored when it comes to Iowa. These are the images that don’t come to mind when you say to someone; “When you think of Iowa, what pictures come to mind?” Barnes and corn is the most popular is my educated guess.  

I stated earlier that I have lived in Iowa for most of my life but I haven’t seen a good portion of this state.. Which is leading my wife and I to explore places we haven’t been before, or haven’t seen in a very long time.This time, instead of looking at it as one would see it as a tourist, I am looking at these places as a photographer. I want to find something about these places that has a photographic worth that doesn’t appear anywhere else. 

Coming soon is our next park, Lake Darling. I had never heard of the park but with a little research I found it has very little light pollution, so astrophotography is possible. On the DNR site not only points out the great camping and boating but also “Hikers will find plenty of opportunity at Lake Darling State Park. Several trails are present and hikers will see a variety of plant, animal and bird species. One of the trails extends through a re-established prairie and another winds through heavily wooded timber to a cemetery dating back to the 1800s.” To me that sounds like possibilities of images and sound recordings of nature. So needless to say I am looking forward to the opportunities that may happen. 

So this is one of my many projects, to find the gems of Iowa landscapes and create images to redefine what people picture Iowa looks like. I am sure that this will take me to places I haven’t seen, to look at places that I am familiar with in a different way and to write and or podcast about the whole experience. And hopefully, maybe motivate you to visit or at least, entertain you in some way. Until my next post here are some of the images I have created so far. If you follow me on instagram, Facebook or Twitter, you might have seen them already. 

The Last Time

So what have I been up to? I feel I have written or talked about this topic way to often this year. It is not that I am so busy with photography that I can’t take a few moments and blog or make a podcast about my work. Busy is not the problem, the lack of being busy and have no motivation to do it is closer to the issue. It’s not that I haven’t created photographs, it is just that I have created too few to blog about. So when I feel I have enough to talk or write about I then recap it out for all to see. I am finding this tiresome and feel that this is the last one that I will do going forward. With that said here is the skinny on all that has transpired over the past few months. 

Buffey and I have purchased a camper and we are camping as often as we can. This has given me some inspiration to write about the experience from a  photographer’s point of view. Iowa has some great landscapes that don’t involve barns, cornfields, and dirt roads, some of them are in our campgrounds around the state and that to me is a great subject to journal. So far we have gone to our favorite site, Palisade-Kepler State Park, twice and Pleasant Creek once. Each one had different subjects to create images of that would make great photos on anyone's wall or portfolio. As the summer moves on, we plan to stay at parks we have never been to before with a week or so long stay at a park at the last two weeks of October. Keep you posted on where that is.

I have new business cards for general and pet photography. I had them printed at Staples for a relatively low price. I was motivated to create them after a grooming shop owner loved the portraits of Stella and Triskaideka and wanted to had out cards along with having her dogs portraits done. I am excited and hopeful that this could be good for business. 

I have had two family portrait sessions out at Ellis Park this year and they turned out fantastic. Ellis is one of my go to places to create family, senior or any outdoor portraits that I haven’t used in a while. With spring rains creating flood conditions a lot of my favorite spots have become unusable. That has forced me to look for new spots or go back to some old haunts and look at them with new eyes and try some new ideas. The first family, the Reeds, we started at the stone bridge and ended in Shakespeare's Garden. We created images of the whole family, individual kids and lifestyle like portraits. My second family had similar needs but my favorites were the individual images of her boy and her younger girl. I am looking forward to going back and rediscovering fall portraits there and I am sure other portrait photographers will too. 

With mid-summer arriving there are a lot to write and talk about yet to come and I am going to work on making sure I share them with you. With a new camera I am dying to try some astrophotography this summer. I have tried it before but my old camera could not produce images  in very low light situations but this one can. I am really looking forward to the fall camp out and if we get to book the place we want then it should be a great opportunity to create some spectacular fall images. 

So stay tuned and I will be posting some of my images from the past campouts as well as some new ones at our next two campouts coming up. And yes this is the last post that is all about catching up, I promas.

Happy Birthday

There are pets that come and go into our lives that mean more than some friendships or, in some cases, family members. A few years back my wife lost her favorite cat Max due to swallowing thread. She was devastate and felt that there would be no other cat who would be a Max to her. That Friday, which was the 13th and a full moon, a little black kitten cried until my wife found him and took him in. Once he had a bottle of food he balled up on her lap and fell asleep. That is when we knew he was ours and his name couldn’t have been more clearer, Triskaideka.

As he grew up he became a cat who loved he have his portrait taken. At first portraits were just of him but as time when on we added props to the portraits. One winter we upped the anti and added a hat, he loved it! A cat that will wear a hat was almost too good to be true. My wife was besides herself. My wife had always love the photos of cats with top hats or any type of hats but thought she would never have one that would wear a hat. So more portraits with hats and sunglasses were taken of this cat with so much patience to put up with such craziness.

Well it has been just over 5 years, June 13, 2014 since that cat became the next Max. He has been a great companion to my wife and will mean so much more than I will ever know. In this 5 years Triskaideka has experienced being a model wearing hats, camping, and a loss of his big dog Star with a replacement of a new dog Stella. I’m not sure he likes her as much as she liked Star but Stella is growing on her.

After the loss of Star we had hoped to find another dog with similar personality and demeanor. Star was part Aussie with a mix of a few other breeds thrown in. The Aussie was the part that she expressed the most and that was what we hoped to find again. As we looked we of course found Aussies but for far more than we were willing to pay. As the years ticked away the more we grew in the notion we were most likely were not going to have another dog like Star in our lives. Well that was until we saw a friends post about their new Aussie mix.

Once we saw that post of the dog we ask where they got it and if there were more to adopt. After getting the info we contacted the breeder and came to find out there were no other females left but there was another littler born on the 4th of July that had a few females. Oh and they were purebred Aussies. Once we found out their asking price we asked if we could visit and see them and put a down payment on one.

The day arrived and we drove up to the house and were greeted by a group of very friendly dogs ready to play. For me this was a good sign that if the parents were like this then the pups will be friendly too as they got older. We met the owners and after some discussion about ourselves and what we are looking for, we were taken to meet the puppies. They were still young and not walking much but I found one that was a beautiful black and white puppy that seemed to bond a bit to me. Both Buffey and I agreed this was the one and place our down payment. All we had to do now is pick out the name and get a few items she will need.

Stella came home to us on September 24th which happened to be a Wednesday and quite a crazy day. A few days earlier my wife ended up in the hospital, my employer was just about to change and I hadn’t gotten a kennel for Stella yet. So after work I went and picked up Stella and ran into Theisens with Stella under my arms. We walked around and found a kennel and a soft fuzzy woolen mat bed for her to sleep on. We paid for everything and headed home and a day later Buffey got to meet little miss Stella once again.

So today, July 4th, Buffey and I set up a background and created portraits of Stella for her birthday. Of course we did a few images on a plain white background of just her and a few that showed off her new collar. Once that was done we put together the Red-White-Blue background for her big birthday portrait and dressed her up. Stella’s collar and outfit came from Pampered Whiskers. Like Triskaideka’s 4th of July portraits, we ordered a jesters like collar with stars. When it arrived we were got a bonus gift of the hats which we were dying to try out. Our session went so smoothly and with both Stella and Triskaideka we got the best images to put into our family album.

Pets are so important in our lives. They are our camping companions, snuggle buddies, our keeper of secrets and comfort us when we are down. Both Stella and Triskaideka make me laugh with the things they do, so that is why I always create images of them, to keep the memories of them for as long as I am alive. Shouldn’t everyone?