Colorful

The past few days have given us some spectacular morning and evening colors. The ones above were from a morning walk. The magic all happened as I walked back towards home. I'd hiked out to an area where I could see across the top of the ridge but the view was rather...um. Bleh.

When I got to the mailbox the skies lit up with those great crepuscular rays of morning light over the cornfield.

Another stunning evening sky gave us some amazing colors. 
Home sweet home ... colors in the sky above us.

The trees are rapidly changing colors. Getting a scenic shot is really quite hard in these woods and hills without travelling to the river or a bluff.

Green and Gold Hickory leaves:

Maple leaves along the driveway:

I'm hoping to get out to one of the county parks this afternoon.

Below is a photo of Jersey Valley which had an earthen dam to provide flood control and a man made lake which provided us with hiking, fishing, and kayaking, picnics, and swimming. The dam was destroyed in 2018 and apparently they will not replace it once again as it is too costly.

The County is working on rebuilding the trails that were also destroyed.

I do recall in years past that this was my go to spot at sunrise or late in the day. This is a photo from 2014 when the lake still had water.

I'm aching to get out and enjoy some fall beauty if it comes around. However. I'm okay with what Mother Nature will provide for us.

Beautiful Morning....June 1st

I woke up early which is normal for me in the summer. As soon as my sleeping body senses a light change, I am up.

Charlie followed me around the house and demanded breakfast as I as started making my morning decaf coffee. 

I walked outside with him and looked to our east. It was still pretty dark, however the sky looked amazing.

I grabbed a to go cup and my keys. Charlie wasn't letting me go without him. There was a time when he would run and hide any time I grabbed the keys. Now? He is a car ride nut case.

We headed up to the spot where two of our gravel roads intersect.

I've photographed this ridge for nearly 10 years at least so I generally know where I want to go for a shot. I let the folks in the new house on the corner know that I parked or walked up to the intersection often in the middle of the night or predawn.

They have no issue with that.

Charlie got out of the car and explored the crops while I watched the land start to appear.

The sky just kept me amazed. 

I kept trying out different shots and some were up to 10 seconds long. The clouds were barely moving. 

Then for the last shot, I decided to go wild or go home....

I don't normally do HDR but sometimes it can be fun.

Happy June 1st. Looks like a beautiful weather day!

Good Morning

The weather app said dense fog, but I saw the hazy moon and decided to walk out to the cropland on the ridge to try and get some pre dawn photos. Maybe I'd get lucky.

This was a bit of a struggle for me. There were so many things to look at and photograph, I could have stayed all morning. I wanted to stay until the sun came over the horizon, but duties back home sometimes dictate my time.

The walk to this part of the ridge is only a half mile. The cropland is the only part of the area this is not crowded by wild forest. I say wild, because well...it is! 

Not only did I get a look at the predawn light bouncing off the snow and tracks, I got valley fog!

Don't laugh but I did a little happy dance in the snow and then started to shoot. Since these conditions don't come around often I did a lot of guessing. 

I was enamored by the blue tint and reflections in the snow. Once on a discussion board for learning photography, I was told that snow always had to be white, no exceptions. Of course I argued about it. 
Well, since it was about 12 degrees out, I felt fine with the cold blue tint on the snow.

Anyway. My whole purpose of walking to this part of the ridge was to see that one lonely tree in the dip. My intention was to hike to the tree and shoot with the tree against the sky.

Pfft. I nixed that idea. First shot is with a 12mm lens wide open. The second shot is with the all powerful zoom as is the third shot. I had fun, I enjoyed it.  

I really struggled with the white balance and the colors bouncing off the snow. I am not afraid to admit it. 

I may try another trip down towards that tree a bit later this year. I still think it would be neat to get a solitary tree against a sunrise.

I headed back home.

Time to make the coffee and get my morning duties taken care of.  I could have happily stayed out for most of the morning. Wait, didn't I already say that?

I got hubby situated and then took Charlie out for a look see. Charlie was into finding rabbit pellets and deer pellets. We were both content.

I'm not sure, but I think this last one ended up as my favorite because I tried something very different.

Shoot at the sun with the trunk blocking it. The frost was coming down like a snowfall. 

It was more glittery in person.

So.

Good morning.

Charlie Morning

Charlie, after we had a morning excursion together.
I stuck my baseball cap on him that I use for outdoor work.

He was not impressed.

But he is such a good sport about it.

The sideways glance as if to say. 'Really? You are going to keep pointing that thing at me?'

And...I am bored. Totally bored. Let's do something else.

Yesterday morning he didn't let me out the door without him for my predawn bicycle ride.
I let him come along and wondered how his tiny legs would deal with me pedaling.

I didn't go very far, but he kept up when I pedaled slowly and when I sped up he just followed unless a scent at the side of the road interested him.

Charlie was behind me sniffing at the edge of the gravel road. At this time of day and any time of day there is almost never any traffic. Only 3 homes are on this road and the guy at the end of the road never is up early. My closest neighbor leaves at 7 to go to work. Most of the time, this road is empty. Well, not during planting or harvest season!

Anyway, that is getting way off track. I just wanted to assure you all that Charlie is perfectly safe with me. He has come a long way and has instant recall. Well, most of the time, that is if he isn't on a chase. So he still wears the collar on these outings when I don't have him on a leash.

I'm very lucky that I have all of this time to work with him. That makes a huge difference I think!

Even with the cloud cover things got pretty neat. Bluish sky and pinks on the horizon.

And then the horizon began to glow...

I zoomed in on the trees and caught the change of light. 

And when the sun peeked through, it was partially hidden by clouds.

The whole sky changed colors and the clouds moved in.

Charlie and I headed towards home.

Just before going down the driveway, I had to stop and take one parting shot using field corn for framing.

We got back to the house and did our morning chores together. Sven was happy to have a new spot to eat nettles and other weedy plants. If I had an army of goats my weed issue would be gone. However, I'm not prepared to re-fence this place for goats.

Rich got up after 10am and I convinced him later in the day to take a short drive with me and check out Runge Hollow for fishing later this fall.

I intend to go back there and to Sidie Hollow to get some photos in infrared and in color. Sunrise at Runge would be pretty neat. Sidie has incredible fall colors that reflect on to the man made lake.

Oh ... and how did Charlie do? He loved it! He never once ran in front of the bike. If we were to go a long distance however, I doubt he'd be up for it. Friends have suggested I get a basket or buddy seat to put him in.
I'll consider it.