This past week Siouxland experienced a very insufferable heat wave much like the eastern part of the U.S. is now experiencing. The start of this week has brought cooler temperatures which will hopefully last a few days before those Dog Days of Summer, and the month of August gets here. Everyone knows when it’s fair time it’s got to be hot and humid.
So it was a little to my delight when I came across a photograph I had taken in April during a Spring Photo Safari class I teach. There was unexpected weather that day. Snow, then rain. Now it sounds kind of nice, but then not so much. Winter had over extended its stay.
Having lived in a few places throughout this vast land there is one thing in common that I found people to say, “Just wait five minutes and the weather will change.”
Recently a friend invited me and a couple others to take in a college baseball game featuring Creighton University and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, played in Omaha, Ne. It has been decades since I attended a college sporting event for fun. Since graduating college I only attended college athletic events when working for daily newspapers. And I must admit the trip to Omaha was on
Sometimes when I get students in my Lifelong Learning photography classes I find some students want to acquire new gear, especially lenses so they can photograph their kids playing sports or in school plays or choir. Most of these folk have the kit lenses that came with their camera and sometimes a zoom telephoto. Both are generally variable zooms meaning the f-stops automatically changes as they zoom out to the telephoto end of the lens’ range. I tell them to learn to use the equipment they have and find those moments to photograph that will accomplish what they want to achieve before deciding on spending the big bucks to buy a fast f/2.8 lens. I used the Fuji X kit lens, 18-55 f/2.8-4 for these images of the game and surrounding atmospheric shots.
It was a little tough trying to shoot action but it can be done. The head first sliding image was taken at f/4 because I was at the 55mm end of the lens and maybe 1/250th of a second shutter speed. But with the runner coming toward me I figured I would be safe in stopping action without much chance of blur. And it would have been too great a crop to produce a tighter image. Besides, I wasn’t covering the game but more interested in the ambiance of the experience. It makes a difference when as a photographer you know your end usage and what you are trying to achieve.
Even shooting an overall image of the playing field the movement is minimal during a game as the contest between these two teams revolved around their pitching staff and each team plowed through 4-5 pitchers with some achieving a better result than others during the nine inning game.
And then it was time to go home and taking a photograph of the downtown “skyline” of Omaha from the park was easy with a slower shutter speed and a cement foundation to place the camera on to keep camera shake at a minimum. Baseball is a little like photography and life in that one enjoys those moments like a nice spring day when it happens and a free ticket and worry about the other stuff later.
Even though officially spring has already “sprung” in Siouxland and elsewhere, some days just don’t feel like it. But people are beginning to venture out and explore after what seemed to be a long, cold winter in the area. A recent outing with my Photo Safari Lifelong Learning class to Yankton, SD was pleasant. It was warm. Although the morning started off pretty chilly. The nice weather has been intermittent with the rainy still cold weather. And it makes it so much nicer in getting out and begin exploring again what surprises one can find in Siouxland.
And a little sunshine would be nice to admire and photograph under once again. Giving some contours to landscapes and buildings and other objects of interest. But until then one must make do with what one finds and juxtapose them to create something dynamic or at least interesting.
I recently drove around parts of Siouxland after a weather bomb had visited the area like so many places and flooded fields and communities. Driving along one stretch of road where the water reached up I noticed a driveway into a field, actually two fields, both filled with water. The images taken were literally one minute apart, but yet enough time for wind to effect a scene.
Sometimes in photography it is only moments when the effective image can be taken before something occurs that changes the scene into another scene, different from before. Most times we may think the time of year or time of day will most definitely change what we saw before. But sometimes it’s just moments.
Mother Nature recently seems intent on reminding people in Siouxland that maybe winter isn’t yet over, but that spring is very close. A couple weeks ago the ground was still frozen with snow, and then the temperature warmed up enough that the snow began melting but also started raining. The combination of the rain and melting plus the frozen ground didn’t give the wet precipitation any place to go, but where it really wasn’t wanted.
Fields in many places were flooded and still water is found in some of them although it has receded. It’s interesting that Mother Nature can create what might seem like beautiful images but reap such a terrible price. Many roadways that were inundated still need to be checked out and in some cases rebuilt. Interstate highways passing through Siouxland are still closed in places and only recently opened in others. Farmers are paying a heavy price and some may not be able to plant a crop this year because of the heavy flooding that occurred.
It seemed that only the passing water fowl moving through the area as they fly north ending another winter season enjoyed the bountiful water landing spots and didn’t have to perch on frozen waterways on the way to their summer home. Time will tell how the flooding has affected the area which now seems like a distant memory.
The recent weather in Siouxland has been generally wacky. Winter held on for much longer than most folk would like and spring just hasn’t been pushing hard enough to bring people relief. But sometimes for images resulting from Mother Nature’s mood swings create some different results.
I always tell students of my Lifelong Learning photography classes that revisiting places can often yield different photos depending on the season, time of year and time of day. The recent weather Siouxland has experienced brings that idea into better focus as until a week ago, temperatures were still below freezing and then most recently the area received rain, plenty of it for this time of year, in addition to warmer temps that created snow melt and eventually flooding.
Sometimes one doesn’t expect such a drastic change in scenery. But it can happen and then those photos previously taken create a record of what was, and possibly may never be again. The sad thing is that depending on how quickly water recedes from a flooded area determines if trees growing there can survive or will need to be taken down changing the look of an area.
The bike trail I have frequented along with many others is barely scene along the West Floyd Park next the the Little League Baseball Park. Most of the trail along here is now paved making it better than gravel paths being washed away. But still, they will need to be checked out for any erosion damage.
Mother Nature graces us humans with quite an array and display in various forms. Thunderstorms and tornadoes are frightening yet fascinating at the same time. The same is true of water. A little can be bucolic, while a lot disastrous. And one generally only gains a perspective after months have passed, sometimes years from when an event occurred and the future becomes the present.
I live in the Siouxland area that encompasses a wide swatch of land in northwest Iowa, northeastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota. The people that inhabit this area are generous folk and your basic honest, Midwestern people you like to have as neighbors. I explore the area and share observations, mostly photographic, sometimes through video, and and short text. All images and video are copyrighted material of the author.
Jerry Mennenga, Sioux City, Iowa
jerrylmennenga@yahoo.com
