Nature has an amazing way of sharing its beauty even in winter in Siouxland. Recently the entire area was blanketed by fog and the below freezing temperature created an amazing vision of ice crystals coating everything in sight. Hoar frost is to me a wonderful sight to behold. Although the sun didn’t peek out much and the still cloud covered sky did not lend a dramatic blue sky background to the frost covered ground and plants, it was still fun to see an entire area covered by frost.
It’s early January and one can only guess what Mother Nature has in-store for the rest of winter and weather or not it will display more of the same beauty or not. This I enjoyed much in that I really didn’t have much shoveling to do when awoken in the morning. But I’m sure there will still be some snowfall yet that will require some manual labor and a few cups of hot coffee to clear walks before this winter season is past.
As the weather keeps changing from fall temperatures of the 40’s to winter temps of the 20’s and 30’s in all of a week, the colors, of what there is keep dwindling. Soon the leaves will just be falling off the trees because of the cold overnight temps. Winter seems intent on arriving early this year. Another couple of weeks of fall weather would be nice, but Mom Nature doesn’t seem to agree. Until then I hope to find some more “local” color which on nice days is doable. A walk in the neighborhood can always bring pleasant surprises.
I previously visited Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD, in the northern reaches of Siouxland. But I haven’t been to the park since a Photo Safari class I taught visited over a year or so ago. With this year’s frozen spring and then rain fall and heavy rains over the summer and even into the fall, the Big Sioux River which runs through the park has been working overtime filling its banks to the brim as has the James River and the Missouri River. And it seems there is no end in sight.
The week day I visited there were lots of folk walking about also checking out the water levels and the “roar” of the water through the park. It’s an amazing sight but also dangerous. People can get up close and personal with the water and a slip on some of the outcroppings could prove disastrous if one is not careful. A few incidents have happened over the years where people fall in and sadly lose their lives. But seeing nature in a raw state that close is hard to pass up.
And with more rains expected then probably snow fall over the winter, it doesn’t seem there will be any disappointment from park fans in the foreseeable future.
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.
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
