Seeking Shadows in Siouxland, Sioux City

Well, one doesn’t exactly seek out shadows in Siouxland, although occasionally one finds one that works for a photograph. And sometimes one gets lucky in that one doesn’t have to travel very far to find such a photo. That happened to me recently when within my neighborhood I found a tree and a garage that when combined, made a nice image.

One of the compositional techniques I assign people in my Lifelong Learning classes is photographing light/shadow images. I always show examples and almost always people never quite make their shadows dark enough. Maybe as a populace we don’t like to see dark things, but it’s that combination that makes an image work. Like bacon and eggs, or ying and yang, marshmellows and chocolate with graham crackers. Well the lost one requires three items. But it’s the combination, and in the case of light and shadow, the opposites that help create the image. Finding the balance, like anything in life, takes some time and patience and figuring out what that balance is to the individual person.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa

Tree shadow in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, April 10, 2016. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Light and Shadow in Siouxland, Stone State Park

When I teach my Lifelong Learning sessions at the local community college, one of the areas I familiarize people with is light and shadows. It is a concept people sometimes have a hard time grasping. And I try to simplify it when I ask people to photograph examples. On a recent trip to a local state park in Sioux City, Iowa, Stone State Park, I found examples somewhat jumping out at me. Although these loosely fit into that category, they still help to reinforce the idea of the two opposites of working together to help define a subject.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa

A pier at a pond for those brave souls who want to walk a plank at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, August 23, 2015.

Morning light spilling into the undergrowth at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, August 23, 2015.

A grass stem at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, August 23, 2015.

A spider’s web that may have suffered during a recent storm at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, August 23, 2015.

Even weeds like a thistle provides a spot of color at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, August 23, 2015.

A deer makes its way across a road at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday, August 23, 2015.

Siouxland Nature Photography, Stone State Park

Recently the meteorologists were all over the summer polar vortex, the cooler temperatures pushing down into the Midwest and even getting into the Siouxland area. I am a cool weather kind of guy. Fall, early spring, and those winter days in the 20’s are all good by me. So I took advantage and did a walk in a local state park, Stone State Park. When I talk with students in some of my continuing education photo classes, I always emphasis learning to see the light, and then interpreting that light into what kind of photographic image you want to create. I arrived at the park not yet mid-morning, cool temperatures and walked. I like seeing how the light falls onto the landscape. I have made this walk countless times, and it is always different. The light is always different. And I always tell myself one of these days I will do this earlier in the morning with more slanting rays of light. Listening to the birds sing, feeling the breeze and seeing the light and shadow created within the forest. It is magical. And I hope to catch in my photos some fleeting semblance of that magic and share it, or the share the magic of it with my students in the next class.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa