Spanish Peaks and La Veta Colorado. March 8, 1993.
Yesterday, December 11, was International Mountain Day, and I missed it. I didn’t even know there is such a day. I love mountains!
International Mountain Day
Category Archives: Photographs
Face to Face at -40 Degrees
Cougar, Wildlife Prairie Park, December 9, 1995.
It was 30 years ago today and I was face to face with a cougar. The windchill was -40° Fahrenheit at Wildlife Prairie Park. It was bone chillingly cold, even with Sorel Pac boots, thermal underwear, layers of clothes, and a winter parka. I had to take a break every hour or two to warm up. But it was worth it.
Ohio, December 9
Frost on Autumn Leaves, Columbus Ohio. December 9, 2016.
It was a frosty morning and our dog Sunny and I went out for a walk. It was my good fortune to find these colorful autumn leaves. Autumn was not done yet in Ohio.
Living Art Studios Dance Recital
Tap 1 Class, “Like It’s Christmas”, Dance Recital, Living Art Studios
“Twas the Night Before Christmas” Dance Recital
As the parking lot filled up and people swarmed into the Shaw Center Auditorium, it was clear once again that this is one of the most popular events of the year. It was a visual and musical feast as 55 dancers from the classes at Living Art Studios, along with the Graceland Gadets, provided 16 dance numbers that told a story. Narrators between the dance numbers wove it all together by telling a fanciful story of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” right here in Lamoni. An incredible amount of work by the dancers and the dance instructors goes into this production, plus the people that work on the music, lighting, sound, costumes in a riot of Christmas colors, plus the crew helping out backstage. It is one of the best nights of the year!
Dance Recital: Create a Lot of Images and Choose the Very Best
Screen Capture of Adobe Bridge. Click the image to see a larger version.
As a photo editor said long ago, “Take lots of photos and send me the very best.”
The “Living Art Studios” dance recital was Saturday night. It is one of the biggest events of the year in our little town. Yesterday I sent a small selection of images from the recital to the local newspaper which is published weekly on Thursday. I usually send 6 to 10 images and they usually publish from 3 to 6 and on really slow news week they post even more. Today I am taking one last look at all the dance images for any additional favorites for this event. Here in this screen capture from Adobe Bridge are the first 20 shutter clicks (one RAW and one JPEG image for each click) with one of my cameras.
Andromeda Galaxy and its Satellite Galaxies
For me, December is not only the month for Christmas Season photos and portraits, on reasonably pleasant December nights with no wind it is the time of year to photograph the night sky. Winter has better night sky “seeing” than the other three seasons. Cold air holds less moisture to there is more visual clarity of the night sky. Unfortunately, where many of us live winter is also very cold so I do most of my winter night sky photography in December since it is usually more tolerable.
Dancer
Dance Recital, Living Art Studios
I was taking pictures this afternoon of the dress rehearsal for a dance recital this evening. This is one of my favorite images from the rehearsal. More photos at a later date.
Ohio, December 3
Burning Bush, Ohio, December 3, 2017.
Eight years ago the burning bush in our front yard in Columbus Ohio was going all out to show off fall colors and keep Autumn around as long as possible.
Iowa, November 25
Fall colors on the Lamoni Trail, November, 25, 2016.
We were walking the Lamoni Trail and spotted these colorful leaves and berries.
Tutorial: Tweaking a Photo and Remembering the ACR Settings
Max, Before and After ACR.
In this tutorial I will show you how to change the color balance of a RAW or JPEG file, and how to remember those changes to make the same exact changes to other files shot in the same lighting conditions.
How to Photograph an Event and Choose Your “Selects”
Graceland University: Ag FFA and Business Simulation
In a prior article I shared 11 photos from a project for Graceland University. I was in the process of choosing selects. Years ago a photo editor said, “Take lots of photos and send me the very best.” Most editors don’t want to go through all of your images. It is the photographers job to go through the photos from an event and choose the best images for the editor. They are called “selects”. The editor goes through the selection and makes the final choices as to which image or images will be published.
Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) vs Comet NEOWISE
Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) over Home Lake, Lamoni Iowa. October 10, 2025.
Comet Lemmon was not particularly bright compared to other recent comets that caught the attention of the public. Here are two views of the same image. The first image above shows you the whole frame. The comet is below and to the right of the two bright, side-by-side stars that are near the center of the frame. The tail of the comet is hard to see. This image was taken with a 50mm lens on a tripod mounted Canon 5D MArk III digital camera. The ISO was cranked up to 10,000. The exposure was a 15 seconds at f5/6. Even at that the comet is not very bright. This comet was better suited to long exposure telescope images that track the comet across the sky. Click the images to see larger versions.
Graceland University Sponsors “Ag, FFA, and Business Simulation” for High School Students
High school teams work on their designs.
It was a fascinating day. Hundreds of high school students from across Iowa gathered for a fun day of activities and competition. The students were divided into teams and each team was guided by a Graceland student or professor from the business and agriculture departments.
All of Your Most Important Photos Deserve to be Optimized
Kaylyn
Kaylyn is a regional director for Growing Hope Globally (see the third link below) and I was taking pictures of her addressing a local church group.
Fall Color Series: September 23 – December 9
Aspen grove, Marshall Pass, Colorado.
Autumn is by far my favorite nature photography season. I take more pictures in the fall than any other season of the year.
Ohio, November 18
Autumn Leaf, Columbus Ohio. November 18, 2016.
I was out in our neighborhood and spotted this autumn leaf still hanging in there.
Iowa, November 17
Autumn leaves, Lake LaShane. November 17, 2025.
Here in southern Iowa most of the deciduous trees have lost their leaves, and the leaves in the trees at Lake LaShane that were pretty and colorful just two days ago are turning brown. The fall color season is pretty much over. It was great while it lasted. In my head I can hear the Mamas and the Papas singing “All The Leaves Are Brown. . .”
Photographing the Sun, the Moon, and 8 Planets in Less than 24 Hours
Mercury and Venus northeast of Lamoni at 6:01 am. November 16, 2020
Exposure Data: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50mm lens. f/4, 2.5 seconds, ISO 800.
For quite some time I have wanted to photograph 8 planets in less than one 24 hour day, along with the sun and moon. It is not always possible due to one or more of the planets being lost in the glow of the daytime sun. Cloudy weather can get in the way too. Five years ago today, November 16, 2020, was the day. I finally had my chance and I accomplished my goal in 12 hours and 27 minutes.
I began with Venus and Mercury early in the morning. Click any of these images to see larger versions.
Iowa, November 16
Autumn leaves, Lamoni Iowa. November 16, 2025.
Most trees in southern Iowa have dropped their leaves but a few are hanging in there.
Iowa, November 15
Autumn leaves, Lake LaShane. November 15, 2025.
Fall is still hanging around at my favorite lake in southern Iowa.
Iowa, November 14
Autumn leaves, Lamoni Trial. November 14, 2025.
Most of the trees on the Lamoni Trail have dropped their leaves, but this tree is still looking good.
Iowa, November 13
Autumn leaves at Lake LaShane. November 13, 2025.
Fall colors are fading in southern Iowa, but there is still some color here and there.
Iowa, November 12
Autumn Leaves, Lake LaShane. November 12, 2025.
A lot has changed over the last two days. The fall colors are fading in southern Iowa. The prettiest trees are starting to lose their color. A lot of trees are bare and trees with leaves are turning brown. I am still finding patches of color and a few trees that are hanging in there with some nice color. Like yesterday, two of those trees were at Lake LaShane.
Northern Lights
Northern Lights, Home Lake. November 11, 2025.
The Northern Lights over southern Iowa were the brightest I have ever seen. A long row of cars showed up at the lake as people came to watch. The lights filled so much of the sky that I used a 15mm lens that has a 180 degree diagonal angle of view to take most of it in.
Iowa, November 11
Autumn leaves, Lake LaShane. November 11, 2025.
Iowa, November 10
Autumn Leaves, Lamoni Iowa. November 10, 2025.
Lamoni Iowa is alive with fall colors.
Iowa, November 9
Autumn leaves, Lamoni Iowa. November 9, 2025.
Autumn colors continue to flourish in Lamoni Iowa.
Iowa, November 8
Autumn Tree, Old Old Path Park, Lamoni Iowa. November 8, 2015.
One by one, beautiful trees are showing off their fall colors.
Iowa, November 7
Autumn trees, Lamoni Trail, Lamoni Iowa. November 7, 2025.
Iowa, November 6
Autumn trees, Lamoni Iowa. November 6, 2025.
Mother Nature shows off on the Graceland University campus, Lamoni Iowa.