30 Second Sunrise – Kewaunee, WI – 06-09-18
One morning, when I was at the beach in Kewaunee, Wisconsin to photograph the sunrise, I set a small video camera on the hill of the park and let it record the sunrise. This is the result. The camera doesn’t provide the highest quality but I think it is still interesting.
The most impressive part of this video is the gradual transformation of the sky; the changing colors and moving clouds. The most interesting part of this video are the little dots that move from left to right. They are the fishing boats leaving the Kewaunee harbor in the early morning hours. If you watch closely, you can also see two fishermen walking along the pier to fish at the end, near the lighthouse.
Pretty In Pink
It’s good to keep your camera handy because you never know when or where you’re going to find a worthy subject. I spotted this collection of Dianthus blooms at a small wayside flower bed along Memorial Drive in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
According to Better Homes and Gardens, “The dianthus plant is the quintessential cottage flower. Dianthus pink is treasured for its grasslike, blue-green foliage and abundant starry flowers, which are often spicily fragrant. Depending on the type of dianthus pink, flowers appear in spring or summer and tend to be white, pink, red, rose, or lavender, but come in nearly all shades except true blue. Dianthus plants range from tiny creeping groundcovers to 30-inch-tall cut flowers, which are a favorite with florists. The “pink” part of their name has a two-fold meaning: Plants are often pink in color, and the petals have a fringed look as if someone took pinking shears to their edges.”
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Red-spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly
I found this butterfly resting on the ground. I searched the Internet to identify it and found it to be a “Red-spotted Purple Admiral.”
This was a pleasant find while biking on the Ahnapee State Trail near the Bruemmer Park Zoo northwest of Kewaunee. This was the second such butterfly I saw. This one was kind enough to allow me to get close enough to snap a portrait. I”m not sure how it got the name Red-spotted, since its spots seem mostly orange which seemed consistent with other images I found online.
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Exceeding All Expectations
The Algoma, Wisconsin lighthouse and piers stand guard over the harbor as they await the sunrise over a calm Lake Michigan morning. Algoma is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
As with other the images I captured and have posted from this particular morning, I’m impressed with the colors and textures in the sky and how they’re reflected in the water.
Though it doesn’t look like it here, this is a huge image. It’s large size comes from the fact that I joined (or “stitched”) three separate shots into one image in order to capture as much of the scene as I could. When snapping the shutter, I’m careful to overlap the edges of the shots so the software can find similar pixels and match them to each other.
Unfortunately, this panoramic format doesn’t show well here because of the limited space allotted for images. However, as I usually do, I urge you to view its full-screen version by clicking on the photo. Hopefully you have a large monitor – the bigger the better.
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Charmed
Every year I find wild geraniums blooming in the woodlands near our home in northeast Wisconsin. I think this is delightful wildflower which, I guess, explains the numerous images I have featuring them.
I titled this one, “Charmed,” because the stem with those hairy buds reminded me of a lady with a charm bracelet dangling from her wrist.
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Praisin’ In The Grass
It was a calm morning on Lake Michigan just before the sunrise. This view of the Kewaunee, Wisconsin lighthouse and pier was viewed among the beach grass on shore.
This turned out to be a good morning to catch the sunrise. (06/19/18) I decided to grab this shot, a few feet away from the shore line, for a different perspective. It was still pretty dark when this image was captured. You’ll notice, the lighthouse light is still on. My shutter speed was set at 1/4 sec. It was a very calm morning.
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On The Hunt
Keep your eyes open. It’s snake season. This is a harmless, Western Fox Snake found slithering through the woodlands of northeast Wisconsin.
We were out on a springtime, family hike in search for morel mushrooms. My wife – an avid mushroom hunter – was the first one to spot this beauty. The snake was kind enough to rest quietly while I snapped a few shots.
As I said, these snakes are harmless to humans. They prefer to dine on mice and other small rodents. These snakes can seem fairly bold and don’t mind getting close to other animals and humans if undisturbed. When confronted, they will ‘rattle’ their tail to imitate a rattlesnake and attempt to scare away a perceived threat. They will also go into the S position and rapidly lunge in your direction. These are all defensive maneuvers in an effort to scare you off so they can escape.
One of the interesting details of this image is found on the lower lip of the snake. (That is, if snakes had lips.) You have to look closely, very closely, to see an ant going along for a ride. Zoom in as far as your monitor will let you and you may be able to see it. Not sure what the ant is doing there, but I thought it was interesting.
I’ve taken photos of this breed before, in my own yard. Get a real close-up view from my image, “Forked Tongue.”
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Voluptuous Iris
Look at this gorgeous, spring bloom! This exotic beauty is a bearded iris.
While driving along Miller street in Kewaunee, Wisconsin I noticed an area with several blooming flowers. There were several of these iris’ in the area but most were just beginning to open. This early bloomer was begging to be photographed.
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Precious Reminder
Tiny in size but big on charm. The Forget Me Not blooms are some of my favorites. I don’t find them often, but when I do it’s a delight. I found these blooming in the shade at the small, Lincoln Park zoo in Manitowoc.
Forget Me Nots are part of the Myosotis genus. This unusual Greek name means mouse’s ear, which is a pretty literal description of the shape of the flower’s small petals.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Lake Michigan Matins
Bathed in the pastels of pre-sunrise light, the Kewaunee, Wisconsin pier and lighthouse seemed to be having it’s own time of devotion. Kewaunee is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
I was able to make it to the beach to catch this sunrise yesterday. While there I snapped about 200 frames – many of varying exposures for potential HDR images and several multiple frame shots for potential panoramic views. This is the very first frame I snapped. On this morning, sunrise was at 5:05 am. This shot was taken around 4:50 am.
The length of exposure for this image was 1/3 sec. That’s pretty slow. At that slow shutter speed, any movement will be blurred; that’s why the waves in the foreground have a very “soft” look to them. I usually prefer my waves to be sharp but the softness seemed to go well with the pastel color scheme.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.