Lightscapes Nature Photography Blog

Posted by: kerryl29 | July 13, 2026

Badlands National Park, Day 2

Day 2 at Badlands National Park began for me when my alarm went off at 3:45 AM. This would be a regular occurrence during this trip, as sunrise was just after 5 AM, and given the time necessary for me to shake off the overnight cobwebs and the time necessary to make my way to my intended sunrise destination (more on that momentarily), waking at 3:45 was a requirement.

As I mentioned in my recap of Day 1, my plan was to return to Pinnacles Overlook,where I had photographed sunset, for Day 2’s sunrise. Having surveyed the scene on Day 1, I was confident that Pinnacles would provide a fine perspective for the eastern sky. When I pulled into the deserted Pinnacles parking lot, I didn’t even have to get out of my car to see that my assumption was bad. The sun was going to rise well to the left (i.e. north) of any decent view from anywhere on the broad Pinnacles Overlook.

Oops. I needed to find a substitute, and quickly, or I’d miss sunrise entirely. I drove back onto the Badlands Loop Road and headed east–meaning, further into the park. I’d made up my mind to stop at the first location that looked remotely viable, as I didn’t have much time before the pre-sunrise color peaked.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to go very far. I could see very nice color in the sky to my left as I descended on the Loop Road, less than a mile from Pinnacles. I pulled into the parking lot of the Ancient Hunters Overlook, a spot I had scouted–and rejected as of no photographic interest the day before–quickly grabbed my bag and my tripod and walked speedily a short distance back up the road to an unofficial pullout that I had passed with interest moments earlier. I quickly sized up the location, deemed it as decent for compositional purposes, and quickly set up. The color in the sky was already good and getting better.

I made a number of images before the sky color began to fade, including what you see below.

(Click any of the images below to view a larger rendition.)

Dawn, Badlands Loop Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Sunrise, Badlands Loop Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

When the sun began to peak above the horizon, I moved back down the road to my vehicle and moved on. After a short ride, I found myself back in the Yellow Mounds area that I had examined the previous day. The light was much better early this morning, so I stopped again. I made images at various spots on both sides of the road at Yellow Mounds, moving well off the road’s shoulder, for more than an hour.

Yellow Mounds Area, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

By the time I was finished at Yellow Mounds, the light was already starting to deteriorate significantly, even though it wasn’t quite 7 AM yet. It was time to continue scouting the parts of the park that I hadn’t managed to see the previous day. I decided to continue east, towards the park’s northeast entrance. I figured I could scout the Sage Creek Road area–which was the western part of the park–during the afternoon. And that’s what I did. By the time I reached the part of the park containing the western trailhead or the Castle Trail–the only trail of any length in the park–the skies had turned mostly cloudy. So, I decided to hike part of the trail–with my gear, in case I came across something I thought was worth photographing.

I did, in fact, find a compelling scene, somewhat to my surprise given the sky conditions, on the mile or so of the western end of the Castle Trail I hiked before turning back. (I quit the hike because I’d moved out to a fairly desolate area of landscape and didn’t see anything of much photographic interest ahead of me on the trail.)

Castle Trail Black & White, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I kept moving east, continuing my scout, but made no more images until I reached my final eastern section scouting location, Big Badlands Overlook, just inside the northeast entrance. The sun was peeking in and out at this point and I didn’t expect to make any images at Big Badlands either, but after wandering around the extensive overlook, I changed my mind and went back for my telephoto rig and tripod.

Big Badlands Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Big Badlands Overlook Black & White, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

This scouting session proved very useful, as I decided that Big Badlands was where I would photograph sunrise the next day (and every day thereafter, as it turned out–a bit of foreshadowing). I had also found an unmarked pullout on the eastern part of the park that I thought would make a good sunset spot, and planned to put it to the test that evening.

After I left the park via the northeast entrance, as I was making my way the few miles back to I-94, intending to return to Wall via that route, I passed an entrance to Buffalo Gap National Grassland and, under cloudy conditions, pulled in. It was just a short, unpaved turnaround and parking area, providing access to a (poorly marked) trail, but a scene, accessible from the turnaround, caught my eye and I made a couple of images, including the one that appears below.

Buffalo Gap National Grassland Black & White, South Dakota

It was late morning when I returned to Wall, and after catching my breath for a couple of hours, and eating something, I headed back into the park at around 1;30 PM, with the intention of scouting the Sage Creek Road area. It was almost entirely cloudy at this point of the day, and I did in fact scout the length of Sage Creek Road, checking out all of the signed areas and driving to within sight of the western entrance to the park, whereupon I turned around and headed back. It was late afternoon when I reached the junction with the Badlands Loop Road, just shy of Pinnacles Overlook, and I slowly made my way east. The skies partially cleared as late afternoon turned into early evening, and I did make a few images before driving to the pullout I hoped would work for sunset that I had scouted that morning.

Badlands Loop Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

White River Overlook Black & White, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

When I reached my hoped-for sunset location, it was about 30 minutes before the event, and I could see that, if the skies cooperated, the spot would work. So, I waited, and, in the end, though it wasn’t an all-time light show, I felt it was worth it.

Sunset, Badlands Loop Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I’ll cover Day 3 in the next entry.

2 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips | Tags: badlands loop road, badlands national park, big badlands overlook, castle trail, landscape photography, nature photography, photography, south dakota, yellow mounds

Posted by: kerryl29 | July 6, 2026

Badlands National Park, Day 1

Following a drive of roughly 850 miles that began in the Chicago area, I arrived in the small town of Wall, South Dakota a bit after 4 PM (local time–this part of South Dakota is in the Mountain Time Zone). After checking into my motel, I made the short–less than 10 minutes–drive to Pinnacles Entrance of Badlands National Park. It was a warm, breezy, partly cloudy day, and by the time I purchased my park entrance (one week–which turned out to be a perfect length) and made my way to the first overlook, it was about three hours until sunset.

I didn’t really know where I wanted to go, other than identifying a spot to photograph the following day’s sunrise (this turned out not to go the way I had hoped, which I’ll explain when I document Day 2), and ultimately be in a position to photograph sunset, somewhere. So, after a very brief detour on the Sage Creek Rim Road, I rejoined the Badlands Loop Road and stopped everywhere I thought looked interesting. This way, I could begin the process of broadly scouting the park and, if something caught my eye, I could engage in some photography.

I stopped first at Pinnacles Overlook–the very first overlook one encounters when headed on the loop road from the Pinnacles Entrance. There’s a decent amount of rim area to explore at this location, so I did. I decided that this was where I would photograph sunset and the next day’s sunrise. With that out of the way, I got back in my vehicle (without having taken out my gear) and continued east.

I won’t bore you with the specifics of the scouting sojourn. Suffice to stay, I stopped at every signed pull-off, and every unsigned pull-off…and a few places that weren’t formal pull-offs at all, to familiarize myself with these spots (and locations that simply caught my eye for one reason or another).

The first photograph I made was while I was wandering around in the Yellow Mounds area of the park. The colors really captured my attention, and the light was, in my estimation, just reaching the point of being pleasing.

I also made a few intimate photographs at the Yellow Mounds Overlook area, one of which appears below.

Yellow Mounds Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I would return to both of these locations, more than once, over the next week.

After numerous stops without photographing, I next pulled out my camera at Panorama Point, where I made several more images, including the two black and white photos that appear below.

Panorama Point Overlook Black & White, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I also stopped at Big Foot Pass Overlook, which contains a picnic area, but also has an extremely wide set of views which one can gawk at…and photograph, as I did on this evening.

Big Foot Pass Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Big Foot Pass Overlook Black & White, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I ended my eastward scout–it was getting fairly close to sunset at this point, and it would take me at least 20 minutes to return to Pinnacles Overlook–at White River Valley Overlook. I wandered a ways into the badlands from this location, and took the time to make a couple of images, quickly, before heading back to Pinnacles, including the one below. I liked the dappled lighting, though the more or less featureless sky to the southeast made me hold it to a bare minimum in the composition.

White River Valley Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Back at Pinnacles, I had to hurry, and work around a large number of people who were hanging out at the overlook. This was, I noted, the first–and really only–place that had been genuinely crowded during this afternoon’s/evening’s session.

I discovered that getting a clean look at the part of the western sky where the sun was setting at this time of the year required moving away from the principle viewing areas at this overlook, and wandering into a very specific part of the badlands themselves. I found a spot, with a bit of difficulty, that I thought would work decently and scrambled to set up. I wasn’t entirely happy with the composition from this spot, but there was only so much I could do, given that I was standing on an irregularly shaped area of soft rock.

Sunset, Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Sunset Panorama, Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

The sunset itself was pretty nice, but, as I noted, I wasn’t nuts about the view of the badlands facing west from Pinnacles. I decided that I needed to find a better location for photographing sunsets in the park later in the week, and that would prove to be an interesting experience as the trip unfolded.

I was pleased with the few hours time I spent in the park. I had begun to get a feel for the place, started getting a general idea of what I had in store for the rest of my time there, and was beginning to get a sense of different locations and the proximity of certain places to one another.

Day 2 will be next in the chronology. I would essentially complete the scouting of the park on Day 2, and engage in significantly more photography as well…

7 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips | Tags: badlands loop road, badlands national park, big foot pass overlook, landscape photography, nature photography, panorama point overlook, photography, pinnacles overlook, south dakota, white river valley overlook, yellow mounds, yellow mounds overlook

Posted by: kerryl29 | June 29, 2026

The Story Behind the Image: Wapta Falls Black & White

(Due to an unexpected surge of events this week, I didn’t have time to prep the first installment of the Badlands National Park chronology; that should appear next week. For now, I hope you find the story behind today’s image of interest.)

Most of the time, images that I convert to black and white are those that I thought about in monochrome at the time of capture. But there are exceptions to this generality, and today’s installment is one such case.

Wapta Falls lies in Yoho National Park in British Columbia and is a large and powerful waterfall on the Kicking Horse River. The trail to the falls is about 1.25 miles and there are a number of different compositional perspectives to explore when the destination is reached. The trail to the falls passes by Wapta Marsh, which is an interesting photo destination in and of itself.

On one of my visits, I planned to photograph at the marsh at sunset, so made my way to the falls first, with the plan to stop at the marsh on the way back. As a result of my timing on this mostly sunny day, the falls were in shadow, but the mountain slope in the background was in direct sunlight. The amount of contrast was more than ideal, in my view, but I thought the background light was soft enough that color images would be fine, and when I processed a telephoto composition that I liked, I worked up the image in color. In short, I hadn’t seen this as a monochrome opportunity when I was in the field.

Some weeks later, when I was home and processing the images from the Wapta hike, I wasn’t entirely happy with the result of the color image. No matter what I tried, the eye was pulled to the brightish background, which wasn’t the effect I wanted. After messing around for awhile, I thought I’d take a look at the image in black and white, just to see if it might work better and, in my view, it did. The inherent contrast of the composition really shined in a monochrome treatment, and the graphic nature of the scene really popped. Instead of being a mid-tone, the waterfall naturally became the brightest element in the scene, and the shapes of the trees, both atop the falls and in the background, stood out much more without the distraction of color.

Sometimes, a photographer can benefit from a happy accident.

Wapta Falls Black & White, Yoho National Park, British Columbia

2 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips, The Story Behind the Image | Tags: British Columbia, Canadian Rockies, landscape photography, nature photography, photography, wapta falls, waterfalls, Yoho National Park

Posted by: kerryl29 | June 22, 2026

An Introduction to Badlands National Park

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent about a week at Badlands National Park at the tail end of May/beginning of June. This location has been on my photographic wish list seemingly forever–at least 25 years. I’d never made it happen, for a variety of reasons, but over this past winter I put my proverbial foot down and decided that I was going to make the trip late in the spring of 2026. And so I did.

Panorama Point Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I’ve visited, and photographed in, “badlands” before, but none that genuinely resemble (at least to my eye) the badlands of South Dakota. Badlands National Park is located in the southwest quadrant of South Dakota, in the midst of the Great Plains, and that juxtaposition is, in at least some respects, what makes it so unique. The badlands themselves are rocky formations, of varying sizes and shapes, that form a wall, of sorts, that runs 60-odd miles, mostly on an east-west line. The nearly treeless grasslands of the great plains surround these badlands on all sides. Much of the badlands wall rests within the park boundaries, but the wall does extend outside the park. Much of the park is surrounded by the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. (I poked my nose into the grassland one afternoon and made a few images.)

The park itself is not huge, by any means. There are multiple entrances, the most heavily used of which are on the northern boundary. Two of the entrances–both of them monitored by park staff during virtually all daylight hours–are just a few miles south of Interstate Highway 94. The Badlands Loop Road–a two-lane paved South Dakota state highway–runs between the park’s Northeast Entrance and what is known as the Pinnacles Entrance, which is just down the road from the town of Wall, for a total of 39 miles. Just inside the Pinnacles Entrance, which is located somewhat to the west of the east-west center line of the park, a very well-graded gravel road–Sage Creek Rim Road–splits off to the west, and after about eight miles becomes paved (and is technically renamed the Sage Creek Road–no rim) and runs another five miles to the Sage Creek Campground and, very shortly after that, out of the park.

(The above describes the North Unit of the park. I didn’t visit the South Unit, which isn’t far away, but has much more limited access.)

I would guess that someone casually sight-seeing in the park could cover the entire Northern Unit–Sage Creek and Loop Roads–in a day with little difficulty, with good weather. The park doesn’t have many trails at all and almost all of the trails that do exist are quite short in length. (About 25% of the park is officially designated as wilderness, in compliance with the Wilderness Act of 1964, which means no trails.) There are a total of 14 signed, named overlooks, with pull-offs and parking, on the two roads combined.

Yellow Mounds Area, Badlands Loop Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Given the time of year of my visit, the days were long. There were approximately 15 1/2 hours between sunrise and sunset, and that obviously doesn’t account for time preparing before and after sunrise/sunset. On every full day I was on site, I decamped to my lodgings (I was staying at a motel in Wall–the Sunshine Inn, not incidentally, which I highly recommend) for a pretty good chunk of time during the “harsh light” portion of the day, particularly after I wrapped up scouting, which took place on the morning of my second full day in the park. I took care of all of my administrative tasks during the middle of the day so that, when I came back at day’s end, in the dark, I could hit the sack more or less immediately. That seemed to work out pretty well, all things considered.

Sunrise, Big Badlands Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Given that the park is, relatively speaking, fairly small, and how few trails there are (the Castle Trail is the only one of any real length), a week is probably longer than is needed to cover everything, even if one is seriously photographing. Still, I’m not sorry I had as many days there as I did. Even though I covered the length of the Badlands Loop Road something like ten times while I was in the park, and the Sage Creek Rim Road three times, I kept finding new subjects, or new ways of looking at familiar subjects, in terms of perspective, or lighting, or both, each time I headed out.

Hay Butte Overlook Black & White, Sage Creek Rim Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

While most of the attention is naturally paid to overlooks at the park, there are numerous places where it’s possible to get a ground level perspective on the badlands. The best area for this is in the eastern part of the park, not far from the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Between the visitor center and the Northeast Entrance is a large parking area with trailheads for three short trails and the east end of the Castle Trail. This whole area is a good place to get up close and personal with the badlands.

Another area that’s good for this is a stretch of the Loop Road between the White River Valley Overlook and the Cedar Pass Lodge. There are, unfortunately, nowhere near as many pull-offs on the road as I would personally like in this area, but there are some and almost all of them provide interesting ground level access to a wide variety of badlands formations.

Yet another spot is much further west on the Loop Road–the Yellow Mounds area, between the Ancient Hunters Overlook and the Conata Basin Overlook. There are a number of spots to pull off the road and access this extremely colorful (Yellow Mounds) set of formations.

Window Trail, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

With all of the overlooks, sky conditions inevitably factor into photographic choices at Badlands National Park. The skies were remarkably variable during my week on site, though I never had anything that really resembled a clear day. (There were segments of days when the skies were mostly clear, but that’s as close as it came.) There were a fair amount of cloudy, or at least mostly cloudy, periods, but other than a few occasions when it rained (and, wow, did it rain hard a couple of times), the clouds almost always had definition. I found myself thinking “black and white” on quite a number of instances, and, as a result, there were several times when I photographed in somewhat harsher sunlight than I otherwise would have. And I think that paid off in the end.

When it did rain, the park turned into a mud pit, and while things tended to dry out fairly quickly, stepping on the wet ground in the park was no fun. (Don’t ask me how I know this.) Conditions were, with the exception of two or three early mornings, consistently windy, but it never felt genuinely cold while I was in the Badlands. The lowest temperatures I experienced while outside–and remember, I was out at daybreak, the coldest time of the day, every day–were probably in the low 50s F. Warmest temperatures were in the low to mid 80s F. All things considered, it was pretty pleasant if the wind wasn’t blowing more than 20 miles per hour (which it did, more than once, while I was there).

Bison, Badlands Loop Road, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

I found the photographic opportunities to be very good, all things considered. I used all my lenses at one point or another, but didn’t go ultra-wide very often, and did use my telephoto lens quite a bit. In addition to the scenery, which you’ve seem some examples of accompanying this post (and there will be plenty more as I lay out the daily chronology in the weeks ahead), there were a decent number of wildlife sightings. I saw bison, bighorn sheep, deer, antelopes, prairie dogs, rabbits and plenty of birds. When convenient, I photographed some of the animals I saw.

Burns Basin Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

When I was in the park, sunrise was just after 5 AM, and sunset was around 8:30 PM. I was out for sunrise/sunset with only two exceptions (weather made it pointless), but I had to arise at 3:45 AM to get where I wanted to be for sunrise and I was never back from sunset shooting until after 9 PM. The exact time of return depended on where I photographed at sunset and how the event turned out. I did experience one absolutely epic sunset–one of the most amazing sunrises/sunsets I’ve ever seen anywhere–and I had one sunrise that was excellent, if not quite an all-timer. There were a couple of others that were pretty good and, as is almost always the case, several that fizzled or never materialized at all. C’est la vie.

I’ll be laying out the trip, day-by-day, in ensuing blog entries, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Sunset, Homestead Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

7 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips | Tags: badlands loop road, badlands national park, big badlands overlook, big foot pass overlook, buffalo gap national grassland, burns basin overlook, hay butte overlook, homestead overlook, landscape photography, nature photography, panorama point overlook, photography, south dakota, window trail, yellow mounds

Posted by: kerryl29 | June 15, 2026

The Story Behind the Image: Badlands Abstract

Beginning the Wednesday after Memorial Day here in the United States, I spent about a week at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. This location has been on my personal radar screen for a very long time–something like 25 years–but for a variety of reasons, I’d never managed to get there. Finally, over this past winter, I decided that I would make the trip this spring, and so I did.

Overall, the trip went very well. I actually cut it short by two days, but that wasn’t because of photo productivity issues. The real reason was some bad weather, both extant and forecast. On what turned out to be my last full day there–the original itinerary had me staying for two more full days–it absolutely poured down rain beginning mid-afternoon (I actually had to drive through it to return to my lodgings), and then another round of thunderstorms, accompanied by heavy rain, kicked in that evening and overnight. All of this turned the park into a mud pit; I had experienced the mud in the middle of the trip, after a bout of much less rain that fell overnight, and it was bad news, and it took most of a day for the park to dry out. I estimated that it would take more than a full day for the mud to dry after the heavier rain event, and the forecast was calling for more rain that day, putting the next day in doubt as well. At that point, I had been through the entire park, with my camera, more than once, so between my earlier presumed success capturing images and the poor forecast gong forward, I made the decision to head home a bit early. I think that turned out to be the correct choice.

I will be documenting this trip in the coming weeks here on the blog. For now…

As I noted, before the heavy rain, there were countless good opportunities to photograph, and I tried to take advantage of all of them. There is a section of the park, along the paved Badlands Loop Road, that is known as Yellow Mounds, because…well, because there are a bunch of yellow mounds, hillocks that are brightly colored, with yellow being the predominant hue.

On my very first day on site–an evening, following the 840-odd mile drive from the Chicago area–I scouted the Yellow Mounds locaation. I ended up photographing in this neck of the woods two or three more times while I was in South Dakota, but on this first inspection, under mostly cloudy skies which produced soft, even light, my attention was focused on the colorful patterns on the sides of many of the mounds.

After parking at the Yellow Mounds Overlook lot and looking around for several minutes, I found a pattern on one of the mounds that I wanted to isolate. I pulled out my telephoto lens and zoomed in. The end result is below.

Badlands Abstract, Yellow Mounds Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

As mentioned, there will be much more from Badlands National Park in ensuing posts.

3 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips, The Story Behind the Image | Tags: abstract, badlands national park, landscape photography, nature photography, photography, south dakota, yellow mounds, yellow mounds overlook

Posted by: kerryl29 | June 8, 2026

The Story Behind the Image: Monument Valley Morning

I was on a photo tour in northern Arizona back in the early 2010s, and one of the things I remember about it was that nice skies were a repeated feature. The tour was held in late August, during the monsoon season in Arizona, specifically because the possibility of skies with clouds was a good possibility. It certainly worked out that way.

One of the locations we visited was Monument Valley, and on one particularly memorable morning while we were there, the sky gods really put in some extra work. The clouds were so nice that I tried to take advantage long after sunrise, and far removed from the “center of interest” elements that we were presented with.

After photographing at the iconic “Totem Pole” formation, we were returning to the open air truck that was serving as our group vehicle, but I swiftly moved off to the side to photograph a sinewy-shaped dry wash, partly because of the S-curve the wash provided. But equally important to me was the “mackerel sky” that was present at that point in the morning.

A butte in the background and desert vegetation in the foreground completed the composition and provided another memorable image in a morning filled with them.

(Click the image below to view a larger rendition.)

Monument Valley Morning, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: arizona, clouds, desert, lake of the clouds, landscape photography, monument valley, nature photography, photography

Posted by: kerryl29 | June 1, 2026

The Story Behind the Image: Morning Light

Generally speaking, when I photograph, I prefer to look around and find images, rather than simply fulfill a preexisting objective. I’ve discussed this principle before on this blog; I’m not always as successful implementing it as I would like, but I do try to keep in mind that if I am on a subject-driven photo excursion (e.g. hiking to a waterfall or a scenic viewpoint, etc.) that I take the time and keep a clear enough head to take in the surroundings along the way and, if I see something interesting, explore further and make some images of something other than the prime objective.

Sometimes there really is no true prime objective, and that makes it a bit easier to maintain a “look at the surroundings” mindset. That has been the case when I’ve photographed bald cypress environments from a kayak, as I have done at Caddo Lake, on the Texas-Louisiana state line, and at several spots in southwest Louisiana, over the past few years.

On one exceptionally cold morning at Lake Martin in Louisiana (the temperature was in the mid-30s, F), I had to find some extra inspiration to enact the principle explained above. It was not only cold, it was fairly windy out on the open water, and–though I thought I was adequately dressed for it–after about an hour and 15 minutes, I was so cold that I decided I couldn’t take it anymore and began the process of heading back to the boat launch so I could get out of the kayak and attempt to regain feeling in my feet.

On the way, I paddled into an area that was sheltered from the wind. It wasn’t as cold in this area, but it was still plenty chilly. Still, I paused the return to the launch, and took a moment to look around. What I discovered was a cypress tree, with Spanish moss nearly dipping to water level, absolutely beautifully spotlit by a splash of sun. I found the scene so enchanting that, despite shivering, I simply had to haul my camera out of its dry bag and make an image.

It wasn’t something I was specifically looking for; the spotlighting made the scene what it was and the effect wasn’t likely to be in place longer than five minutes or so. I was simply in the right place at the right time. But I also, somehow, happened to take the time to just look around. If I had given in to the frigid feeling I was experiencing, I would have simply paddled through without even looking.

(Click the image below to view a larger rendition.)

Morning Light, Lake Martin, St. Martin’s Parish, Louisiana

6 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips, The Story Behind the Image | Tags: bald cypress, lake martin, landscape photography, louisiana, nature photography, photography, st. martin's parish

Posted by: kerryl29 | May 26, 2026

The Story Behind the Image: Assateague Beach

In the second half of April, I spent a few days at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. I was only there for two full days, plus an evening and morning. I’m honestly not sure why I made the trip in the first place, as my photo expectations were virtually zero. I had been to Chincoteague once before, about 20 years ago, on what wasn’t formally a photography excursion, but something–relative proximity to my Delaware base? lack of obvious alternatives for the early spring?–caused me to go ahead and make the journey to Chincoteague.

Honestly, as expected, I didn’t photograph all that much. The second full day was just about a complete washout (figuratively). It was a very windy, blue sky day–pretty awful for photography. I hiked several trails and, for the fourth or fifth time, drove the length of the wildlife loop trail in the afternoon. I took the camera out twice, all day, snapping shots of some Chincoteague ponies and a cooperative snowy egret The truth of the matter is, for a landscape photographer like myself, Chincoteague simply isn’t a great destination. I knew that before I made the trip, but went anyway. Go figure.

But! As it turned out, on the first full day that I was present, I was treated to partly cloudy skies most of the day, and that, plus some copious scouting, led me to some image-making opportunities that were better than I anticipated. Despite all the complaining above, I would classify the trip as successful photographically, particularly when compare to my effectively nonexistent expectations.

Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge occupies most of the southern end of Assateague Island, a barrier island, divided between Maryland and Virginia, that runs for nearly 40 miles from north to south on the Atlantic coast. Just about the only portion of the southern part of Assateague Island that isn’t technically part of the refuge is the ocean side beach–Assateague Beach, as it is formally known. The beach is under the auspices of what is known as Assateague Island National Seashore.

After photographing in the refuge at sunrise itself, I made the short drive over to Assateague Beach. All things being equal, Assateague Beach is relatively uninteresting. It’s basically just an endless stretch of sand. There are few grassy dunes, at least at the southern end of Assateague Island; there aren’t many seashells or much driftwood. Basically, as I’ve already mentioned, it’s just sand and surf.

But all things were definitely not equal on this morning. A wonderful set of clouds had moved into the eastern sky; the light was exquisite; the wet sand reflections were marvelous. And, I had the beach to myself. It was chilly–in the 30s F–and quite breezy. But I was reminded, ever so briefly, of why I do this in the first place.

Sunrise, Assateague Beach, Assateague Island National Seashore, Virginia

2 Comments

Posted in Images from Photo Trips, The Story Behind the Image | Tags: assateague beach, assateague island, assateague island national seashore, chincoteague natinoal wildlife refuge, landscape photography, nature photography, photography, virginia

Posted by: kerryl29 | May 18, 2026

The Story Behind the Image: Ivy Wall in Autumn

A number of years ago, in late October, I was participating in early voting at a municipal building in DuPage County, Illinois. I had parked in a lot that wasn’t visible from the street, tucked between a series of multistory edifices. On the brick wall of one of those buildings, I saw ivy, in full autumn color, surrounding a tall window. I was really struck by it, enough to want to photograph it, but I knew I couldn’t do so at the time. For one thing, I didn’t have my photo gear with me. For another, there was too much in-and-out traffic, given the use of the site at the time.

I planned to return, on a Sunday (I had first spotted the scene on a Friday), because I knew there would be no one around. I planned the timing when the wall would be in soft, even light.

I remember that it was an unusually warm autumn day when I came back; I recall that it was so warm that I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. As expected, there was literally no one else present when I arrived, and I took a good long look at the scene. It was only two days after I’d first spotted the possibility, so the ivy looked essentially identical to what I’d seen on Friday. There was little, if any wind; the spot was sheltered, and I don’t think there was much breeze that day anyway.

I placed myself slightly to the left of a dead on perspective and, using a 24-70 mm lens, gave the window frame a small amount of room to breathe on each side, going with a vertical orientation of the camera, given the shape of the main subject.

Voila.

(Click the image below to view a larger rendition.)

Ivy Wall in Autumn, DuPage County, Illinois

The Story Behind the Image: Second Beach

I spent some time in Olympic National Park in July, 2009. One day, while I was staying in the small town of Forks, Washington, near the Pacific Coast, I paid a visit to Second Beach. It was a cloudy day, at least at the coast, due to the (seemingly) omnipresent summer marine layer.

The trail to get to the beach from the parking area is an easy one, about 3/4 of a mile in length, through some dense forest. When I made the hike, all of the foliage was literally dripping with moisture, due to the high humidity and not infrequent misting. When I completed the brief hike, I found myself on an arching stretch of sand, with numerous rocks and sea stacks in the ocean shallows. The beach was hemmed in by headlands on both sides–at least at the tide level present when I was there, so after briefly taking it all in from the point where the trail met the sand, I hiked from one accessible end of the beach to the other. It didn’t take that long, and it gave me a better look at all of the features, including possible foreground elements.

When I was setting up to produce the image accompanying this post, I wanted to include the arch as part of the wider scene. Given its location–its proximity to the headland on the north end of the beach–that meant placing it near the right-hand edge of the frame, which meant that the largest sea stack–the one with the trees on it–would be near the center of the x-axis. I placed it slightly right of center, which still allowed me to include the whale-shaped rock near the left-hand edge. I deliberately placed the crusty foreground rocks, with accompanying tidepool, in the lower left, with all of the other elements–surf, clouds, wet sand reflections, etc.–falling where they might in the frame.

Because of the cloudy conditions, it was always my intention to render this image in black and white. Doing so allowed me to ramp up the contrast in the sky to better define the clouds. There wasn’t much color of meaning in the image in any event.

(Click on the image below to view a larger rendition.)