Photo of the Week – January 26, 2017

Ok, I know I just posted a bunch of ice storm photos last week, but as it happens, I took more than 1500 shots that morning (!!) and I didn’t post all the ones I liked last time.  So, with apologies for the semi-redundancy, here are a few more close-ups of ice-coated prairie from that magical day.  You’ll notice that Indiangrass got a lot of attention from my camera.  That was partly because it still had interesting fuzzy seeds, and partly because its golden brown color was pretty irresistible when under a sparkly clear coating.

Also, you’ll notice that I stayed low and shot upward at the sky quite a bit.  As the morning wore on, everything got brighter and more sparkly.  That was great, except that it was hard to find backgrounds for close up photos that weren’t full of distracting flashes of light.  By getting close to the ground I could use the clear blue sky as background and really highlight the sparkle of my subject without the extra sparkles of everything else around it.

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I know ice storms can be dangerous and can lead to hazardous driving and long hours for power company employees and sand truck drivers.  It seems selfish to wish for ice storms just because they also make great photo opportunities.  And yet…

(Finally, just one last reminder to please take a few minutes to fill out the quick survey for readers of this blog.  I’ll close the survey Monday morning, so this weekend is your last chance.  Please click HERE to take the survey!)

Photo of the Week – January 18, 2017

Much of the Central United States is emerging from an ice storm that glazed streets and closed schools.  On the positive side, it also coated our prairies (and everything else) with a beautiful layer of ice.  As the sun came up yesterday morning, I was walking through one of our local prairies, surrounded by glittering, sparkling prairie plants.

Sunrise

Sunrise and icy prairie.

It was magical.

I had planned to walk around for an hour or so and take pictures, but ended up staying for four hours; leaving only because I got really hungry.  I usually save my “Photo of the Week” post for Thursday or Friday each week, but I couldn’t wait to share some images from yesterday morning.  I hope you enjoy them.

sunrise

Stiff sunflowers and sunshine.

Indiangrass

Indiangrass seeds.

Switchgrass

Switchgrass

Stiff goldenrod

Stiff goldenrod

Indiangrass

Indiangrass

Stiff goldenrod

Stiff goldenrod

Hole

I was surprised by this perfectly circular hole.

Switchgrass

Switchgrass seeds.

Indiangrass

Indiangrass seeds.

Grass

This ice boat seems to have sprung a leak.

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