Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

 

One of my most favorite landscape photographs that I have ever taken, not sure if I could tell you exactly why......its not the best sunrise, sunset, etc..... that I have ever seen. I'm not sure if it could even hold up in a photo contest but it speaks to me. In the field, I did not think I would like it as much as I do. I was walking back after shooting a sunrise over the hill in the background of this image and was thinking that I was done shooting this morning, time for coffee! The clouds kept holding my attention although, and finally decided that I needed to continue shooting. This is taken about a hour after sunrise, there is a ridge to the right and as I am shooting a couple different compositions, the sun rises high enough over the ridge to catch the tops of the grasses, that are blowing in the howling wind. Hope you enjoy.

Paintbrush Prairie

I discovered a small conservation area in central Missouri called the "Paintbrush Prairie." There was a great concentration of wildflowers for such a small area in MO. - as the state is not know for it abundance of wildflowers) I had scouted this area earlier in the month on another visit and pre-visualized some images. I will post more images of the area in the future. I geared up for the trip with a fresh can of bug repellent, due to the fact of the deer population in MO. and the infestation of ticks associated with them. I am happy to report no bugs on this trip; not sure if it was due to the repellent or just luck.

I experimented with some HDR imaging software (Photomatix - HDRsoft) for the first time and was happy with the results, considering the image was shot in mid afternoon.