River Crossing

Recently I shared with a fellow photographer the names of some outdoor photographers I follow on a regular basis. Often I benefit from their learned lessons.

Although much of my photography features wildlife, the photographers that I follow are landscape photographers. As I study their work, it becomes clear why much of my work concentrates on wildlife images - our scenic landscape photography options are not like the videos - wide, grandiose, and easy to access woodlands or water scenes.

It would be easy give up and wait for random landscape photography opportunities. Instead, I am opting to search out smaller landscape scenes that allow me to improve my skills. Such was the case early this morning, before a rain shower appeared.

My location was the Wapsipinicon River, below the dam in Frederika, where rocks have created a low water crossing of sorts. My digital files were full color and fine. But when I used a black and white filter it seems the final version really showed what I was hoping to display. I am calling this “River Crossing.”

When looking at the final image, it is almost hard to believe this was photographed locally.