RSS Feed- My 2015 Search for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage) March 8, 2015Every March, I go to the woods in the hope that I will find evidence that spring has begun. For me, that’s when skunk cabbage emerges from the mud or, as is the case this year, through the snow. Skunk … Continue reading → The post My 2015 Search for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage) appeared […]Mike MacDonald
- Light in Landscape Photography: A Matter of Life & Depth June 25, 2014Good light can bring shape and depth to a photograph. In particular, low side-lighting or “glancing light” can be used to transform your landscape photographs and make them come to life. In Photo A (below), the feathery June grass, yellow flowers of hoary … Continue reading → The post Light in Landscape Photography: A Matter of Life & […]Mike MacDonald
- Landscape Photography: Use Your Mind’s Eye June 13, 2014A photograph is a facsimile of reality and our experience. Sometimes it represents the moment quite accurately; at other times, quite poorly. Landscape photography can be more like the latter. This article is about how to photographically communicate the drama and the … Continue reading → The post Landscape Photography: Use Your Mind’s Eye appeared first on […]Mike MacDonald
- Landscape Photography: Sometimes It Just Takes Two May 13, 2014Landscape photography sometimes requires two shots to capture the drama of a single scene. Here in the woodlands of Will County, this afternoon landscape of bluebells along the stream would have been impossible to convey with just one photograph. Those who … Continue reading → The post Landscape Photography: Sometimes It Just Takes Two appeared first […]Mike MacDonald
- The Digital Darkroom: Image Capture is Only the Beginning November 20, 2013Like it or not, capturing the image with your camera is only the beginning. Digital darkroom work is needed to best convey the truth of your experience. That’s because, straight out of your camera, digital images are inherently flat, lacking the … Continue reading → The post The Digital Darkroom: Image Capture is Only the Beginning […]Mike MacDonald
- Photo Tip: Shoot Many, Show Few November 6, 2013Photographs represent the real world and, as you know, it’s chaos out there. So, take lots of pictures and understand that it’s not just you screwing up your photos. It’s your kid closing her eyes, it’s that blue garbage can in … Continue reading → The post Photo Tip: Shoot Many, Show Few appeared first on […]Mike MacDonald
- The Monsters in Our Midst October 29, 2013Along this tranquil autumn stream, monsters lurk in plain sight. Location: Black Partridge Woods, Lemont, Illinois Forest Preserve District of Cook County At Black Partridge Woods, invisible raindrops plummet from the gray onto a canopy of yellow sugar maples, dislodging … Continue reading → The post The Monsters in Our Midst appeared first on The […]Mike MacDonald
- Stop and Look Up: A Winter Daydream March 13, 2013Stop and Look Up Sun and snow on the trail, slip-sliding with ease, Stop and look up, see the lace in the trees. Take your mind off the cold, as your fingers they freeze, Stop and look up, see the … Continue reading → The post Stop and Look Up: A Winter Daydream appeared first […]Mike MacDonald
- Searching for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage) March 11, 2013Today, March 10, 2013, spring officially began in the Chicago area. For me, the beginning of spring does not arrive in a fanfare of color. Rather, it begins subtly, when sometime in March, speckled maroon and yellow spathes of skunk cabbage … Continue reading → The post Searching for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage) appeared first on […]Mike MacDonald
- Digital Landscape Photography: New Possibilities in Storytelling March 1, 2013Not until recently, did I begin to photograph the landscape with a digital camera, leaving behind the beauty of transparency film and the process of leaning over a light table, one eye to the loupe, to immerse myself in the colorful world living within. … Continue reading → The post Digital Landscape Photography: New Possibilities in Storytelling appeared first […]Mike MacDonald
- My 2015 Search for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage) March 8, 2015
Category Archives: Cook County Nature
My 2015 Search for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage)
Every March, I go to the woods in the hope that I will find evidence that spring has begun. For me, that’s when skunk cabbage emerges from the mud or, as is the case this year, through the snow. Skunk … Continue reading
The Monsters in Our Midst
Along this tranquil autumn stream, monsters lurk in plain sight. Location: Black Partridge Woods, Lemont, Illinois Forest Preserve District of Cook County At Black Partridge Woods, invisible raindrops plummet from the gray onto a canopy of yellow sugar maples, dislodging … Continue reading
Stop and Look Up: A Winter Daydream
Stop and Look Up Sun and snow on the trail, slip-sliding with ease, Stop and look up, see the lace in the trees. Take your mind off the cold, as your fingers they freeze, Stop and look up, see the … Continue reading
Searching for Spring (and Skunk Cabbage)
Today, March 10, 2013, spring officially began in the Chicago area. For me, the beginning of spring does not arrive in a fanfare of color. Rather, it begins subtly, when sometime in March, speckled maroon and yellow spathes of skunk cabbage … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Chicago Nature, Cook County Nature, Illinois Nature Photography, Macro Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Poetry, Will County Nature
Tagged Black Partridge Woods, Closeup Photography, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Joliet, Lemont, Pilcher Park Nature Preserve, Winter Photography
4 Comments
Digital Landscape Photography: New Possibilities in Storytelling
Not until recently, did I begin to photograph the landscape with a digital camera, leaving behind the beauty of transparency film and the process of leaning over a light table, one eye to the loupe, to immerse myself in the colorful world living within. … Continue reading
Posted in Chicago Nature, Cook County Nature, Digital Photography, Film Photography, Illinois Nature Photography, Landscape Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography Lessons
Tagged Bluff Spring Fen, Elgin, Fen Photography, Filters, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, HDR Photography, HDR Software, Photomatix, Split Grad Filters
2 Comments
Transcendental Light & The Art of Landscape Photography
On this typical May morning, along a bluff at Black Partridge Woods, transcendental rays of new-day light fleck the verdant floor and streak across serpentine waves of woodland phlox, casting the divine onto this springtime panorama. Thirty minutes earlier, though, only flat blue shade … Continue reading
New Nature Photography Blog: A Celebration of Biodiversity & The Art of Nature Photography
It’s a new day and a new year, and with them come a fresh new resource, a nature photography blog that speaks to the avid photographer and the lover of nature. I call it: The Heart of Nature. The purpose of this blog is to share my insights about photography … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Chicago Nature, Cook County Nature, Digital Photography, Ecological Restoration, Film Photography, Illinois Nature Photography, Landscape Photography, Macro Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography Lessons, Wildlife Photography
Tagged Bluff Spring Fen, Elgin, Fen Photography, Flower Photography, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Prairie Photography
8 Comments