RSS Feed- Winter Red January 31, 2024Winter Red So far this winter, the magic of frozen white was nowhere to be found. So, I tried to photograph it, anyway. With dense fog predicted for the morning of Dec. 24, I visited Illinois Beach Nature Preserve in … Continue reading → The post Winter Red appeared first on The Heart of Nature™ […]Mike MacDonald
- From Dreary to Dreamy February 11, 2022From Dreary to Dreamy Just in case you’re unaware, all of my images are available as big, beautiful photographic prints. More than just pretty, they tell elaborate stories that celebrate Chicago’s wondrous habitats and inhabitants. Click here for more information. … Continue reading → The post From Dreary to Dreamy appeared first on The Heart […]Mike MacDonald
- Sometimes You Just Need A Little Distance February 11, 2022Sometimes You Just Need A Little Distance The great blue heron is one of Chicago’s most recognizable and elusive birds. Pass by any wetland, and you’ll probably see one off in the distance, hunting motionless, like a statue in the … Continue reading → The post Sometimes You Just Need A Little Distance appeared first […]Mike MacDonald
- The Extraordinary in the “Ordinary” February 3, 2022The Extraordinary in the “Ordinary” I am both haunted and fascinated by a phrase that’s often used to praise and describe my work. It all came to a head one day after I performed my one-man show about Chicago nature. … Continue reading → The post The Extraordinary in the “Ordinary” appeared first on The […]Mike MacDonald
- The Boy and the Waterfall: A Photographer’s Story and Message of Hope January 1, 2021The Boy and the Waterfall: A Photographer’s Story and Message of Hope I’d like to end the year with a message of hope by sharing this inspirational story from my experience in nature as a photographer. There once was a … Continue reading → The post The Boy and the Waterfall: A Photographer’s Story and […]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
- Winter Red January 31, 2024
Category Archives: Nature
Winter Red
Winter Red So far this winter, the magic of frozen white was nowhere to be found. So, I tried to photograph it, anyway. With dense fog predicted for the morning of Dec. 24, I visited Illinois Beach Nature Preserve in … Continue reading
Posted in Chicago Nature, Digital Photography, Illinois Nature Photography, Lake County Illinois Nature, Landscape Photography, Landscape Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography Lessons
Tagged holly, Illinois Beach State Park, landscape, landscape photography, Winter Photography, winterberry
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From Dreary to Dreamy
From Dreary to Dreamy Just in case you’re unaware, all of my images are available as big, beautiful photographic prints. More than just pretty, they tell elaborate stories that celebrate Chicago’s wondrous habitats and inhabitants. Click here for more information. … Continue reading
Sometimes You Just Need A Little Distance
Sometimes You Just Need A Little Distance The great blue heron is one of Chicago’s most recognizable and elusive birds. Pass by any wetland, and you’ll probably see one off in the distance, hunting motionless, like a statue in the … Continue reading
The Extraordinary in the “Ordinary”
The Extraordinary in the “Ordinary” I am both haunted and fascinated by a phrase that’s often used to praise and describe my work. It all came to a head one day after I performed my one-man show about Chicago nature. … Continue reading
The Boy and the Waterfall: A Photographer’s Story and Message of Hope
The Boy and the Waterfall: A Photographer’s Story and Message of Hope I’d like to end the year with a message of hope by sharing this inspirational story from my experience in nature as a photographer. There once was a … 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
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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
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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