Lake Pepin in Winter

Lake Pepin is a natural lake on the Upper Mississippi River near Red Wing, Minnesota.  The lake formed because the Chippewa River carries a great deal of sand out of central Wisconsin (Think Aldo Leopold and A Sand County Almanac for an idea) and that sand is more than the Mississippi can take quickly.  It bottle-necked the river and formed Lake Pepin.  Note, the river leaving Lake Pepin near Wabasha, Minnesota is moving fast enough it rarely freezes in winter, meaning a great many bald eagles frequent the area in the winter months.

The lake itself freezes over.

I was driving down river and I got to Lake City, Minnesota late in the afternoon.  The sunrise looked to be weak at best, but I decided to set up the camera and take an image across the lake.

It was cold.  Maybe 20 degrees.  I was dressed in business casual traveling clothes.  I put on my parka went out to grab an image.

I walked down to the lakes edge and set up the tripod.  Then slowed set up the 4x5.  I am sure I could have walked on the lakes surface, but it loafers it seemed like a bad idea.

I saw the nearly full moon across the lake and put it in the image.  Framed up the shot and made two exposures on Quickload Velvia 100F of the Wisconsin side of the lake with the moon

.  Took a quick shot of the setup and then packed up.  As I left, the light faded and I made the rest of the drive down river in the darkening twilight.

The Frozen Bluffs on the Mississippi

I have been lucky enough to get to travel to Wisconsin in January and February.  I know there are a lot of people who would think there is nothing at all lucky about that.  However, when there was a work assignment to spend Jan-Mar in Wisconsin, I jumped at it.

Winter is such a fleeting season in Texas, I was looking forward to getting to experience some cold and to photograph snow that does not melt three hours after it falls.

Over those twelve weeks, I got to experience a cold winter and see plenty of snow.  I also got in some great photography.  Well, at least on the weekends.  With sunrise and sunset being about 8am and 5pm respectively, I did not see much daylight during the week.  On weekends though-I was out all day-every day.  I took my medium format camera for some of the trip but then traded out for the 4x5.


Toting the 4x5 around when it is 25 below zero is no easy task.  Focusing is certainly difficult too.  Never, ever breath out under the dark cloth.  Instant ice over your ground glass if you do.  Cold is that tough.  FWIW, I never had issues with the 4x5, however my medium format camera did have the shutter freeze one morning at -25.  Effectively ended the morning and I had to ziplock it and put it in the hotel for the afternoon until it thawed and was fine.

I found I was able to make quite a few images in my time up there.  I frequented several areas but the frozen marshes and bluffs along the Mississippi River were my favorite.

Here is a shot from an area I visited several times.

I like the view to the bluffs and while this particular day was fairly cloudless, I managed to photograph here on a variety of days including fog, clouds, and epic sunrises.

Thinking of the Seasons

Summer passed into fall this week. It has me thinking of the colors of autumn and the changing of the seasons.

I was also looking through some images and came across this one that I had not posted before. Wisconsin on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi.

The cold of winter is not many folks idea of fun but during a long hot Texas August it actually sounds refreshing.

So call it the end of summer and try to to let it get you "too" cold.

Old Man River

The mighty Mississippi is a big river and I am at it's best part.

The bluff country south of St. Paul is spectacular. The river is big, but also full of islands, backwaters, sloughs, marshes, etc. The bluffs rise some 500' out of the river. Most of this part of the river is protected as the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge.

There are state parks, more wildlife refuges and even a National Monument in Iowa (Effigy Mounds). Add in historic towns and the wildlife that frequents the area and you have a very special place.

Here is a view of that big river from the top of Brady's Bluff in Perrot State Park, Wisconsin. I really like this view and visit it every time I am in the area. The hike starts down by the river and slowly winds up through forest and then meadows and back to forest before a final large and steep sided meadow to reach the summit.

From there you take in the views up and down the river. You can see into the hills and streams of Minnesota. You can look across the farmland in Wisconsin. It is a very nice view.

They may call this old man river, but here in bluff country it seems youthful and vigorous.

The Winter Woods

The Wisconsin winter woods are a great experience. The barren trees, the crunch of snow underfoot, brisk temps, and the gray overcast days (they get alot of these) all help make the winter-winter.

I have been here in the fall and seen wonderful color. I have been here as the seasons changed from fall to winter and seen the last of the leaves fall and the ice start to form, but winter is an all new season. One that I find to be quite exciting and full of photographic possibilities.

The bluffs along the Mississippi are wooded in places quite thick. In the summer you would never see the river but in the winter the leaves are gone and new vistas open up. I find those views interesting and they draw my camera.

This image is from the edge of a clearning in the winter woods. The bare trees and snow become part of the hilly landscape of the river country. The Mississippi is visible in the valley bottom. The hills of the Minnesota side of the river recede into the gray sky. Snow is visible everywhere.

What a great scene and what a fine image it makes. A scene only possible in the winter woods.

Wisconsin Mountains

One normally does not associate Wisconsin and mountains. One certainly would not imagine a mountain rising right out of the Mississippi River. Yet one does.

The upper Mississippi is bluff country. South of St. Paul, Minnesota the river has a few hundred miles of 500+ ft tall bluffs. The "gorge" is usually a few miles across. There is one rather unique location where the river cut through the bluff and has made "mountains". Just south of Winona, Minnesota geologists tell us that the bluff stuck out toward what is now Wisconsin. The river once ran east of that bluff but at some point at the end of the last ice age the channel became clogged with debris from the melting glaciers and the river cut through the bluff where side streams had weakened and already started the erosion process. That process cut off the old point and made mountains that are now in Wisconsin.

Today those mountains are a Wisconsin State Park.

Here is the view from the top toward Mt. Trempealeau. The mountain that rises out of the Mississippi River. Signs in the park tell that name Trempealeau comes from the French explorers meaning something like "mountain with water bathing it's feet".

The far bluffs are in Minnesota and they are less than a mile apart from where I am in Wisconsin as I look upstream on the river.

Morning Light

After being out in the snow for over an hour the sun is finally up. The light is bright and all the snow, ice, and frost seems to make it brighter.

I spot a point of trees that stick out into the frozen marsh and think there might be an image, so I walk out and take a few digital snaps to confirm it will work before I move the Arca. As I am walking back across the ice I see the view to the northwest with the moon still there in the sky and a hint of clouds.

The view is across the frozen marshes along the Mississippi looking toward Minnesota. I liked the image and made a couple more, just to be sure.

The sky the white snow and (yes even the) camera all looked right. The location, conditions, and the light made it. Out on the snow in the bright light of morning the images happen, even when the lack of good cloud cover early made it seem like a less than ideal day. The light still had some magical qualities to it and with a little luck I have an image that I keep going back to looking at.

The setting is similar to my moonset taken at twilight (just 30 minutes later) but the direct bright light of the morning make this image even better to me.

Light matters, and morning light makes all the difference.

Layers

Layers. As the sun was begining to crest the bluff I liked the way the layers of ridge, trees, and brush. The backlight from the rising sun was making for interesting color and shadow and giving that layered look.

I tried to exclude more of the clear sky and have the ice, snow and the layers make the image.

On this cold morning layers were also a key factor in keeping warm. With a temp down to -8 and a heavy frost it is cold, especially when you just stand around working a camera. Layers of several garments really healped here. My gear is all rather lightweight and made for when I moving on a hike or climb. It is good gear and I bought it so it could work in layers. I have on 5 layers, from a poly T-shirt, a lightweight T-neck, leight fleece pullover, vest, and a thin imsulated jacket. It sounds like alot but I have full movement and I do not look like the Staypuff Marshmellow Man. If I move I am plenty warm (I'll unzip the jacket), but after standing for an hour the cold can seep in. So I wear several light layers and I am very warm. The only time I notice the cold is when I take my glove off to set the camera controls. Then the fingers get cold quick. The rest of me is warm.

So on a cold morning in the snow I can layer for warmth and enjoy the light on the layers in the image.

Moonset over the Mississippi

A cold clear January morning. I am out in the frozen marshes along the Mississippi River. There is not much in the way of cloud cover this day. The sky is full of stars and the moon hangs high in the west. There is a heavy frosted quality this morning.

There are several views of the bluffs that could be a great image with a sunrise over them. With no clouds I start looking west at the moon and and the river.

As the stars fade and the blue returns to the sky, I frame up the snow, grass, distant bluffs, and moon into the frame. I make an image. I wonder if the film will pick up any of the stars that I quickly losing in the blue morning sky.

The temps are cold but everything on the camera works perfectly, even at -10. I have had the camera on the tripod for about an hour and only made a couple of images. I see the light is getting brighter and I start to think about how to best capture the coming sunrise.

Back in the North Country

I am back in the north country. I am here for a couple of weeks of work. For some reason, no one at the office seems to want to go to Wisconsin in January. I thought it sounded fun. Flew into the Twin Cities yesterday and drove in from there.

The road from St. Paul is outstanding. This is the bluff country of the Mississippi. The bluffs are big, the trees are bare, and the river is frozen. I stop so often to take in the sights the trip stretches late into the afternoon. I arrive at Lake Pepin at twilight and decide to photograph the evening light across the frozen lake.

Lake Pepin is a natural lake on the mighty Miss. Charging out of the Wisconsin sand hill country (like Aldo Leopold wrote about in A Sand County Almanac)the Chippewa River flows into the Mississippi with such speed and load of sand that it has caused Lake Pepin to form. See the Chippewa brings in the sand faster than the Mississippi could take it away. The lake fills most of the steep sided valley and runs for dozens of miles back upstream from where the Chippewa pours in. The road winds along the edge of the bluff, is quite curvy and a fun/scenic drive.

The soft pastels of evening fill the sky and the lake is frozen solid. I line up an image that looks down the lake. The frozen lake fills the valley. The distant bluffs hem the lake in.

The cold crisp air heightens the senses. It is a lot colder than it was in Texas this morning.

I make the image. I look at the lake. I smile. I am back in the north country.