Scenic Explorer

Monarch Exploring Flowers

Eric — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:36:27 +0000

These photos are from my trip to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo Wisconsin. I visited there in July of this year while enroute from Denver to Milwaukee. Its a great place as it has many nice nature trails and a well done habitat for the cranes. One of the things I’m most impressed with about Wisconsin is the abundance of butterflies. I’m putting together a gallery of butterfly photos and the two below will definitely be included.

Milwaukee Sunrise

Eric — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:26:02 +0000

I caught my first sunrise over Lake Michigan back in September and am just getting around to posting it. It was quite a nice morning with a cool breeze coming off the lake. I tried to catch the birds flying in front of the sun, but it was hard for the camera to focus. Low photography is not my strong suit, but I’m working on it.

Elk In RMNP

Eric — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:08:14 +0000

These are not from the elk rut event mentioned in the last post, but are from a week or two before after hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. I took these from my car on the side of the road as the elk was about 20-30 feet away.

Colorado Colors

Eric — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:49:29 +0000

I’ve been taking some time over the last few weeks to go through the thousands of photos I have collected from my 13-months in Colorado. I’m only at early fall so far and thought I’d share a few of the fall color photos that didn’t make it into earlier posts. The following were taken on the way back from the Outdoor Eyes Elk Rut Photography Event in September 2007 along the Peak to Peak Highway. I think these were about 5 miles south of Lily Lake, which is on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Wisconsin Downys

Eric — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:53:06 +0000

I went for a walk in Wehr Nature Center over the weekend and noticed quite a few downys enjoying the warm autumn morning. Luckily, I was able to get several very good photos of them. They are usually very active, quick, and hard to get a good photo of, so I was very pleased with the outcome.

Lawrence University & Appleton, WI

Eric — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:55:01 +0000

After hiking at High Cliff State Park, I took a ride into Appleton, WI. I’ve met two people from Appleton over the last 30 or so years, so figured I’d check it out since I was so close. It turns out its a pretty neat little town. It has the same peaceful feel to it that most of Wisconsin seems to have. While walking downtown, I came across Lawrence University, which has a charming campus.

On the ride down from Appleton toward Milwaukee, I passed through many farms that occupy the eastern banks of Lake Winnebago. I also passed through several windmill farms. I passed up the chance to take any photos of the many windmill farms I drove through in Iowa on my way from Denver to Milwaukee, so had to grab a few photos this time.

High Cliff State Park

Eric — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:36:20 +0000

I took my first road trip this morning to High Cliff State Park, which is on the shores of Lake Winnebago - the largest lake in Wisconsin. I started the morning by heading out on the Lime Kiln Trail just as the sun was rising. As the forest was beginning to wake up, I discovered several bunches of Downy Woodpeckers flying about among the trees.

After looking up for about 30-minutes, I decided to check out what was happening on the forest floor.

After walking about 1.5 miles or so, I came across about 7 wild turkeys about 50 feet away and further up the banks along the lake. I also ended up coming within 10 feet of two deer that I didn’t see until I was almost on top of them.

A little later in the morning, I headed out on the Indian Mount Trail, then took some photos on top of the escarpment overlooking the lake. I did not know that the Niagara Escarpment extends all the way from Niagara Falls, NY to Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin.

Wehr Nature Center

Eric — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:48:32 +0000

I’ve been speding a lot of time at the Wehr Nature Center in Whitnal Park over the last few months. One particular place I frequent is the waterfall at the north end of Mallard Lake (also called Whitnal Lake). I’ve been working on the technical aspects of making the water look silky, which has been a challenge. Its also been challenging to get a good shot of the falls without the sky being washed out, as the area north of the falls (where I’m shooting) is rather dark even in mid-day light.

One day while walking through the grasslands, there were dozens of grasshoppers flying about. As a kid, I remember seeing tons of grasshoppers (usually large ones) jumping about. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this many. These little guys are small and quick, which makes them difficult to get a clear shot of. But I think this one looks pretty good.

Site Reloaded

Eric — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:29:49 +0000

After several attempts at new versions of the site, I’ve decided to return to the original. I’ve restored most, if not all, of the content. Though, a few images may be misplaced yet. I noticed some posts showing up in the stats area that don’t lead to the post they are supposed to, but that may just be a temporary stats thing. I am working on a new photography site and will integrate this blog with it, but that may take a while. I’ll be posting more soon.

Autumn Break

Eric — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:02:28 +0000

It has been about a year since I started this site as a record of my adventures in Colorado. Now that I’m in Wisconsin for a year and my photography skills have grown, its time to make a few changes. With that in mind, I’m going to be taking a break from posting here for a few weeks.

During that time, I will be researching locations for fall colors, studying some of the technical aspects of photography I’ve been wanting to learn, sorting through many of the photos from the last year, looking into redesigning this site, and putting plans together for a professional website. I will also be updating my personal photo album as it has been neglected over the last few months.