Life in Mn... (Dialup Warning, 9 shots)

davev

You have a plan to go picture taking, you wake up and it's -16 F.
Perfect. We have a spot down stream from a power plant that has
hundreds of Trumpeter Swans.
The air needs to be below 0 to have the steam coming up from the river.
Today, there was a little more steam than I needed, but it worked out.

A few shots.

Before sun up.




One other person was foolish enough to be out there today.


After sun up.






Finally the steam/fog started to die down.


The sing along.


The reason they're all here?
This gal started feeding the swans 21 years ago. At that time there were
I think she said 20. The estimates for this year are at 1200 swans.

Awais Yaqub

Dave ! Splendid photography

PrescottPhotog

davev wrote:

You have a plan to go picture taking, you wake up and it's -16 F.

I agree.. beautiful photos and great narrative to go along with them.. Thanks for sharing.

Question.. do you have any problem with your camera or gear at those temperatures and fog/mist.

Maestro

#4,5, and 6 are stunning. The rest are quite good but those were my favorites by far. That lady really has her hands full now!

52Caddy

Great shots Dave!
I miss MN since we moved to Milwaukee.
Didn't they have some sort of problem with the swans a year or so back?
Eric

bkatz

Awesome shots Dave.

Now I just have to find some lady willing to do that around here.....

JenGrace

You have more guts than I do going out in cold like that.

swintonphoto

Wonderful. Stunning. The first two are simply fantastic.

jeff lapoint

Great series, but #2 is simply wonderful!

-j

davev

Thanks everyone.

PrescottPhotog, after I use my cameras and lenses in this kind of weather,
I do nothing special with it afterwards.
Many people put their cameras in bags before bringing them into the house,
I've never done that. Your milage may vary.

Today I used a Canon 30D with a Canon 400L f5.6 lens, a Canon XTi with a
Canon 28-300is lens, and a Panasonic DMC-TZ3 to get a couple of shots of
me standing in the cold for the Dgrin challenge.
They're all still working fine.

Now here's a odd bird.:D

Elaine

Wonderful series! Beautiful colors! I find that first one very unique - very well seen! I was not expecting to see such a large group at the end...amazing!

Izzy Garavito

Hey Dave, great shots! Where do you go? I live in Woodbury and have been wanting to find a good sunrise spot by a river/lake. I'll try to get a good capture of the refinery here in the mississippi (i'll see how good the sun rise is above the trees). where do you usually go?

Izzy

Giphsub

Wow Dave! Gret set! Thanks for sharing! I love #2 and #4 particularly Any Aussies on here might appreciate this: Thatguy in the picture you posted last must be Rex Hunt!

Kezele

Great Post!

davev

Thanks again everyone.

Izzy,These shots were in Monticello. Do a search for Swans in Monticello, Mn,
and you should get all kinds of info.

I looked through the shots again this morning and found a couple more that I think are good.





This one is a rare full frame shot.

Giphsub

Wow! And that last one!

David L. Megahey

INCREDIBLE !!! Those are the kind of pictures I'd love to take, in time I will.
These are a great motivator, thanks.

Harryb

Marvelous set Dave, gave me chills from the beauty of the shots and because it looks so damn cold.

Ann McRae

Gorgeous Dave!!!!
Several of the swans in mist shots look like they should be illustrations for a childrens book or maybe Swan Lake - they are really beautiful and surrealistic. Kinda like a Monet.

And I really love your self portrait - made me smile!

Were you at the Packers game today - dang, it was warmer here than it was there?!!!

ann

davev

Thanks again.

No Ann, no Packers game for me.
My 2 favorite teams are the Vikings and whoever is playing the Packers.:D

Vycor

Few words come to mind... and i quote billy madison:

"Stop looking at me swan!"

Giphsub

saurora

Exquisite light in #2 and the last one!!!

Trish323

Just stunning! You have truly captured the scenes as I ran to get a sweater while viewing!clapclap

Travis

Awesome set! And now I feel like a wuss because I woke the other morning, saw that it was 20 degrees, and crawled back into bed. It looks like I'll be getting up this weekend.