Day Nine

Watching the river flow.

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Day Eight

The rapids upstream from the bridge.

Day Two

Day Two: The river, looking left, as seen from the swinging bridge.

A Journey in Fourteen Parts

On Halloween, rather than stand by my front door and hand out candy, I took another trip to Jay Cooke State Park.  My intention was to once again get the shot I’ve been imagining for some time, and to also explore the post color woods of autumn.

This, and the next thirteen posts, will be a chronicle of what I captured in the park.

Day One: The river as seen from the swinging bridge.

Water in Motion

I love photographing water in motion along with the sound of the water as it flows by.  The St. Louis River is flowing unusually strong for this time of year due to heavy rain in northern Minnesota.  This is providing a wonderful spectacle in Jay Cooke State Park where it flows over an incredible array of rock ledges and falls on it’s way to Lake Superior.

Lack of Preparation

In my last post I spoke of being prepared and using technology to achieve a goal.  Well, if you use your tech correctly, you probably have a better chance of succeeding.  I made the mistake of not taking in to account the height of the trees up river from where I was shooting from.  That meant I needed to be on site at least thirty or forty minutes earlier than I actually arrived.  Therefore, I did not get the shot I had planned for, but the evening was not a total loss, I did happen to be there to see the full moon rising over the river.  Sadly, I was not properly prepared for that shot, I did not have my tripod with me, I had left it in the car.  I did have my monopod though and did the best I could by bracing it against whatever I was near.  I will try again if weather permits, but at this time our forecast does not look favorable until early next week.

Preparation

I’ve had in mind a sunset shot looking up river from the swinging bridge at Jay Cooke State Park, however you have to wait until the right time of year to get the right alignment.  Thanks to the PhotoPills app, I was able to travel forward in time to find out exactly when I should be in the park to get the shot.  Using the augmented reality feature, I could see just where the sun will be based on where I stand on the bridge.  Technology is a wonderful thing…when it works!  I will be visiting the park later today to give it a shot, but feel safe knowing that I have a window of several days to get the image I am hoping for.  In the meantime, here is a teaser of the view I will be working with.