October 15 Deer at dusk

They’re bunching up.  Deer know this time of year is the time to find food and shelter because it’s going to be a while before they can live stress free.

I was at Cross Ranch State Park earlier and lost my light down in the valley. So, I headed home, and up on top of the hill, as the sun disappeared to my back, I caught this herd barely visible in a stubble field. They stood alert, watching me as I got in to position to snap a couple of images.

Though this is my beloved “golden hour” for taking photos, on a day such as this when it’s an overcast, all the colors are muted and the image turns out “blah.”  Even so, this is what North Dakota looks like in mid-October.  Not my favorite kind of image — too bland, hard to pull out details.

Do you notice how colors at the end of an overcast day seem to dissolve in to desaturated, detail-muted scenes?

August 23

 

Combine in the dust

 

The sun is about to go down, it’s just at the top of the image and in the right place to create a ghost-like effect on the working combine.  Harvest dust throws a red cast on the horizon this time of year and creates red sunsets, too.

 

The red glow of the golden hour

If you back off from the work, you’ll find a more realistic view of the working combine, but again, notice the reddish cast to the image.  It’s called “The Golden Hour” but it’s more copper than gold to me, or perhaps more “peach.”

 

Harvest provides opportunity for dramatic coloring of photos, and a level of high expectancy in town. Out in the field it also provides a meal or two for scavenging cats looking for a field mouse. Overhead, hawks circle looking for the same meal, and yet this season, I hope to photography one or two of the birds.