Thursday, February 16, 2012

02/08/12 A Winter Sunset & the Moon

A colorful sunset on the evening of
February 8th outside Kewanee, IL

On the evening of February 8th, I ventured to Kewanee, IL for a quick visit as it had been awhile since I traveled back to my hometown. I shot some photos as the sun began to set on this evening hoping I'd get some nice colors in the deep blue sky. It has been a tough winter for photography around these parts mostly due to the lack of any major winter storms and/or ice storms. Truthfully, I'm not sure you could even call this season "winter" over the last couple of months. Quite a change from last year in the Midwest and especially across central Illinois. For more info check this out from ILX here. Anyhow, I did manage to take a few photos to make this particular evening pass by and I snapped a few shots of the moon over the past week as well. I've posted some of the photos I took below:

Sun beginning to set along the western horizon!
Closer-view...
(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)
You may have seen this shot before late
last year under starry skies instead here...
A full moon a few days ago...
This photo looks more fall-like instead of winter
thanks to the bare-ground...
What a crazy winter this year!

Our windsock illustrating the winds of change...
Our evergreen trees at sunset as these clouds
"hover" overhead!
The moon a couple nights ago in the
eastern horizon!
(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)
Wide-angle shot of the evergreen trees at sunset...
Our "observatory" as the sun (left) sets...

Hopefully, we are entering a more active pattern that will create some interesting weather here in the Midwest. It has been quite a boring winter around these parts and that is putting it mildly. I'm ready for a big storm already...