Harvest time at this local wind farm near Camp Grove, IL
Over the last two weeks I've visited local wind farms east of Bradford, IL and near Camp Grove, IL. I ended up with a few stellar photos to my liking. I don't know why some people are such downers on wind energy. Heck, some can't even stand to even see them in the horizon. I'm not one of those people though and enjoy photographing these wind farms whenever I have some down-time. Anyhow, since it's "harvest time" I figured it was a perfect opportunity to get into these Illinois farm fields and right up next to these wind turbines. These wind farms can be quite photogenic on a daily basis if your passionate about photography. I've posted many photos below:
One of my favorite shots!
Wind power at work along this Illinois prairie
Harvested farm field (perspective shot)
Soy beans (foreground) providing a spectacular fall landscape
On the road to renewable energy...
Farm field showing tell-tale signs of the recent change in season
Hard to believe I took this shot here in Illinois...
Here I took two photos that were just average, but look at the results you can gain by goin' black & white. I rarely do any black & white photos, but here are a couple that can also be compared to the original "color" photo.
Original photo, but while taking this photo I pondered what this would look like in black & white...
That's "old-school"!
An awesome original photograph...
Made even better!
One last portrait shot of the wind farm
That's all for my wind farm photos over the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping to post fall foliage photos again this year. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for that future post here on my blog.
Hard to believe autumn is already here folks. Where did the summer go? Talk bout livin' in fast-forward! What's crazy is I haven't updated/posted in nearly a month even though I've been meaning to do so. Bottom-line: too much work that rarely equates to any free time for myself these days. That doesn't mean however I didn't get a lil' bit of photography-work in over the last few weeks. Just not as much as I've been accustomed to in years past. Anyhow, since today officially kicked off fall with the autumnal equinox I figured why not post some photos I've taken over the last few months to remember what was the summer of 2010. Here are several photos for your viewing pleasure below:
Below are some twilight photos that I took about a week ago on a crystal clear night around the yard to brush up on some low-light photography:
Starry skies & streaking traffic...
Our above-ground pool under a beautiful night sky
Pasture beneath the starry skies...
One last shot for the night...
Below are photos that I took during the labor day weekend earlier this month of some chaotic lighting that developed in a WAA (warm-air advection) regime:
Cloud-to-cloud display as well looking out the backyard
Talk about erratic lighting...
Well that's all for this post. I'll be posting more photos though in the coming days. I ended up with a few spectacular wind farm pics over the last week or so. I'm quickly becoming fascinated with these wind farms since one of these may "pop-up" on some of our land by 2012. At least it's already in the works so to speak. I'll update and post those photos in the coming days.
Frontal passage (FROPA) providing a beautiful sunset looking west toward Kewanee, IL with my very own silhouette (foreground)
Tuesday night, provided a beautiful late-summer sunset in the western horizon. The weather has been rather tame over the last few weeks here in Kewanee, IL so I decided to pull out the Canon T1i DSLR once again the other night and do some photography-work. Here are a few photos from Tuesday night and also over the past few weeks of a couple sunsets that caught my eye in this rather quiet weather pattern below:
My favorite shot of the evening...
Gorgeous late-summer/early fall sunset...
A local farmhouse here and some alto-cumulus at sunset
Our backyard soybean field full of magnificent colors
I achieved this photo by moving my arms just a little bit here which gave this "ghostly silhouette" of myself (Heck, kind of looks spiritual don't it?)
Hometown water tower (left) as the sun dips below the horizon
Amazing post-frontal alto-cumulus cloud deck
Cirrus clouds providing a colorful sunset on August 16th...
Sun rays near sunset...(August 14th)
Well that's about all for now I may update with a future post including photos from this summer in the coming weeks. I'm planning on posting fall photos once again this year in the next couple months as pretty much the chasing season has come to an end. I'll still hold some hope for a late-fall chase and if that does not come to fruition well than it's time to get ready for the cold season. In other words, prepare for next spring and dream of monster supercells when it's -20°F outside. Got to love the good ole' Midwest!
Last evening, I was at work in Peoria, IL so I missed out on the evening squall line that progressed through west-central Illinois. With that being said however, another MCS formed in eastern Iowa during the late-evening and by midnight crossed the Mississippi River into west-central Illinois. Since I was actually up (for once) at that late hour I pulled out the DSLR camera for some lightning photography expecting some decent CG's (cloud-to-ground lighting strikes). I didn't get many of those however since the MCS lost control of its cold pool upon arrival. That was kind of a bummer, but shortly after midnight the gust front blew-in providing a beautiful shelf cloud illuminated by Kewanee, IL's light pollution (city lights). I really wasn't expecting anything remotely picturesque as this shelf cloud ended up being. For a decaying MCS, I was rather pleased! My only complaint on the night ended up being that I didn't get a chance to set-up at some locations I've came across for good (after dark) severe weather photography. Oh well, I was sure happy with the beautiful skyline Mother Nature had to offer at around midnight last night though. I've added a few photos of the midnight shelf cloud below:
Shelf cloud/gust front illuminated by intracloud lightning
Closer-view with the shelf cloud directly over Galva, IL
I would have had much better results if this shelf cloud wasn't in such a hurry...
City lights bouncing off the shelf cloud...
As you probably already know I haven't had a lot of free time to actually chase/post in the past few weeks unfortunately, but of course I've kept an eye on the weather as usual. Minnesota, has been the "surprise" this year with lots of tornadoes especially over the past few weeks. Looking back at this past spring/summer I've seen some great supercells thus far...but it has been tough to get some tornado magic for this storm chaser. It's also hard when you can't chase 24/7 as well. If only we all could right?!
Impressive shelf cloud rollin' across Illinois farm fields outside Virginia, IL
Saturday, I was working most of the day in Peoria, IL, but I was prepared for a possible chase once I got off the clock at 5:00pm. After quickly analyzing the situation I made the decision to head southwest into west-central Illinois where a MCS was starting to organize. This area was starting to destabilize after earlier convection provided several damaging wind reports in this area. Shortly after 7:00pm I finally managed to get a view of the convection heading east of Rushville, IL on U.S. 67. At first glance along the way, this convection looked very disorganized and I questioned my decision to drive this far south to chase a MCS. As I headed east however this convection started to quickly mature and get its cold pool established nearly upon my arrival. For the next hour or two I kept heading further and further east on IL-Rt. 125 stopping to take photos and even some video outside Beardstown, IL. Along the way, I was greeted with one of the most picturesque shelf clouds in this area I've seen in the last few years. This thing just had some gorgeous contrast as it rolled east across the moisture-rich Illinois farm fields. This shelf cloud became the most pronounced and photogenic over the towns of Virginia, IL and Philadelphia, IL. I continued to photograph this MCS that seemed like it was just crawling as it progressed east along IL-Rt. 125 all the way to just outside Springfield, IL as darkness approached. It was one of those chases that you don't expect much, but you end up with some gorgeous storm structure. Even some of the locals stopped to take in the beautiful, but fierce looking skyline along its path. For late-July, I was quite thrilled with this storm's structure throughout the evening. I've posted photos and a time-lapse of the monster shelf cloud below:
First view of the shelf cloud as it hugs the Illinois prairies
Chase vehicle as the shelf approaches...
The start of some impressive structure...
Here comes the outflow...it's time to head east!
Shelf cloud about to overtake this farm/residence
Looking west as the cold pool of the MCS gets more and more established
This shelf just had some beautiful contrast throughout the evening
Shelf cloud with a "lucky" daylight bolt (background)
Bout the time where I decided this was well worth driving about 2 hours to chase
Got to love what a wide-angle lens can do (Sigma 10-20mm)
What a hell of a shelf! By the way, non-severe warned!
Farther east again as the shelf approaches Virginia, IL
Local barn/farm about to get some serious cold outflow
Closer view as the whale's mouth starts to become visible
Shelf losing some of the amazing coloring it had previous as darkness begins to approach
Love these kind of shots!
Not time to head home quite yet...(looking southwest)
Panormaic shot of a moisture-rich shelf cloud moving overhead...
One last shot to end the chase as the sun begins to set
I also added this shot from Friday night illustratingconvection across northern Illinois in the distance with almost constant lightning while we enjoy some starlight I've added a YouTube time-lapse of the shelf cloud (above)
Overall, I can't be happier with how this chase ended up. You don't need to have a tornado to make you enjoy storm chasing especially if you're one who enjoys storm structure. Anyhow, the cold front swept through last night which means a much needed break from the active weather we've experienced here in the past week or so throughout most of Illinois.
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