Wasatch Lake, Part IV: Misty Mornings

Another "first" for me during my recent trip to Wasatch Lake was having my camera gear at the ready to photograph a heavy mist over the water in the predawn and sunrise hours of two mornings.

Actually, most of the mist shots were taken the first morning, Tuesday, April 17.  That's when I made the effort to get photos from several angles while zeroing in on the mist, but I couldn't stray too far from my pier or I'd miss the prime spot for the sunrise when it peeked over the trees at the east end of the lake. My best mist shots came from the south side of the lake, which gave me enough light to pick up detail and separation. It also offered me some cool highlights of the mist in its final moments after the warmth of sunrise did away with the vapors

Today's post is dedicated to the mist shots, some of which overlap with the sunrise shots several days ago. One of my favorites is the one above, leading off the post. It integrates the clear tall grass of the foreground with the mostly clear pier and solitary chair just beyond shore with the mist that muddles mostly everything else beyond the pier, including -- if you look closely enough -- resident swan Sonny. If you have trouble spotting him, click on the picture and look at the larger photo; he's pretty much smack dab in the middle, just above the center point of the rope along the pier.

To see a gallery of my full shoot of Wasatch Lake from 2012, visit my site at SmugMug.com.

Above: Shoreline along the south rim of the lake, looking toward Cabin 8, one of two cabins on the far east end.

Above: Furniture on the expansive pier in front of the lakehouse, which is used only by the property owner and special guests. My cabin was just east of this; you can see its pier in the background.

 

Above and below: The two geese seen in the lead-off photo Wednesday in pictures taken only moments apart. Above, both are clearly separated from the mist; below, just a few seconds later, the lead goose is obscured by the mist.

 Above: The north shoreline, as seen from the opposite side.

Above: A view of the lakehouse pier, as seen from the pier at my cabin.

Above: A shot that includes an array of color and components in the minute or two before the sun peeked over the trees.

Above: The sun begins to show. 

 

 Above: Another shoreline shot just as the sun emerged.

Above: the single-chair pier in a post-sunrise shot, with Sonny and a couple of geese in the lake water.

Above: The sunrise splashing some highlighting along the shoreline.

Above, a long-range view of my cabin and pier, looking northwest from the south shoreline; below, the same angle, only a tighter shot of just the pier. 

Above and next three below: The sunrise and its highlight and coloring as depicted in pictures taken only 3 minutes apart from roughly the same point -- in front of my cabin -- but looking in different directions. Above, the sunrise at 7:33 a.m. looking straight out from just behind my pier. 

Above: At 7:35 a.m., standing on the steps in front of my cabin door and looking north and west of the photo above.

Above: Still on the steps, looking back straight out over the pier at 7:36 a.m. and seeing the last of the mist before it would evaporate soon after.

Return to Wasatch Lake, Part III

The swans Sonny and Cher (see yesterday's post) aren't the only wildlife attraction at Wasatch Lake. There are geese, ducks, a bevy of bird varieties (the proprietors are even kind enough to provide each guest a list of the various varieties of birds seen on the grounds to assist any bird-watchers). Eldie and Marsha Miller, caretakers of the grounds for the past 15 years, also have a couple dogs and pot-bellied pigs -- though they are very domesticated.

During my first visit in October 2010, the swans were inseparable, and the geese and ducks were plentiful but skittish. As noted in yesterday's post, Sonny and Cher were in nesting mode during this visit. The geese were a lot more skittish and unsociable, and on several occasions when I dared to get close to take pictures, they demonstrated where the expression "honked off" might have come from. I'm sure the honking was a rallying cry to get everyone together and in flight to move to another area of the lake, because that's pretty much what happened each time I came near. I succeeded in getting a few "in flight" photos, but not nearly as many or as high-quality as I had hoped. The lead-off photo above features a pair of geese cruising the mist-covered lake moments before sunrise on my first morning there, April 17. One of them is in typical honk mode (as always, click on the picture to see a larger version).

I saw very few ducks, but three in particular stuck together like glue (the word inseparable comes to mind again) and were extraordinarily docile. The trio approached me countless times, which tells me that in the time since I was there last -- when I never saw these ducks -- many guests must have been feeding them. The three ducks -- I called them the Three Ducksateers -- hovered and quacked both times I grilled my meal outdoors, and on the occasion or two when I left the main cabin door open (but screen door closed) while tending to the grill, one or more of the ducks would do a serious sniff around the bottom of the screen door frame, knowing there was something of interest inside ... if they could just figure out a way to either get in or get me to deliver it.

I didn't set aside any time to do strictly air surveillance for birds in flight shots; the flight pictures I did manage I got on spur of the moment. The one series of bird photographs I liked was shot in a backlight situation, using the rented Sigma 50-500mm "Bigma" lens and delivering me several interesting silhouettes.

To see all my images from my three-day visit to Wasatch Lake, see my Wasatch Lake Spring 2012 gallery.

Above and below: A goose in a more relaxed mode on an isthmus along the lakeshore.

 

Above: I managed to get four geese in the same frame; things were already stirring in the "human nearby" alert mode.

 

Above: I like that I got each of these geese facing different directions, even though one of them was giving me the "you're not welcome here" business.

Above and below: Not long after the two shots above were taken, the geese were in flight, headed toward the opposite end of the lake. These first four shots were taken April 16, the first afternoon I was there. 

Above: These geese were heading east at dawn on Tuesday, April 17. Because I panned to take these pictures, the mist covering the lake appears very creamy.

Above: My last stab at getting geese shots, on Wednesday afternoon, April 18, quickly evolved into another "human nearby" alert, and the honker above appears to be screaming right into the other one's face almost. These geese were in the beaver pond, which is on the east end of the lake and also east of the pedestrian bridge separating the lake from the pond.

Above and below: Not long after the honk alert in the previous image, the geese were in flight, westbound toward the opposite end of the lake. In the image above, they were almost directly above me; I was standing on the pedestrian bridge separating the lake from the beaver pond.

Above and next two below: The inseparable Three Ducksateers ... along the lakeshore (above) ... 

... approaching me outside my cabin ... 

... and taking over control of the door to my cabin. One of the ducks is already doing door snif surveillance.

Above and below: Another of the Ducksateers doing snif surveillance ... then pausing for a profile shot.

Above and below: This duck had just returned to land after a swim (above) before ... 

... shaking off the excess water ... or doing the twist. I wasn't sure which, but since there wasn't any music playing ... 

Above: Two of the Ducksateers kicking into either yoga or Pilates mode ... or simply trying to out-primp Sonny from the previous post's photo shoot.

Above: Not sure what breed of duck this is, but it spent a lot of alone time in the water and was not nearly as docile as the Ducksateers.

Above and below: My one good bird shot using the rented Sigma 50-500mm telephoto lens at its maximum focal length. A monochrome conversion above, a color version of the bird's wings in motion below (shutter was at 1/250 @ f/16).

Above: A simple birdwalk composition, which happened to take places just as Sonny the swan did a splash in the lake water just out of the picture.

Above: A bluegill I saw near my pier on my first night. I couldn't tell if it was trolling (its movement wasn't being affected by the waves) or had gone belly up.