Beneath - landscape photography

Under the Clark Bridge
Photograph by Tom Atwood

What I remember about taking this photograph beneath the Clark Bridge is flying carp leaping out of the Mississippi River near West Alton, Missouri. It was spooky enough without that.

Shutter: 30 seconds; Aperture: f/7.1; ISP: 400; Focal Length: 85 mm

River Sunset - landscape photography

Sunset on the Mississippi
Photograph by Tom Atwood

There is a wide blue stretch of the Mississippi River (yes, blue!) north of Alton, Illinois. Known as the Alton Pool, the river here almost looks like a lake. A lovely blue lake lined by white bluffs.

Shutter: 1/1250; Aperture: f/22; ISO: 100; Focal Length: 120 mm

Chain of Rocks Canal - landscape photography

Chain of Rocks Canal
Photograph by Tom Atwood

The Chain of Rocks Canal was built in the 1950s so traffic on the Mississippi River could bypass the dangerous "chain of rocks" north of St. Louis. It helped create a lovely, strange island near Granite City known as Choteau Island, a winter home for Bald Eagles, farms and a landfill. I think.

Shutter: 1/20; Aperture: f/22 (don't ask me why); ISO: 200; Focal Length: 18 mm

Arch, again

Arch
Photograph by Tom Atwood

I believe it is very difficult to take an original, or even interesting, photo of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Not impossible, just difficult. I have tried different angles, different locations, different times of day. This attempt came early in the morning, just after sunrise, when the Mississippi was high along the banks in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Guesswork

Blue Heron on the Mississippi
Photograph by Tom Atwood

A photograph like this involves a great deal of guesswork. And luck. The heron was flying at dusk, after the sun had gone down along the Mississippi River at Alton, Illinois. The low light meant using a slow shutter speed, and focus was at best, a guess. I took several pictures of this magnificent bird, and one of them turned out. This one.

Shutter: 1/80 sec; Aperture: f/13; Focal Length: 200 mm; ISO 400

Fly Away

Great Blue Heron
Photograph by Tom Atwood

One thing I've learned after years of photographing Great Blue Herons along the Mississippi River - they never fly toward you. 

Shutter: 1/2000; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 400; Focal Length: 200 mm