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Hunting and Fishing - The Field Sports

June 26th, 2023

Hunting and Fishing - The Field Sports

Another image (A Golden Sunrise Duck Hunt) from my Hunting and Fishing - The Field Sports Collection has sold. Images from this collection are very popular and being collected around the country. These images are from actual fishing or hunting trips. See for yourself, the beauty of being on the lake, in the marsh or in the woods. These images make beautiful additions to your home or office. Click below to be taken to this collection..

Vintage Railroads, Trains and Train Stations

February 16th, 2023

Vintage Railroads, Trains and Train Stations

I have added over a dozen new images to my Railroads, Trains and Train Stations Collection. This collection includes various images of antique railroads, trains and train stations shown in color, sepia and black and white. If you like old tyme trains as much as I do, this is the collection for you.

You can visit my Railroads Trains and Train Stations collection for these vintage images without stepping foot out of your house! My images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: https://dalekphotography.com/.

Wisconsin's Winter Wonderland

January 22nd, 2023

Wisconsin

We are in the heart of one of my favorite seasons, winter. Although, a lot of photographers do not like to shoot in winter, I love these conditions. We recently had hours of rain and it changed over to snow, changing the landscape from brown to white. The snow stuck to everything. I went for walks capturing Wisconsin's winter wonderland. I have uploaded the best of these images in my winter collection.

You can visit my Winter Snow Ice collection for the images of our Wisconsin winter and not even feel the cold! My images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: https://dalekphotography.com/.

What The Heck Is Rime Ice?

January 15th, 2021

What The Heck Is Rime Ice?

Here in Wisconsin, we have had freezing fog and the conditions have been just right, where it has lasted on the trees for over a week. The temperatures have not been above freezing (32 degrees). Usually we will have frosted trees a few times a winter and that is often caused by hoar frost. It is similar to dew and happens on cold and clear nights. But I learned something new this winter. The conditions were just right this winter for rime ice to form. It is when supercooled water drops (in liquid form) in the air come in contact with a surface below freezing. Those liquid water droplets then freeze on contact. The crystals can be quite long and look like shards of glass up close. The sun had not been out much. However, it did finally come out and conditions were unbelievable for a photographer. I went out several days and shot hundreds of photos. I have uploaded the best in my winter collection.

You can visit my Winter Snow Ice collection for the images of rime ice and not get cold! My images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: https://dalekphotography.com/.

Images Of A Wisconsin Autumn

October 3rd, 2020

Images Of A Wisconsin Autumn

Wisconsin may not be known nationally for its fall colors, but it sure is regionally. Wisconsin has thousands of square miles of forests and woods. These forests are made up of deciduous and evergreen trees. Tourists throughout the region flock here for the fall colors.

This fall, the colors are extraordinary with fiery reds, brilliant oranges and yellows. The road trips have been very scenic.

Visit my Fall/Autumn collection for the images of autumn and enjoy! My images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: https://dalekphotography.com/.

Upper Michigan's Bond Falls

August 5th, 2020

Upper Michigan

Recently I made a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to photograph at Bond Falls Park. The Upper Peninsula or UP is known for its quality and quantity of waterfalls. Bond Falls is a 50 foot waterfall from the outflow of Bond Falls Flowage located a few miles east of Paulding in Ontonagon County, Michigan. The falls is part of the middle branch of the Ontonagon River in this western portion of the UP of Michigan. The river above the falls is beautiful with its many cascades and rapids. Bond Falls is named for Oliver S. Bond, who once owned the property. Bond Falls Flowage was created in 1940, when a dam was built on the river. A small sawmill town named Calderwood was flooded in the formation of the flowage. Bond Falls Park is a very popular tourist landmark. Bond Falls Park is a Michigan State Scenic Site. This is the best single waterfall in the western UP and the second best waterfall in Michigan. The park has a boardwalk surrounding the lower falls making this area very accessible. The river above the lower falls is accessible on both sides for those who like to climb the trails.

Looking at my images, you might notice something different from the typical pictures you see. It is the details shown. Fast moving water or waterfalls are not shown blown out white and a blur, but have details. When I go to photograph a waterfall, I take several exposures of each of my compositions, not just one and call it good. I process these exposures to find the one that best suites that composition. Take a look and see that difference.

Images of this great park are available in my waterfall collection at: https://dalekphotography.com/collections/waterfalls, enjoy! My waterfall images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: https://dalekphotography.com/.

Wisconsin Waterfowl - 2020

June 22nd, 2020

Well, it's that time of year, we are climbing out of winter and fighting for spring. With spring comes the return of waterfowl to the northwoods of Wisconsin, in their breeding plumage. This year I have found a couple of new ponds and have seen a greater variety of waterfowl. I have seen mallards, wood ducks, mergansers, green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, gadwalls, ring-necked ducks, northern shovelers, Canada geese, trumpeter swans and more! At these new ponds, I have been able to get as close as 15 yards from them for great closeups.

Check out these new images, as well as others from throughout the years in my waterfowl collection at the include link below, enjoy! Most waterfowl images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: https://dalekphotography.com/.

Wisconsin Wild Turkeys - 2019

June 1st, 2020

Wisconsin Wild Turkeys - 2019

For the last few years, we have had turkeys wintering in the area where we live. Actually last summer there was a flock of 7 toms or adult males around. However, they did not come around by me and I only saw them driving around, but I knew they were here. We only had one hen with 9 poults last summer. She had another hen with her after a while. Only 5 poults survived the summer. Then late fall more turkeys showed up. It was a mixed flock of hens, jakes (juvenile males) and adult males. They are not around every day, so when you see them, it can make your day. One day in January they came through and I counted 41 birds. In February of this year, we received over 34 inches of snow in 8 days. The turkeys moved out to parts unknown, except for about a half dozen. A couple of weeks later, I saw about 15 with 2 toms. Gradually the numbers have increased to about 30 birds I would guess. We are back to 7 toms that hang together. Last week the toms started to gobble and strut, I guess spring is here.

I have been fortunate to be able to get some great images of these turkeys. Check out my wildlife collection http://dalekphotography.com/collections/wildlife for these up close images of these wild turkeys, enjoy! My wildlife images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: http://dalekphotography.com/.

Iconic Holy Hill of Wisconsin

October 29th, 2018

Iconic Holy Hill of Wisconsin

I had an opportunity to go to the Holy Hill Basilica this fall with the changing leaves, which has been on my list of places to photograph. It is one of southeast Wisconsin’s iconic landmarks. The basilica is northwest of the City of Milwaukee. It is located in the Town of Erin, near Hubertus, among the farm fields and woods. It resides at the highest point in this area of Wisconsin. The Holy Hill Basilica is a landmark situated on 435 acres of rural countryside and can be seen for miles. Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians is a Roman Catholic shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was declared a shrine as early as 1903 and was raised to the status of a minor basilica in 2006. But as far back as the 1700's or earlier, Native Americans thought of it as a holy place. Built in 1926, this church has over 500,000 visitors from all over the world every year.

I had done some research beforehand, for its location and the roads surrounding it. As I headed out on this morning, there were clear skies. I had hoped for some clouds. As I arrived here, the clouds had slowly started to move in, perfect! As the morning went on, the sky became overcast. With the church located high on a hill, the morning light is the perfect time to photograph it. On this morning, the rising sun’s reddish light enhanced the brick walls.

Check out my Fall/Autumn collection http://dalekphotography.com/collections/fall+autumn for the images of Holy Hill, enjoy! My images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: http://dalekphotography.com/.

Wild Turkeys Wisconsin Style

April 30th, 2018

Wild Turkeys Wisconsin Style

Currently, wild turkeys are found in all 72 Wisconsin counties. But it hasn’t always been that way. The restoration of wild turkeys stands as one of the greatest conservation success stories in the history of wildlife management in Wisconsin. The turkey population went from complete absence to a healthy statewide population in 30 years. This successful restoration of wild turkeys to Wisconsin happened when the Wisconsin DNR and the Missouri Department of Conservation worked out an agreement. Missouri, with a healthy population of wild eastern turkeys, basically exchanged turkeys for Wisconsin’s ruffed grouse. It all started in 1976, when 29 turkeys were released in Vernon County, located in southwestern Wisconsin. To help expand the population, within a few years, the WDNR began moving birds from established populations in southwestern Wisconsin and releasing them at suitable sites throughout the southern two-thirds of the state.

For the last five years or so, we have had turkeys wintering in the area where we live. They tend to show up in midwinter and stay around to spring snow melt. This winter there have been about 50 turkeys in the area. It is a mixed flock of hens, jakes (juvenile males) and adult males. They are not around every day, so when you see them, it can make your day. Turkeys will basically eat almost anything, be it seeds, bugs, grubs or plants. That is how they make a living. They eat to stay alive and are extremely wary to not get eaten. In the spring, it is all about scratching out enough to eat and to breed. The entire flock has a pecking order. That order is established almost daily or hourly between hens, jakes and toms. As it gets later in the spring, it gets more rigorous. About 3 weeks ago, two hens fought about 10 feet away from me. They beat each other with their wings, scratch each other with their legs and wrestle with their heads and necks. Unfortunately, I could not get any photos of this fight, as I could not move with a dozen other birds looking on. Bigger jakes will pick on smaller jakes, you feel bad for those smaller birds. This flock has seven adult toms or males. The two top toms do all the strutting and make sure the lesser toms or jakes do not. They will put the run on them to stop it. Last fall, I was able to witness two toms fighting. They would clamp down on each other’s head and wrestle or peck each other in the head. It was a real test of endurance and strength. That fight last 28 minutes. The slightly bigger bird won, but each bird was worn out. It makes for some interesting observations.

They have keen eyesight and their hearing is unbelievable. To get them close, you must be still or move very slowly to not get noticed. You have to use that to your advantage, to get the close photos. It also helps to wear camouflage clothing to blend in. With my situation, I am lucky that I can be patient and get up close photos others cannot. Often these turkeys are within 3 to 4 feet and are unaware of my presence. It is fun just to observe their behavior.

I have been fortunate to be able to get some ridiculously close images of these turkeys. Click below for more information to check out my wildlife collection for these up close images of these wild turkeys, enjoy! My wildlife images are available as prints (framed, canvas, acrylic, metal, wood or posters), greeting cards, throw pillows, tote bags, phone cases, duvet covers, shower curtains, fleece blankets, towels, spiral notebooks and coffee mugs. These products are available at: http://dalekphotography.com/.