Sanderson Photo Art

SandersonPhotoArt now selling images on Etsy!

I have opened a shop on Etsy selling my images initially as note cards but will also be offering full size prints. Etsy is a global online marketplace, where people come together to make, sell, buy, and collect unique items. Etsy also views itself as a community pushing for positive change for small businesses, people, and the planet.

The current offerings are sets of 5 note cards of a similar theme. They are printed using the same archival materials and care as my full sized prints and can be framed as fine art to be enjoyed for years to come. Additional note card sets, Christmas cards and full size prints will be added from time to time. Please use the following link to access my Etsy site.

https://sandersonphotoart.etsy.com

Painting the Sky

Ever stopped to wonder why the sky seems to be painted in streaks of color at sunrise and sunset? One day, while driving in the Buena Vista Grasslands along Taft Avenue (just south of Plover Wisconsin) I found the answer; farmers paint the sky in the early evening using pivot irrigation. The paint then gently settles from the sky at night ripening and coloring various crops. During the day, these same systems are used to irrigate crops.

Winter’s Way

Serving as a water highway for native Americans in years gone by, it’s frozen waters continue to provide passage way for a variety of animals as evidenced by a single track on foot prints just off the left bank.

Belt of Venus

If the sky is clear just after sunset or just before sunrise, look at the horizon opposite the sun. You may well see the Belt of Venus.

Sunrise on the Mead

The lowlands of the Mead Wildlife Refuge are often shrouded in an early morning ground fog such as in today’s image. The fog was not thick enough to obscure close at hand landscape features but was just enough to scatter the early morning light into a beautiful reddish glow. I could include the rising sun in the image as it’s intensity was reduced by both the fog and distant tree branches. The conditions allowing this image do not often happen and do not last but a few moments.

Fall’s First Breath

Ever notice how a cold morning in the fall seems so much colder than the same temperature during the spring? Part of the reason is that there is much more moisture in the air during early fall. If you are lucky enough to be outside during the beginning of a new fall day when the temperature has dropped below freezing for the first time during the season, you will notice frost covering the landscape. The first breaths of the morning seems to coat everything in front of you.

Crepuscular Rays Over Wisconsin

Crepuscular Rays Over the Wisconsin River at West River Drive, Stevens Point

The above image shows a good example of crepuscular rays. The name comes from their typical appearance during crepuscular hours (those around dawn and dusk), when the contrasts between light and dark are the most obvious. Crepuscular comes from the Latin word “crepuscular” meaning twilight.

Fire and Ice

Early in the winter after ice has formed but before snow accumulates is the time to capture a reflection of the early morning sun on our frozen lakes and streams. “Fire and Ice” was captured on the Wisconsin River just downwind of a paper mill emitting water vapor. When the air is still and there is a bit of temperature inversion, the water vapor clings close to the ground providing water droplets that can refract the early morning light into an amazing and changing array of colors.

As a photographer, be on the lookout for locations that consistently produce water vapor, mist, steam or ground fog. These become your “money locations” as they are likely to produce wonderful morning color with the rising sun. Wisconsin River Hoar Frost is another image captured in this general location showing beautiful early morning color.

Wisconsin River Hoar Frost

Steam from a nearby paper mill in Whiting, Wisconsin coated the surrounding trees with delicate hoar frost while filling the atmosphere with ice crystal that transformed the early morning light into a wonderful array of colors.

Mill Creek

First snows of winter are often wet clinging to the countryside at least for a short time. Smaller shrubs, with a heavy burden of fallen snow, bow down under the weight of the winter season now upon them. Trees show evidence of the previous storm’s direction. While moss may grow heaviest on the North side of trees, snow cakes the West side of these trees. Trees of by gone days lay in the creek, reminiscent of river log runs that were the back bone of Wisconsin’s economy so many years back.