I was up with the baby at 5am…As I was rocking him back to sleep, I saw the temperature was hovering around freezing and the sky was clear. I knew the temp would fall a couple more degrees at or near sunrise, often the coldest time of day. Frost forms when the air temp around the leaf is below the dew point; moisture condenses out of the air onto the leaf and then crystallizes into ice. Conditions in early autumn are often ideal for frost formation; Cold, calm, clear nights in an atmosphere loaded with moisture. Winter is often too dry.

I headed over to the Wrenshall WMA where I knew a field of goldenrods and dogwoods would be a good place to find frosty subjects. A red dogwood leaf rimmed in frost first caught my eye. I intentionally chose a shaded background to contrast with the white fringe of ice.

My real goal, though, was to find an orbweaver spider web that had frosted over. I have a running “battle” with my friend and fellow author Larry Weber about finding and photograph a frosted orbweaver web. He technically won last year when he found an old tattered web that had frosted. But the one I found today was 80% perfect. Larry is in the Adirondacks so I’ll have to rub it in when he gets back!

Yes, mine is on a barbed wire fence but I kind of like the juxtaposition of permanent hard and cold metal with the impermanent delicate fragility of a spider web. Ironically, both are meant to capture and contain…One insect prey and the other cows!

Dogwood Leaf: Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens with Canon 500D close-up lens, f13 at 1/125, ISO 400, tripod

Orbweaver web & barbed wire: Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens with Canon 500D close-up lens, f6.7 at 1/1500, ISO 200, tripod

Shaded goldenrod: Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, f5.6 at 1/180, ISO 200, tripod

Orbweaver web close-up: Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens with Canon 500D close-up lens, f16 at 1/125, ISO 200, tripod

It takes me a while to embrace each new season. I tend to cling to the waning season, holding on to the past, wishing for more. Like now, I am just starting to get excited about autumn. The realization that summer is gone is just now hitting me. Yes, Brown-eyed Susans, some goldenrods and asters are still blooming. Yes, a few butterflies are still out on the warmer days, but I do understand that the flowers will be done soon and the butterfly I saw today—a Red Admiral—is just looking for a sheltered place to hibernate…Even the insects have resigned themselves to the reality of fall.

So now, on this first day of fall, I finally have become excited about the prospects of autumn. And I’ve made a photographic wish list of images I hope to take before winter sets in. I hope to call in a few Moose, preferably bulls with big antlers. The next full moon is in late October and I have an image in mind involving Sandhill Cranes at Crex Meadows. A few fungi have eluded me thus far and I hope to catch up with some in the next couple weeks.

But the kaleidoscope of leaf colors call to me as I drive home each evening. But how can I put a fresh spin on such a commonly photographed subject? That will be my challenge this fall. Stay tuned! The images here were taken last October. The dew is real but I did set the yellow Quaking Aspen leaf on top of the nearby Red Maple leaves, whose undersides really are that purple!

Top Image: Canon 7D, 70-200mm f4 lens (at 78mm) with Canon 500D close-up attachment, f19 at 1/30 second, ISO 400, tripod

Bottom Image: Canon 7D, 70-200mm f4 lens (at 200mm) with Canon 500D close-up attachment, f19 at 1/90 second, ISO 400, tripod

It’s rare to have a vantage point where one can shoot down at a flying bird. The typical hawk-in-flight shot is a belly-view shot of a bird passing overhead. But when strong west or northwest winds pummel the ridges above Lake Superior’s North Shore, many hawks fly low and fast. This was one of those days.

Hawk Ridge averages 94,000-plus hawks, falcons, eagles, kites, harriers and vultures tallied each autumn. But many pass high overhead. The biggest flight days are in mid-September when Broadwings pass over in huge kettles—soaring swarms spiraling on invisible thermals, pepper specks in the sky. But today was different, and I knew I had to get to Summit Ledges to enjoy the show. Cresting the ridge I spotted several low Sharpies hunting songbirds in the woods (Sharp-shinned Hawks…Another silly name bestowed upon a very cool bird by early ornithologists…And no, you can’t see their shins in flight!) and just as I reached “the Ledge,” a Sharpy careened by at eye level. For a while it was like a shooting range, Sharpies coming in low and hard, zipping by with wind-aided speed. One came right for my head and I actually had to duck! This is the first time that has happened to me in 30 years of hawk watching.

But autofocus was useless. Neither single-point autofocus nor zoned autofocus could latch on to the tiny targets. A newer lens may have been up to the task, but the old 400 f5.6 is tired. So I had to try to manually focus. In all, I shot over 300 images, of which maybe 30 percent were acceptably sharp. Of this batch, I maybe kept 30. All were shot on Manual at f8 1/1500 (to freeze motion) and ISO 400.

My two favorites are the Broad-winged Hawk above (3-foot wingspan) and the Sharp-shinned Hawk below (2-foot wingspan).

Canon 7D, Canon 400mm f5.6, f8 at 1/1500, ISO 400, handheld and manually focused

It was our first chance to get up the North Shore together in a long time. My folks cheerfully volunteered to drive up and watch the kids for the day. Bridget and I left Skogstjarna about 7am and headed towards Grand Marais and the Gunflint Trail, driving through some rain, some fog, some drizzle on the way. Just south of the Caribou River I passed a truck who was driving quite slowly, brake lights on…As we passed him, I saw the Timber Wolf loping down the ditch parallel to Highway 61. I yelled out, “It’s a wolf!”…the only appropriate response to such a sighting. Bridget hadn’t seen it so we swung around to try and relocate him/her. I had forgotten the lesson every wildlife photographer visiting Yellowstone knows…You always slow down when you see brake lights…Someone has probably spotted something “good.”

We had barely pulled off the road when we spotted the wolf coming right towards us. He dropped down into a puddle not 40 feet from us and started lapping up the water. I had my camera with telephoto lens prepared and laying on the back seat. Bridget rolled down her window and I started shooting. I got off three shots before the wolf got up and trotted down the ditch behind us, in the process coming within 20 feet of Bridget. He paid us no attention. Hmmm, a thirsty wolf who is preoccupied…He must be hunting! Sure enough as we again turned the car around we found him weaving in and out of the woods at a determined pace. Prey was within striking distance but his nose couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Just then a small deer popped out of the forest and crossed the road. Twenty seconds later the wolf crossed the road, completely ignoring an oncoming car (see photo above). We sat patiently for another few minutes hoping to see this drama unfold, but we witnessed nothing but fog and silence.

Finally with time to “chimp,” I looked at my first three photos…All were soft, not sharp…I checked my camera settings. The camera had somehow been turned to Program mode which “decided” 1/125 of  a second was fast enough. Not even close! (photo immediately below) Oh well, the wolf was so close that I couldn’t even get his entire head in the frame with the 400mm.

It reminded me of a time during the “film days” when I happened upon a Timber Wolf loping along the same road but during peak fall colors. I had my camera ready, I rolled down the window (a crank window) and shot one “insurance shot.” The wolf had paused and was looking at me, framed by fall colors. I pressed the shutter…Nothing! I was out of film! You can see the result in the bottom image. A “memory shot” that was supposed to remind me always to have the camera handy and set to the proper settings for the unexpected that all wildlife photographers expect. I almost redeemed myself today.