A couple weeks back Jen invited me to come out and do some drone photography on the last day of harvest on the Ensley farm. It was a very windy and blustery day, but I still managed to get the image I ultimately wanted and several others to boot.
Next year I want to get out there more than once and longer. Might be a calendar image in this collection. Maybe. We’ll have to see.
A couple weeks ago I followed the trail from the Kate Shelley Railroad Museum to the remains of the bridge that she crossed to save all those lives all those years ago.
If you don’t know the story of Kate Shelley, it goes something like this from the Wikipedia page:
On the afternoon of July 6, 1881, heavy thunderstorms caused a flash flood of Honey Creek, washing out timbers that supported the railroad trestle. A pusher locomotive sent from Moingona to check track conditions crossed the Des Moines River bridge, but plunged into Honey Creek when the bridge fell away at about 11pm, with a crew of four — Edgar Wood, A. P. Olmstead, Adam Agar, and Patrick Donahue.
Kate heard the crash, and knew that an eastbound express passenger train was due in Moingona about midnight, stopping shortly before heading east over the Des Moines River and then Honey Creek. She found two surviving crew members, Edgar Wood and Adam Agar, and shouted that she would get help, having to cross the Des Moines River bridge along the way. Although she started with a lantern, it went out, and she crawled the span on her hands and knees with only lightning for illumination. Once across, she had to cover about two miles on ground to the Moingona depot to sound the alarm. She then led a party back to rescue Edgar and Adam. Edgar, perched in a tree, grasped a rope thrown to him, and came ashore hand-over-hand. Adam couldn’t be reached until the floodwaters began to recede.[6] Pat Donahue’s body was eventually found in a cornfield a quarter mile downstream from the bridge, but A .P. Olmsted was never found. The passenger train was stopped at Scranton, with about 200 aboard.
Only the remains of the bridge are left as this set of railroad tracks was abandoned a long time ago. A lot of people think the bridge that she crossed is the Kate Shelley Memorial High Bridge, but that bridge was actually built decades later. The construction of that bridge ultimately doomed the railroad line that went through Moingona.
This map of the railroads from 1908 shows where these tracks went from leaving Boone to entering Ogden.
As near as I can tell, there is only one picture of the bridge that Kate Shelley did cross out there. It is very small:
From what I can tell, the bridge she crossed was replaced in 1894. If you go out to the remains now, there are a couple of the stone supports left, but the structures that held up the middle of the bridge had been replaced with concrete supports. Now I’m not an archaeologist, but I believe that the piles of stone that are found near the base of the concrete supports are what remains of the stone supports that they replaced. I also believe that the remains of the wood box that would’ve been built to hold the river back while they built the concrete support can also be found near the center concrete support.
All of that is 100% conjecture on my part, but I think it makes sense. You can only see these things when the river is crazy low. It was crazy low when I went out there a couple weeks ago.
If you want to get the remains of the bridge, you go to the Kate Shelley Railroad Museum and then walk the trail that goes along where the old railroad tracks were until you get to the Des Moines River. With apologies to Wikipedia, I’d guess it is closer to a mile rather than 2 miles. See map:
Any way, here are some pictures I took out there with Rodan139:
I will be going out there again in the near future for part of THE POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT in the near future. Let me know if anybody is up for a short hike.
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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is FRAMED:
A FRAMED image is an image where the subject of your picture is framed by objects that create negative space around it.
Happy photo harvesting!
Boone County has a handful of country churches. But the one that is my far the most beautiful, photogenic, and set in the best location is Saint Paul Lutheran Church that is north and east of Boone. I plan on taking the drone to all of Boone County’s country churches, but I figured I’d start with one that definitely doesn’t have an ugly electric cable running across the front of the church.
I’m trying to take the drone out every weekend, weather permitting, but weather probably won’t be all that permitting much longer.
A couple Saturdays ago I had a couple of less successful drone flights with Rodan139 than I was hoping for. One was my messup with a battery charging situation that I mismanaged. The other one I cut short because of tourists. Ugh! Tourists!
Have a look at what I did get:
I’m trying to make a concerted effort to take the drone out once a week, before the weather makes it impossible to take it out. For example, this week was extremely windy, but I was able to take it on a brief flight on Saturday down by the Des Moines River. I have a couple targets I want to get before the weather gets nasty. But one is really hard to get to, but I have a plan. We’ll see how it works out.
One of my goals when I was on vacation was to hit 5 State Parks that I’ve never been to before. I made this goal, but not quite like I anticipated. The two parks I definitely wanted to hit were Mines of Spain and Preparation Canyon. The other 3 were to be somewhat negotiable. In the end, I hit 3 State Parks I’ve never been to and 2 State Forests I haven’t been to.
1. Mines of Spain
2. Walnut Woods
3. Preparation Canyon
4. Loess Hills State Forest
5. Pilot Mound State Forest
In retrospect, it is kind of shocking that I’ve never been to Pilot Mound State Forest, considering it is in Boone County, but it is also exciting to think that there are places in my own backyard that I still haven’t really explored.
The drive to Preparation Canyon was very rainy, but not very long. I consider the three most beautiful parts of Iowa to be northeast Iowa, the Loess Hills and the Des Moines River Valley. The Loess Hills area did not disappoint, even if the part of Preparation Canyon I saw wasn’t overly impressive. However, I have no doubt that I’ll revisit this area again in the future and see Preparation Canyon from a different perspective.
However, the Loess Hills State Forest did not disappoint. In fact, it might have been even more beautiful than I expected. Here are some pictures from the area taken from Rodan139:
The last few images is of one of the infamous unmaintained roads of Monona County. I badly wanted to go on it, but it had been raining all day and that road was all mud. You couldn’t even walk on it. The other problem is that I drive a Camry. Not exactly built for what basically amounts to an off-road adventure.
This concludes the drone pictures from my vacation, but there are still plenty of vacation pictures to come.
I need to start today off by wishing my Mom a happy birthday. Without here, none of this would be possible. Not only would I never exist, she also bought me my first camera. A Minolta Maxxum 450si.
Happy birthday Mom!
It hope is as amazing a birthday as you want it to be!
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I went to Ledges on Sunday morning to take my WATER picture for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I took several pictures. Here are some of the others I took that weren’t ready for the world on Monday.
I hope to take Rodan139 out again this weekend. On Tuesday I came off a self-quarantine from a potential exposure from a previous Sunday. As it turns out, I wasn’t exposed, so good news for the friendly skies!
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This is your reminder that STILL LIFE is this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:
A STILL LIFE image is a picture of an inanimate object. Usually posed.
Happy photo harvesting!
Last Friday Andy wanted me to come to the Boone High football game and take a few photos. I wasn’t really ready to be in a crowd that large yet. Then, he suggested I bring the drone out and take a couple of photos. Now strictly speaking, that isn’t 100% legal for a couple of reasons. However, I considered doing that because drone laws make very little sense and I’ve already taken quite a few “illegal” flights.
However, it rained pretty much all day Friday and then poured Friday night. The drone is many things, but waterproof definitely isn’t on the list. In fact, you aren’t really supposed to fly it where it can get wet at all.
I spent Friday glued to my couch watching COBRA KAI. It was the wise decision at the time.
I intended to get up early Saturday morning and go out to the High Trestle Trail Bridge to take a flight, but that never really happened. However, I did take a quick flight over Goeppinger Field to take some photos. Nobody is playing obviously, but it was a good scout flight.
If you look closely at the panoramas, you can see Jesse’s garage and Scottie D.’s house. Other stuff too.
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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is WATER:
A reminder that a WATER photo is any photo where WATER is a major element of the composition.
Happy photo harvesting!
I suppose I should report on how I did on my vacation goals from last week:
1. I want to visit 5 state parks I have never visited. Including Mines of Spain and Preparation Canyon.
I DIDN’T EXACTLY HIT 5 STATE PARKS. BUT I DID HIT 3 STATE PARKS AND 2 STATE FORESTS. SO I’M COUNTING THIS IS AS A WIN.
2. I want to add at least 20 new signs to THE TOWN SIGNS PROJECT. A project I’ve mostly ignored this year, despite the fact that this would have been a good year to work on it.
I BELIEVE I GOT 21 OR 22 NEW TOWN SIGNS. SO ANOTHER WIN.
3. I want to finally meet Jen and Derrick’s dog.
I NEVER EVEN CONTACTED THEM. MY FAULT, BUT I’M LEERY TO ENTER THE COVID DRENCHED TOWN THAT IS AMES. PLUS I’M PRETTY SURE THAT DERRICK’S PHONE DOESN’T WORK.
4. I want to finally tackle those POSTCARD PROJECT pictures that I have put off for like 3-4 years now.
I TACKLED ABOUT 5 OF THESE. SO WIN.
5. To play with a new lens I hope to purchase between now and then, but the verdict is still out on what new lens I’m going to purchase.
OH YEAH. DEFINITELY PLAYED WITH THAT LENS. PROBABLY A REPORT ON THAT LATER THIS WEEK.
6. Take some near full moon photography. The next full moon is September 2. Which is a Wednesday. But I figure there will still be plenty of moonlight left on September 4.
ANOTHER FAIL. IT WAS TOO CLOUDY ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TO TACKLE THIS. AFTER THAT, THERE WASN’T ENOUGH MOON. NEXT FULL MOON IS OCTOBER 1. THAT IS A THURSDAY, WHICH ALL OF A SUDDEN IS SEEMING LIKE A REAL GOOD REASON TO HAVE A 3 DAY WEEKEND.
4 out of 6, I’ll consider that a success. There were a couple other failures out there, that weren’t stated goals. I wanted to go to Pike’s Peak State Park, but I cut my Monday road trip short because Naima hurt her leg the night before, so I felt it was best to get back early to check on her condition. She might have been milking it as she seemed fine by 8 PM Monday night. But probably not.
I also wanted to take Rodan139 out to the High Trestle Trail Bridge again, but it rained about every day of my vacation. So that didn’t happen. It’s all good though.
I did make accomplish my number one goal from the week though. That was visiting Mines of Spain. I was originally going to do this on Tuesday, but I ended up going on Labor Day so that Teresa and my Mom could go. I didn’t want to get stuck in a State Park with a ton of people, plus I wanted to get there with some good soft morning light. This meant leaving at 5 AM. My sister and Mom didn’t seem to understand that I was serious about this, until I showed up at their door at 4:55 AM.
I’ll go into more details about that trip later, but here are some pictures from Mines of Spain taken by Rodan139. Mostly at Horse Shoe Bluff, but also around the Julien Dubuque Monument:
I will definitely need to visit this park again. I considered this a good scouting trip, but now I have more ideas of how to best drone photograph the park.
Last Monday, I took Rodan139 out for a quick flight in Ledges to test it with Teresa’s spare phone. I wanted to use her spare phone for a potential road trip I was planning for Labor Day. That way I could save the battery on my old timey Pixel 2 for other road trip fun times. Like the Snapchat or the Instagram or for GPS type stuff.
The spare phone did work masterfully. Here are some pictures from Rodan139’s test flight:
I don’t know if there is anything particularly special in this collection, but some of them are not without merit.
Last Saturday morning I was able to take get up at the crack of dawn and drive down to the High Trestle Trail to take Rodan139 on a flight around the Des Moines River Valley. Well, we didn’t go much around the valley as a I was pretty cautious with flying it there, since it was our first flight in that area.
Here are some of the pictures from the flight:
If anything, I need to leave my house even earlier next time. Although as we quickly approach the fall, sunrise keeps getting later and later. Sunset keeps getting earlier and earlier.
I’m 95% sure one of these pictures will grace the pages of the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar.
