Northern Lights in Iowa – Is this Heaven? No, this is Iowa.

That phrase is from the movie Field of Dreams. I have been very busy lately visiting family in Iowa on our way back north. The one thing I was not expecting this trip was to see Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights in Iowa. People all over the country witnessed this sighting all the way down to Alabama.

I almost missed seeing them entirely. Just so happened my little dog had to go outside at 3 am. I took her out and looked up and saw that the northern lights were still visible, as I had gone to sleep early and missed them when everyone else was out looking at them.

Actually at 3 am, they were not very colorful at all, but I went back in and decided to get my camera out and set it up outside. It is mesmerizing to say the least, to witness this event.

About an hour later, all of a sudden, the colors started to show up and they were lighting up the night sky. Shooting stars along with dancing lights.

I stood in the middle of this country road, no traffic and only the sound of coyotes howling in the distance.

These photos are straight out of the camera, I could see the pinks and greens with the naked eye. But a camera set with a long shutter speed will pick up even more of the colors. I was using 3 to 5 second shutter speed. ISO 4000, f2.8, and a wide angle lens.

Northern Lights in Iowa

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra

Pet Portraits – I took a lot of pet portraits for folks this past winter. Lots of dogs, a few cats and one bird. We are traveling now, so when I want to take pet photos, my pets are the models. I never get tired of adding photos of my own pets to my collection.

The one thing we all know is that our pets just don’t live long enough. So I love taking their photos and enjoying every minute with them.

Chloee is a great model for still shots. She loves to just sit and look around when we are outside. She has such a beautiful face and expression in her eyes. She is 11 years old this year.

This is my little dog named, D-0-G, let me review what her name is. Her name is d o g, not the word dog, the letters d o g. Say it like, d oooo g, a little longer sound on the 0. Or if this spelling helps. Deohgee, I use that spelling at the vets because they don’t understand, d o g. 🙂

They ask me, ” is her name dog?”, I say, ” no, d o g“. They say, ” I know how to spell it”, I say, ” There you go”,

They say, ” Ohhhh, now I get it”,

We got her from a shelter when she was 4 years old. She is 17 years old this year. She is still doing really well for that age. She does sleep a lot more, but she still eats great and loves going for walks.

Then there is our cat, her name is Kit Cat, 🙂

What can I say, she is a great cat, gets along great with the dogs and she loves to travel. She does like to punch the dogs now and then when they walk by her. She gives them a wack on the head and hisses at them and takes off running.

Typical cat, 🙂

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Chloee Having Fun – Last month my dog Chloee had some dental work done. She had a broken tooth in the back, one of those big teeth in the back. It needed to come out, it was loose. I called a made an appointment for her and the day before she was to go in, the tooth fell out.

But only part of it did, so she went in anyway and had a couple teeth pulled and all her teeth cleaned. She is like a new pup again, playing fetch and running around.

Dogs can get tooth aches as well as we do, never any fun with a tooth ache.

Chloee Having Fun

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

April Showers – Flowers are blooming and the smell of fresh cut lawns is in the air. May is a time of new birth in nature. The world is waking up after a long winters nap.

Below is the before photo, then I softened it up a little bit and blurred the background to make the photo print above.

April Showers

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Well Cared For and well fed these dolphins at the Mississippi Aquarium. They get lots of attention from the trainers and lots of activities to keep them in great shape.

People are always excited to see dolphins. I am thinking because they look like they are smiling all the time and having fun in the water.

Here the only photo I took from inside the aquarium. Sometimes one has to put the camera down and just enjoy what it is front of us. Plus shooting through thick glass doesn’t make the best photos. 🙂

Well Cared For

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Dolphins in the Wild – I see dolphins a lot when I am on the gulf coast. But, never jumping out of the water when I am just walking on the beach. I mostly see their fin and part of the body is all.

Below is a quick video I took of a couple of dolphins rounding up fish next to the beach as a Blue Heron paced back and forth watching them, as if it was trying to tell the dolphins to move the fish just a little closer so he could have one also.

Link to Dolphins on the Gulf Coast

Dolphins in the Wild

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Mississippi Aquarium – Last week I ended with a post telling you about some very colorful birds coming up next. First I must show you where I saw these birds, because most of them are from other country’s.

I am talking about a fairly new Aquarium in Gulfport Mississippi, right next to the coast. A fellow camper told us about this place so we headed on over. It is a wonderful drive along the coast line to get to this aquarium.

Mississippi Aquarium is a nonprofit public aquarium located in Gulfport, Mississippi; it opened August 29, 2020. The 5.8-acre, complex incorporates both indoor and outdoor habitats with more than 200 species of animals and 50 species of native plants.

First the star of the aquarium is the dolphins for sure. They have lots of fish inside and these two beautiful guys outside.

I will get to the birds in a couple more days.

Mississippi Aquarium

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Yesterday is gone forever; Tomorrow will always be unknown; Live in the Now

Spring has sprung and it is following us as we move north.

Yesterday

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Panorama Photos – sometimes I forget I have the panorama setting on my phone and cameras. They make for very interesting photos. The first photo was taken with that setting at sunset on the Gulf Coast.

I always want to try new things with photography. So much out there to see in so many different ways when it comes to the artist perspective.

Panorama Photos

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Waves Crashing Painting – digital paintings by Sandra J.

Gulf Coast Sunset

Waves Crashing Painting

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

A Story Line from these photos. Photos can speak so many different languages to the viewer.

This is what I see here; One pelican says to the other.

“George, what do you want to do today?”

George says; ” Not sure, lets see how the morning plays out.”

“What in the world is that George?”

“I don’t know, but it appears to be glowing.”

“Bah ha ha, it is going to be an interesting day”

A Story Line

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Golden Sunrise

Have a great weekend.

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Group Art Project – at a campground we stayed at this winter, one of the local artist ask me if I would help her with a project she wanted to do. Which would involve having a dozen people help with the project. I said sure, sounds like fun.

So, step one. She drew on a piece of paper her idea of a painting she wanted to do. The photo below shows her rough draft of a bridge in the background, some of the local birds, water, sand, sea grass. She asked me if I could put all these items onto a photos that can be printed.

I made the print below. It is just what she was thinking about. I used photos that I had taken and made a composite of all the images into one.

I then applied grid lines to the image and printed a 20×30 copy. She cut the image into the 6×6 squares I made and had the volunteers pick a square, they in turn painted that square onto a 6×6 piece of canvas.

They wanted me to paint one, and I am not a painter at all. So I chose the top left square that only had some clouds in it.

The top left square in this picture below is my attempt to paint the piece I chose. This was actually a very fun project. The idea is that the final art piece will look more like a mosaic piece of art. The teacher of the project said she did not want the painted pieces to be perfect. It was just for fun.

Below is the final piece of art. 24 different people painted the squares. This project is now hanging in the club house at the campground. I am glad I was able to make the template for the project to bring this idea to life.

Group Art Project

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Heat Distortion – this light house is about 5 miles out into the gulf, I took this photo from the beach, it almost looks like the light house is floating out there. That is what heat distortion does to a photo.

The further away from the subject of your photograph, the more heat distortion will be present. The further distance means the light travels through more air before reaching you. Therefore, it gets refracted more in areas where heat distortion is present.

A long zoom lens usually means photographing subjects at a greater distance. That greater distance increases the chance that heat distortion can ruin your images. Heat distortion is most prevalent at ground level.

We have a friend that has a smaller boat and has offered to give us a ride out to the light house. But, not for me. He would have to have a much bigger boat. The waves and the tide can change dramatically 5 miles out into the gulf of Mexico. I really don’t need a good picture of this light house that badly.

Besides, there are plenty of photos of this light house on the world wide web, here are a few below so you can see what it looks like.

Heat Distortion

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Ships Passing in the Night on the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin — only a narrow connection to the Atlantic exists as the gulf is surrounded by North America and Cuba.

 It is the ninth largest body of water in the world, covering about 600,000 square miles, and is bordered by five US states in the north, five Mexican states in the west, and Cuba in the southeast.

Almost half of the gulf basin is shallow waters over continental shelves, though it contains a trough that measures as deep as 14,383 feet.

Ship Traffic Density Map of GULF OF MEXICO

They estimate that over 4,000 shipwrecks rest on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico from its nearshore shallows to its deepest abyss.

Ships Passing in the Night

Easter – they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Nehemiah 8:6

Have a wonderful weekend.

Easter

Sheepshead Fish – One glance at the picture of a sheepshead fish might make you assume this fish has stolen a sailor’s lost pair of dentures from the seafloor! Yes, there is a fish whose teeth are eerily similar to humans.

The teeth are composed of highly mineralized enamel and dentin, two components that also make up human teeth.

There are two rows of molars on the lower jaw and three rows on the upper jaw. This heavy dentition allows sheepshead fish to crush and grind the shelled creatures that these fish prefer to feed on.

The Sheepshead fish are finally coming inland, so the fishermen are out. There is a limit of 10 of these fish per person.

Sheepshead Fish

Sand Dunes or Snow Piles, well the trees in the background might give it away. But, these are sand dunes, but when I am missing snow, just a little bit. I sure can picture that these are snow piles by a lake.

Today it is 45 degrees down here on the gulf coast. So I can easily picture snow.

Have a great weekend.

Sand Dunes

Sea Glass – I have only found a couple pieces of sea glass. I have added them to my collection and am always looking for more.

Sea glass are naturally weathered pieces of glass, which often have the appearance of tumbled stones. Sea glass is physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass.

Sea Glass

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore, say that fast 3 times. Almost always I say Sea Shells by the She Shore. 🙂

Sea Shells

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

Sunrise at the Gulf – Have a great week ahead. 🙂

Sunrise at the Gulf

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

Imagination, photography lets one’s imagination go in all different directions. Take for example this photo here. I took this photo from the Jeep’s window as we were driving along the coast.

I saw this pier coming up on my right and the water is so calm around it, plus the clouds have a hint of blue in the background. But I thought right away, if the beach and the people and the logs were gone, it would really highlight the calm water and the tranquility of the lone pier.

Yes, I thought all of this as this pier was approaching, driving down a road. So I snapped a photo with my phone camera.

So then I had to change the vertical format of the photo to a horizontal format for composition with a horizontal pier. Next to remove the distractions in the foreground.

And this is what I saw in my mind when I saw this lone pier out in the calm water.

Have a great weekend. 😉

Imagination

As the Sun Rises the colors change. The clouds thicken and the boats going out to sea are just a silhouette against the morning light.

As the Sun Rises

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

Ocean Vessels on the Gulf Coast. Shipping containers are spotted quite often heading south on the gulf coast. Occasional dredgers being pulled across the bay and barges going back and forth.

Always makes for some interesting sights when out walking on the beaches.

Ocean Vessels

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

Mocha Latte is the name of this little dog. It is one of the cutest little dogs I have had the pleasure to photograph this past week. When it was a new born, it fit in the palm of your hand. Now it is a fiery ball of fur that is constantly on the go.

It is at the campground here and just another pup I have photographed this past month. Happy Monday. 🙂

Mocha Latte

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

My Pet Photography Board for February, and this is not all of them yet. I could not fit them all on one page.

These 3 cats are quite the buddies. I was watching these three for their owner while they were away. The owner was in the hospital and I took lots of pictures of her cats while she was recuperating. Yes, all 3 are one persons cats.

Well, I wanted to try and get all 3 together for one photo, but that is not easy with cats. So I did have to photoshop this one together. I happened to get each one to look up at me as I was holding some treats.

The owner loves this photo, she did ask how I got them all to sit together like that. I said it was impossible. But photoshop helped a lot. 🙂

My Pet Photography Board

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

Parade Horses Team Belgians, my second favorite photo from the parade. Northing pretty then a working team of Belgian horses. Their harness shimmering in the sunlight.

Parade Horses Team Belgians

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J

For the Love of Horses

This is my most favorite photo that I took this winter.

There was a small parade where we were camping and a group of horses were headed my way as I stood on the side of the road with lots of other folks watching the procession of horses and festive floats.

When it comes to photographing animals, dogs, cats, or horses. I take a lot of shots because I am looking for that one photo that stands out from the rest. When the animal is moving, the more shots the better to get that right look.

Well, this shot below was exactly was I was looking for. The two horses in front both looked at me at the same time. The are draft horse mix breeds, the one on the right front is a Belgian mix and the one on the left is a Percheron Thoroughbred mix. Beautiful horses.

But the magic comes when I crop in to see only the horses face. I just love this shot. Both horses have their ears forward, which makes for a great shot as well. I have printed this one to hang on my wall. 🙂

For the Love of Horses

Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sandra J