THE TALL OAKS AND THE COTTONWOOD TREES OF THE PARK BEAUTIFUL I switched out my lens

I switched out my lens back to the 18-70mm from the 300mm

I wasn't going to pass this shot up and quickly set up the tripod with camera attached and fired off one shot before the heron took flight

An early morning dusting of snow in Northern Illinois brings a beautiful winter scene to this prairie landscape along the South Fork Kishwaukee River with box elder trees standing precariously alongside the banks and some charismatic peachleaf willow trees off to the right at Wildflower Park

I reached the trailhead soon after leaving the house with camera gear in hand and it wasn't long before I started seeing the wildflowers along the lake which included cup plants

THE TALL OAKS AND THE COTTONWOOD TREES OF THE PARK BEAUTIFUL I switched out my lensThe forecast this morning was for foggy conditions until late morning so, photographing any kind of sunrise was out of the question. I left the house before 5: am and after photographing the wildflowers for a couple hours, the fog was still about and peaked my interest to find subjects that would help compliment the atmosphere that the fog brought to the landscape. With this type of atmosphere, I like photographing the landscape in black and white.