To catch the dew on the grass like this you have to get up fairly early in the morning.
An Olympus Get together in Iowa?
Yes It actually happened 6 Olympus photographers got together with what was probably the largest collection of Olympus gear in Iowa including any camera shop. We went out armed With 5 digital Olympus cameras, 8 OM Cameras, and 27 lenses. 27 lenses in one location right in the middle of Iowa. A site that few ever get a chance to see. In fact it was the first time I had ever seen any thing close. We went to the Spalding Factory to start the Day of photography and socializing off. Then we were off to Silver Creek Which is a preserve for wild flowers, grass and many verities of prairie grasses. Silver Creek is Maintained by the Audubon Society.
Well Just because I have not posted anything does not mean that I have not been doing anything.
I have been very busy and trying to get free time to shoot for my self let alone follow through and get every thing up loaded and then post about it. I have been taking a lot of pictures and and staying very busy. Both with regular clients and the family, who would have thought that only one more child could add that much more work. I have been busy enough taking photos that I have almost filled 3 750 GB hard drives and a 500 GB as well. Here is a photo that I really like how it turned out.
(click on photo for a larger view and to go to the gallery)
I took this photo while teaching a workshop here in Iowa and it is one of those scenes that was not intended but just happened.
The goal was
Get up early and be set up lake side by 6:30 A.M. to teach how to take a sunrise photo. However when we got up it was nothing but fog so the lesson plan changed from sunrise over the lake to fog on the lake. This particular photograph was taken at F 9 1/50 s at ISO 100. All in all it was a very productive morning with many great photographic opportunities with many great photographs captured.
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
I think here in the Mid West is one of the best places to photograph geese.
I particularly like Marshalltown and Tama Iowa for quick easy access areas where the birds are wild enough
that they do not look tame on film. As well as use to people enough that you can get close enough to get a reasonable photo at times. The two love birds above got a little uncomfortable with my prescence so they decided to fly out to the Ice shelf giving me the opportunity I was waiting for.
Enjoy and God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
I am going to start a Picture of the day series just to help share some of what I am shooting and how I practice my photography.
Not every thing I share will be professional work and some will be from my private family life. My Family is one of the biggest reasons I love photography so much. So it is no wonder that they are my most photographed subjects. Not all photos are going to be from that day and some will have as much as a 14 day delay for the simple fact I do try and keep my skills sharp by shooting film manually. This Picture was taken In between the Meskwaki Indian Settlement and Tama / Toledo Iowa.
In the distance you can see the Meskwaki water tower as the January sun sets in Tama Co Iowa.
Thanks And God Bless
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
11:30 P.M. I here whoo whoo and think that is an Owl but I live in town. In the past two years of living in Toledo, Iowa I have never seen or heard an Owl around here. So I jump up Throwing my boots and jacket on and grab my Trusty E3 with 50-200 swd lens attached and throw the FL 50 R flash on top.
I run (walk) out the door and listen. Sure enough I hear Whoo Whooo and then a little further south Whoo Whooo. There was not just one owl but two. After just a minute I was able to locate
the one closest to me. So I get a good focus and start to slowly walk closer. He knows I am there and checks me out once in a wile but does not seem to concerned that I am getting a little closer.
As I aproach the tree that the Owl is in he starts showing sings of being nervous at about 20 yards from the tree. He knows that I am there so I take a shot. Drats it is a little to dark so I push the flash 2 stops to help with the reach and adjust the Iso to 640 giving me a little more room and shutter speed. This way I was able to keep the shutter at a 250th. I take another photo, not a bad shot just he was not looking at me. Then he shows He is really uncomfortable and starts to ruffle his feathers. So I quickly take another photo (the top one) and sure enough he said that is enough and leaves. Swooping down the first 15 feet leaving me very little chance to get an in-flight shot. I really would have liked to been able to get a owl in flight at night but no such luck. Maybe Next time.
Thanks for reading and God Bless
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
Last week a friend of mine & I went to Lake Red Rock in Pella Iowa to try and Photograph eagles. Usually Lake Red Rock is a Very popular place for many birds this time of year. However This particular day there were no eagles to be found anywhere. The wind had came in on our way down from Grinnell and was blowing at 30+ mph with gusts of 45mph. However the birding was not a complete loss from across the river south of the damn some birds spotted us.
And came over to visit. So we proceed to try and take photos in such high
Winds. As you can probably tell from the water in these photos that it was very windy.
After coming across the river it did not take long for them to come on up and check things out. I do not know the particular breed of these birds They have some similar markings of a white-fronted goose however they do not seem to have enough black on their breasts and their bills look different. 
After coming a shore they started looking for food. Since this is a public park area it is not unusual for people to feed the birds. However something a little unusual happened a pair found a piece of bread and stood side by side taking turns eating the bread. They did not honk charge or show any aggressive behavior to one another. I found this very intriguing.
After a few minuets of searching for food and successfully clearing the area they started to do their normal cleaning. It was not long before they were comfortable enough with us that they were almost posing.
The sun came out just enough for a nice back lighting making some very nice portraits.
All in all not bad for 30+ mph winds and what was beginning to look like a bust for shooting.
If you would like to see more photos and larger then the above you can check them out HERE.
Thanks and God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
On a recent mission to photograph eagles at Pellas Lake Red rock had come to the point of calling it quits a bit of light started to poke out. It was soon pointed out to me that we were on the wrong side of the damn and quickly running out of sun.
So we Ken Norton and I quickly crossed
The damn and set up not only putting our faces to the sun but the 30+ mph winds that were coming right off the lake.
Even with the wind and quickly fading sunset I managed to get a couple reasonable sunset photos. With the cloud deck being so low and the thin opening for the sun to peak through made for a very dramatic scene with the frozen lake adding just that much more to it.
The opportunity did not last long as we knew it wouldn't. However in this case it was fine because be the time the sun went below the tree line and bluff on the other side of the lake I was cold enough I was not to worried about getting one last photo.
If you would like to view these as well as other images in a larger size you can visit the gallery here.
Thanks and God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
And it Rains IN DECEMBER. A good friend of mine Ken Norton of Zone-10 (Pictured here)
and I were supposed to go and try and photograph some eagles today however due to the Ice this morning and Ken having a 20+ mile drive just to come up. It was decided that standing in this weather trying to get a few photos of some eagles just was not worth the risk.
Instead Ken had the idea to take some photos of the ice on the windows. I will try, I have some on my screens that is kind of neat, I am game.
Well to say the least mine did not tern out that good and to top it off Ken's turned out better. To boot he wrote a poem you can check it out here at Inside, Looking Out
So I just got another photo from a series I am working on that I shot last week in south east Iowa near Ft. Madison. 
I did not want to look completely out done.
Thanks for viewing and feel free to leave your feed back and comments.
God Bless.
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
Some times even in central Iowa you can come across some pretty cool things to photography even if it is over a corn field.
The other day was one of those really cold windy Iowa days, so instead of staying inside I thought I should get out of the house and try and take some photos. I had been out of town for the past week with the family so any time alone was welcomed.
As I was headed south through Tama I could see what looked like a rainbow to the west of the sun.
I thought that is neat as I got to more of a clearing I could see what is known as Sun Dogs. These are actually small and can get large enough to make a circle around the sun.
It is a very cool effect none the less and on a bitterly cold very windy day made it very worth while to go out taking photos.
If you would like to see the rest that I took with the ability to enlarge them just follow this LINK Sun Dog's
Thanks for looking and feel free to comment,
God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
It is cold here in Iowa again today and with the girls getting kind of cooped up I thought it would be nice to try and visit a warm memory. My oldest daughter Bella loves frogs, so when we get a chance we will go out to a couple of spots and see if we can find some to check out.
This first frog we fond on a trail just off the Iowa River near La Grand Iowa. It is a neat trail for the area it even has a suspension bridge on the edge of one of our few cliff fronts.
This Frog was fond in the back waters of the Lake behind the paper mill in Tama Ia. There is another trail that you can walk around the North side of the lake.
This third photo was taken at the gold fish pond at MMSC in down town Marshalltown Ia. They have a nice set up and you do not need to go through the hospital to get to it. It sits on the North side of the hospital next to the cross walk that goes to McFarland Clinic. If you would like to see these and a few other photos at a much larger size and resolution you can folow this link
Thanks for looking and God Bless.
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
