Landscape Photo Assignment

This has been my favorite photo assignment so far this semester. I love early morning and late evening, so I got to Cliff Cave Park before sunrise on Saturday, 09-26-09. Although the basic Mississippi River and Illinois riverbank are unremarkable at this spot, there were a few clouds, so I expected a dramatic sunrise. As the sun started to rise, the fog started to gather on the river, so I had a little bonus element in my images. The clouds filtered the sunrise into various colors and the river was calm, so there was some smooth reflection in the water. I was pleased that I had gotten some decent shots, however, I did not like the horizon placement on some of the images. I plan on cropping some of the water out to lower the horizon on these photos.

My second outing on this assignment was early this morning to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetary. I went to the far back of the cemetary which overlooks the Mississippi River. This is the oldest section of the cemetary, so not all of the stones are the plain white slabs. I like the precise patterns of the lines of headstones and how they lead the eye in smooth lines away from my point of view. However, this morning was clear and the sunrise was not going to be as exciting. I decided to try and use the sunrise to accent the headstones, but not to have that as the focus. I was not as pleased with these images, but this is a location I have returned to on several occasions, so I'll return at another time.