Aurora Above the Tree

Since I first picked up a camera one of the things I’ve wanted to direct it towards most has been the northern lights. I’ve made numerous excursions away from the lights of the city, both in Kansas and in Michigan, on those occasions where the space weather forecast hinted at particularly powerful geomagnetic activity. All of those attempts have been total busts, until now. On the night of April 23, 2023 the Aurora Borealis was visible as far south as Winfield, Kansas. Maybe it was visible even farther south, but I can personally confirm that the phenomena was at least present in the northward sky south-central Kansas. While I wasn’t able to glimpse the phenomena clearly with my naked eye, it was easily picked up by my camera in both timelapse and still photo form. To be completely honest, I thought there was a very real chance I would never get to witness this particular natural wonder, particularly while I was residing in Kansas. Well, I did, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s made even more special by the fact that I can include it with the other photos of my Tree-Across-the-Field (which you can view here: https://art.katzmatt.com/Projects/The-Tree-Across-the-Field/). In addition to the aurora, you can also see two meteors from the Lyrids Meteor Shower on the right side of the image.

Skyfire

A bolt of lightning carves a line through the northern sky, lighting up the clouds and silhouetting the tree across the field, before ending below the horizon.

In Your Heart Shall Burn

Since I first moved to Winfield I've become obsessed with the cottonwood tree that towers over the other trees around it, and sits directly across the field from the back of my apartment. I've photographed my so-called Tree-Across-the-Field crowned with bright yellow leaves and covered with frost. I've shot it surrounded by flash after flash of lightning, and watching over field after field of grazing deer. I think tonight's photo is the most unique, however. As the sun set, the area filled with smoke from another controlled field burn, this one the closest yet, directly behind my tree. Once the light finally started to fade from the western sky, another light started to make itself known -- the glow of blazing fire behind my favorite tree. The fire has died down now. It never crossed the dirt road that separated the burning fields from my own back yard (and it probably had almost no chance of doing so given the wind and the dedication and vigilance of those that engage in these controlled range burns). Even so, the photograph I've captured is forever, and will crown my Tree-Across-the-Field collection...at least until I catch a tornado back there. Tree-Across-the-Field is my longest running photo project. If you want to see more, you can view the entire gallery here: https://art.katzmatt.com/Projects/The-Tree-Across-the-Field

Tree-Across-the-Fireflies

There are few things that scream "summer nights in Kansas" quite like watching the fireflies flicker in and out of view around dusk. They're not super active hear, but are definitely more so than they were in the city, and so I've been meaning to photograph them for a while. I decided to stack a series of 3-second exposures in order to capture their illuminated flights over several minutes, but before it got so dark that they'd lose the context of their surroundings...which, of course, couldn't be anything other than my Tree-Across-the-Field. More Tree-Across-the-Field: https://art.katzmatt.com/Projects/The-Tree-Across-the-Field/

Tree in Yellow

My favorite tree-across-the-field has turned a brilliant yellow color for fall.

Frosted Tree

This morning I woke up to my Tree-Across-the-Field coated in a layer of white frost, along with all the other trees in the area. In half a year of taken over a dozen photos of this same tree, each one showing a different bit of weather or a different scene, each one unique and yet connected.

Harvest

When one thinks of Kansas, few things come to mind more quickly than a field of wheat being harvested, with the gentle sway of golden stalks and the distant hum of machinery. It is an iconic image that encapsulates the essence of the heartland. So, to have the opportunity to capture such a distinctly midwestern, and distinctly Kansas scene, while also continuing to explore the world that surrounds my Tree-Across-the-Field was something I could not pass up.

Tree-Before-the-Storms

When dark storm clouds fill one part of the sky, while the sun shines clearly in another, a unique phenomenon of lighting can occur, painting nature's canvas with captivating contrasts. A golden field, a tree bathed in sunlight, and a dark grey sky beyond.

Foggy Morning Field

A field of wheat in the light of the morning sun, with light fog.

Painted Storms

The remnants of storm clouds above the wheat field and Tree, painted in the light of a setting sun.

Sunsets and Stormclouds

Stormclouds brewing over 70 miles away during a rather beautiful sunset.

Storm Beyond the Field

Lightning bolts dance in the sky, lightning up my Tree-Across-the-Field.

Behold a Roiling Sky

A while back I took some infrared photos of my Tree-Across-the-Field, but I wasn’t terribly happy with the results. Today seemed like as good of a day as any to make a second attempt, and so I set up and started shooting. I wasn’t happy with the false color images, but there were a couple that I think came out great in black and white! I’m particularly fond of the active cloudscape I had today.

Seen and Unseen Light

While shooting my Tree-Across-the-Field in infrared I noticed the way the clouds shaped the sun's light across the field and the trees beyond. After a while I waited to see if it would catch just my tree, or at least just the tree-line, and sure enough it did.

Clouds Above

Fluffy clouds, the remnants of a once-severe storm, float above my Tree-Across-the-Field.

Tree in the Fog

One tree towers over the others across the field and through the fog.

Deer Before the Tree

A white-tailed doe crossing the field in the evening.

Buck at Dusk

Tonight was kinda wild. Just before the sun went down AT LEAST ten deer (I think all does) crossed the field behind my apartment. I think it's the most I've seen here at one time. Then, after it got pretty dark, two or three bucks crossed the field as well. This is the best shot I could capture, given I was pushing my camera's low light capabilities right up to their limits to even get this.

Field of Deer

Almost every single evening and morning some number of deer will come wandering through the field behind my apartment looking to graze there for a bit. Usually it's five or six, but sometimes more. Eight, ten, twelve. I've seen as many as fifteen deer pass through the field. This evening though, I saw the most I've ever seen. At least thirty deer passed through the field a little before sunset. THIRTY! And I say at least because I count thirty in this photo, but there could have been more. My tree-across-the-field has seen storms and sun, Fall and Summer, but this is the most deer that have I've ever seen out in front of it by a longshot and I'm glad I got to witness it. If you want to see a higher quality version, check out this photograph on my website: https://deer.katzmatt.com

Tree in Infrared

If you haven't noticed by now, I take a lot of photos of the same tree from across the field. After all, it is a nice tree, standing taller than those that surround it. In this case though, I wanted to do something a little different, and decided to throw my 720nm infrared filter on my lens. The image has been processed using a red/blue swap and overall I'm kinda happy with the result.

Field Flowers in Spring

The deer that frequent the field behind my apartment making their evening graze as the sun goes down, the field freshly full of little purple flowers as the lonely cottonwood continues its watch over the land.

Smoke Rolls Across the Field

As the light faded from gold to dusky blue smoke began to creep across the field from beyond the tree-line to the east, adding an eerie quality to the familiar home of my Tree Across the Field.

Above the Tree

A sky of deep, mystic blues, tinged with pinkish purple, all above my Tree-Across-the-Field.

Painted Sky

When I photograph my Tree-Across-the-Field, my preference is to have the tree in the bottom center of the frame. Sometimes, however, this isn't the best photograph of the scene. In this case, the way the line of colored clouds points towards my tree from the left of frame made for a much more interesting image than simply filling the right half of the frame with a solid mass of blue-grey cloud.

Autumn Sunset

The golden light of sunset brings out the Fall colors that are otherwise just barely starting to show themselves.

Painted Sky Above the Tree

Another photo of the tree across the field. This time the sky was just too beautiful not to capture it.

Morning Storms

Lightning dances above my tree-across-the-field in the very early hours of the morning.

The Stars Above

A long exposure revealing the path of the stars above my favorite tree across the field.

Foggy Field

Fog rolling across a field in the morning light.

Golden Deer Field

The Tree-Across-the-Field and the dear that roam before it, showered in that golden hour light.

Sunlit Field and a Troubled Sky

Turbulent clouds drifting across a sky while the sun shines bright on the field below. (Partial) digital infrared.