A Missed Opportunity Turns Into A Night Adventure Along The Missouri River

A missed sunset turns into an impromptu adventure. First I headed out to Hummel Park high in the Missouri River Bluffs.

I have been planning on dropping a good amount of cash on a new camera set up since around November. Waiting until after Christmas was a good decision to get the best deal. Don't be fooled by the word 'sale', as the word is used to fool the bargain shopper these days and don't necessarily bring you the lowest prices.

I settled on the Canon T7i 800D with the video creator bundle. Along with this I purchased a couple extra battery packs to extend its use on my adventures. This is a preliminary review.

The Missouri Valley is lined in between Bluffs, which are artifacts from the rivers force when it was at its widest. Hummel Park sits right on top of the Nebraskan Bluffs, overlooking N.P. Dodge Park at the rivers edge.

The Scenic Overlook in the park gives you a near unobstructed view of the Missouri Valley with The Iowan Bluffs in view about ten miles across, as the crow flies.

Above is the shot taken from the Scenic Overlook in the opposite direction of the sunset. There ended up being no good accessible areas to shoot the sunset, as all were on private property.

What little bit of color I was able to get in the shot here was pure luck. It has been overcast In Omaha, NE pretty much the whole last week, since receiving my camera.

The above shot shows the Nebraskan side Bluffs as seen from N.P. Dodge Park. Once I came back down the hill to the Missouri River for a few more shots, all color was gone for the night.

After my disappointing attempt to shoot the sunset, I decided to head to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in Downtown Omaha. I was determined to get a few good shots.

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge crosses the Missouri River connecting bike trails on both sides of it. The lights at the top of the two main support pylons change color by way of rotating mirrors, which the camera did not pick up very well.

It was a frigid day and I was originally going to wait for warmer weather before heading downtown to photograph the sights. Since I was already out of the house, I just had to put this camera to the test. I will be doing another photography trip to the downtown area in a few weeks.

So far I have only used the 18-55mm lens and still need to test out the whole kit.

Above and below are shots of Downtown taken just before arriving at the Pedestrian Bridge and the scenery is about a mile away.

This camera is extremely easy to use. It boasts being an entry level camera for this reason, but once you figure out what everything does, you also have full control. For most settings on the top dial, using the flip touchscreen viewer, you simply tap on where you want the focus to concentrate on and it does the rest. All of these photos where taken with the preset settings, except the last one.

This photo was taken after crossing the bridge from the Iowan side of the river. The camera takes beautiful shots where there is plenty of light.

The cold was getting to me and I know my pups paws where reaching their tolerance levels, so instead of getting shots throughout the city, I decided to wrap it up shooting the bronze and polished stainless steel sculptures in front of the Quest Center.

When trying to set up the shots here, the architects obviously didn't choose the lighting points to allow unobstructed views of the Sculptures for photographing.

All in all I am impressed with the quality of photo this camera creates and would suggest this camera to you. While mirrorless camera's take more crisp shots, this Canon boasts 45 points of autofocus, which allows it to do a better job staying in focus while shooting video. I do plan on Vlogging in the near future and this is the reason I chose this camera. I am currently practicing being in front of the camera, as I suffer from camera shyness. Once I work past this and the weather improves, I'll be posting more often.

Above is a shot taken from my daily walk in Levi Carter Park. I chose this ice clump to test the macro feature and think it turned out quite well. I was using the 18-55mm lens, but I believe using the 55-135mm lens for this function is suggested. I plan on purchasing a macro lens in the near future, as well.

The photo above is a shot reproducing the one taken from my smartphone, which is what was used to create my cover photo. The rest of the shots are taken from Levi Carter Park from a couple days earlier than the main photos from this adventure.

With Spring coming, Carter Lake is a popular stop-over for many types of migratory birds. In the past I have had the pleasure of encountering a Pride of Eagles and hope to get an opportunity to photograph them this year.

Above and below are shots of Omaha, NE taken from a rough distance of about four miles. Above is taken using all auto settings during the day. Below is taken using an ISO setting of 25600. I am happy with how it turned out.

My only issue with the camera at this point is the WIFI connectivity. I have been unable to connect the camera to my smartphone, which I was counting on while making my decision to buy a camera.

It turns out the Android App does not work on all Android devices and the Canon support is quite lacking. Or so the reviews for the app and my experience proves. I almost returned the camera because of this, but decided to keep it when I found a way around this issue. I simply use an SD card with an adapter instead of the card provided.

Thank you for sharing your time with me.

Please make sure to get outside and record it for other's to enjoy.

#PayItForward because someone has done right by you.

And most importantly, help keep our area's clean by practicing Leave No Trace Principle's.

Here are some more of my adventure blogs:

Forest Lakes Trail- Rollinsville, CO
https://mspsteem.com/blog/@notconvinced/my-four-day-adventure-hiking-the-forest-lakes-trail

Sandia Tramway- Albuquerque, NM
https://mspsteem.com/blog/@notconvinced/sandia-tramway-as-seen-through-my-eyes

Rio Grande River Gorge Bridge- Taos, NM
https://mspsteem.com/dtube/@notconvinced/2kbivjer

Living A Mindful Life Using Leave-No-Trace Principles
https://mspsteem.com/nature/@notconvinced/living-a-mindful-life-using-leave-no-trace-principles

The Beautiful Sights Along Omaha Riverfront Trail
https://mspsteem.com/travel/@notconvinced/beautiful-sights-along-the-omaha-riverfront-trail

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