Henry Domke and his Prairie Garden Trust

This month in Rural Missouri I featured nature photographer Henry Domke of New Bloomfield. Most of his photography he shoots is at his 600-acre farm in Callaway County. His previous career as a doctor has influenced his art as he sells to hospitals across the country. He believes that his work has a positive role in helping patients. Here are few portraits of Henry and some scenes around his property.

If you would like to visit the Prairie Garden Trust, contact Henry to make a reservation by phone at 573-295-6349 or by email: visit@prairiegardentrust.org.

Visit www.prairiegardentrust.org for more about his property.

Visit www.henrydomke.com for more of his work.

Check out my video piece first, then check out the images.

 

Henry Domke. I lit this with natural lighting from the rear and a Nikon SB900 with a Lumniquest softbox on the right side of his face.

 

Bluffs along Hillers Creek.

 

A Great Spangled Fritillary on a coneflower. 

 

Henry Domke at his Prairie Garden Trust.

 

Henry Domke

 

More scenery along Hillers Creek.

 

More scenery along Hillers Creek.

 

 

More scenery along Hillers Creek.

 

More scenery along Hillers Creek.

 

 

More scenery along Hillers Creek.

 

Oak forest

 

An HDR image composed of 4 frames of an awesome oak and sunlight.

 

An HDR image of 3 images combined to show the view from the bluffs at Henry's property.

 

Another HDR image of 3 images combined of this cool oak.

 

Never seen this before, but two common snapping turtles were battling in the creek. Quite the thing to watch. Hoping to upload some video soon.

Missouri High School Bass Fishing Tournament

Almost a month ago I spent the weekend shooting at the 2nd Annual Missouri High School Bass Fishing Tournament, sponsored by The Missouri Bass Federation. The tournament was held at the Lake of the Ozarks. Read more about the tournament at www.ruralmissouri.coop/digitalrm.

An HDR image of the morning sunrise.

A selection of lures.

William Pursifull, right, of the Lafayette Fighting Irish Team, casts towards the bank at Lake of the Ozarks. Willaim and teammate, Garet Cline, finished sixth with a combined weight of 5.32 pounds.

 

Brian Pahl pulls in a largemouth bass as teammate Andrew Guilliams looks on. Last year's winning team, the Eureka Wildcats finished second this year.

 

 

The weigh-in.

 

Jessie Fisher, left, and Layne Woods of Hollister High School were this year's winning team with 5 fish for a combined weight of 14.75 pounds.

 

The winning trophy.

Roaring River State Park

Finally finished my story on Roaring River State Park for our June issue of Rural Missouri magazine. Here are some of my images from Opening Day on March 1 and from a few days down in the park. Be posting the video piece soon, once it finishes uploading.

Anglers wait on the banks of Roaring River before the start of Opening Day on March 1 at Roaring River State Park near Cassville, Mo.

An angler ties a lure on his line before the horn sounds on opening day.

Anglers cast into Roaring River at the start of Opening Day.

Opening Day is a different type of fishing, where anglers often fish elbow to elbow in hopes of landing lunker trout.

Fishing on Opening Day at Roaring River State Park is a revered tradition for many Missourians.

The park has 26 cabins available for overnight guests.

The CCC lodge is one of many historical buildings in the park that date back to when the Civilian Conservation Corps worked inside the park. In the 1930s, the "CCC boys" constructed several structures, trails and the present-day fish hatchery.

The Emory Melton Inn and Conference Center is known for its rustic look and relaxing hotel rooms.

A fly-fisherman casts into Roaring River near Campground 3. Different zones of the park along the river are marked for different styles of fishing to accompany waders, fly-fishermen and a wide variety of lure choices.

A view of the fish hatchery from the Doe Run Trail overlook. The hatchery and river is feed by Roaring River Spring, Missouri's 20th largest spring, that pumps out more than 20 million gallons of water a day.

Inside one of the hatchery buildings where MDC biologists raise the trout from spawning eggs. Once the fish reach 3 inches, they are brought to the outdoor hatchery pools.

MDC biologist Brad Follmer feeds juvenile trout inside one of the hatchery's buildings.

Juvenile trout.

MDC biologists Julie Fraley and Brad Farwell move trout from one raceway to the next — their last stop before released into the river.

 

Julie Fraley wrangles up trout to allow easier transportation to a new raceway.

 

Julie Fraley feeds trout.

Julie Fraley feeds trout.

A youngster feeds the trout.

Anglers filet up trout for later meals.

Roaring River State Park

Been working on a story for our next month's issue of Rural Missouri on Roaring River State Park near Cassville, in southwest Missouri. This is a truly amazing state park known for its trout fishing. There is great history at this park from the days of the Civilian Conservation Corps to the fish hatchery to opening day of trout season. If you are ever in the area, stop by.

Got this shot of a fisherman in the early morning fog near Campground 3. Stay tuned for more images, a video piece and the story.

Camdenton High School Robotics Team

This is my latest video I have done for Rural Missouri. This ran in our April issue about a Robotics team in Camdenton, Missouri. For those of you that aren't familiar with every small town across the Show-Me State, Camdenton is at the Lake of the Ozarks.

These high school kids are first given a task each year before they compete in national and worldwide events. They then must decide how they want to accomplish the task, design the robot and assemble the machine in just 6 weeks. The kids even write computer code, manage team finances, run a website to promote the team and design shirts for the group. Pretty cool stuff. Learn more about Camdenton R-III's robotics team in the April digital issue of Rural Missouri at
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201204/#/28

Keep up with the team at http://www.team3284.org

Enjoy!

Spring along Highway 50

Was heading back to St. Louis a few weekends ago and stopped along Highway 50. Always loved this valley that is east of Linn. Had some nice light so decided to stop. Enjoy!