MN pix: Wind Farm
May. 28th, 2007 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigertoyEarly in my trip, I stopped at the rest area on I-39 near Rochelle, IL, and I took a few pictures of the wind farm that is near that rest area. It was a warm and hazy day. The jaggy effect on the windmill blades is not a JPEG artifacts -- it is atmospheric distortion.
I don't understand why one of the main public objections to wind farms is aesthetic. While they're not as lovely as trees or mountains, I find them prettier than almost any other works of man -- certainly nicer to look at than cell towers, high-tension power lines, or grain elevators.
In this shot, I was trying to get an interesting effect from the two masts that were lined up in my view.
For any camera geeks reading this -- both of these (and most of my pictures from the trip) were taken with my Canon 20D and Tamron 200-500mm lens. The EXIF information from the first shot is: focal length 277mm, aperture f/9, exposure 1/800, ISO 100. The second: focal length 359mm, aperture f/10, exposure 1/800, ISO 100. (Both images are cropped moderately to improve composition, then reduced in resolution a whole bunch to post on the web.)
Although I didn't take more pictures of them, I was pleased to see at least two more wind farms on my way home through Iowa. Wind energy can't solve all of our problems, but it seems like a no-brainer that we should have a lot more wind power than we do; every kilowatt hour from wind is one less from coal.
I don't understand why one of the main public objections to wind farms is aesthetic. While they're not as lovely as trees or mountains, I find them prettier than almost any other works of man -- certainly nicer to look at than cell towers, high-tension power lines, or grain elevators.
In this shot, I was trying to get an interesting effect from the two masts that were lined up in my view.
For any camera geeks reading this -- both of these (and most of my pictures from the trip) were taken with my Canon 20D and Tamron 200-500mm lens. The EXIF information from the first shot is: focal length 277mm, aperture f/9, exposure 1/800, ISO 100. The second: focal length 359mm, aperture f/10, exposure 1/800, ISO 100. (Both images are cropped moderately to improve composition, then reduced in resolution a whole bunch to post on the web.)
Although I didn't take more pictures of them, I was pleased to see at least two more wind farms on my way home through Iowa. Wind energy can't solve all of our problems, but it seems like a no-brainer that we should have a lot more wind power than we do; every kilowatt hour from wind is one less from coal.