Photos from the Bluff Country of the Mississippi River

Last week I was in the Bluff County of the Mississippi River teaching a photography workshop. This area has a unique geology that feels atypical of the rest of the Midwest. It’s a section of the landscape that wasn’t flattened by the glaciers, so it has many rolling hills, steep valleys, scenic rivers, and towering palisades. It’s also known as the Driftless Area. For photographers, it’s an unknown gem. My group were the only people with tripods at every location that we visited.

The town clock in downtown Dubuque, Iowa.

This is the second time that I’ve run this workshop. In 2019, I based the workshop in Prairie du Chien. This year, I ran it out of Dubuque. Both provided interesting photo opportunities albeit much different. Dubuque is a more developed and urban area in the bluff country, so there were many more urban photo opportunities (and significantly better food. I made sure that we ate at the most Dubuque of Dubuque restaurants and ice cream parlors). I leaned into the urban vibe of the area with visits to Galena and Dubuque. We also detoured to New Vienna to visit what I think is one of Iowa’s most beautiful churches.

The interior of the New Vienna church.

The New Vienna church was built by German settlers and the altar was built in Germany, shipped to Iowa, and then assembled by the settlers in the 1800s. The high ceilings reminds me of churches in Europe. This church not only serves as a place of worship for Christians but also as community center. These rural churches were often among the first buildings built as the settlers built their towns. Back then, they also served as community buildings. One story we heard from a local was that in winter, residents will come to the church and walk laps in order to get their steps in. Having grown up in the area, I recognized the last name of the kind person who gave us the tour, and we compared family histories. She was fun to talk to and gave us the history of the church. They are currently fundraising to repair the windows, which will be the next big project they take to maintain this historic church.

Sunrise over the Mississippi River and Lock and Dam #11

One of my favorite views over the Mississippi River is at Lock and Dam #11. This is the lock and dam where my parents would take me to see eagles in the winter. I wrote about that in my essay Bald Eagles Were Rare Back Then. The ideal conditions for this sunrise is when there’s a clear sky on the horizon. That way you can see the sunburst into a star as it breaks the bluffs on the eastern side of the river. We got that. I will note that we had special permission to access this location for sunrise. The park usually doesn’t open at this time.

A picnic pavilion in the park

The stunning views aren’t the only cool part of Eagle Point Park. The buildings and structures throughout the park are fantastic. They have an interesting Frank Lloyd Wright vibe, because in the 1930s the superintendent admired the work of Wright and built the parks buildings to resemble that vibe. I could spend hours there photographing the buildings in the warm morning light.

A small, artificial waterfall in the koi pond at Eagle Point Park

There aren’t a ton of waterfalls in the Dubuque area, but a few people wanted to learn how to use the Singh-Ray Bryan Hansel Waterfall Polarizer (Save 10% when you use the code: thathansel). And Eagle Point offers a location. It’s the koi pond. The small artificial waterfalls provide a great place to practice using the polarizer.

Dubuque has a ton of great sunrise locations but sunsets are a little harder to find. Luckily, I grew up there and knew about this random location in the middle of nowhere. A few of my other sunset locations that used to have farms have now been converted into subdivisions full of McMansions. I hope that this valley doesn’t suffer the same fate.

This area should become a working national park where the buildings and farmlands are preserved for the owners forever as working farms to provide us inspiration in the beauty of what a farm looks like. The pressure to sell the land must be high as the Dubuque-area expands. I wish there was something that could be done to make it worth keeping the area as farmland instead of the eventual ticky-tacky houses to the horizon.

Anyway, here’s the stunning sunset that we witnessed. Many cars were pulling over to photograph it and the owners of the surrounding houses were out watching it as well.

Farm buildings and a rolling hill valley during sunset

The sunrises in this area are always amazing. This is probably the most stunning view in all of Iowa and the surrounding area. I usually shoot this shot and include the farms in the valley below, but I used a 400mm lens to show the ridges and the distant Platte Mound. There was just enough haze in the sky to catch the yellow morning light and cause it to veil across the landscape.

The ridges and the distance Platte Mound covered in a yellow sunrise haze and veil.

Until next time

The Bluff Country of the Mississippi River is so beautiful. I can’t wait to get back and do more exploring in the area. You think that having grown up there that I would have found everything, but I only touched the surface. If there’s enough interest, I’d run this workshop again in the future. Let me know.

I’ll leave you with a sunrise view over the Mississippi River and see you again in two weeks.

The main channel of the Mississippi River heads north under a sliver of sunrise.