Ritter Farm Park
Wetlands, Prairie, and Changing Light
Ritter Farm Park gathers several quiet landscape moods into one place: spring wetlands beneath a morning moon, fog over the beaver pond, storm light crossing the meadow, prairie grasses in low sun, woodland trails, and autumn foliage reflected across still water. These photographs follow the park through changing seasons and early-day moments, when weather, shadow, and light can transform familiar paths into something new.
Featured View
Autumn foliage reflects across the still water at Ritter Farm Park, turning the pond into a layered study of color, light, and quiet surface detail.
Autumn Reflection
Calm morning light across the pond.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Settings: ISO 200 • f/18 • 1 s
Image ID: E21A6817 • Size: 6720×3780
Spring Wetlands
Morning light and still reflections mark spring in the wooded hills beyond the old cattails. The moon hangs in a clear spring sky while old cattails, open water, and new woodland growth mark the seasonal shift around the wetland.
Spring Beyond the Cattails
Morning moon above the wetland edge.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Settings: ISO 200 • f/8.0 • 1/500 s
E22A2019 • Size: 6720×4480
Misty Morning
Early autumn mist drifts through the wetlands as morning light begins to emerge.
Taken on a fog-covered morning in early September, these images capture the stillness of Ritter Farm Park before the sun breaks through. The small bridge over a stream feeding Lake Marion gives the mist a path through the frame, while the beaver pond fades into cattails and haze. Together, they convey a moment between night and day — when the park’s wetlands seem to hold their breath in the muted calm of dawn.
Bridge into the Mist
A small bridge softened by morning fog.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Settings: ISO 100 • f/3.2 • 1/160 s
E21A4658 • Size: 2703×1802
Beaver Pond in Morning Fog
Cattails and water plants fading into fog.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Settings: ISO 100 • f/2.8 • 1/160 s
E21A4656 • Size: 4277×2851
Storm Light
Dark clouds, a bright meadow, and a brief rainbow compress the morning’s changing weather into a single arrival view at the edge of the park.
Spring Beyond the Cattails taken only weeks before Storm Light shows the wetland edge still open through last year’s cattails, with the pond visible beyond the reeds. By early summer, new growth had risen high enough to obscure much of the waterline, changing both the view and the feeling of the meadow.
Storm Light
Storm clouds break just enough to send a faint rainbow over the meadow — one of those unexpected greetings that makes the first steps into the park feel spectacular.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Settings: ISO 200 • f/22.0 • 1/125 s
E22A3735 • Size: 6720×4480
Prairie and Woodland Light
Low autumn sun illuminates the prairie and woodland trails in golden light. The wooded trail is edged with fall color and filtered light, creating a sheltered counterpoint to the open prairie.
Captured in the early hours after sunrise, these images show the interplay of light and texture across the prairie and woodland paths of Ritter Farm Park. A shaded trail opens toward bright autumn foliage, while tall grasses and late-season seed heads glow beneath broken clouds. Warm light catches the tall grasses and seed heads, bringing texture and depth to the open meadow beneath broken clouds.
Autumn Trail
Woodland shade opening into morning light.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Settings: ISO 1250 • f/13 • 1/100 s
E21A6528 • Size: 6447×4298
Prairie Grasses in Morning Light
Late-season prairie grasses under low-angle sunlight.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Settings: ISO 800 • f/13 • 1/320 s
E21A6521 • Size: 6720×4480
Photo Notes
The gallery brings together views from Ritter Farm Park in Lakeville, Minnesota, with emphasis on the park’s wetlands, beaver pond, prairie openings, woodland trails, changing weather, and autumn reflections. The images are arranged as a seasonal landscape page rather than a single-morning sequence.