05.19.2018 The annual PT

Painted Trillium, that is.  🙂

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05.01.2018 Late Winter or Early Spring?

On April 4th, just a few weeks ago, with Spring already two weeks old, we were reminded that the weather no longer meets norms. Now saying that I admit that we occasionally do get snow in April, such as April 6, 1982. We get snowfall in April but not often, so it was a bit of a surprise. Not that big a deal I guess, but at that point we had had our fill of winter and any reminder was unwelcome.  🙂

I shot this same apple tree a few years earlier, almost to the day, during another snowfall.

Well, now that it is Mayday, I feel confident winter has finally left us.  All the snow management paraphernalia will be in the shed this weekend and the mower will come out to be prepared for 6 months of mowing.  I wonder if Bentley would mind a goat brother.  😉

 

04.27.2018 Moody Bridge Oaken Dawn

Yep…I’m still here but not into blogging all that much for a while now.  I enjoyed this morning’s experience  and thought I would share it.

Sometimes things happen that you aren’t expecting and this definitely fits that category.  It was socked in overcast when Bentley and I made our 4 a.m. trip into the backyard, not even a single star was visible, and it seemed the sun would be a no-show.  But for a few minutes some light penetrated the thick clouds and lit the sky.

Happy Spring everybody.  

12.03.2017 The sum of the parts

When I go searching for cascades and waterfalls to photograph, I get especially excited to find some that are a combination of flows from a few directions.  Often, because the water is tumbling  over a variety of rocks, the textures are different making for a pleasing composition.

Dean Brook Cascade.

Whetstone Brook Waterfall.

One of the advantages of shooting woodland water features in the early morning are the slow shutter speeds which make the use of neutral density filters unnecessary to get a nice soft look.  On the other hand, one of the difficulties in shooting woodland water features in the early morning are the slow shutter speeds which make the use of higher ISO values to provide faster exposures needed to retain some detail in the flowing water, especially where it splashes at the bottom.  It really takes a bit of experimentation to find the right combination as the flows vary as well as the light.

 

11.26.2017 Amethyst Brook Waterfall

I haven’t been out much lately as we enter our annual “stick” season of bare trees and grey skies. Those conditions do lend themselves to less spacious landscapes and other more intimate subjects and a woodland waterfall certainly fits and is also a favorite spot to while away some time.

 

09.28.2017 Similar visions

Apparently I like the sun in the upper right.  🙂

July 3, 2017 Brickyard, Amherst, MA

September 10, 2017 North Quabbin from New SalemIn fairness to myself, I do place the sun, or other subjects, elsewhere in my compositions.  But I happened upon these two images while archiving files and noticed the similarity.

09.27.2017 Defying imagination

The insect world is beyond imagination.  Natural selection has created so many different species that I don’t think human artists could even approach duplicating the feat. And, although describing is beyond my intention in this post, their lives are just as varied with strategies beyond anything we might dream up.

The White-marked Tussock Moth caterpillar (Orgyia leucostigma) that I found in Quabbin Park on August 26th is quite an example.This is one of the few cases where I posed an insect.  It was crawling on my camera bag and had to be removed so I could leave.  Naturally I placed it on a leaf and photographed. this cutie.Ain’t Nature grand?  🙂