For the first day of Autumn, I offer two shots of the same scene.
Along the upper limit of the Quabbin are two ponds….The Spectacles-North and South. Seen on a map they appear, at least to someone’s imagination, as a pair of spectacles.
Screen capture from Google Maps
The water is actually much more widespread in South Spectacle Pond than seen in the map…all that area with no trees is really water, but rather shallow, I guess…or maybe the Google Mapsmobile came by during a severe drought. There are some small islands with various wetland plants that flood during higher water in the Spring.
Adding a little length to the glass yielded a nice taste for what is to come as the days pass through the season.
I’ve learned of a spot where Fringed Gentian was blooming a week ago. I can’t get there until this Saturday, but I will go and hope some are still fresh and lovely.
I’m tired…can you tell? 🙂
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Fancy someone spray-painting @ Stephen Gingold up the side of a tree – must be a gang 🙂
I like the wider view very much. The map was also a helpful addition. Good luck in the hunt for Fringed Gentian this weekend.
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No gang, Rod. That was my way of marking my spot so other photographers could sniff the tree and know I was there. 🙂
I am not sure which you mean. The first is the wider image but I think you mean the second?
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No the first. I like them both, but prefer the full vista and framing of the first
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Cool. Thanks, Rod.
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Dig those fallish colors.
Good luck with your quest: if you succeed you’ll be the gentian gent.
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Or the gentian giant.
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I like the high and then the low perspectives.
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It only took a few steps to change the perspective as I was on a steep slope. Thanks, Jim.
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Fall colours are just wonderful as you’ve shown. I am loving the sights, sounds and smells of our fall.
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It’s hard to choose a favorite season, Lyle. There is the rebirth we experience in Spring, but Autumn is so beautiful.
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I like the close-up, but then I like my feet wet 🙂
The first shot reminds me of something I heard some years ago, about a series of circular bogs in a line, that someone thought might have been from meteors hitting. ??? Does that sound familiar at all? It was years ago, and my memory is not as sharp as it once was.
Hope you get to see some gentians! There were some in bloom today at Illinois Beach State Park. They are always such a lovely surprise.
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I am afraid that I don’t, Melissa. But I am also afraid that my memory is much worse than yours.
Thanks! I will definitely share them if I am lucky enough to capture a couple.
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It all looks so peaceful. Are there many birds there? I imagine that there must be. I hope the genetians are ready and waiting for you on Saturday 😀
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Surprisingly it is peaceful, Lottie. It’s next to a highway but the traffic is pretty light.
Thanks!
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Beautiful light in those last two shots. Is that naturally polarized? Maybe you had a polarizer on .. but I can imagine that the effect is natural as well. There are times, usually during the fall, and usually on a cloudy day, and usually toward the end-of-the-day, when sun will cut through an opening in the clouds and brilliantly illuminate the tree line and set the reds and oranges aglow in just the way you have recorded here. Also, I repeat something I mentioned in one or another comment the other day, and that is that I never seem to have the camera with me when the most dramatic shots present themselves. Why is that? I do have a point-and-shoot in the compartment of the truck … but it doesn’t do as well as the DSLR. What’s a person to do? Finally, I knew of the Spectacle Lakes but, stupid me, never made the connection to Spectacles? It’s amazing what I don’t know and what I never made sense of. D
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I was using a polarizer to control the glare on the water and leaves with the added effect that it deepened the blue so the clouds stood out better. As far as the point and shoot….the best camera you have is the one that’s with you. I’ve been pleased with a few of the shots I got with the S95. It has the benefit of shooting RAW files. So not the camera my 5D2 is but still capable of something worth sharing.
It’s interesting that you know of the Spectacle Ponds. As far as what you know and don’t know….”There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”. And in case you need the reference…Donald Rumsfeld 🙂
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Ha … I liked the quote. I agree with your opinion of the trusty point-n-shoot. As I said, I have mine with me most of the time. It allows me to get so many seat-of-the-pants shots that I’ve considered getting a new one. One, like your s95, records RAW files. We’re due to some rain overnight … so, what else is new? D
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Fringed Gentian eh? Now that will be a weekend prize and a half. Play hookey and go now.
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I wish I could, Andrew. Too much backed up as vacation approaches.
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Your search for the fringed gentian tickles me. I have a friend in Kansas who spent all of one winter looking for the one snowy owl that seemed to have picked east central Kansas as its wintering grounds. He kept getting phone calls and emails and facebook posts saying, “It’s here! It’s there!” Off he’d go. He never did find it, but he made it plain that anyone who showed up at his house with a photo of the bird wasn’t getting a single beer. Not one.
Speaking of Kansas, the similarity between these colors and the bottomlands of the tallgrass prairie in fall is wonderful.
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I can understand his devotion to seeing the owl. I am not quite so spiteful about someone else getting a picture though. 🙂 I may have some success Saturday, unless they have all faded away.
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Those aiutumn colors get me every time. Noting is better than fall weather, the flowers that bloom, and the colors. My cat is back and now is resting on my typing hand. She is so spoiled. 🙂 So sorry that the cat is totally irrelevant to the post. 🙂
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Nope, Yvonne. Your cat is most welcome to take part in the discussion. 🙂
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Hee- hee. I bet she would if only she could talk which sometimes she attempts. Those different sounding meows all mean something to my cats especially the ones that I hand raised. I’m there mama. 🙂
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