I’ve been crossing the river here for a number of years and always wished for better light to make an image. I decided not to wait for better light and do a black and white. Not a bad idea as the water is quite brown lately with mud and silt. I liked that the elderberry was flowering along with a few other shrubs with white flowers.
The Fort River travels through Amherst and Hadley eventually emptying into the Connecticut. There had been beavers here, but the dam just below the bridge has deteriorated meaning they are no longer in residence. There is nothing nearby to be threatened by the rising water they would maintain so I doubt that they were removed. Maybe the water quality was no longer suitable.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
A very nice B&W of the river below. I can see all those elderberry booming. Do you know some folks pick the berries to cook with, make jam/jelly and or wine which is said to be really good?
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Thanks, Yvonne.
Yes, I did know that. We have elderberry growing in the yard…you’ll see one of its denizens soon…but I’ve always left the berries for our birds.
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I’ll have to admit that when water is brown, converting to black and white can be a good idea.
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I have to admit…the first thing that crossed my mind as I read your comment was…If the water is yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down…from our old water conservation crisis of about 35 years ago.
Actually, I didn’t find the brown all that unattractive, but had thought of this as a monochrome image for a while so the brown water just encouraged me a little. I may post a color version later on.
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I wasn’t so sure, until I enlarged the image. The detail is great — I especially like the reflections. During our recent flooding, I’ve seen some images done in sepia, too. Our water’s so ugly right now either black and white or sepia can only improve things.
Speaking of brown water: down here, it’s a colloquial term for whiskey and bourbon. I don’t like either, but right now I’d choose a drink of whiskey over our bay water.
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The detail looks even better at full resolution, Linda. It does get a little “muddied” when being compressed into a small jpeg for the web.
I do imagine that with all the stormy weather you’ve had the water would be a touch unattractive. Probably full of stuff that shouldn’t be in it too.
Brown water is an interesting term for those beverages.
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Very pleasing Steve. I often struggle with this sort of image in B&W, perhaps because I like stronger contrasts. It is a lovely composition and the reflections crystal clear – it doesn’t look muddy at all.
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It was tempting to boost the contrast, Andrew. I approached that by moving the ACR sliders for white and black until they just indicated a max point and then backed off just a bit. But I left the rest of the contrast more or less as was. Thanks.
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