For my birthday I just wanted to get outside and away from the apartment. Unable to drive and my birthday falling on a weekday this year, didn't lend to getting out. However, my wonderful husband did take us outside and away the preceding weekend! It was an adventure for sure! With gas prices soaring we've been opting to stay local if we venture out at all. My husband remembered a Preserve with a trail to hike we had passed by the year before on Otisco Lake so we opted to do that after lunch. I vaguely recalled reading that the trail to the lake was steep, so I planned to grab my hiking poles from the back of the car. Upon arriving my husband and I grabbed our camera gear. My camera bag doesn't have a space for a water bottle but my new purse does so I decided to take that with me too. While I was getting that my husband set his camera on the ground to help our son clean up a bunch of cans strewn about. Just then another party of hikers showed up and started backing up to park. I noticed and right away dashed over to rescue the heavy camera and lens. They apologized but honestly how could they see it on the ground. I held the heavy beast while my husband climbed back over the rail and put the cans in the the car. He locked up, I handed him his camera and we all three headed down the trail. It started gradually and then quickly turned to to a series of steep switchbacks. Half way down I remembered my hiking poles, which were still in the car. Rain had been predicted to start at about 5pm so we just hurried to the bottom. We could hear tiny waterfalls trickling around us on our hike but only one was visible. I figured I would try to photograph it on the way up. The other party had beaten us down to the small landing area on the lake. We enjoyed a brief visit and they enjoyed skipping stones on the water with our son. My legs felt weak after the climb down so I sat to rest on a log washed ashore. Most of the lake was still covered in ice but the edges had started melting. From my low perch I looked up and saw an Eagle fly from a huge nest. Of course I had the wrong lens on and by the time I switched the Eagle was long gone. From what the kind folks we met said the trail is often closed due to the pair nesting and this was a rare opportunity for them. As we chatted the clouds grew and pushed closer. They decided to head back to the car. I switched lenses and continued to try to capture some great shots, including some macros of shells in the shallows. As I was doing that it began to sprinkle. There was a cabin with a tree that had orange leaf buds in the distance jutting out into the lake that just screamed take my picture with those moody clouds and so I did. The rain was starting to come down a bit more than a sprinkle so I put my gear away. It was just a little after 3pm We headed up the stairs and the rain started pelting. It only took a moment for my husband and child to disappear before me. It was the wrong trail to do after a whole winter doing nothing. My legs were really weak in the steepness. I had to keep stopping to catch my breathe, I was trying hard to not have to use my inhaler. My eyes kept scanning the edges of the trail looking for a stick or branch to use as a walking stick. About half way up I finally found one to use! It was actually a bit too heavy but my legs were too weak and heavy or not it was my only option. The rain seemed to just come down harder and harder and the steepness of the rather short trail made it seem endless. When finally the ground seemed to flatten the car was still further away around the bend than I remembered. I was completely soaked. Then finally I rounded the last bend and saw my husband had moved the car right next to the trail head. Boy, was I ever grateful! While the hike back was unpleasant it was an adventure to remember, of course I won the wet tee shirt contest.. As we drove away the rain stopped. I wish I could have captured the fog rolling up from the lake on the other side but there was no where to pull over. Trust me it was beautiful. We need to return in better shape and remember the hiking poles! As we headed over to check on our property a huge rainbow streaked across the sky! I tried to capture it from the car on my phone. Then it disappeared as we dipped into the valley.
Please be sure to explore the available prints and gifts linked in the tab above as I have been busy switching out the photos to provide new options. I hope you like them! It was hard to come up with a title for this week's blog. It is a little different from my usual content but also a follow up to a blog I wrote several weeks ago. Between the freeze and thaws, my son and I have been cleaning up around the apartment complex. We picked trash up around the pond, a total of four big heavy bags so far. Trust me when I say there is still a "ton" more to clean up. The lawn crew just mows over everything so I thought to clean up before they start would be helpful. Earth day is coming up and I urge you to invest in work gloves and some trash bags and join us in this quest in your own neighborhood or natural area. We should consider everyday Earth day and do our part in cleaning up and consider ways to reduce the amount of trash we produce. It would be nice to eliminate waste completely but I don't believe that possible. I have seen many commercials about the "war on plastic" and how it is filling our oceans. It is not just our oceans that plastics are polluting but our lakes, forests, mountain trails, backyards, roadsides and ponds too! How many videos have you seen with animals trapped in buckets or with their head caught or tangled in trash. I applaud the folks who are able to come to their rescue but admire those who refuse to be the cause of such accidents. Don't get me wrong, accidents happen. When cleaning up around the pond we collected quite a few plastic containers animals could get trapped in. Drink containers were the number one item we picked up. Smashed beer and soda cans, Gatorade and water bottles carelessly lining the pond and woods. I imagine most people who read my blog already do this but if not invest in reusable BPA free water bottles and use them! Don't set them down in the woods and walk away put them in your pack, strap them to a belt or your wrist, wash and reuse! I know what you're about to say get off your high horse and click away, but it really does matter. Someday if things don't change the only mountains to photograph will be those made of trash, maybe not in my life time but very possible in our great grandchildren's future. Small changes like this are so important that many of our national parks offer water bottle refill stations, no charge! I think that is awesome and would love to soon see that option at all of them! So when you head out for the day don't forget your water bottle and bring it back with you! Metal insulated ones can even help regulate your beverages temperature too! Water bottles come in many fun designs and stickers are being made to be used on water bottles. You can have fun and customize your own. Sticker options are available many places but if you order some from my gift shop I would be forever grateful. I have made it a goal of mine to reduce the amount of plastic we use, especially after learning most of what I put in the recycle bin isn't getting recycled. Many products are refused due to chemical reactions between the product and the plastic. Here I thought I was doing good by recycling all these years. Can you see the big sad face? A few years ago I had trouble with my hair falling out. It turns out there were multiple causes for it but one was the sulfates in the shampoos. In my quest to find sulfate free shampoos and conditioners I came across Ethique which is a bar that you rub on your wet hair, scrub and rinse. I actually get it via an Amazon subscription but you can order it direct from the company.. It took a little while to get used too but is totally plastic free and the thin cardboard can be recycled. Another bonus of bar shampoo is that it is very easy to travel with, no problems stepping on the plane since it is not liquid or metal! I have not been able to find bar shampoos or conditioners in stores yet, but a simple internet search can lead to many options to choose from and order. I may link a few resources under in my Facebook comment section if you follow me on there.
I have also changed to using laundry sheets recently. The one I am currently trying out is Kind laundry and can be found at https://www.kindlaundry.com/. I actually just bought it off Amazon for a few pennies less. I couldn't wait to try it out, guess I'm getting old. Anyways so far the clothes seem brighter! There are many different places and formulations of laundry sheets. The top and most expensive is True Earth, another popular one is Earth Breeze an I also looked into a Minnesota based Company called Good Hands which supports protecting the boundary waters! I chose to try Kind because it doesn't have a lot of sulfates and the ingredients can be found on its listing page. Price wise it was in the middle when compared to the above companies. One thing I love about the idea of these sheets is that they are light weight and easy to pack if you are traveling! Not every laundromat has sample size detergent for sale anymore. I recall our trip to Montana we took years ago the I wound up buying a regular bottle of detergent to wash just three loads. We couldn't pack it home with us so I left it for someone else to use. Powders can be messy to especially if the lid should pop off during travel. Just a though to consider. Another way to cut down on plastic that I have yet to try is to use reusable bottles for your cleaning agents, like dish soap, counter cleansers and bathroom cleansers. I have looked into Blueland and love their concept of a "forever bottle" that you fill with water and then just drop a cleansing tab (comes paper wrapped) into the bottle and voila you have cleanser and only one bottle! However, I have read a lot of reviews about either the bottles or the sprayer breaking which defeats the purpose. Good Hands offer a similar option and I am sure if I dug deeper I could find more options. I wish I had thought of that when I had to throw everything in my bathroom out last fall, but I will use up the cleaners I have now then switch. If you have any more "plastic free" or "planet saving" ideas please share in the comments! I would love to hear your suggestions! After the thaw came an artic blast blanketing New York in snow again just as I was starting to see tiny buds on the trees. Yes, buds the weekend of the thaw was that warm, but it had not succeeded in melting all of the ice. We experienced several more days of cold and then the temperatures slowly began to rise. . My son wanted to go outside to play one evening so we did. His father arrived home and the boy went running. I however, turned around to notice a pair of muskrats having dinner next to a hole in the ice on the pond. I quickly and quietly went inside and retrieved my camera and long lens. They were still just dots in the distance so I very quietly walked the old trail around the pond until I was just across from them and made my way down the bank and across a swampy area to get a closer look. It was the almost perfect spot. The light was in the wrong place and instead of getting some semi-cute mammals my test photo showed two fat black dots. I rejoined the guys for a few more minutes of precious fresh air before going inside to make dinner. The next morning we awoke to snow covering everything again but the sky was blue. It was pretty. Much better than cold, gray and brown. It was even a bit cheery. I however am ready for warmer temperatures and more time outside in the fresh air. My son and I grabbed our camera, trudged through the snow. We took photos of the trees still tucked in their blankets around the iced over pond. We discussed composition and angles a moment for art class and then took some actual photos. My best shot is displayed at the top About a week later I decided for my son's art class we would go outside and do some more nature photography since he now seems interested. It was warmer and the snow was gone. There was still ice on the pond but it was melting. First we listened to the birds and tried to locate them. There were a few in branches of the hedgerow but a clean shot was impossible then high above I noticed a mourning dove greeting the morning. We continued to walk over to the pond and observed four muskrats having breakfast around the big hole in the ice. I raised my camera as one disappeared into the water. They were still quite a ways out. I pointed them out to my boy and we very quietly tip toed back to the spot that I had last seen them in the light of the setting sun. This time the sunlight was coming from the opposite direction and it was glorious. We carefully made our way down to the edge trying not to snap twigs and avoiding getting too wet. Only one muskrat was still up. We quietly raised our cameras and photographed it eating before it too disappeared. My son was upset when it dove into the depths of the pond. I quietly whispered to him, " Wait quietly, they will be back with more to eat." He squirmed a little but was really good. After a minute or two another muskrat appeared on the ice with more vegetation to feast on. A moment later it's mate appeared beside it. We observed the muskrats for about twenty minutes. Once they had all disappeared and I knew I couldn't keep a seven year old quiet for much longer it was time to go in and review our shots and get started with the dreaded language arts (he hates writing anything). It was great fun photographing wild animals with my son. He enjoyed shooting the trees too. For a beginner he has quite an eye, than again both of his parents are photographers. There is a rumor that one is distantly related to Ansel Adams so he could be great some day, you never know. I think my mom would say they are so ugly they're cute. I hope you enjoyed the muskrat show as much as we did in photographing them. Wildlife photography is a thrill. The next morning we saw a sure sign of spring which I will drop below.
Just a reminder prints are available at Julie-Metott.pixels.com and will be switched out quarterly or by request if you see something you love just message or email me. A variety of gifts and household goods are also available. The link can also be found in the navigation bar Thank you and until next week enjoy spring!. While the weather can't seem to make up it's mind I temporarily escaped to enjoy nature! I even dug out my camera. I was bad and requested a trip that is about a fifteen minute drive from the apartment. The weather was warm enough for me to venture outside so we drove over and hiked to the quarter mile path to Tinker Falls. Tinker Falls often freezes nearly solid in the winter. Many years ago my husband and donned proper attire for hiking on the ice and managed to climb up to and behind the falls. It was magical. I know I wrote a blog about it but that is long gone as it was over decade ago now. This day although much of the waterfall was frozen, it was flowing. So the folks who hiked up and behind it were lucky to not get impaled by the thawing stalagmites of ice. I started off using my nifty fifty lens and then switched to the Irix 150 f2.8 macro lens to try to capture more of the details of the ice even though I couldn't get up close myself. The colors and different patterns were a bit mesmerizing. While the air was brisk it smelled so good! As we hiked backed to the car I stopped to shoot some ice that had formed on the bottom of a fallen tree. I almost think that was more exciting to photograph than Tinker Falls itself. The variation of colors and and textures pulled at me. I guess some logs do have teeth, if you want to have a bit of fun. Is this a giant creek shark? Look at the rows of ice teeth! The hike was very brief and I was not ready to go back to the apartment. So we stopped at Labrador Hollow Unique Area just around the corner. We visit here often as it is a nice place nearby to hike. Our son did not want to walk the boardwalk so we took the trail through the woods that goes past a large vernal pond. I grabbed my camera and a couple of lenses. Turns out I only used the nifty fifty. The sun was hovering just above the hills when we started into the woods at the edge of a field. There are some really neat trees along the trail and the light was just right to try to gather up my "inner Adam Gibbs." Adam Gibbs is a nature photographer who loves photographing trees and landscapes on YouTube. I loved the way the trees lined the trail and the mix of curves and colors they displayed in the last bit light. I didn't care that I was being left behind by my family. This was a creators playground and to wait would mean to lose the perfect light. All my shots were handheld as I opted not to lug the tripod with me. Who knows maybe it was a mistake, anyways it was a small moment of glory. I escaped the cage and was free if only for a moment. I wonder what those trees were whispering about. I imagine they were saying" look at the crazy photographer. She thinks she can properly shoot us with a 50mm lens, she should be using the wide angle lens. Ahh, well, I'm sure I will get another chance since it is of course my son's favorite hiking trail. Often times you think you have managed a great shot only to find out it is not. Sometimes the vice versa it true too. With gas prices so high and the huge task of finding and affording a home at hand we won't be traveling much. The next day we stayed at the apartment. The weather was glorious outside and I was going completely stir crazy. I grabbed the camera and walked outside to the pond I photographed the plant life in the pond through a hole in the melting ice with the macro lens. Then I found an orange leaf on the ice to play with. I am not impressed with how those photos turned out. Walking around the pond I found footprints of a creature embedded in ice. I am going to guess they are muskrat prints based on knowing a pair lives here. Then I walked around the pond a bit more and discovered photographic gold! It would be a macro shot. The moment did not last long as few gusts of wind rocked the water the bubbles under the ice escaped and popped. Still it was pretty cool to capture nature made bubbles under the ice! What do you think? Leave a comment below!
As I mentioned in my last blog, my son wanted to go camping for his birthday. This thought absolutely delighted me. Unfortunately we would have to cut it short as other family members wanted to do a small party for him. We made the best of it that we could. Now one of the biggest challenges was in finding a spot to camp as almost all campgrounds were closed and many of the free sites we visit were gated. After some research I came up with a few ideas to try. We drove up into the Adirondacks Saturday morning and struck out at the first two ideas but then we found a great site near water. No I am not going to reveal the location other than between Eagle Bay and Raquette Lake. The boy was excited to be out in the woods again! Once we picked a site we set up our tent and discovered holes in the screen. The holes had been made by a miscreant chipmunk people had previously fed from last year. That is what we believe happened because I swear I heard it trying to climb on the tent that night. We set up anyway and hoped the cool weather would keep the bugs at bay.. (I did reach out to Eureka about mending the tent when we got home. After some miscommunication they fixed the tent for free!) Once everything was set up we explored the area on foot. After exploring it was cookout time with hot dogs, hamburgers and pasta salad. There is nothing quite like a burger cooked over an open fire. My husband tended the fire while I took sometime to shoot the setting sun over the big pond below our site. My son grabbed a lantern and followed me down. He happily floated boats (sticks and leaves) while I tried to compose the perfect scene. I even photographed the very soon to be birthday boy on his last evening of being a six year old. It was quiet and serene, the air was clean. Then when it started to get quite dark I photographed one of the lanterns next to the water. With sun gone we climbed the hill back up to camp where a warm fire greeted us. It was perfect for roasting smores and gazing at the stars! It was a very, very cold night. The boy seemed to sleep okay. I couldn't quite get warm enough and neither could my husband. I should have packed the big double zero degree bag but I was not sure if I would have to hike to our campsite, which thankfully we did not . Let's just say when we got up the fire was rekindled and the kettle was put on to boil. It was exciting to have hot cocoa for breakfast! Once the boy was awake and cleaned up I gave him his birthday present. Not overly exciting but he had been wanting his own adult size camp chair in bright red! Daddy of course had an even more exciting gift for him at home that he would open after his second round of cake and ice cream! Once we were sufficiently warmed up we grabbed the cameras and hit the mysterious hiking trail across the road from our tent site. It seemed to join another trail and a few spurs seemed to join to that trail. We had followed one spur the day before to a pretty pond with a floating dock. Sadly the few photos I took did not turn out as the dock had moved with every footfall. So we let the birthday boy pick the direction and whenever he got whiny and wanted to turn around one of us would point out something ahead and ask what is that. The whining would cease and he would race to see the next discovery. Turns out the woods were filled with broken down motor boats! They lined the path on both sides! Then we came across a small pond and when I looked down the trail i thought I could see a lake and a small town. This renewed the child and we wound up hiking all the way to Raquette Lake from our campsite. The Raquette Lake Navigation company had their big tour boat docked on the lake.. Our son naturally wanted to go on a cruise but the crew was busy painting and mending the boat for the busy summer season. Maybe someday we will get a tour of the lake. We walked on a little further, and took a short rest on the shore of the lake. Then the boys booked it back to camp as I hobbled after them. The tendonitis in my feet had flared quite badly. They did stop and wait for me at the turn off before beating me back to camp. Once there we packed up camp being very careful not to leave any trace of our visit. Then it was off to celebrate with family. He absolutely loved camping. I wonder what he will request this year and if we will be able to make it happen.
Back in 2020 I received a macro lens for Christmas, which was a bit of a blessing for it gave me a new area of photography to explore. Welcome to a whole new and challenging realm of photography! Well, the year 2021 only had two great adventures. One obviously being the two weeks in which we traveled to Wyoming to visit a few National Parks. The other was a quick over night camping trip in the Adirondacks for our son's birthday. The rest of my time was being stranded here at the apartment complex or trying to tame the two acres of land my husband owns but can't afford to build on. So when I wasn't busy homeschooling and doing all things domestic I broke out that new lens and scoured the yard for something to photograph close up! So Mama's new toy is the Irix 150mm Macro! This is a fully manual lens. The aperture opens all the way up to f2.8 so it is a light sucking monster, I mean that in a good way! Through this macro lens I able to view world's within worlds or so you could say. I recall photographing a daisy while trying to get the focus right, I noticed a fly and a teeny tiny white spider. The spider, despite being much smaller than the fly was winning the battle of life over death and all this played out on the pretty Daisy! Never having noticed white spiders before I did a Google search and discovered that this was a White Crab Spider. It's color is the perfect camouflage for living on a Daisy. Now I know why my Mom wasn't overly thrilled when I brought home wildflowers for her. Can you see the smile on the spider's face? As you know I love wildlife photography, but never really considered the fact that you don't always need a long focal length to do so. You can capture some pretty wild wildlife with a macro lens. For example an entomologist would love this Irix 150mm f2.8 lens. I have seen other photographers with a love of entomology on Instagram make gorgeous photos of insects but there are other wild critters to photograph in which a macro lens would be quite handy It rained a lot here on the east coast last year. When it rains the slugs come out to play! Okay, so maybe slugs are kind of icky and very sticky but I thought they made for some interesting photography and entertainment for the kid.. I found a slug stuck on a daisy! Other great creatures worthy of macrophotography are mollusks like snails, amphibians such as newts, toads and frogs. This idea delights my son! He loved being my assistant catching my subject and putting it back whenever it decided to hop away. Yes, his walls are covered in pictures of frogs and toads! One of the biggest challenges I faced was getting my subject perfectly focused. As a nature photographer I work outside where the wind blows and most of my macro subjects were either flying or swaying on a leaf! My other challenge was I typically did not use my tripod, which ironically was usually in the car. The same car my husband takes to work with him everyday. Hopefully I will get more use out of my tripod this year. I did delete a lot of blunders but hey there is learning curve to everything. You might say that I would be better off with an autofocus lens for macro, but I disagree. Do you know how frustrating it is when your autofocus just keeps continually trying to focus! With manual I found if I could get close to full focus and then wait for the moment that the wind or breeze would stop or slow a moment I could lock in focus, wait for the next opportunity and then bang, bang bang! At least one of the shots would be just right! One day my son's frisbee went into the bushes but he refused to go get it. "Mama, Mama, come quick, there's red bugs and ticks all over!" I am glad he did not retrieve the frisbee on his own. We have had to pull too many ticks off of him, including from inside his very deep belly button! Once I calmed him down and took a few photos of the mysterious red bugs, I did a Google search to identify them. I did not study entomology but evidently these are red aphids. I could see a few ticks too. Sometimes I photograph unpleasant things just to learn about them.
In few images I took there was what I thought was a tiny bee hovering over the flowers. It was actually very pretty so I thought. Unsure of what it was exactly I shared a photo in a Facebook group asking if anyone could identify it. All answers revealed that it was a Hover Fly. I tried to take photos of an ant colony too but that was gross so I deleted most of those photos. I will however leave you with a half dozen pretty flowers in hopes that spring will arrive soon! |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
Categories
|