My photographic style centers on the use of natural light to visualize emotion and evoke memory. The evolution of my style began early in the year 2002, with an imperative to capture personal and fleeting memories.
My son and I traveled to New York City, to view the first Saint Patrick's Day parade after September 11, 2001. My work from that parade was so successful and satisfying (see "New York Fire Department, Saint Patrick's Day 2002") I just never stopped.
The Erie Barge Canal significantly influenced New York’s history, particularly impacting Cayuga Lake and Ithaca. The canal, which extended to the Cayuga-Seneca canal, transformed Ithaca into a prosperous community due to shipping and salt production industries. Today, despite its shift from industrial uses to a leisure and educational haven, the canal’s cultural and economic legacy remains indelible on the town and lake.
In Ithaca, a local artist made a bridge over Cayuga Lake Inlet their canvas, painting an eccentric wizard, dubbed Alphazar, in urban attire and a range of emotions. Reactions range from surprise to contemplation, giving the bridge a surprising hotspot quality. Increasing ivy coverage sparks thoughts of nature reclaiming the urban area. This art piece reiterates the spontaneous nature of humor and art.
Fillmore Glen State Park in Moravia, New York, offers a changing landscape that serves as a living canvas, with the ironically named Dry Creek feeding its lush greenery. The ebb and flow of water from the creek creates a dynamic setting. Seasons dramatically alter the scenery, from tranquil springs to vibrantly colored autumns, beautifully captured through fine art photography.
An evening at Cayuga Lake Inlet, home to the Cornell University Crew, is depicted as a serene haven for reflection. The Collyer Boathouse, vital to the local lore, sits across the inlet holding a rich history of crew camaraderie and competition.
As the sun dipped lower, casting its farewell in hues of amber and soft gold, Pam and I stood beside the serene Cayuga Lake Inlet, gazing westward. The stillness of the evening was a quiet symphony, punctuated only by the gentle lapping of water against the shore. It was November 5th, and the world seemed to hold its breath in the golden hour, that perfect moment minutes before the sun would bid its final adieu for the day.
Above us, the sky was a canvas of nature’s delicate brushwork – the Cirrus fibratus. These high-altitude clouds, ethereal and wispy, stretched across the sky like strands of silken thread. The cirrus clouds, the feathery remnants of far-travelled storms, are the poets of the atmosphere, telling tales of weather yet to come. Their presence was both a testament to the day’s tranquility and a harbinger of change looming on the horizon.
Taken with the Apple IPhone 14 ProMax, raw format
Cloud Lore
Cirrus fibratus clouds, in their striated splendor, often signal the approach of a warm front and are associated with the shifts in weather patterns. As we stood there, the clouds seemed to be etching the sky with messages in a cryptic script, hints of the coming days. These clouds, so high in the sky, are formed from ice crystals, and their very existence speaks of the coldness of the upper atmosphere, as the days down here by the lake inlet lengthen towards the winter solstice.
The days of early November, with their crisp air and the promise of winter, bring a change in the light, a deepening of colors, and a certain clarity to the world. The skies seem grander, a vast dome of ever-changing artistry, and the Cirrus fibratus are our guides to the imminent transformation. They remind us that the earth is tilting away from the sun in our hemisphere, pulling us into the cooler seasons.
Eternal Change
These cirrus formations, while signaling the shifts in weather, also play with the light of the lengthening days. The sun’s rays, ever lower on the horizon, catch the ice crystals, creating a prism effect that can result in sundogs, those bright spots of light that occasionally grace the sky at solar dawn or dusk. They add a mystical quality to the already enchanted time of day.
As the twilight deepened, the Cirrus fibratus began to glow with the sun’s final touch, turning from white to shades of pink and fiery orange. This spectacle was a gentle reminder of the passage of time, the cycles of nature, and the endless dance between the earth and the sun. The clouds foretold of cooler weather, perhaps a sign that we should cherish these last vestiges of autumnal warmth.
As night began to embrace the sky, the clouds slowly faded from our sight, but the memory of their beauty and the secrets they carried lingered. They are not just ice and air; they are messengers, carrying the stories of the atmosphere from one part of the world to another, connecting us with the rhythms of the earth in their ceaseless journey.
Signs and Wonders
In the coming days, we would watch the sky, taking note of the cirrus and the subtle cues they offered. Would there be rain, a storm, or perhaps a clear day that belies the cold snap in the air? Only time would tell, but for now, we stood in silent appreciation of nature’s grace, feeling the profound connection to the world around us that only a sunset watched together can bring.
The first week of November 2023 I posted a series of photographs from Fillmore Glen from the Canon 5D Mark IV. Today, I present a series of photographs from the same day using the Sony Alpha 700 dslr using a variable 18-200 mm lens.
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In the Thayer Preserve during a dry autumn, Lick Creek forms still pools that act like nature’s mirrors, capturing the autumnal scenery in a breathtaking display of reflection. Scattered maple leaves add depth, disrupting yet enhancing the scene’s tranquility. These pools offer a unique perspective of nature’s beauty, sketching a vivid picture of changing seasons. As the dry season progresses, the mirror-like pools shrink, encapsulating the fleeting beauty of autumn.
In Thayer Preserve, where Lick Creek meanders, a unique spectacle unfolds during a dry autumn. Here, still pools form along the creek, transforming into natural mirrors. These pools capture a moment in time, reflecting an autumnal world above.
The scene is breathtaking. A bright sky, painted in shades of blue, stretches endlessly above. Trees, adorned in brilliant yellow, stand tall, their leaves like nature’s own gold. In these pools, their reflections are so clear, so vivid, it’s as if another world lies just beneath the surface. This is nature’s artistry at its finest, a canvas where the sky meets the earth in a tranquil embrace.
But there’s a twist in this serene tableau. Maple leaves, scattered across the water’s surface, disrupt the mirror-like stillness. They are like brushstrokes on a masterpiece, adding texture and depth. These leaves, once part of the lofty canopy, now rest on the water, each one a reminder of the fleeting nature of beauty. They break the illusion, yet somehow enhance it, adding a touch of reality to this dreamlike scene.
This is a place of contrasts. The still pools contrasts with the dynamic life of the forest. The unbroken reflections contrast with the scattered leaves. It’s as if nature is playing a game of hide and seek with reality, teasing the observer with glimpses of both the real and the reflected world.
In Thayer Preserve, the story of autumn is told not just in the changing leaves but in the waters of Lick Creek. These pools are like nature’s mirrors, reflecting the season’s palette. They offer a different perspective, a view from below, where the sky and trees trade places with their watery twins.
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Lick Brook, Thayer Preserve, still pools become mirrors at low flow during a dry autumn.
As one walks along Lick Creek, the beauty of Thayer Preserve unfolds in these reflective pools. Each step brings a new image, a new blend of sky, tree, and water. It’s like walking through a gallery where nature is the artist, and each pool is a frame capturing a moment of autumnal splendor.
These pools are more than just a feature of the landscape. They are storytellers. They tell of a season of change, of a time when the world dresses in its most vibrant colors before the quiet of winter. They speak of the cycle of life, of leaves that fall to rise again in the reflections.
As autumn progresses and the dry season deepens, these pools will shrink, their reflections fading away. But for now, they are here, holding within them a world of brilliant yellows and blues, a world where the sky lies beneath your feet, and the trees grow upside-down.
This is the magic of Thayer Preserve in autumn. It’s a place where nature plays with perceptions, where reflections create a world as real as it is illusory. Here, on the banks of Lick Creek, the still pools are not just bodies of water. They are windows into another world, a world where nature’s beauty is doubled, and the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 