Author: MichaelStephenWills

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.

Desert Color

Wildflowers on Dutchman Trail

September 21, 2022October 3, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

Those cliffs above the Dutchman Trail (in red from the push pin “Dutchman Terrapin Trail Junction”) climb 670 feet in 0.2 mile. Fifteen minutes after starting I stopped to photograph a group of wildflowers.

Terrapin Trail to White Rock Spring on Dutchman Trail

The bright yellow flowers on right are a member of the pea (Fabaceae) family named Wright’s Deervetch (Acmispon wrightii) I am able to pick it out from many similar flowers due to the characteristic narrow leaves with small hairs. These start out yellow, turning to red with age eventually forming brown seed pods. Mexican Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica) to the right.

The small white flowers are Chickweed (Minuartia macrantha) of the family Carnation (Caryophyllaceae).

Click Me for the next Superstition Wilderness post, “Ominous Splendor.”

Connecticut Hill Retrospective

September 20, 2022September 14, 2022 MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

Connecticut Hill Autumn View with Cayuta Lake

Click to view this series on Getty.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Connecticut Hill Autumn

dramatic sky

September 19, 2022September 14, 2022 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Connecticut Hill from Harvey Hill Road on a late October afternoon. Newfield of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.

Click to view this series on Getty.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Autumn Fields, Finger Lakes

Hay Bales!!

September 18, 2022September 14, 2022 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

The land opens up on the slopes of Connecticut Hill, Newfield of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.

Click to view this series on Getty.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Bluff Spring Mountain Canyon

A Meeting of Expedition Members and Trails

September 17, 2022October 3, 2022 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Here is the topographic map with Terrapin Trail (yellow) meeting Dutchman Trail (orange) to the right of Upper Black Top Mesa Pass, bottom center

The beetling cliffs off Bluff Spring Mountain loom over where Terrapin and Dutchman trails meet. Patches of yellow are Mexican Poppies blooming on the talus slope. Terrapin Trail climbs the ridge, to right. Here is where I caught up with mounted expedition members, the spotted rump of an Appaloosa figures prominently next to the signpost.

Terrapin Trail almost immediately starts a climb up to an eponymous pass between Bluff Springs Mountain and Weavers Needle. From here, it is the best way into the mountain. The trail name is a misnomer, as terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) turtle habitat is near the ocean. There is a desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) you might encounter during the rainy season as they are otherwise inactive.

Click Me for another posting from Black Top Mesa

Al at Terrapin and Dutchman trails. His Appaloosa is enjoying fresh grass.

Click me for the next Superstition Wilderness post, “Desert Color.”

Monarch Ready to Fly

Five wait off stage for their turn to fly.

September 16, 2022September 13, 2022 MichaelStephenWills1 Comment

This Monarch butterfly emerged from the chrysalis a few moments ago. A minimum of two hours is required for the wings to harden before release to the wild.

Five wait off stage for their turn to fly.

Rainy weather forced us to leave her resting a full 24 hours.

Here are two videos of a Monarch release from 2020.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Bluff Spring Mountain

A Storied Place

September 15, 2022October 4, 2022 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

As we descended Upper Black Top Mesa Pass into Bluff Spring Mountain canyon we found, foreground, Palo Verde and brittle bush, and, midground, Saguaro. The presence of Palo Verde reveals water flows through this area intermittently though not enough to sustain a large tree. Palo Verde is in the pea family (Fabaceae), as evidenced by production of seeds in pods.

Calling it “Buff Mountain” some say the mountain is named for these buff-colored cliffs. Others, calling it “Bluff Spring Mountain” name it for the cliffs and the spring within a canyon on top.

Bluff Spring Mountain from the slopes of Black Top Mesa

Closer to the junction with Terrapin Trail this Bluff Spring Mountain ridge rose above us. A fine specimen of mature Saguaro cactus is in midground.

Click Me for another posting from Black Top Mesa

A climb up this ridge rewards a person with fine camping within a canyon on top of this mountain. This joy was reserved for a later trip I have yet to enjoy. Bluff Spring Mountain features prominently in the literature and stories of the Dutchman Mine and lost treasure.

Click Me for the next post in this series, “Bluff Spring Mountain Canyon.”

Slievenaglogh View, east, V

Looking east

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 MichaelStephenWills11 Comments

This the fifth and final of a series of landscape photographs taken from this position.

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The peak is named, in the English language, Slievenaglogh. It is so strange as it’s not English, being instead a transliteration of the Irish name “Sliabh na gCloch.” This is “Rock Mountain” translated literally. Slievenaglogh is carried to the townland, a long thin swath of land being the peak and associated ridge-line.

The rocks up there are called “gabbro,” a type of magma slowly cooled under ground. Slievenaglog, Slieve Foy across the valley, and the Morne mountains all formed within volcano magma chamber(s) of the Paleocene, 66 million years ago, a time associated with extensive volcanism and the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that gave rise to the current age.

Our younger cousin has been up there, optimistically we left it for a later trip.

Click for another interesting post and story from County Louth.

Here is a slide show of this landscape series.

Slievenaglogh View, east northeast — Slievenaglogh View, northeast

A link with interesting reading on County Lo uth geology.

Slievenaglogh View, northeast, IV

View of Slieve Foy

September 13, 2022September 14, 2022 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

This the fourth of a series of landscape photographs taken from this position.

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The distant ridge, Slieve Foy, is the site of a mythic battle from the epic “The Cattle Raid of Cooley” (Irish: Táin Bó Cúailnge).

Pam and I did a circuit of the island, returning to the home of my Mom’s first cousin. Our last full day on Ireland a cousin took us on the Tain Trail, over Maeve’s Gap of Slieve Foy and into Carlingford town.

Our route is partly visible to the right of the ridge, hidden in low clouds.

Click for another interesting post and story from the Cooley Peninsula.

Here is a slide show of this landscape series.

Slievenaglogh View, northeast, II & III

Rural Scenery

September 12, 2022September 13, 2022 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

These are the second and third of a series of landscape photographs taken from this position. See the previous post for the first.

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I visited here early morning of the Monday Pam and I embarked on a trip around the island of Ireland.

Arrived the previous Saturday when, after some sites between Dublin airport and the Cooley Peninsula, we met my Mom’s first cousin who had invited us for a visit. We had a grand time meeting them.

The ruin in this view is on the slopes of the peak. Some of these ruins are former homes with the replacement nearby. This appears to be an abandoned farm.

Click Me for the first post of this series.

Click me for the next post of this series.