Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Of Rocks and Seeps

fresh icicles

January 17, 2020November 25, 2019 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

New icicles formed overnight from seeps through the sedimentary walls around the Waterfall by the Old Mill. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.

Here icicles formed during the quick April freeze hand above Fish Kill. Kill is an old Dutch word for creek.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Here a mix of frost and lichen mottle the rock layers.

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Three Views, Falls of the Old Mill

A challenge of light

January 16, 2020November 25, 2019 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

A day the falls run free of ice. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment. Here are three captures of the same waterfall, the first visitors to the upper park encounter and the most visited and photographed right off the parking area.

Fish Kill was captured at this point to provide power to grind grain. Today neither nature nor man control the flow. Kill is the old Dutch word for creek.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

I have never counted the waterfalls from this one to the grand sweep of lower falls. The falls are uncountable because no two people could agree on how small a fall to credit.

Of these three versions, i prefer this one for the foreground inclusion of the enormous limestone blocks set to protect visitors from the drop. This scene is challenging photographically, bifurcated as it is by the bright sun over the fall brink. I prefer to shoot these falls early morning, for this reason, before the sun illuminates the area at all. Long exposures required demand a rock solid tripod, as it is just off the parking lot I use my studio Manfrotto for the work. Here all shots were handheld.

I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence of the Waterfall of the Old Mill

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Lucifer Falls Slide Show

Farewell for now

January 15, 2020November 22, 2019 MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

Pam and I visited Tremank for our last visit of 2017. It was a bright, warm October afternoon. Here is a slide show of our experience, the details shared in recent postings. Enjoy!!

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Lucifer Falls Overlook from the Gorge Trail — Brink of Lucifer Falls

In November the gorge is closed for the winter due to dangerous conditions under the steep, crumbling walls. Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Cliff Stairs IV

A Wall with Moss Padding

January 14, 2020November 22, 2019 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

Pam examining thick moss growth on the sedimentary rock of Treman gorge. These layers of shale, sandstone, siltstone formed at the bottom of a broad, shallow sea over 380 million years ago.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Towards the bottom of the 223 Cliff Stair steps moss takes over the Devonian shale of the cliff wall surface. Here, the cliff shelters the wall from sunlight 365 days a year.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence Lucifer Falls and Cliff Stair Views

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Cliff Stairs III

“Red-shanks”

January 13, 2020November 22, 2019 MichaelStephenWills12 Comments

This geranium species (scientific name Geranium robertianum) are also called “Herb-Robert” for a reputed ability to ward off disease.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Cliff Stair Wall, autumn Geranium and mosses

Scottish Highlands residents call these wild geraniums “red-shanks” for the deep red color of the stalks, seen in both photographs.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Source, “How to Know the Wildflowers” by Mrs. William Star Dana, 1989, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence Cliff Stair Views

The Arctic?

Views from the bridge on Christmas Eve 2019

January 12, 2020December 26, 2019 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

No, on the afternoon of Christmas Eve I took the 1.2 mile walk around Beebee Lake, wearing Yacktracs for the icy paths, after a series of very cold days.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

View of Beebee Lake — View from Beebee bridge on Christmas Eve 2019

The lake surface resembled the images of a Saturn moon.

Icicles from Beebee Lake Bridge on Christmas Eve 2019

It is a picturesque structure, the bridge, spanning the mouth of a water filled gorge of Fall Creek.

all Creek View Winter downstream — View of a frozen Fall Creek and the lake taken while standing on Beebee Lake Bridge on Christmas Eve 2019

Here is another photograph of the interesting lake surface. All photos of this post are from my IPhone.j

Fall Creek is frozen wall to wall of the gorge.

Slideshow of photographs in this series

View from Beebee bridge on Christmas Eve 2019

Bog Bodies

Happy Leap Year Day

January 11, 2020December 26, 2019 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

On the occasion of this rare, regular appearance of an extra day to spend, by the Grace of God, as we please I will to explore a time machine found four miles south of Kells, County Meath, Ireland.

Step into this pool and you, too, can emerge 4,000-odd years later, skin intact, to achieve fame and fortune, a place in a museum and the record books if such exist 6019 AD. Reference the Cashel Man from Cúl na Móna bog near Cashel in County Laois, Ireland who now resides within the National Museum of Ireland.

Click photograph for the expanded view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

True, post mortem fame is hollow for the individual. Maybe, attaching your life story engraved on a gold plaque with a gold chain encircling your torso will offset the loss of your bones (dissolved in the acidic waters) and life itself.

The water of this pool is colored dark by long decayed vegetable matter. Beware of walking the bog surface, it is dangerous and destructive to the environment. Pam and I visited Girley Bog on our tour of County Meath, Ireland.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence of the Waterfall of the Old Mill

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence Lucifer Falls and Cliff Stair Views

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence Cliff Stair Views

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Slideshow of photographs in this series

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Click photograph for the expanded view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills