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.
Spring Outing VIII
Sun catchers
Category: disease
Spring Outing VII
Groupings, 1 flora and 1 dangerous
Hepatica positioned perfectly above the trail, sprouting from moss, a grouping of the plant and flowers.
Scientific Name: Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa. I found the two land snail shells this session, I identified it as Neohelix albolabris, and positioned it in this shot to lend interest. In a future posting you will see the shell where it was found.
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.
Six unrelated young adults, all female and without masks, not following social distancing guidelines, passed as a group just before I set up for this shot. I heard them coming and made plenty of space between them and me. COVID-19 testing in Tompkins continues to find several positive cases each week.
Finding an appropriate combination of settings for this grouping was a puzzle. My goal was to bring the flowers and surrounding into focus with intermittent breezes. The f-stop needed to be high to accommodate the depth with minimal exposure duration as the flowers moved in the slightest breeze. The solution was a high ISO (2500) and f-stop (32), yielding a 1/3 second exposure (Not fast). The compromise was patiently waiting for a break in the breezes.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Spring Outing VI
Just opened wind-flowers
Just opened flowers on long hairy stems, tiny anemones. A crawl and tripod we needed to capture these. The scene scale is revealed by the dried leaves from last autumn.
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 call these anemones from the disputations among taxonomists. All agree there is some relationship and differ in the degree. Classifications add a designation “tribe” before genus (hepatica). Alternatively, the genus is designated Anemone instead of Hepatica . A common name for anemones is “wind-flower” for how the flower is sensitive to a slight breeze, on these long stems.
This is the first hepatica capture of the session. There was no breeze at this time and the ISO is 800, f-stop 29 (lending some definition of the background, less than I’d expect) and a relatively slow exposure of 1/4 second. The 100 mm macro lens on a tripod mounted camera.
Reference: Wikipedia article, “Hepatica.”
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Spring Outing V
Wildflower Groupings
Red Trillium are early bloomers, along with Hepatica. I often photograph them together. Click me for a 2019 Red Trillium post of photographs from 2007 taken in Fillmore Glen Park.
Here we have two photographs from the end of the April 20, 2020 session. I finished a series of macro Hepatica and, tired (emotionally, not physically) and not wanting to step up the slope, captured the following grouping of a single Red Trillium, lit by a bolt of sunlight, White Hepatica, fern and the budding White Trillim from yesterday’s post. Not the same trillium, a continuation of all the individuals in bud.
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.
These were 15 feet or so up the slope above the South Rim Trail. I used the 100 mm macro lens, with the spring breezes ISO set to 2500, f/5.6 for a 1/200 exposure.
Not far away, also upslope, was this flower grouping against a moss covered log. Park forestry leaves fallen trees in place to return to the soil. Camera settings are the same.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Spring Outing IV
Turn to Light
Wildflowers flourished where the slope turned to the north and late afternoon light spread across the small ravine created by a small stream. This early in the season White Trillium buds were forming between three green bracts.
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.
The above photograph taken handheld with a variable zoom lens captures the plant and environment. On the forest floor is twig of hemlock, probably knocked off by squirrels feeding on the tiny cones. Oak leaves from last season frame the dark green bracts. We also see a few wintergreen leaves and the rich soil.
With the low light ISO is 2000, the f-stop of 5.6 allowed crisp details of the hemlock and wintergreen, the focus is soft on the oak leaves. Where is topography allowed sunlight, the White Trillium were a bit further along. Here is a bud opening.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Spring Outing II
Lower Waterfall
This series of posts opens with the ascent to where the wildflowers grow.
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.
After just a taste of the climb to come, hikers are treated to an view of the Lower Falls of Enfield Creek. I call them the Wedding Cake. Summertime, a dam is erected, the water is deep enough to dive into the very cold creek water, lower than 70 degrees.
The trail is on a beetling crag.
Looking up Enfield Glen above the falls. Up to the trail, keeping distance was no problem. It is nowhere near as crowded as the trail to Taughannock Falls in February.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Spring Outing I
Socially Distanced
Parks are open during Govenor Cuomo’s “New York State on PAUSE.” Still, as a member of the at risk group I was reluctant to visit, unsure of how crowded it will be. On a Monday afternoon, bright with sun, I drove over to Robert H. Treman lower park to check out the situation.
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.
Social Separation Parking 
Gorge Trail is Closed for the winter
I carried the Sony in hand and packed in a Canon with macro lens and a Manfrotto travel tripod.
The path to a trail that climbs up the south side of Enfield Glen crosses Enfield Creek via a bridge, wends through cabins……
…..then heads up stairs that can seem to be forever. The green sign with white letters is new. This the South Rim Trail avoids the cliffs that make the Gorge trail so dangerous November through May.
