Here is a companion post for last Sunday’s photographs of Beebee Lake. This was taken where the lake outflow continues as Fall Creek. Enjoy!!
Frozen Dam
Views from the bridge on Christmas Eve 2019
Category: Lake
The Arctic?
Views from the bridge on Christmas Eve 2019
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.
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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.
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
View of a frozen Fall Creek and the lake taken while standing on Beebee Lake Bridge on Christmas Eve 2019
Fall Creek is frozen wall to wall of the gorge.
Slideshow of photographs in this series
View from Beebee bridge on Christmas Eve 2019 Icicles from Beebee Lake Bridge on Christmas Eve 2019 View of a frozen Fall Creek and the lake taken while standing on Beebee Lake Bridge on Christmas Eve 2019 View of a frozen Fall Creek and the lake taken while standing on Beebee Lake Bridge on Christmas Eve 2019
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Jenny Lake, Grand Tetons
Photographer at work, captured by his wife
Pam captured me at work on the shore of Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
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The header photograph is mine of a hot air balloon over our home last summer. I imagine us floating, the Jenny Lake below us.
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Black Oak View
Autumn Ridge
Black Oak Road approaches Connecticut Hill from the north. At this point a long view to west opens up that include Cayuta Lake and the distant highlands of Seneca Lake.
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Click to view this series on Getty.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Distant Sapphire III
blue sky reflected in lake waters
Cayuga Lake from the south rim of Taughannock Gorge, seen through a veil of hemlock and oak. From a place of rest with a comfortable bench. The trail descends to the lake, here we are lower and closer to Cayuga Lake.
I stood in front of the bench, resting the camera body on the fence and braced with my fingers.
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Cayuga Lake Bench View
A gallery of the three Cayuga Lake photographs for comparison.
Glimpse of Cayuga Lake 
Gorge View with Oak Leaves Cayuga Lake Bench View
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Distant Sapphire II
Cayuga waters reflect a blue November sky.
Cayuga Lake from the south rim of Taughannock Gorge, seen through a veil of hemlock with a carpet of fallen oak leaves, foreground. This is a companion to the previous post, both were handheld. For this the foreground was included to increase interest. For added stability, I rested the camera body on the fence bracketed with my fingers.
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Gorge View with Oak Leaves
A gallery of the two photographs for comparison.
Glimpse of Cayuga Lake Gorge View with Oak Leaves
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Distant Sapphire I
Cayuga waters reflect a blue November sky.
Cayuga waters reflect a blue November sky.
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Glimpse of Cayuga Lake
Oak Leaves, forest floor. Taughannock Falls New York State Park, South Rim Trail, November 6, 2019
Photographs in Gallery
Glimpse of Cayuga Lake 
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Creek Views
off the path
Friday last Pam and I joined a “James Potorti Memorial Gorge Walk” through Buttermilk Falls State Park where we learned interesting facts connected to one of my most successful photographs, “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls.” This is the fourth post of this series.
Starting Point
Buttermilk Falls State Park has two parks, upper and lower. Friday’s hike began at lower park. Using GoogleEarth I see the half mile trail along the lower gorge climbs 506 feet, 355 feet of this is ascended in 300 steps in the first quarter mile. Here is a view of the magnificent cascade that greets lower park visitors.
To my knowledge, nobody has ascended the creek bed at this point. The climb is not impossible, people with technical rock climbing skills and equipment can do it. We use the trail. Most often, Pam and I visit the upper park and walk down the gorge to the top of this ascent. Friday, we walk up with everyone else.
Creek Level Photographs
On a July morning 2018 I walked Buttermilk Creek from the scene of my “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls”, up the steps on the right of that photograph to where the water flows across a flat expanse of stone. The following three photographs from that walk were taken using a tripod mounted Canon EOS 1DS Mark III body with the Canon lens EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM w/a neutral density filter (0.6 as I recall).
Click any photograph for a larger view.
Low Flow
The “secret” behind my successful “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls” photograph is waiting for a seasonal low creek flow. For the same reason, this is a safe time to walk this part of the creek to capture the scene. See the previous post, “Walking Buttermilk Creek”, for the entry to this creek level walk. Attempting to walk the creek in other seasons can be fatal….there is a plaque along the trail memorializing an attempted rescue during a March flood where two people died: the rescued and the rescuer.
The most difficult passage was through the above photograph. I walked along that narrow, water level ledge using the tripod as a third leg. Here is a link to my waterfall photographs on Getty IStock, including the series captured on that July 2018 morning.
In Memorium
James Potorti was a native of Ithaca who perished at 52 years of age in New York City on September 11, 2001 were he worked on the 96th floor of 1 World Trade Center.
Click me for the first post, “Finger Lakes Water Chemistry.”
Copyright 2019, Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Walking Buttermilk Creek
getting our feet wet
Friday last Pam and I joined a “James Potorti Memorial Gorge Walk” through Buttermilk Falls State Park where we learned interesting facts connected to one of my most successful photographs, “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls.” This is the third post of this series.
On the path vs. in the creek
Friday’s hike began at the bottom, here we are at the start of the 400 foot climb, 300 steps, along cascading waterfalls.
Everyone stays on the path at this point, here is a video that demonstrates why.
Hiking with the grandchildren we prefer the upper park, walking along the road to a place where the creek flows over the pavement. They love taking off shoes and jumping in.
Click any photograph for a larger view.
On a July morning 2018 I walked Buttermilk Creek from the scene of my “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls”, up the steps on the right of that photograph to where the water flows across a flat expanse of stone. This photograph from that walk was taken using a tripod mounted Canon EOS 1DS Mark III body with the Canon lens EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM w/a neutral density filter (0.6 as I recall).
Here is where the creek bed is flat enough to allow me to follow it when I wear waterproof boots. Note: it is against park rules to do this and the fines are steep, although some summer days it is a free-for-all of visitors in bathing suits, it looks like the beach. This session started shortly after sunrise, around 5:30 am at the best lighting, so there were no witnesses. When the sun shines over the gorge rim there are too many hot spots, the contrast between shadow and sunlight is too distracting.
In Memorium
Friday is the first visit I noticed this bronze water fountain in the lower park. The land for the park was an early 20th Century donation. The inscription text is in the photograph caption.
James Potorti was a native of Ithaca who perished at 52 years of age in New York City on September 11, 2001 were he worked on the 96th floor of 1 World Trade Center.
Click me for the first post, “Finger Lakes Water Chemistry.”
Copyright 2019, Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Ancient “Fracking”
a form revealed
Friday last Pam and I joined a “James Potorti Memorial Gorge Walk” through Buttermilk Falls State Park where we learned interesting facts connected to one of my most successful photographs, “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls.” This is the second post of this series.
Click me for “Summer Dream, Buttermilk Falls” in my Fine Art Gallery.
Many Right Angles, Why?
On a July morning 2018 I walked Buttermilk Creek from the scene of my “Summer Dream: Buttermilk Falls”, up the steps on the right of that photograph to where the water flows across a flat expanse of stone. This is a photograph of that expanse taken using a tripod mounted Canon EOS 1DS Mark III body with the Canon lens EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM w/a neutral density filter (0.6 as I recall).
Click photograph for a larger view.
For a scene from nature there are many straight lines and, even, right angles in addition to the layering of the sedimentary rock from its origin as eroded material from the ancient Arcadia mountains collected on the floor of a warm shallow sea. We learned from Friday’s walking tour this sea was close to the equator at that time, riding on a tectonic plate that’s since drifted north. This North American Plate jostling with the others.
Beneath these rocks were older formations in which decomposed organic matter had transformed to methane gas. When the African plate and this pressed together, the stressed rocks weakened at right angles to the force, each stress point joining others in straight lines. The methane gas pressure from below forced the weak points to open a straight line fractures.
As the plates continued to move, orientation to the African plate transformed by ninety degrees and the two pressed together again. Methane gas pressure was present, causing straight line fractures at right angles to the others. Everywhere these rocks are exposed across the Finger Lakes region we see these right angle fractures.
In Memorium
James Potorti was a native of Ithaca who perished at 52 years of age in New York City on September 11, 2001 were he worked on the 96th floor of 1 World Trade Center.
