Elms thrive in the understory, turning late to catch autumn sunlight.
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Rock Elm, autumn
Category: Autumn
Leaf Carpet
A Natural Wonder
Wednesday last I enjoyed shuffling along a forest carpet along the South Rim Trail of Taughannock Falls Park. It is a lost pleasure now the first snow is with us.
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Leaf Carpet on South Rim Trail
Oak Leaves, forest floor
Understory Autumn
Photographs in Gallery
Leaf Carpet on South Rim Trail Oak Leaves, forest floor Understory Autumn
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Afterglow, Saguaro National Park
The Flag Forms
Here is a postscript for my retrospective diary of the day I created my print “Ocotillo Sunset.” You can visit “Ocotillo Sunset” in my Online Gallery by clicking on any photograph .
In near total darkness, the last sunlight only enough for the far western sky, these are the last shots of this series.
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Click photograph to view Ocotillo Sunset in my Online Gallery
The final result of the day’s work, “Ocotillo Sunset.”
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Click me for the first blog in this series.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Finger Lakes National Forest 3
compare portrait vs. landscape orientation.
In the long history of this forested ridge two Iroquois tribes relied on this land for tree nuts and hunting, the soil did not support agriculture. After the Revolutionary War, the British siding Iroquois tribes were driven away and the land given as one mile square blocks to soldiers, in payment for service. During the Depression era, many of these farms were abandoned and others sold to the Federal government.
Today, there is a patchwork of private land and National Forest. This line of color marks the forest boundary on the eastern ridge side.
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I positioned the tripod against the barbed wire fence marking the posted property. A few barbs and sear goldenrod flowers just visible in the lower right corner.
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Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Ocotillo Sunset from Saguaro National Park, a diary Part 7
The Flag Forms
The penultimate posting of my retrospective diary of the day I created my print “Octillo Sunset.” You can see a large version of “Ocotillo Sunset” by clicking on any of my blog photographs.
The Flag in Formation and Realization
Then, for reasons I can only speculate about, a spectacular shape came together in the clouds. In the following photograph I have yet to recognize, to see, this cloud sculpture. Do you see part of “Ocotillo Sunset” coming into shape? As far as I remember, at the time I had only a dim realization of what was forming in my view finder and in front of me.
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Then, I changed camera orientation and shifted the view a few degrees to the left and there it was: a coherent shape of something. Here it is in full, untethered.
Click photograph to view Ocotillo Sunset in my Online Gallery
The final result of the day’s work, “Ocotillo Sunset.”
Click photograph to view Ocotillo Sunset in my Online Gallery
Click me for the next post in this series.
Click me for the first post in this series.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Views from the Bench I
No Pun Intended
Some sights from last post.
Moss on the edge of upper Taughannock Gorge cliff, with the falls in background far below.
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Moss on Cliff Edge
The last flower of autumn, a single bloom of Ironweed.
Ironweed, late November
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
On the Edge
An Autumn Revalation
After leaf fall abrupt emptiness of Taughannock Falls is visible from the south rim. Beyond, you can just make out the enormous carved limestone slabs that protect visitors from the constant infall from the gorge walls allowing them to approach the falls.
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The Brink
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Finger Lakes National Forest 2
compare portrait vs. landscape orientation.
An open road, autumn morning, a hiking trail under a setting moon. Thirty miles of hiking trails thread these 16,212 acres. Some, like the Backbone trail, traverse farmland reverted to forest and meadow, popular for horseback riding.
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Click me for another Finger Lakes Autumn post.
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Finger Lakes National Forest 1
compare portrait vs. landscape orientation.
The only National Forest in New York State, this land is visible as a ridge to the west of our home. Here we are on the west side, the ridge of Seneca Lake in the distance.
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Click me for another Finger Lakes Autumn post.
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Ocotillo Sunset from Saguaro National Park, a diary Part 6
Shooting As The World Turns
This is a retrospective diary of the day I created my print “Ocotillo Sunset.” You can see a large version of “Ocotillo Sunset” by clicking on any of my blog photographs.
Shooting as the World Turns
In Part 5, we enter the final phase of this day’s work with darkening of the land while in the sky sunlight reflects off high clouds. The length of this moment when twilight is over, just before night falls, varies with latitude and time of year. Near the poles (high latitude) this light can last for days while here, at about 32 degrees north, it is less than 15 minutes. As I wrote in Part 4, after this light, the desert is absolutely dark. This is why I chose to set up by the roadside.
In the following two photographs I experimented with camera placement and foreground elements. Starting in Part 4 I became aware of Ocotillo branches, using them for the effect of reaching for and, here, anchoring the clouds.
Click photograph to view Ocotillo Sunset in my Online Gallery
Lead Around by an Ocotillo
These earth-bound Ocotillo branches lead me to the darkened earth. How much to include in the shot? I searched for a balance between the vastness and complete blackness and needed a point of interest. Time was running out.
Click photograph to view Ocotillo Sunset in my Online Gallery
Click me for the next post in this series.
Click me for the first post in this series.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 