A challenge in photographing Finger Lakes Gorges and the potential for an interspersement of bright light against shadow. A strategy I used in this series from Fillmore Glen is to choose the time of day carefully. The gorge is anything but straight forcing me at time to forego a shot or to carefully compose. Here I was drawn in by the golden reflection of Slippery Elm leaves on the flowing water of Dry Creek.
without…..
Moth-like I was drawn to the bright light. Using the tripod, I took two shots. One exposed to the gorge depths, a second more to the bright light beyond — while still not fully adjusted to it. Using a High Dynamic Range (HDR) tool, the two exposures were combined into the following.
…and with HDR.
Copyright 2022 All Right Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
The Slippery Elm (scientific name Ulmus rubra) gives Fillmore Glen this characteristic golden glow. The species has various traditional medicinal uses. The inner bark has long been used as a demulcent and is still produced commercially for this purpose in the United States with approval for sale as an over-the-counter demulcent by the US Food and Drug Administration.Sometimes the leaves are dried and ground into a powder, then made into a tea.
Fillmore Glen, Cayuga County, Moravia, New York
Reference: Wikipedia “Slippery Elm”
Copyright 2022 All Right Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Patience was a virtue as I set up along Dry Creek where it bends before approaching Cowsheds waterfall drop-off. Fillmore Glen, New York State Park, Moravia, Cayuga County, New York
with…..
…and without hikers.
I say “without” with reservations. A moving hiker was blurred out in this 3.2 second exposure at f/22. I hid the blurred figure with a cut and pasted pristine pixels from the second exposure. The “without” take is earlier than “with.”
A minute and 50 seconds transpired between exposures. In that time, Pam rested her hiking pole against the wall.
Copyright 2022 All Right Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Pam and I arrived early to Cass Park for our grandson’s October afternoon soccer match, in time for a 2 mile walk on the generous footpaths. This is my impression of that time, from the IPhone 7’s camera.
Around the marina on Cayuga Lake
Red Accents
Watery Impressions from Linderman Creek flowing into Cayuga Inlet
Trees and Our Sky
Gracious Willows Line the Cayuga Lake Inlet
Cornell University on East HillLake Excursioin Heading Out from Farmer’s MarketCarl Sagan’s former study perched above Ithaca FallsView Across Cayuga Lake Inlet
A Packed Excursion Boat Under A Stunning Sky
A Few Animals and a wildflower
This completes our Sunday afternoon walk around Cass Park, Ithaca, New York.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
We have often travelled Lower Creek Road as an alternate route to visit my son and his family who live in Freeville, a village named for the activity of the Underground Railroad. After noticing this sign in passing for years, this week we stopped on a glorious autumn morning to capture it. I had packed the Sony Alpha 700 dslr for just such an opportunity.
Just off the road, under a maple tree in full autumn color (yellow), ground covered with fallen leaves (brown) on a fine early October morning, the sign reads, “New York, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, HOME OF WILLIAM HANFORD AND WIFE ALTHA C. TODD, WHO SHELTERED FUGITIVE SLAVES ON THE WAY TO CANADA AND FREEDOM, STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 1932”. These dark blue background, bright yellow letter signed are found throughout this region and much appreciated.
On Halloween morning 2004 I set out with a camera upgrade purchased spring of that year, a Sony “Cyber Shot, DSC-F828” with an inexpensive tripod. My photograph “Autumn Stroll in Sapsucker Woods”, the feature photograph and below, achieved prizes with the Photographic Society of American and a few sales of self-produced prints. It was an early success.
Click any photograph to visit my Online Gallery “Finger Lakes Memories.”
It is available on my Finger Lakes Memories online gallery where I provide recommendations for sizing, the best print medium with ideas for frame and matt.
The fall of 2005 I invested in a Kodak DCS Pro dslr-c and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. October 30, 2005, one day short of the 2004 Halloween shoot, found me driving down Fall Creek Road on a mission of revisiting Sapsucker Woods to possibly improve upon my offerings.
Over the years, travelling Fall Creek Road on my daily commute, I admired this well formed maple next to a farm field. At 6:45 am the sun was about this rise, the frost limned grass not yet burned off. This tree turned a bright yellow, here a green-yellow and dull. The form of the tree is perfect. I was never able to catch this at the right moment, it is still there and maybe I can time it this year during a pick-up of my grandson. If I do, my intention is to climb the fence and use the 24 mm lens to capture the tree and shed with less sky (unless there are some dramatic clouds). That day, I needed to make time for Sapsucker woods.
On site, thirty minutes later, as the leaves of the Fall Creek Road maple predicted, Sapsucker Woods foliage is behind last year’s by a week or so. In “Autumn Stroll in Sapsucker Woods” the over story leaves have fallen and the understory is at peak. Here, I believe the overstory is gone, the understory leaves are yellow-green.
I carefully choose the sites and this one is a risen walk of boards. In the nine years since, the walk as deteriorated and this scene will be different, possibly.
This is a match for the 2004 photograph as far as the camera position. What I enjoy from the 2004 version, aside from the foliage, are the details of the fallen leaves taking up the foreground, a carpet filling the field to lead the eye up through the trees, path fading from view to the right.
This effect is not possible on the boardwalk, above. With the fixed focus 50 mm lens it might be possible with effort. Today, the 24 mm is my first choice to capture this effect.
Here we can see the leaf carpet is possible, if the f-stop is higher to allow a crisp focus. In this scene it is f2 because I happened upon a buck in a daze. He was just standing there as I headed back to the car. I did not risk changing out lenses to the telephoto, so I moved forward slowly.
The best I did was this rear view as he looked backward. Lack of flexibility is a draw back of a fixed-focus lens.
In 2004 my day concluded with Robert Treman State Park. In 2005 the 50 mm fixed focus with a ND filter and tripod was in its element. The sun is higher and overcast, one background tree is a peak foliage. The moderate water flow and stair complete the effect. This was my best work of that day. I need to get this up on the “Finger Lakes Memories” gallery.
Other postings of interest. Click the link to go there.
Libe Slope is between the West Campus and Quadrangle / Libraries.
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Cornell University is on a west-facing hill above Cayuga lake.
Besides the exercise of walking the 18 degree incline several times each day, Cornell students and alumni remember The Slope for autumn color.
Wonderful Flow of Limbs among Gold
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Hickory
Seen from the north on a cloudy October day, this Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) is the largest tree on the Cornell Campus, at 79 inches in diameter.
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Cornell University is on a west-facing hill above Cayuga lake.
Take another look at the previous image. Can you find the grey squirrel? This hickory grows south of the Johnson Museum and among the autumn glories, it is the largest and brightest yellow canopy on Libe Slope.
Contrast
An overcast day is the best to capture this spectacle. October 20, 2012 provided both bright sun and dark, rolling autumn clouds. I waited on the north side, sheltered from the glare of the sky, for these perfect moments.
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I remember this hickory for the contrast between the canopy and trunk, the way the clumps of yellow hang from dark boughs.
The pignut hickory is native to these Eastern United States. It is known to favor moist slopes and this specimen has thrived on The Slope. The ground beneath it is thick with nuts.
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One week later
Just one week later, late afternoon on a sunny Friday as hurricane Sandy approached the east coast the hickory has fewer, tawny golden leaves.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 