rural – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Keuka Lake Winter I

Keuka, the crooked Finger Lake….

January 1, 2023November 26, 2022 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

Sunday, Pam and I travelled across the peneplanes, past three Finger Lakes, to reach the Dr. Konstantin Frank winery where we subscribe to the “Wine Club,” a quarterly release of three 750 ml wines along with a newsletter with information and recipes. For 2018/2019 we elected to “pickup” our selections, looking forward to these drives through the country and villages between Ithaca and the winery perched on the west side of Keuka Lake, just below the “branch.”

Preeviously, I posted “Glacier!!” and today there is this photograph of glacial topography 10,000+ years after the melt. Keuka Lake is shaped like a “Y” chromosome, here we are looking northeast across the “foot” of the “Y” from the west lakeside. Above the evergreens, to the left, is the headland separating the “arms” of the “Y”.

Spread out below our viewpoint are row upon row of grapevines, enjoying the microclimate surrounding the deep lake.

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Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Slievenaglogh View, east, V

Looking east

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 MichaelStephenWills11 Comments

This the fifth and final of a series of landscape photographs taken from this position.

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The peak is named, in the English language, Slievenaglogh. It is so strange as it’s not English, being instead a transliteration of the Irish name “Sliabh na gCloch.” This is “Rock Mountain” translated literally. Slievenaglogh is carried to the townland, a long thin swath of land being the peak and associated ridge-line.

The rocks up there are called “gabbro,” a type of magma slowly cooled under ground. Slievenaglog, Slieve Foy across the valley, and the Morne mountains all formed within volcano magma chamber(s) of the Paleocene, 66 million years ago, a time associated with extensive volcanism and the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that gave rise to the current age.

Our younger cousin has been up there, optimistically we left it for a later trip.

Click for another interesting post and story from County Louth.

Here is a slide show of this landscape series.

Slievenaglogh View, east northeast — Slievenaglogh View, northeast

A link with interesting reading on County Lo uth geology.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Keuka Lake Fall Winter

October 9, 2021September 28, 2021 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

October 5, 2014 found Pam and I at Keuka Lake after my son completed the Wine Glass Marathon. Here we are at the finish line in Corning, home of the Corning Glass Factory. You may know it from your set of Correlle dinnerware.

Afterwards, Pam and I made it up to the Dr. Frank Winery for a tasting followed by dinner at a local restaurant. Here is a photograph from the same viewpoint, using the “zoom” setting of my Sony DSLR A700. The view is more interesting than the winter shot of “Keuka Lake Winter I” from the autumn clouds and the burst of late day sun on the eastern lake shore.

This is the juncture of the “Y” shaped lake where the two arms joint the long foot. The pointed high headland is the point where the two arms meet. We are looking north here. The western arm, on the right, is unique in that the water is flowing down into the juncture. In Keuka Lake the water flows in two directions. The flow of lake foot and eastern arm is in the opposite direction, Keuka Lake empties at the top of the eastern arm, eventually reaching Lake Ontario.

North View from Overlook using “Zoom” lens

Here is the eastern view, from the overlook, looking over a vineyard ready for harvest, covered with fruit and leaves. Every once in awhile there is a loud “bang” from a noisemaker used to discourage birds from feasting on grapes. The buildings along the shore are summer cottages, Keuka is lined with them.

The same view, from our December 2018 visit. The vines are bare, the fallen leaves cleared, the vine roots covered under banked earth to protect them from the cold.

Pam and I, enjoying wine after the 2014 Wine Glass Marathon. Cheers!!

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Hayrolls

Making Hay

November 2, 2020October 30, 2020 MichaelStephenWills10 Comments

Dry grass gathered for winter feed on Durfee Hill.

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A Day at Iron Kettle Farm

We miss you, Mom.

October 19, 2020April 2, 2023 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

One Saturday of October 2012 we enjoyed this last outing with my mother Catherine Ann Wills. She passed away June 2013 at the age of 90 years. We miss you, Mom.

A display of large pumpkins near the entrance to the Iron Kettle Farm.

Enter…if you dare….Corn Mazes are popular tourist attractions and are not simply corn fields. The plantings must be made later, planted thinner and fertilized less than those used for crops.

These small, inedible squash, once dried and hollowed out, become gourds. The plant is in the Cucurbitaceae family of the genus Lagenaria. The squash on this table are too small for anything but displays and decorations, such as centerpieces. Great fun and make and enjoy.

These ornamental squash, also know as cucurbita are not are large enough for use as food. When dried, will last a long time.

Take your pick of pumpkins….

…the pumpkins are sorted by size and price.

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We chose small to medium sized pumpkins.

Thankfully, the trees kept to their usual habits and did not talk to us today.

My dear wife, Pam, was in her element. She loves gardening.

We left the wheelchair at home and Mom enjoyed exploring the exhibits, watching people and the exercise.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Apple Harvest Abstracts

Organic abstract, ripe apples ready for harvest on Malloryville Road in the Finger Lakes

October 11, 2020September 22, 2020 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

Late one early autumn afternoon Pam and I walked the Malloryville Road from our former home to find these apples, ready for harvest, beside a barn.

Thank You for viewing.

Click any photograph for my OnLine Gallery, “Finger Lakes Memories.”

Farmhouse ruin, Slievenaglogh Townland I

Slievenaglog Slideshow

A May Morning, Early

February 28, 2020December 24, 2019 MichaelStephenWills14 Comments

Every photograph from my recent posting were accepted by Getty IStock. Click this link to visit the photographs on IStock.

Here is a slideshow of my Slievenaglog photography. To visit 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

Curious Horses

A photographer and his audience

February 27, 2020September 25, 2022 MichaelStephenWills11 Comments

One May early morning two white horses come down from a sloping pasture on Slievenaglogh to view an interloper taking photographs. Slievenaglogh Townland, County Louth, Ireland.

Slievenaglogh Townland, County Louth, Ireland.

This I used the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. It is two shots, the first in horizontal, the second in vertical mode.

Click for another interesting Ireland post and story

50 vs 24 mm focal length

A Cooley Peninsula Valley on a May Morning

February 26, 2020December 13, 2019 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

On the northeast slope of Slievenaglogh peak (Irish: Sliabh na gCloch) on the road from Mullaghattin Townland to Riverstown. This day I swapped lenses and took in the same general direction for each. This is the first and last of a series using the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens and I pulled in the shots from the Canon 24mm f1.4 L II USM lens, published in previous posts.

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Here we look northeast from the Slievenaglogh Townland over the valley between Slievenaglogh and Slieve Foy peaks. Slieve Foy is the far ridge lost in clouds.

This is the first and last of a series using the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens.

Slievenaglogh View, north northeast. 50mm

The view includes Little River, Castletown River, Ballycoly and Glenmore Townlands. Adjacent is a sheep pasture with a farm ruin behind the yellow flowered gorse (Whin bush, scientific name Ulex).

Early morning, late May 2014.

Here is a slideshow of the 50mm and 24mm images of this post.

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Frame

green pastures framed by Whin Bush and Hawthorn windbreak

February 25, 2020December 12, 2019 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

The road runs high on the shoulder of Slievenaglog peak, the 200 mm lens peers into the next townland over, Ballycoly (or Ballygoley), the valley floor broad, pastured.

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This is the seventh and last of a series using the Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L USM lens.

Tag: rural

Keuka Lake Winter I

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Slievenaglogh View, east, V

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 another interesting post and story from County Louth.

Here is a slide show of this landscape series.

A link with interesting reading on County Lo uth geology.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Keuka Lake Fall Winter

Hayrolls

Click image for a larger version.

A Day at Iron Kettle Farm

If you enjoy my work….click this link for my OnLine gallery. Your support is appreciated. Thank You.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Apple Harvest Abstracts

Click any photograph for my OnLine Gallery, “Finger Lakes Memories.”

Slievenaglog Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of my Slievenaglog photography. To visit 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

Curious Horses

Click for another interesting Ireland post and story

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

50 vs 24 mm focal length

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 is a slideshow of the 50mm and 24mm images of this post.

Click for another interesting Ireland post and story

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Frame

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 is a recap of recent posts with the 200 and 24 mm lens. Can you tell the difference?

Click for another interesting Ireland post and story

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills