Tag: Water

Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine

Ephemeral

Amphibian haven, breeding place

MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

Melting snow, spring rains, gather in hollows of the forest floor to form ephemeral pools important for the development of amphibian life.

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Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine
Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine

Also named vernal pools, from the Latin word for spring or the time of the equinox. The pools are ephemeral in the sense of being temporary, disappearing in the warmer, dryer late spring and summer months, a characteristic important for amphibian live in being devoid of predatory fish.

Here the pool forms on a flat beneath the walls of Enfield Gorge. Here is another photograph featuring the ephemeral winter theme, “The Cave.”

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Sources: Wikipedia, “Vernal Pool” and Merriam Webster online.

Click for a slideshow of a few photographs published recently.
Gully I
Gully I
Gully II
Gully II
Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine
Vernal Pool with Vinca Vine
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Gully II

Gully vs. Ravine

I love the early spring light filtering through the hemlocks.

MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

Rim trail traverses gullies. These creases in the gorge walls were formed by small streams flowing to Enfield Creek.

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Gully I
Gully I

Some passages require a wade, others have elaborate walkways with bridges. I initially wanted to call these ravines. Upon researching the term discovered while ravines are formed by erosion, the scale here is much smaller. I could rename Enfield Gorge, to Enfield Ravine.

Gully II
Gully II

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
Rim Trail Ascent
Rim Trail Ascent
Rim Trail icicles
Rim Trail icicles
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
Gully I
Gully I
Gully II
Gully II
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.

Icicles!!

Key words: steep, icy

MichaelStephenWills11 Comments

Water drips steadily from seeps, places water follows hidden cracks to emerge from the darkness. In warm seasons these may be a patch of moisture enabling the growth of ferns, only becoming evident when air is cold enough to freeze slowly running water.

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Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.

These macros capture the Moss, Fern and Lichen. These thrive in this environment.

Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Fish Kill Waterfall at the Old Mill.
Sedimentary Walls
Sedimentary Walls
Icicles hang over Fish Kill
Icicles hang over Fish Kill
Rim Trail Ascent
Rim Trail Ascent
Rim Trail icicles
Rim Trail icicles
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
Rim Trail icicles with lichen, moss and fern.
This macro captures the Moss, Fern and Lichen. These thrive in this environment.
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Icicles hang over Fish Kill

Of Rocks and Seeps

Step into an early spring morning where sudden frosts adorn the Waterfall by the Old Mill with fleeting icicles, capturing nature’s delicate balance between freeze and thaw.

MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

New icicles formed overnight from seeps through the sedimentary walls around the Waterfall by the Old Mill. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment.

Here icicles formed during the quick April freeze hand above Fish Kill. Kill is an old Dutch word for creek.

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Sedimentary Walls
Sedimentary Walls

Here a mix of frost and lichen mottle the rock layers.

Icicles hang over Fish Kill

These shots were hand held. I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this Waterfall of the Old Mill sequence
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Sedimentary Walls
Icicles hang over Fish Kill
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Falls by the Old Mill, early spring

Three Views, Falls of the Old Mill

Join me on a frost-kissed journey along the Rim Trail, capturing the transient beauty of falls freed from winter’s grip, where nature’s power remains untamed and vividly alive.

MichaelStephenWills19 Comments

A day the falls run free of ice. On an early spring day, after a sudden frost, we walked the Rim Trail to capture the moment. Here are three captures of the same waterfall, the first visitors to the upper park encounter and the most visited and photographed right off the parking area.

Fish Kill was captured at this point to provide power to grind grain. Today neither nature nor man control the flow. Kill is the old Dutch word for creek.

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Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring

I have never counted the waterfalls from this one to the grand sweep of lower falls. The falls are uncountable because no two people could agree on how small a fall to credit.

Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill

Of these three versions, i prefer this one for the foreground inclusion of the enormous limestone blocks set to protect visitors from the drop. This scene is challenging photographically, bifurcated as it is by the bright sun over the fall brink. I prefer to shoot these falls early morning, for this reason, before the sun illuminates the area at all. Long exposures required demand a rock solid tripod, as it is just off the parking lot I use my studio Manfrotto for the work. Here all shots were handheld.

I used a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a variable “zoom” lens, great for framing compositions.

Falls by the Old Mill, early spring

Robert H. Treman New York State Park.

Click for a slideshow of this sequence of the Waterfall of the Old Mill
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Place where Fish Kill was harnessed to power the Old Mill
Falls by the Old Mill, early spring
Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Long Ride

An expert surfer takes a wave

MichaelStephenWills12 Comments

An expert surfer takes a wave near Jetty Pier Park, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Taken with an Apple IPhone 8.

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Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Dingle Peninsula Pastoral Scene with Ram and the Skelligs

Asleep among Skelligs

a road like no other

MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

 

View southwest from R559 looking across pasture over the Dunberg Promontory Fort. In the foreground a large ram with curled horns rests. In the distance is the mouth of Dingle Bay and the North Atlantic Ocean with the Little Skellig and Skellig Michael Islands.

Skellig is a word for a sliver of rock. Here is another post about these islands.

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Dingle Peninsula Pastoral Scene with Ram and the Skelligs
Dingle Peninsula Pastoral Scene with Ram and the Skelligs

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Dunseverick Castle Ruin

Join me in reminiscing about a memorable trip to Ireland, marked by the now-closed Breezemount House B&B and the scenic Dunseverick Castle Ruin. Dive into my journey and the advice that shaped it

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Continue reading “Dunseverick Castle Ruin” →

Lucifer Falls, early spring evening

Sense of Scale

Come in and experience how humans are dwarfed by the eons

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Hands of Frogs and the Innocence of Babies

Autumn leaves whisper,
By the calm inlet they dance,
Maple’s red embrace,
History in every branch,
Nature’s heart in silent chant.

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Continue reading “Hands of Frogs and the Innocence of Babies” →