Author Archives: Mike

The Destination

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Watkins Glen State Park

When you travel to Watkins Glen on the weekend, especially on a holiday weekend, you best be at the park early if you plan to do any photography. I arrived at 7:30am and the parking lot had a handful of vehicles so I figured my chances were pretty good I would be able to get the images wanted with minimal time waiting. I was helped by the new “rules” for exploring the gorge trail. The gorge is supposed to be walked in one direction and to return to the trailhead you use one of the rim trails. For the most part, people observed this rule.

The water level in the creek was a little low and it did hinder the impact of a few of the views within the gorge. I’ve said this before, timing is everything when you set out to photograph waterfalls. The low water didn’t necessarily reduce the impact of the iconic Watkins Glen view, Rainbow Falls. Although I was in the park before the sun would produce the reason for the name, it is still a beautiful sight. There were a few groups right behind me on the trail so I did need to wait about ten minutes but once they had passed this location I had another ten minutes to explore before the next group arrived.

I should not have been surprised when I eventually returned to the entrance of the park… there were a lot of people! The empty parking lot was completely full. As I returned along the northern rim trail, “Indian Trail”, I stopped at a few of the overlook locations and the amount of people walking in the gorge was the most I have ever seen. Granted I had never been in the park on a holiday weekend, but holy cow, it was definitely time to go.

 

MLCreations Photography: Watkins Glen &emdash; The Destination

The Destination
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 8s, 22mm, f/11, ISO 100

Impetus

Posted by Mike on

Chittenango Falls State Park

After a morning of weekend chores, laundry and groceries, along with a few hours of reading I needed to get out for a walk. The temperature was hovering around seventy degrees which was perfect to me. I checked the state park website and found the gorge trail at Chittenango Falls was open again, so off I headed for a little midday exploring.

The waterfalls at this state park can be tricky to photograph. The sun generally is casting shadows into the gorge as it makes its way across the sky because the creek is running south to north and the face of the waterfall is facing north. I checked the Photographer’s Ephemeris and thought my best shot was around 12:30pm. As you can see there is already a shadow dropping into the gorge. I should have been in the park about an hour earlier but I was still able to capture a good image. There was a storm approaching which provided some excellent clouds in the sky and helped to soften the midday sun.

 

MLCreations Photography: Chittenango Falls &emdash; Impetus

Impetus
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/4s, 27mm, f/11, ISO 200

Conspicuous

Posted by Mike on

Floral, Macro, Midday

I ended up taking another Friday off from work. No great plans other than getting the brakes on the car replaced. By the early afternoon I decided it was time for a walk. I drove over to the parking area for the Mohawk River Trail off Chestnut street in the Griffiss Technology Park. The walk generally takes me longer since I’m constantly stopping to capture an image of interesting things along the path. Definitely a relaxing afternoon.

 

MLCreations Photography: Floral &emdash; Conspicuous

Conspicuous
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/3200s, f/2.8, ISO 200

Persistence

Posted by Mike on

Midday, Floral, Work

After eating the last minute sub for lunch because there was no food truck yesterday I felt I should at least get a little walking into my day. Tough for me not to bring the camera as I walk around the building. There were plenty of opportunities and I was gathering a bunch of macro images when I spied this group in the middle of the parking lot. Talk about overcoming the odds…

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Persistence

Persistence
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8, 1/3200s, f/2.8, ISO 200

Starting Early

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Buttermilk Falls State Park

As much as I love autumn, I was surprised to see leaves in the gorge in August. I don’t want to rush summer out the door. I still have more parks to visit before the changing leaves season…

 

MLCreations Photography: Buttermilk Falls &emdash; Starting Early

Starting early
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 8s, 17mm, f/11, ISO 100

Summer Cascade

Posted by Mike on

Buttermilk Falls State Park

The last stop on my Ithaca tour was going to be Cascadilla Gorge. This is typically a difficult location for me to get to. If the parking isn’t difficult, there is always a chance put the wrong location into the GPS and end up in the middle of Cornell University. Being so close to the start of the semester, if it hadn’t already started, I didn’t want to chance trying to drive through the university. I got the right directions to the start of the gorge trail but parking is a challenge. After trying to find a spot to park, I gave up and headed to Buttermilk Falls. It is my favorite location.

Going later in the morning to Buttermilk Falls was an exercise in patience, which I don’t always have. The gorge trail was more crowded than I typically want to see, especially with me trying for five to ten second exposures. Don’t get me wrong, most people are great and I don’t have any issues, but Friday seemed to be a gathering of the opposite kind. As I entered the gorge trail and came upon my first location I found a couple swimming, I assume they were swimming, he did seem to be taking a lot of pictures of her… OK, will get that spot on the way back out.

The next obstacle was the two couples who were right behind me. They had a knack for hovering in locations and apparently were oblivious to my tripod and camera. In general, most people see me setup and pause on the trail. I wave them through or pick up and let them enjoy the scene, but these couples didn’t not have that willingness to share the trails. I kept walking ahead as fast as I could before I lost any sense of patience. To be honest, it put a huge damper on my visit to the park. Eventually I started back on the trail and once we passed I felt the weight of frustration lift allowing me to enjoy my remaining time in the gorge.

As with Taughannock creek, Buttermilk creek was a rich chocolate color when the water was deep and collecting in pools. I decided to process this one as a monochrome image to remove the distracting color of the water. The rains definitely provided the creek with plenty of water and this cascade section of the gorge had exactly the look I hope for in my waterfall images.

 

MLCreations Photography: Buttermilk Falls &emdash; Summer Cascade

Summer Cascade
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 5s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 100