Restful Res

We are so fortunate to live near the "res." I find that the local reservoir provides welcome peace and tranquility when I walk there. Here are some cell phone photos I recently took during one such outing.

Walking can be quite meditative in a location like this. It just takes an awareness of the present to notice;)

Water Dimples

Rock Islands

Res at Rest

 All photos © 2021, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

---

Tranquility Base

For those regular readers of this blog, you know that I walk around "the res" a lot. I've gone around it several hundred times. Now you might wonder what is the attraction. I enjoy the exercise, and also a walking meditation. Sometimes I use the time to work through problems that kept me up the night before. Other times I use it as a true meditation break, keeping in the moment, concentrating on my steps and what I see, not trying to judge or analyze but just to accept the beauty of my surroundings, and the changing views as I make my way around. And then there is something soothing about water. While I love a walk in the woods, a walk in the woods where one is always in sight of water is even better.

The reservoir surface is never really the same every time. Sometimes it is choppy, other times quiet, still, and smooth. Sometimes reflecting the clouds above, sometimes almost black with few reflections. The wind, the sun, the clouds, the time of day all affect these observations.

I'm just going to share a single photo in this post. It isn't even taken with my beloved Olympus camera, but rather with my cell phone. Often it's more about the moment than about resolution or sensor size or any other specs. Sometimes it's just about seeing what's in front of you.

I call this "Peace and Tranquility", because that's how I feel when I look at it, and that's the feeling I had when I took it.

Peace and Tranquility

All photos © 2017, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

---

Cell Phone Landscapes

Sometimes - shockingly - I don't bring my Olympus camera along for a Res. walk. In those situations, my cell phone, a Nexus 5x, is usually handy for that occasional shot.

As mentioned in an earlier post, many cell phones have great cameras and can take excellent photographs, especially with good available light. Cell phone cameras are generally very wide angle, which is quite handy for landscapes. Here are a few samples.

Sky Design

The water in this next photo is not the reservoir, but a different body of water nearby that feeds the res.

Log Perspective

Up High

At the res. again:

Surface

Not the res., but nearby:

Slide Zone

All photos © 2017, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

---

Cushing Park and Farm Pond

Cushing Memorial Park and Farm Pond are adjacent recreational areas for enjoying nature, taking a brisk walk (or a slow one), rollerblading, biking, and/or running. Cushing is on the grounds of a retired military hospital. The hospital buildings no longer exist other than a small church and few small out buildings. Though Cushing Park has mile markers and a paved 1.5 mile loop, there's no path to walk or run all the way around Farm Pond. One can go partway, ... actually "across" Farm Pond, by walking (or running) along a "breakwater" near one end.

Good leaf color and a sunny day make for an unbeatable combination to enjoy a fall picture-taking session.

Moon Above

Often times, clouds make photos a lot more interesting than a solid blue sky. I was lucky to visit Cushing on such a day.

Sky Painting 1

Sky Painting 2

Color Mix

Sky Painting 3

Many Ring-billed gulls enjoy the scenery at Farm Pond.

Birds Over Pads

No Mid-Air Collisions

Path to Walk on Water

Tail Fan

Partner Flying

Flying into Color

Water Life

Entering Leaf Central

Reaching to the Sky

Park Bend

Complementary Colors

Turning Leaves

Direct Lighting

Patchy Clouds

Fall Beckons

All photos © 2016, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

---

Zion Arrival

We're on vacation visiting Zion National Park!

Our lodge has some wonderful views and is situated in Springdale, just outside the park entrance.
We literally just arrived. I thought I'd share these photos taken from our lodge, or just nearby.

On the Road to Zion

Back View from the Lodge

Front View from the Lodge

All photos © 2016, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

---

Wide-ish Angle at the Res

Normally I use my 150-600mm equivalent lens when I walk around the "Res" to take pictures of ducks and other wildlife, but on this occasion I thought I'd step out of my comfort zone and see what a wider angle might bring me.  This is the polar opposite of shooting close up details of everything which is my usual photographic leaning.  While I don't have a true "wide angle" lens, my Olympus 12-40mm pro lens is fairly wide angle-ish on the short end, where its 24mm equiv. focal length does begin to distort things a bit and gives one that classic wide angle perspective.  All photos on this page were taken with the 12-40 lens.  I had my 75-300mm lens with me as well on the day I took these photos, but I never had the urge to swap lenses.

Part of my inspiration for trying to take more wide angle photos is that my son took some outstanding wide angle shots on one of his recent hiking treks into the Sierra wilderness.  I really appreciated the beauty in this form of photographic expression.

Do you agree?

A Stand of Trees

View of the Island

Curved Shoreline

At Reservoir's End

I love that I can shoot at f2.8 and freeze water with this lens on a not very bright day.  This shot was at 1/500 sec. at ISO 200.

Dog Fishing Action Shot

Drip, Drip

Low Perspective

Blues

Duck Wake

Other Worldly

Branch and Leaves Over Water

Dam Glow

Don't Trip on the Roots

Triangles

Late Sun

All photos © 2015, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

---

Clouds

We had an amazingly powerful thunderstorm this evening.  The wind gusts were supposedly in the 80+ miles per hour range. We heard that some neighboring towns received 1 1/2 to 2 inch size hail. The rain fell in buckets and the trees swayed heavily.  Fortunately, it all passed rather quickly, lasting less than a half hour or so. We did lose power for a brief moment.

A few hours later blue sky showed up, just during sunset.  I thought I'd run outside and grab a few pictures.  These photos were all taken with my 60mm (120mm equivalent) lens just a short time ago. These therefore rate as the "freshest" pictures I've ever blogged to date.

Cloud and Tree Silhouettes

A Bit of Sun

Cloud Layers

Framed by Trees

Blue Sky Background

All photos © 2015, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

---