Muir Woods

During my recent visit with my son in San Francisco, we decided to visit Muir Woods. We were pleasantly surprised when he was able to get us a parking reservation, which is the only way one can visit Muir Woods these days. This national monument has became so incredibly popular in recent years, and, especially since the arrival of Covid, requiring reservations keeps the number of simultaneous visitors down to a reasonable amount.

We took our time strolling through the main path of Muir Woods, always looking upward with awe at the incredible redwoods. The environment is lush; one feels completely surrounded by nature. Cameras in hand, we stopped frequently to breathe in the fresh air and enjoy this very serene and inspiring place. Muir Woods is truly special. I felt immediately tranquil upon entering the main grove. It helped that the number of other visitors was low, and so instead of feeling crowded or rushed, with zero effort, all I felt was an immediate soothing of the senses, as a peaceful meditative calmness came over me.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this memorable visit.

Muir Woods #1

Muir Woods #2

The main nature walk is two paths that go along both sides of Redwood Creek. Most folks walk to the end on one side, cross a small bridge, and return on the other side.

Redwood Creek

Muir Woods' Main Trail

Muir Woods #3

Muir Woods #4

Muir Woods #5

Muir Woods #6

Muir Woods #7

All photos © 2022, all rights reserved.  Contact phil@philslens.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Natural Triptych

This is a photo of a small body of water that sits adjacent to the reservoir I walk around. The walking path itself is atop the land which divides the two.

As I was walking by on this particular day, I noticed how extremely green the water appeared. I wondered if it was an algae bloom. My research found that some algae blooms are harmful and others not. Regardless, the striking color caught my eye and I grabbed a photo with my cell phone.

Natural Triptych

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

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In the Green

Here's a subset of spring flora with a predominant green (or "greenish") color.  Plus one bird, "in the green."

These first two photos were taken after overnight rain.

Drops on Tops

This is an arrangement Deb made. The top part didn't have enough green to qualify for this post's theme:)

No worries, though... I plan to show that in another post.

What Lurks Beneath

This mourning dove parent sits atop his/her nest just above me on our pergola. It was nice she/he didn't fly away.

Eye Above

More green in the garden ...

Open Wide

Uncurl Progress

Heading Northwest

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

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Farm Pond and Cushing

Cushing Memorial Park's perimeter walking loop is a favorite among locals, I suppose for its convenience and simplicity. It is paved, which is normally a detriment, in my view, being less "natural." Yet in the winter, the town seems to plow most of it after storms, so the paved feature provides a place to walk when other more woodsy trails require extra dedication to be able to access.

Just across the street from Cushing is an area called Farm Pond. One can walk along the edge of Farm Pond using a portion of the "Aqueduct" trail system, which is a cooperative between the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA), City of Framingham, and MassTrails. It is not paved, and though it is currently winter, I took these photos when the snow had melted just to the point where the edge path was passable wearing ordinary hiking boots.

In this first photo, I'm looking across Farm pond, at the ice, the ducks and other birds, the freight train, and the urban skyline.

The Scene Across Farm Pond

Here's a slightly different view. Notice the ducks have a relatively circular pool of water within the ice in which to swim and fish.

Duck Pool

The next several shots are taken slightly further away from the water's edge within the strip of land between Cushing Memorial Park and Farm Pond.

This small stream is completely filled with green plant material.

Green River

There's a very healthy grove of trees that always seems to pull me in and encourage me to look skyward.

Shadows in the Sky

Here are some patterns in the bark of those trees:

Bark Chips

Try to find the tiny dark sideways (virtually perfectly formed) heart in this next one. Then look slightly above and to the left. You may see people.

Bark Islands

These next two photos are near a small church within Cushing Memorial Park.

Winter Respite

For those that like red and blue...

Red Globes

Finally, this is a window on the back of that church. I'm not exactly sure why there's a green patch near the bottom of the glass. I don't think it's a plant. The photo shows exactly the way it looked. It sets off nicely against the glowing gold.

Mottled Glass

All photos © 2020, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Local Texture

This post contains a few recent Ashland Reservoir photos. Local scenes taken with the attempt to make the ordinary seem a bit extra-ordinary. I titled it local texture, as opposed to local color. That's weak photography humor.

After returning from Zion, and capturing a few silky water shots of the Virgin River, I thought I'd try to duplicate the concept using an extremely tiny stream which feeds the Ashland Res. It is only a minor trickle, perhaps a foot across.

Instead of silky water, I got this:

Water Dance

Even though it was a 1/10 second exposure, the nature of a tiny waterfall is different from a large river. I've no doubt a much longer exposure and perhaps less camera movement would have yielded a different result. The "dance" you see is from the reflections of some of the surface water. The sun was illuminating the falls quite strongly but only on the uppermost surface spray.


Here's a shot of the bottom of the stream:

Watercolor

Green Folds

All shots were taken with my 60mm macro. I focus stacked 8 shots of the green folds plant as I continue experimenting with focus stacking on occasion. Here's the result:

Green at a Distance

While this is technically accurate, and has a lot of the plant in focus regardless of distance from the lens - sort of a "photography feat," I can't help but feel the focus stacking feature, at least in this instance, feels clinical in nature. I much prefer the previous photo. It would appear that having asymmetry and parts of an image out-of-focus aren't bad things in photography :)



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

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