Braving the bugs for woodland landscapes

Wicked_Dark

The little blood-sucking savages are out in force and what with the ticks, too, it brings my motivation meter to near 0. So seeing as we both needed a kick in the pants, I met up with a local photo friend and we braved the hordes for the mountain laurel.

Purgatory Brook -


This one was a challenge not only to manage the highlights, but to get down the steep bank onto the rock in the stream. One of those deals where you climb down first then haul your tripod down after you.

This next one was more manageable as the bank was relatively flat. I like the progression to the mountain laurel which is blooming like mad all through here.



Here's a bit of the trail. Recent rains make colors just pop...I even had to reduce the vibrance in Lightroom because it was so intense.



I'm still working through the images, but I'm happy with the day's haul. Oh and here's one of my delightful companions now -

cab.in.boston

Nice shots! I love the mushroom (not so much the mosquito...). In #1, I might prefer a little bit more of that anchor rock on the bottom, or to crop it to just below the fern on the right, giving it a little more of a panorama look.

Good on you for getting out there in the woods this time of year. I just can't bring myself to do it. Good thing for me that my dog prefers adventuring in the woods when it's cold out, it helps lessen the tick exposure!

WernerG

I miss the mountain laural from our days "down South". We don't get any up here in the frozen north woods. Nice day's shoot.

Wicked_Dark

thanks guys. makes me really LOVE winter photography, I tell ya.
yeah, I played with the crop on the first one a lot. there's more rock in it and maybe I can mess with it. plus I took a bunch of other shots with varying amounts of rock. so hard to pick just one, you know?