If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
This past week I walked in the forests along the Chattahoochee River. Autumn colors were just starting to appear. The sun was shining allowing beautiful reflections to appear. Leaf color is a prime feature of autumn but its more than just the leaves on the trees. I was blessed to have nature share with me the abstracts she painted in the river.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
Last week, I visited Big Trees Forest Preserve in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s a suburb of Atlanta. It has several short trails that are easy to walk. I went specifically to photograph the light penetrating through the deciduous forest in the early morning. It was a fun hike.
By the way, compared to Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California, the big trees here look like match sticks. But they are quite beautiful none the less.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
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Today I am sharing a picture of a beautiful waterfall that is very near where I live. Its in a tiny, picturesque park and sets under a covered bridge. My understanding is that the waterfall is man-made, and the bridge is recent. It is very well done. It is on Big Creek, once known as Vickery Creek.
Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.
If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is one of my favorite places to visit. I love being there in the early morning or late evening when the swamp is quiet. If you prefer, you can take your canoe or kayak, but I prefer to hire a guide and a boat. We can explore parts of the swamp that the tourist cruises don’t see. There are trails to hike also. I’ve hiked one a few years ago but I want to do more.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
Scottsbluff National Monument is a small butte, with a small surrounding grassland, in Gering, Nebraska; next door to the town of Scottsbluff. The monument is one of many buttes in a broad valley. The valley eroded away leaving the buttes standing. The North Platte River runs through the valley and next to the monument.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
Sieur de Monts was a wonderful, unexpected part of Acadia National Park in Maine. There is botanical garden and a lovely forest with trails. We walked the trails a little while after sunrise; after the sun had some time to filter and highlight parts of the forest. It was quiet and peaceful as a forest should be.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
When you drive through Badlands National Park, on one side of the road is prairie grassland. The other side is a wide, highly eroded valley. You are riding on the edge, the dividing line. Both sides were intriguing. The prairie was green but transitioning to golden brown, flat to the horizon. The valley is flat and desolate occupied only by scrub except where water flows through. Where the prairie meets the valley, the transition zone consists of beautifully eroded sediment layered in gray and rose-colored bands. The rock is crumbly, almost like dried mud. It is the results of how nature sculpted these erosional features that make the park interesting and beautiful.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.
We just returned home from a very long road trip; a trip that took us from California to Maine and back. One of the places we visited was Devils Tower National Monument. I wanted to visit because it is an iconic feature and I hoped to capture a sunrise and night sky shots. Like most of our trip we were in big sky country where the skies are not cloudy all day. That was unfortunate because high clouds would have set the sky ablaze with color at sunrise and sunset. So, I did my best with that I had.
Devils Tower is a small park. The visitors center sits at the end of the only road, and it is a short ride. There is a trail around the monument from the visitor’s center, but it was closed for construction.
Devils Tower is not a solid wall cliff face. It is a beautiful example of columnar joining; something that is typical of volcanic magma that has cooled slowly. In the case of Devils Tower, geologists believe it is an intrusion; i.e. magma pushed up and intruded between other rock. It cooled underground and formed the beautiful columns that make up its rock face. At the bottom of the tower is a boulder field made up of broken pieces from the columns above.
As we explored, we found the dirt road to the Joyner Ridge Trailhead and followed it. There we took a short hike up a knoll and sat on a bench to watch the sun set. I can’t begin to describe the feeling of calm and spirituality I felt up there. I am always awed by the beauty of nature but this was different and more. I often find peace hiking on trails but, again, this was more. Many Native American tribal groups hold Devils Tower as a sacred place for prayer and communing with the spirits. It was a blessing to be there.
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If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.
Sierra Nevada Mountains at Daybreak; Big Pine, Death Valley Road, Big Pine, CA; APR 2021
I’m sharing a few more pictures from our trip to the Eastern Sierra last April. Four of the images were taken at the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, CA. (Alabama Hills National Scenic Area | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov), @TheAlabamaHillsNationalScenicArea). The other is from Big Pine Death Valley Road.
I hope to go back to the Alabama Hills this fall because there are so many wonderful small vignettes to capture, and I am curious to see it at sunset as well as when some monsoons rains are falling over the Sierra as the backdrop.
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First Light on the Sierra; Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA; APR 2021Mobius Arch from the Backside; Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA; APR 2021Sunrise on Mt Whitney; Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA; APR 2021Lone Tree along a Desert Path; Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA; APR 2021
If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.
Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.
Earthwatcher 