November beauties

I'm still trying to make sure that November will not be that bleh month. I'm working hard at it by spending time outdoors and searching for things that are beautiful.

Usually by now we have a first snowfall and the ice is forming on the grasses in the creek bottom. Not so this year.  The mornings are frosty and the days are tolerable.

On our last very gloomy and overcast day, I decided to go out and look for something. Anything.

These trees I think are Hop Hornbeam trees which are also known as Ironwood.

Every tree speaks to me
fluttering from an Autumn Tree
~~Emily Bronte

I saw it as a plain old tree with startling leaves in the understory of the woods. Some of these trees are low enough that the winds don't take away all of their leaves in the winter. 

From there I started to hunt for little things. You know, that stuff you step over when you go for a walk.

The mossy log that shines with a brilliant green now that summer has passed into recent memory. 

The lichen with moss on dead wood.

The browned leaves of ferns that glow orange in the late afternoon sun.

I came home after that hike and felt I'd given November a pretty good effort but found it a bit wanting.

I came home and thought about this season again. I checked my email and had an update from OM Systems [formerly Olympus Cameras]. Since I am an OM user, I get emails for different events and 'how to' videos that explain how to get more use out of your camera.

The email was titled 'it's in our Nature'.
Specifically it addressed Kacho Fugetsu which is an old Japanese philosophy that translates loosely into Flower, Moon, Wind, and Bird. 

OM's philosophy is to go out and do continuous self discovery through nature.

Of course I know it is advertising and promotion of their products. Discover yourself through photography.

They had four little videos to watch. I was rather inspired by the words of the video. They stirred something in me that made me want to go out and find something intensely wonderful with my camera.

From the video... a few sentences 

I am everywhere...

above you in the canopy
and nestled right at 
your 
feet...

For you 
I drape the world 
in splendor
embellishing every valley
and forest
with marvels hoping that you
upon your arrival

capture my essence...

Link: Flower

I ended up with some motivation to go find something unique.

This is not my normal work, but it is a place I am  at the moment to trying something different out to see how it feels.

It combines a longer lens used in the sense of a macro lens and creating a depth of field that gives the viewer one thing to look at. That item can be mundane in a way, but unusual in how it was photographed. The best days for this kind of photography are heavily overcast days.

Tiny Fungi:

Spent Golden Rod through brush:

A dead fleabane flower in the pasture:

Rain droplets on Powderhorn Lichen:

There is so much to see out there before the snowfall will cover it up and then I'll have to change up my focus again.

That's okay, it is the best way to stay fresh and explore.

November is ending

 I didn't take many photos in November. 

Well, not many Landscape - Forest scenery. 

I think it is because this is my adjustment period from fall to winter. 

I enjoyed  watching the barberry plants in the woods change. These plants make great plantings in a suburban area but when they invade the woods, they make for prickly walking.

They are fun to photograph in the fall and winter. But I they don't provide wildlife with a meal. Well, I take that back. The birds eat these and spread it in their poo creating a thick undergrowth of plants that change the pH in the soil. These thickets are a wonderful Wood Tick Habitat. 

So, I have a love/hate relationship with them. I fight them on my land but it feels like a losing battle as my neighbor's 500+ acres of forest is infested with them.

Never the less. They are beauties to photograph.

There are morning frosts that are sometimes just so stunning and other times you just have to find the small things close to the ground to look at.

Some days a person get brilliant fleeting moments of color in a sunrise or sunset.  Sometimes those times are so incredibly beautiful in a very pastel way.

Yesterday we had dense fog and poor visibility. I still had to get to town but I took the scenic route and stopped at my favorite bridge on a back road.

By the time I was done in town, the fog was so dense it was hard to see. This is another reason I am grateful I am not doing the 60 mile round trip to work at odd hours anymore.

However, in a way, I thought the fog was beautiful. 

Today, I hope to get out and explore what froze in the creek last night as the temperatures went from 40 degrees to 21. And IT is snowing! :)

Time to think about some fun things. Like. ...

Experimenting with the Christmas Chair. The Jury is still out on this as I am going for less 'stuff' this year. But I did bring it out and set the jointed bear I made sooooo many years ago on it. As with most of my Christmas Stuff, it will constantly change.

West Ridge Trail Section 17

I have to say that those short legs Charlie has are pretty amazing. The weather was warm but overcast. It drizzled on the car as we drove to KVR.

Charlie was anxious to get going and jumped out of the car when I opened the door. He waited patiently for me to get out and grab the back pack.

Then we were off. I have hiked the south end of the West Ridge Trail twice before. Once in June of last year when the foliage and undergrowth in the woods thick and green. I didn't think much of it at the time as it was part of the last 2 miles of a long hike. At that time I just wanted to get it done.

I took my old old IR camera with me and swapped out filters. The top shot was shot in IR and the bottom in regular color. The reason I put this trail last on my list is that I recalled it as being rather boring. The first 3/4 of a mile is wide and follows along a snowmobile trail. 

It does go into the forest and zigs and zags along the terrain. I did it last summer in June although it was pretty, I didn't pay much attention to it.

I was hot, Charlie was hot and we were just trying to get through the forest and to the end.
June 2nd last year....

However, November was a different story. 

This was approximately in the same spot on the trail but facing the other direction. I took this shot with a tripod that I could wrap around a sapling for holding the camera.

With all the undergrowth gone and the leaves down, I could see all the way down to the river. I spotted some places I wouldn't mind exploring this winter and early spring.

It was just amazing. You could see forever through the woods. 

Below is a shot through the woods towards Old 131 Trail. The white arrow points to the bird blind and the red arrow points to the wet lands that Charlie and I explored last year when the marsh was frozen.

The long draws lead down into the Valley of Ice. Named so because by late January there are a few rock shelters that have sheets of gorgeous ice covering their entrances.

I made it there last year on New Year's Eve and discovered iced rock shelters. I also met my new friend Jason and his dog Piper.

This draw leads down into an area where the ice caves are in the winter. The hike down in is not for the faint hearted!

As we headed up and out of the Valley of Ice we went through a section of the forest that has been logged. There were indications of a forest fire that must have happened many years ago.
The shot below was taken with the Infrared camera with a filter called IR Chrome. The leaves and foliage appear red with slight variations.

We eventually made it to Camp F which marked the spot we would turn around and head back. 

The return was easy and we walked up to the snowmobile trail which paralleled the hiking trail but was higher on the ridge and more open. It was a shorter walk back to the main trail.

We started towards the maintenance shed and encountered a young man with a shotgun and a pheasant. I admired the pheasant and he explained that he was walking back to the parking area also. He said he didn't want to intrude on my space so he'd wait for a bit. 

I laughed and said that he was not intruding and the company while walking could be pleasant. He let Charlie smell his pheasant and said he wished he had a retriever but his wife was afraid of dogs. 

We had a nice conversation while we walked. His grandfather hunted here as well as his father. His father took him when he was young. What a great legacy.

He headed towards his truck and said, "Have a nice day ma'am." 

Ma'am. Gosh. I guess I must be showing my age.

One more section done. One left to go.

What will we do to celebrate? I don't know.
Let's see what I think up!

November Colors

Let me give a huge round of applause to another blogger and photographer who has encouraged me to see the Beauty of November!

Generally, November has been the boring month, the brown month. The month of adjusting to light/time change and early darkness...as well as temperature changes. I've always turned a bit inward and ignored the overcast skies and the leafless trees. Nothing seemed to appeal to me outside.

But if you look for it, sometimes you can find some amazing things. 

Points down

Tamarack Trees in full color
with afternoon sunlight 
highlighting part of them!

A stump in the woods. 

The moss picked up some yellow highlights of the subdued sunlight that tried so hard to come through the dull grey overcast.

Charlie and I headed down the ridge trail that our neighbor made years ago with his bulldozer. I sat on the trail to look at some lichen on a rock. I turned to look up the trail and squished my eyes half closed. I wanted to see the forest for the colors and not for the trees. 

Muted greens

yellow

reds

burnished oranges

leaf litter

sticks...

and

bark

make me Happy!

Maybe...
just maybe...

I can start to look with different eyes.

Wild

Strawberries 

make me smile!

Barberries

Pointy 

Sharp

Red,

No
smiles.

Pretty reds

and greens

decorating

creek rocks.

Imagination

drifts while

admiring the trout

in the creek.

Abstract reflections

of 

the grasses above

the water.

At the end of the day, I can honestly conclude that I found this particular November day full of vibrant colors.

Maybe I can change my attitude about November and look for its beauty. After all, I find winter to be fascinating and beautiful.