Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
Returning home from a walk one day I came across these ferns. The vegetation along the side of the trail was mostly in shadow except for a few spots where the fading sunlight filtered through the trees. These ferns were in one of these patches. I liked the contrast between the light and the dark; and the difference between the bright orange/yellow of the ferns (whose leaves had already changed to their autumn colors) and the dark greens of the leaves.
This was the only person I saw during a recent three hour walk. I liked the smallness of the figure compared to the height of the trees and the large boulders.
It’s definitely autumn now. The days and nights have been getting colder and the leaves are changing color and falling in large numbers.
This was taken at Tibet Lake, about three miles away from where I live.
I’d wanted to do this walk for some time. It runs near our house and is the closest access point to Fahnestock State Park. I’ve often said to friends: “It’s possible to walk into Fahnestock State Park from our house – but I haven’t done it yet”. Well now I have. I got my wife to drop me on Route 301 near the Park Office and then followed the trail all the way back to where it reaches the Taconic State Parkway. It then continues south to who knows where (I suspect somewhere near Peekskill Hollow Road). When I got to the Taconic I dashed across (luckily it was at a time of day when there was little traffic – if it had been during the peak hours I would not have tried to cross). From there it was one block to Lake Shore Road and then another 20-25 minutes to the house. All told the walk took about three hours.
During these walks you mostly see trees (standing and fallen), rocks, stone walls and the like. Sometimes you’ll come across an abandoned building or one of Putnam County’s famous stone chambers. I didn’t see any buildings or chambers (or for that matter any people), but about half way through I did come across this old vehicle. It looked as if it had been there for some time.
I think it’s pretty obvious what caught my attention here: the colors. Although I’ve not made an exhaustive study of such areas I’ve walked by quite a number of them and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a loading area with so many bright colors: yellow poles; reddish orange wall; light blue crates; dark blue machine; red machine; green panels; yellowish orange straw. There are even a couple of bright red leaves.