Last night, before going to bed, Christine offered to do the grocery shopping the morning to afford me the chance to go out with the camera. I considered shopping anyway, but the only reason that I could arrive at for not allowing her to do it was martyrdom, so I graciously accepted her offer with gratitude and was in my car this morning at 0630 and on my way to Stoney Pond.
I fully expected the snow to have fallen from the trees after the winds the night before, but at least I could expect there to be some snow on the ground … which is more than I can say about the parks more local to me 1200′ lower in elevation.
On the way to the forest, I passed Johnny Appleseed Farm, where I have never successfully been able to make a composition of the apples trees there, despite trying multiple time, but today was different. Not only was there snow, but the cloud-level was so low that there was a haze that added some additional separation to the scene and I was (FINALLY!) able to point my camera at 2 separate compositions that I liked.
I prefer the composition of the trees in the first image, but the weeds/reeds on the right side of the frame bother me … a lot. So too does the treeline on the left that just blends with the branches of the tree on the left-most side of the frame.
The best image then, while not as dynamic is the second image. The tree line leads the eye from the left margin toward the primary subject and lone tree sits alone on the right side of the frame without distraction. It isn’t perfect … but it is better than anything else that I have come up with at this location over the last few years.
Once I arrived at Stoney Pond, I discovered that most of the snow had indeed been knocked from the trees by the winds the night before. Even so, there were some photographic opportunities … nothing spectacular was captured, but it was fun to be out with the camera anyways.
I spent the first part of the day with my weather-sealed 14-150mm zoom lens on the camera, but I had left my camera bag in the car and kept the camera tucked in my jacket throughout. After walking some of the trails on the east side of the road, I elected to stop at the car to switch lens and experiment with the fish-eye lens. I would soon discover that much of the snow was still on the trees on this side of the road.
The images of the evergreen below are both de-fished, the upward shot of the treetops is not. I am pleased with the overall sharpness of the lens and I think it will serve me well when I use it for night sky/milky-way photography. As for its capabilities as an ultra-wide lens for occasional use … I need to be very selective in its use because it is readily apparent that the lens needs to be held flush with the subject and no upward/downward tilt to prevent it from looking fishy (pun-intended).
As is customary, I didn’t come away with any outstanding images, but my morning proved to be a much nicer experience by walking in the forest with my camera than it would have been had I been shopping at BJs Warehouse.