Saturday morning dawned beautifully atmospheric, especially for photography. The air was cool and crisp, and fog blanketed the area. These are the conditions landscape photographers always hope for, and rarely seem to find. Heading out to a local lake for images of waterfowl on foggy water would be ideal. Unfortunately the last time I attempted to make that last minute trip to shoot in foggy conditions it turned out that a beautiful, foggy morning at home did not translate to fog on the lake 30 miles down the road. Knowing there wasn’t time to pack up my gear and run to the lake, Kathleen suggested just grabbing my camera and explore our own yard. It was a marvelous idea and challenge. If covid taught us anything, it’s that we long for adventure elsewhere and overlook the the beauty surrounding us everyday. That is precisely why 3 years ago I started exploring my local nature preserves and parks.
Fall colors have not yet started in our area to any great degree. But between the foggy sky and dew covered grass, conditions were ideal for some unique perspectives on nature. We live on approximately 2 acres, with a small creek running along the back edge of the property, so there should be plenty of opportunity for photography. So with that said, here are a few hidden gems I discovered from my own yard.
Our 1960s neighborhood has a lot of trees dating back 60 years or more. I love this large spruce tree silhouetted against the foggy background
We have an extremely large poison ivy vine climbing an old boxelder tree along the creek. I’ve tried to kill the vine for the last 15 years to no avail; now I stay away from it and it leaves me alone! But the leaves look wonderful in the autumn.
The last fruits of summer I love the colors of the pears that have fallen to the ground and the textures of the leaves and grass surrounding the fruit. Over the years the tree fruits less and less, but the deer and groundhog still enjoy the pears left on the ground.
We have several yew bushes along the front of our house. I’ve not finished trimming them for the winter, so industrious spiders have spun webs up and down the new growth candles. It’s a simple web spin, but there are literally hundreds of the candles.
This intricate web system was spun by an industrious garden spider overnight. If you look closely near the center of the web, there’s a circular opening and the spider is just under it. I love the way the leaves were incorporated into the web; they add movement to the image.
As I was wandering through the dew covered grass, I came across this Honey Mushroom. The texture and coloration of the mushroom was fascinating. Because of the size (8-10 inches) I used a 20 shot focus stack to capture a sharp image.
This large Tamarix Tree sits in our neighbors backyard. I love the large pyramid shape, and the row of flowering plants at the base. It sits nicely against the fog shrouded background.
To be fair, the lake still holds a huge draw for my photographic adventures. If I had not been out there a couple of weeks ago scouting the fall waterfowl migration (which by the way had not started yet) I would have missed this excellent photo of a frog camouflaged on a lily pad. I saw very few birds, but a ton of little peepers hopping across the pads.
I went into Saturday with the challenge to find decent images in my own back yard. And I‘m pretty happy with what I was able to capture with a little effort. I highly recommend you give it a try and surprise yourself. If you enjoyed this Journal entry, please drop me a comment below, feel free to share with your friends, and visit my website Terrance Alexander Photography.
