Elakala Falls

Elakala Falls
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Deep in the heart of Blackwater Falls State Park outside of Davis West Virginia there is a small stream named Shay's Run.  Shay's Run has not one but four waterfalls within the span of about 100 yards or so.  This is waterfall number one.  Each sequential falls gets harder and harder to get to.  I would say this area is off the beaten path, but in truth there is a beaten path that leads by it.  Two things keep me from saying this...

1. It is overshadowed by Blackwater Falls State Park's main waterfall: Blackwater Falls.  Unless you do your research on the internet first I doubt you will find any signs or notices of the series of falls.  There is a small sign at the trail head, but that is along the brush line behind the lodge.
2. As you travel down the beaten path, you have to then basically jump down a big hill to get down to a good shot of the falls.  For some reason unknown to me this trail that someone took the time to gravel parts of and build a wooden bridge over Shay's Run did not bother to guide the trail down the slope for a good view of the falls.

I tend to be a person who works on impulse.  I would rather fly by the seat of my pants then sit down and plan out a trip.  This does not always serve well, with this being a great example.  And apparently I am not in the minority, in all the times I have been there I have never seen anyone simply looking at the falls.  Everyone on that trail is either loaded down with photographic equipment or following someone who is.  So remember, if you want to see all there is to see in a park you are visiting, do your homework first.  Don't count on signs, especially if you want a different point of view.

Urban Wildlife and the Immature Green Heron

Immature Green Heron

It is simply amazing where wildlife can thrive even as humans take their natural territory.  In the past year I've spent a lot of time at National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks.  I have developed an affinity for the Green Heron.  It is a wading bird that will stand still on a reed or edge of a marsh for hours.  We are talking perfectly still, no movement for hours.  Then suddenly when it sees a fish swim by just a bit too close it strikes out like lightning and grabs a meal.

At Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge I have even abandoned my car and gone slopping into the muddy marshes in search of this bird.  In fact, I've lost more than one pair of shoes and socks to the mud of Bombay Hook.  It is always a nervous moment when you sink above your knees while carrying an expensive camera and lens.  First you think about the camera gear, then you realize you might have even bigger problems!

I think in 34 trips to Bombay Hook and a trip to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge I have had  total of four Green Heron sitings.  So what is the closest I have ever gotten to one?

I had gone to Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, Maryland to shoot the butterfly conservatory (if you have never been there and enjoy butterflies you simply must go!).  While leaving the garden I walked by a drainage pond and stopped to photograph some moss on a rotting stump.  I was alerted to the sound of wings and spun around.  What did I see in this drainage ditch in the suburbs of Washington DC?  Nothing other than an Immature Green Heron!  

Immature Green Heron in a drainage pond

This bird has probably never known any life besides an urban one.  It has learned to hide in drains and fish from man-made ponds (hide your koi...).  This was a fat, well fed bird so it was obviously thriving, not just surviving.  And the fact it was a juvenile leads me to believe there is a breeding population in the DC suburbs.  

White tail deer, raccoons, and red foxes are other success stories of adaptation.  They are annoyances to us humans as the deer run in front of our cars and the raccoons topple our trash cans.  Truth is we invaded their space and they adapted to survive.  It simply amazes me sometimes.  So next time you are walking by a pond or drainage ditch keep an eye open and you might just see an unusual bird making a living.

Beckleysville Road Bridge

Beckleysville Road Bridge at Dusk #1

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I've found myself spending a lot of time up in the Prettyboy Reservoir area lately.  This trip was at least the 6th in the last two weeks.  The day before this I went up hoping for the clouds to clear up for a good sunset but it never cleared.  For this shoot I went up while again it was still cloudy, this time however everything cleared up at pretty much the right point.  I kept shooting the evolving sunset thinking at any moment it was going to cloud back over.  This might have been one of the most documented sunsets from start to finish of all time.  This was actually one of the last shots taken after the sun had set below the cloud bank and the light quickly disappeared.

After parking in the slush I slogged through to the trail that led down the hill.  Luckily I found a cement run off path that was rather broken up and provided relatively good traction as I went down the ~30ft hill to the water.  I then crossed under the bridge and walked along the very edge of the reservoir, over what I was hoping was the rocky shore, on a sheet of snow covered ice.  I would take a few solid steps and then all the sudden it would collapse and break through.  I kept going till I found a good angle that had a) no tree branches in the way and b) a solid ice sheet so I didn't fall through while standing with the camera.  With the exception of the occasional passing car, everything was silent save the occasional passing flock of geese.

I like this particular shot because of the solid permanent feeling the bridge gives off contrasting with the movement in the clouds.  I especially love how the eye (at least my eye) is immediately drawn to the bridge then all the sudden sees the clouds and its like a whole new piece of canvas is suddenly there where before was nothing.  I also like how the motion of the clouds radiates away from the center point of the canvas pulling the eye away from where it wants to naturally rest (again, at least my eye).  I wish there was a bit more of the pink / red color on the large cloud but it was not to be.  It wasn't 2 minutes later that there was no color in the sky at all.  Thats what makes photography different from most other arts, you have to make the best of what you are given.  Hopefully that is what I've done here.

Specs: Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm lens working at 30mm, f/16, ISO 200, 30 second exposure.  Unknown number of stop reduction from neutral density filter(s).  Tripod and cable release were also used.   

Long Shadow Of Winter

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Me and my mother / photography partner (she puts the DAJ in DAJ Designs Photography) went for a drive in the late afternoon.  I took us up to Prettyboy Reservoir where I have been spending a lot of time recently.  Neither of us were feeling particularly inspired as we drove along.  We stopped here and there to take a few shots but nothing seemed to be clicking.  This was the day after Baltimore's latest snowfall on January 11th.  It was extremely cold and very windy.  Having driven every road around the reservoir that I am aware of we headed back to this known spot to catch the sunset.

I had been at this same place a few nights earlier shooting star trails.  When I walked down the path to the boat launch the first thing I noticed was this canoe sitting half buried in snow.  I had not seen in during my night shoot.  Immediately the creative juices started stirring and I carefully planned my steps so that I didn't put any footsteps in my shot.  Luckily, for once Sparky was not with me and off the leash or he surely would have put tracks all through my planned shot.  I loved the way the scene looked so I set up my tripod and started setting the camera up.  I snapped a few shots but nothing was coming out right.  So I had to reach into my bag of tools and pulled out a filter I very rarely use.  I used what is called a Graduated Neutral Density Filter in order to get the brighter sky to balance out with the darker ground.  It is basically a 4"x4" plate that starts tinted on one end and gradually goes to perfectly clear on the other end.  Even this was not enough as I needed to take several shots to ensure I had a good exposure for both the sky and land separately.  I also tried to time it so that I captured one of the many snownados swirling around on the snow covered ice.  I think that it really helps drive home how cold, windy, and desolate this place was.

This spot is quite busy during the spring and summer.  It is a boat launch used by many fishermen.  I am not sure who left this canoe or why but it really illustrates how the seasons affect us all.  A recreational item that at one time carried happy people out onto the water now sits alone half buried in snow next to solid ice.  This one spot goes from popular to deserted and from pleasant to barren over the course of a year.  Strange thing about me is I don't really get cold.  I was standing out in what was likely a wind chill in the single digits and the only thing cold was my nose.  There is something very centering about standing basically alone in a frozen reservoir with the wind howling and snow blowing.  I am not sure how most people feel, but for me, at that moment there was no where I would have rather been.

Spook Hill Road Bridge #1

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I woke up today expecting to take a morning trek up into Northern Baltimore County in the snow for some nice "snow on trees" types of shots.  But when I got up instead of the 1-2" we should have had at that point we had about 1/4".  I looked at the weather, realized they changed the forecast taking away most of our snow so I went back to bed.

After I had been up for a while I noticed the sun was breaking through the clouds and there was actually some blue skies mixed in among the clouds.  Quickly I shifted gears realizing the potential for a good sunset.  I have no idea why but I immediately thought of this bridge.  I didn't even know what way it faced, I had photographed it during the daytime the previous winter with a flock of Canadian Geese in front of it but thats about it.  Weird thing is I even figured I would be heading back into the cove behind the bridge.  I guess I was taking mental notes that day last winter when I had shot the bridge during the day.  I got a later start than I had wanted so I ended up watching the infancy of the sunset while still in route.  I got a little impatient and got going a little fast on the road that surrounds Prettyboy Reservoir.  Despite the slightly slippery roads I arrived at the bridge in one piece.

I decided I needed to be at a low angle in order to get a good angle to get the bridge and sky in the same frame.  This meant climbing down a snow covered hill about 25 feet to the waters edge.  I let Sparky off his leash and sent him down the hill first.  He has four paw drive, he always makes it everywhere safely.  I have two feet and I didn't make it down without incident.  I made it about 15 feet down when I slipped down about another 10 feet on my butt.  If it wasn't cold before, it sure was cold now!  No time to worry about that now, light was approaching peak!  I set up  my camera on the tripod (made of metal and also very cold by this point) and set up with the appropriate lens.  After getting a few run of the mill shots (Spook Hill Road Bridge #2, #2 actually came first but was edited second...) I began to play.

For this shot I wanted as long of an exposure as possible because I saw the clouds were moving across the sky at a pretty good clip.  I closed my aperture down to f/22 and lowered my ISO to Nikon's fake 100 (Lo1.0) and put on two neutral density filters and a circular polarizer.  I was able to take my shutter speed from 1/4 second on Spook Hill #2 down to 6 seconds on this image.  This allowed me to keep the shutter open for long enough to have the clouds "paint" themselves across the frame while not allowing anything to blow out and turn white.  After some careful post processing I brought the foreground levels back up so you could see the bridge and ice covered reservoir.

Now in the twilight I put all my gear away, turned around and realized just to my left was a much easier way to get up to the road that didn't involve a 75 degree hill.  When I see a photo opportunity I get so focused I often miss the obvious.  That can be a real hindrance to not only taking the easy way to a location but to getting the shot to begin with.  If you lock yourself into one image you often miss the obvious image which is even stronger.

"Snow Cap" at Great Falls, MD

This image was captured during a recent trip to Great Falls on the Maryland side of the gorge.  It was a decent day, not too terribly cold, with the sun shining and a few scattered clouds.  This was the first time my dog came along to Great Falls.  There is a "no dogs" policy on the boardwalk to the Falls overlook, but I decided on a weekday I would go ahead and chance breaking the rule.  Turns out the place was mobbed.  Dogs everywhere including on the boardwalk.  In fact, I think I spend more time moving Sparky out of peoples and dogs way then I spent taking pictures.  I finally made it through the gauntlet of people, dogs, and potential images and arrived at the overlook where I was hoping to catch a stunning sunset over the gorge.

I was taking in the falls when this rock caught my eye.  The static nature of the rocks and ice contrasting with the rapid movement of the white water rapid instantly excited my curiosity.  I've always loved the smooth look of water over a long exposure, "cotton candy water" as some photographers refer to it as.  A couple of test exposures showed me I needed to stack a few neutral density filters as well as a polarizer in order to get the effect I was looking for.  As soon as I reviewed the image in the camera monitor I knew I loved this picture.  It portrays both a sense of sorrow and solitude that I have been feeling lately.  In fact, many of my pictures have had that feeling of late.  I can't wait to hear on the blog, facebook page, and at shows to find out if this shot speaks to people the way it speaks to me.

The sunset never evolved.  It was a very plain jane sunset with the clouds not picking up any light.  It also turns out that this time of year the sun is at the wrong angle to catch from that viewpoint.  But the couple images I did get more than make up for the lack of an amazing sunset.  In fact, the "Snow Cap" image much better portrays how I was feeling than any sunset could have done.

Favorite Images of 2010

Ok, been absent for a little while, but with the new year here I want to share a few favorite images I've taken in 2010.  As some of you may know, 2010 has been a year full over very high highs and very low lows.  It has been both the best year of my life and the very worst of nightmares at the same time.  Anyway, heres to 2011 with a look back at 2010:

This image of Blackwater Falls in Davis, West Virginia was taken on October 10th. This stop capped off a weekend where we traveled over 1000 miles going from the Delaware Bay, to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and finally to the mountains of West Virginia.  Normally I do not like to have the main subject of my images obsured in any way, but the color of these leaves against the white of the falls was simply striking.  I chose a long exposure because I simply love the velvety soft look of flowing water.  I broke the rule of thirds with how high the top of the falls is, I did that to try and convey the size of the falls.  For those who have not seen or heard of this waterfall it is actually roughly the height of a five story building.  It is quite an impressive sight.  Almost as impressive is the number of stairs leading down to the falls, 294 if my memory serves.  This goes down in my book as one of the hardest "easily accessible" sites in the area.

This image is entitled "Bashful Raccoon".  This was an image of sheer luck (always remembering that even with luck, if you do not know what you are doing when you get the opportunity to get the shot, you will fail).  I was at Bombay Hook along the Delaware Bay on July 3rd.  I had brought my kids along to what they called "the bug place" due to the number of biting flies that would sneak into the car only to be squished by a hyper 5 and 3 year old.  Driving along one of the back trails where nothing is normally sighted, I spy movement along the edge of the road in the brush.  I immediately hit the brakes, grab my camera with the telephoto zoom on it and rush towards the movement.  It turned out to be a raccoon.  And he was not very happy to see me.  He bolted for a tree and went to climbing it.  Luckily for me he stopped about 10 feet up in a nook and was curious enough to peer down at me.  It really looks like he was posing for me, perhaps he was...

Click here for the original, this smaller thumbnail just does not do the eagle justice.  I've spent a lot of time this year up a Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River.  If you have not heard, they have a thriving population of eagles that live and breed there in the area.  This is a very popular spot for photographers, bird watchers, and fishermen.  I've spent much time there learning how to use an ultra-telephoto lens and learning the ins and outs of eagles and how they move.  This shot was taken very late in the year: December 11th.  Some days you go up and the eagle simply sit and watch the world.  Other days, like the 11th they are hungry and decide to fish the entire day.  But I have found that finding them fishing is the easy part.  Learning how to track with their movements so you can get a good crisp shot is the hard part.  Its taken many months and many, many shots but I am finally getting the hang of it.  There is something about the cry of a Bald Eagle that is simply intoxicating and keeps drawing me back with hopes of catching these amazing birds in action.

If you like what you see you can see more at Benjamin DeHaven's Gallery at www.dajdesignsphotography.com.  Here are a couple more photographs that hold a special place in my heart:

Great Egret Taking Off At Dusk in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Old Fishing Boat on Hooper's Island, MD

  

Elakala Falls in Blackwater Falls State Park