Mountain Pool, Dark Hollow Falls

Photograph of a pool in a stream in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA

I love these mountain pools in Shenandoah National Park.  This one is downstream from Dark Hollow Falls but you can find scenes like this throughout the park.

Click on the image to see a larger version of the photograph.

Dark Hollow Falls, 50mm Challenge

photograph of the base of a waterfall, Dark Hollow Falls, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA

When my friend and I reached the bottom of Dark Hollow Falls I decide to challenge myself a little.  I switched to a 50mm prime lense, rather than the two zoom lenses I had been using all morning.  My challenge was to only shoot with the prime lense for the rest of our hike.

When we arrived at this spot I immediately found myself frustrated because I couldn’t frame the entire waterfall with a 50mm lense.  It was simply too big and we couldn’t get very far away from it.  Knowing my wide angle zoom would easily frame the scene only made the whole situation more annoying.  Sticking to my self imposed challenge I started looking for different perspectives and ended up with this.  I am absolutely certain I would not have taken this photo if I was using the lense I normally shoot with.

Sometimes forcing yourself to do things differently can lead to different ways of seeing things.

Blackberry Blossoms

photograph of wild blackberry blossoms in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA
Blackberry Blossoms

The bees in Shenandoah National Park were busy pollinating blackberry blossoms growing along the Dark Hollow Falls trail when I was last there.

Goldenrod Crab Spider on Stem

photograph of a goldenrod crab spider on the stem of a plant

 

Sometimes when I’m hiking I like to stop, at seemingly random places, and look closely at my surroundings.  I might spend 5 or 10 minutes just trying to discover the little things that most people walk right by completely unaware.  If you’ve never done this before I highly recommend it.  Almost anywhere you go you will be amazed at some of the small wonders that present themselves if you just slow down and take a little time to become acquainted with your surroundings.

This Goldenrod Crab Spider was one such secret, hiding right in front of my eyes.  I stepped off the hiking trail into a small meadow just to see what might be there.  I looked around a bit and was about to move along when I noticed this spider sitting motionless, the embodiment of patience and stillness.  Goldenrod Crab Spiders will sit for long periods of time, waiting for an unsuspecting insect to come within reach.  You can frequently find them inside blooms using the flower as natural bait.

Black Eyed Susan

photograph of a wild black-eyed susan flower growing in a field

It’s been a very busy summer and I haven’t spent as much time with my camera as I would have liked so I’m pulling out some photos from last year that I never got around to publishing.

This Black Eyed Susan was growing in a forest meadow alongside wild daisies.  It looked sort of like the odd man out, surrounded by white flowers.  I took a few photos of the lone blooming Black Eyed Susan surrounded by Daisies but I preferred this more closely cropped image of the flower.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

photograph of trees reflected in a shallow creek

I had some other ideas for this week’s photo challenge but I was walking through the woods and the reflection of the trees in this stream caught my attention.  Perhaps too literal a treatment of this week’s theme but I liked the color and the stillness of the water at this spot.