UPDATE ON THE POND ~~ MONOCHROME ~~ PARTING SHOT

UPDATE ON THE POND

Since Fall has been here with us for a bit, I had been wondering how the leaves looked at Randall Park. Saturday was a nice sunny day, so we took the short drive over there to check it out. We had a huge wind blow through on Friday, so a lot of the leaves were off of the trees. Even though some of them were on the ground, they were still pretty.

Photo credit to Linda, great shot!

On the other side of the bridge, the path that runs along the little creek is always a good place to walk. The small dirt path winds around amongst the trees and bushes and affords many photo opportunities. There usually isn't anyone else walking there, so the noise factor is dialed way down, which makes for good videoing.

Although we didn't see any Monarch butterflies this past summer, the milkweed at Randall is still there and is doing well. The pods have burst open and are releasing their seed to the wind. I understand from what I've read that lots of Monarchs used to be in Yakima during the summer, but I have only seen the random butterfly come to my yard one or two summers since we have been here. If they ever do come back to Yakima in great numbers, Randall Park will have milkweed ready for them.


While we were walking along the path, Linda stopped me and pointed out how the wind was making the leaves on some of the trees shimmer. It was so nice watching this in the calm of our walk.

Fall is so fleeting here in Yakima, the leaves turn color and usually not too long after that, the winds pick up and blow them off. So we have to enjoy the pretty leaves while we can.

Same plant, different colors

Cattails

A moment of reflection

A trip to Randall Park would be wasted if we didn't visit the pond. That is usually the big drawing point for this park. When we got to the pond, it was completely calm without a bird in sight, which is very unusual. Linda looked around and spied all of the Canada Geese out on the middle part of the park, basking in the sun. A few minutes after we had been there I guess they saw us, because all of a sudden this huge flock of geese came thundering in. Of course I wasn't expecting this so I wasn't ready to capture them all landing on the pond. But I did catch the tail end of their arrival. They all landed in the middle of the pond and then drifted over en masse across from the viewing deck.

The landing

It seems like there is always one couple that stands out from the crowd. Often times it looks like they are posing for me, so I happily oblige them with a photo.

MONOCHROME

We don't subscribe to very many magazines, but one I do enjoy very much is Outdoor Photographer. This month's issue features black and white photography. I usually do not adhere to this concept very much because I just love all the colors out there in nature. But the cover picture for this issue was absolutely stunning. Credit for this picture goes to photographer David Yarrow, who took this amazing image of a Gelada Baboon in the Simien Mountains of Northern Ethiopia.

Reading about monochromatic photography got me wondering how some of my shots would look in black and white. Back in the days of film photography, I did venture into B&W on occasion. Some of my attempts came out pretty good, but weren't very memorable. I usually was happier with taking color pictures. Enter the age of digital photography. These days it is easy to see how a photo will look in black and white just by applying a filter in the edit process. I picked out a couple of my earlier pictures for this experiment.

With thanks to David Yarrow for the inspiration in picking this photo, I decided to go with a picture I took at Woodland Park Zoo this summer. Here is the original in color:

It looks like there isn't much color in this picture, but you can see subtle hints in the gorilla's fur and in the background. Now, let's see what it looks like in black and white.

All of a sudden it is easy to see just how much color was in the original picture. I believe the draw of B&W in this picture, and probably in most B&W pictures, is to more quickly bring your attention to a specific area of the photo. In this one, your attention is immediately on the gorilla's face, as your eyes are drawn to it. The B&W, without the distraction of color, seems to accentuate his expression more so than the color picture.

My second picture for this experiment is one I took on our trip back East as we were traveling through the northern part of Nevada.

This picture has more color in it as apposed to the gorilla photo, although the color is still a bit muted. Here the beauty of the photo is in the contrast between the trees at the bottom of the frame and the immense mountain at the top. So what's it going to look like in black and white?

Looking at this picture, the observer's breath is taken away by the mountain, which seems to be even more immense than in the color photo. The scenery below the mountain almost disappears beside the overwhelming size of the mountains. The focus is the magnificent mountain.

I chose these two images above just because I think they are two of the best pictures that I have ever taken. I love both images in color, but looking at them in black and white does give an added dimension to the picture. I believe, for me, it is a trade-off. You lose some of the beauty when taking the color away, but you gain something in your appreciation of the photo, a different perspective.


PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl thought it might be fun to get in on the act with the black and white photography, so I played along with her just to be nice. Little does she know, in all photographs of her she is already half way there!

That's all for this week, my friends. Join us again next week for more from the Southerner in the Northwest!