Lately I seem to be fascinated with taking photographs of objects found on the ground.  With a fresh layer of snow here, my attention is drawn even more to these artifacts that have been left behind by the fall season. The white background really helps focus my attention on these objects.

Maybe I spend a lot of time looking down when I’m out hiking around because the view above ground can be less attractive at times…. although maybe the graffiti of today will be the petroglyphs of tomorrow with the photography workshops of the future crowding around to photograph.

Snow has been a rare occurrence in this area over the past couple of years, but not this year.  Another snow storm has arrived and it presented  a nice chance to take some photographs at a local park near my house.  The park has a couple of trails through the woods where I took these images using a 24-70mm lens.

In the shot above, I liked the framing of the trees in the front and attempted to stop the snowflakes in mid-air which softened the overall image.  Below, I used a 200-400mm lens to photograph a squirrel digging through the snow in search of lunch.

I visited Mason Neck State Park today not knowing that it’s duck hunting season. With the sound of guns blasting in the background the only ‘wildlife’ I saw in the park were the plastic decoys floating near the duck blinds. So I hiked through the park to do some hunting of my own (for images).  There are still some areas with patches of ice throughout the park.  I used a 105mm lens to take the image above.

Then I came across some American Sycamore trees along the shoreline and took the photograph below of the bark of this tree. The bark is composed of layers that peel away revealing gray, green, brown and white colors, looking like a natural camouflage pattern.

Earlier today I stopped by Huntley Meadows Park to see if the ice was still covering the wetlands (it was) and this Canada Goose appeared to be making a statement about having to sit in the icy water.

I spent this morning at Huntley Meadows Park. There was a layer of ice on the wetlands near the boardwalk, but in the distance there was open water and that is where just about all of the birds were hanging out.  I could see Mallards, Pintails, Mergansers, Shovelers and maybe a Teal or two through my binoculars but they were all too far away to photograph. The only birds willing to hang around the ice nearby were Canada Geese and Ring-billed Gulls like the one above.  The gull, like me, was just waiting around for something to come closer…

We’ve had a couple of weeks of below freezing weather here but today warmed up to the 50’s. It was a good chance to spend a few hours back in Great Falls Park, VA.  I was hoping for some nice sunrise sky color but the cloud cover prevented that so I worked on capturing shots of the water and found several other subjects, like the ice-bound leaf below, to photograph.  I think it’s a good representation of the chilly winter.

Some of the rocks in the river still had a covering of snow from our big storm back before Christmas.  I used a polarizer/neutral density filter to create the long exposures needed for that ‘milky’ appearance of the water.

Today marks one year since I started this web site.  I originally created this site as a personal motivator to get out and take a lot of photographs and it certainly has been that. While I want to continue with the quantity, I also want to concentrate on improving the quality of photographs so I have signed-up for three photography field trips this year. In May I’m headed to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.  I have been to both places on hiking trips, so the photos I took were during quick stops along the trail (like the shot above at Canyonlands).  This year’s trip should allow more time to plan out my photographs.  Then in September, I’m going to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a place I have not photographed before.  In November I’ll be headed to Zion National Park, Lake Powell and the slot canyons of Arizona.  I’m really looking forward to each of these trips and I’m also looking forward to continuing to visit the local parks in my neck of the woods to practice the craft of nature photography.