UNW: Middlesex Fells

The November 2016 Urban Nature Walk was a short hike in the Middlesex Fells; a reservation just north of Boston.   It's a massive forested area and several reservoirs and ponds and plenty of paths.  Todays walk was in the South East area of the Fells.

Given this was a November walk, I knew I wasn't going to find any more trees full of autumn color.   However, the brown leaves on the forest floor provided a nice canvas, as did all the glacial rocks and their texture.   I ended up with many great shots, and several opportunities for black & white images.

Rock outcropping

The above photo is a good representation of the Fells - forest with lots of rocks.  (Well, that kind of describes New England, doesn't it??).   Even with the bare trees, there is plenty of color on the ground and rocks - with a nice blue sky to top it off!

A small body of water provides an interesting view of the forest trees against the sky

Of course, it wouldn't be a nature walk without some interesting mushrooms spotted.    This was an interesting specimen.  It looked huge sticking out on the small trunked tree.  Some nice color and texture on top, with lots of gill action underneath.

Mushroom, top and bottom

Unfortunately, the view of Boston from a high point in the Fells wasn't that good that morning - lots of haze over the city.

Boston, as seen from Boojum Rock in the Fells.

However, it was clear in the park, giving a crisp view and bold colors over one of the reservoirs.

Fells Reservoir (MWRA)

There were several spots of color to be found on the banks of the reservoir

 

One bush still had delightfully red leaves.   

Sunlit reeds on the shore

While I did fine some brilliant colors on today's walk, you don't need great brilliant colors in order to have a great photograph.   I took advantage of the many textures and lighting conditions and converted several images into Black & White, with great success.  

Below, we see a collection of trees that provided an average color photograph.   But as a Black and White image, your focus is now focused on the trees and the texture, and the warm tone bring an emotional feel to the image.

A small copse of trees

Likewise, Black and white can transform an ordinary forest floor of fallen leaves into artwork.

Leaves on the forest floor

The same can apply to the rock outcroppings.  Glaciers left some nice granite throughout the park, as well as scouring them as the glaciers receded.  While many rocks were grey to begin with, Black & White allowed me to highlight the textures, turning a rock face into a landscape.

Rock face; Conversion to Black and White highlighting the striations.

A blue tint makes this look like the surface of another planet...

Visit the Urban Nature Walk facebook page for more information on the group - the monthly walks are open to all!

All my photos from the walk can be found in this Flickr album.    There you'll find many more color and black and white photos from the Fells walk.   This trip made me realize how close the Fells reservation is to the MBTA orange line - I'll definitely be returning and exploring in the Fells next year!

Evergreen, softened

UNW: Stony Brook Reservation

My latest monthly nature walk group went to Stony Brook Reservation.  One of 5 large "Reservation" parks in the Boston area.   Stony Brook itself used to be a larger waterway, flowing all the way to the Charles, providing power (and water) to many breweries throughout the JP area.  (That's where Stony Brook orange line stop got it's name).  Most of the brook now runs in culverts under ground, and most of the breweries are now condos.

As with many parks I explored this summer, it doesn't take long for the city to disappear and the forest to engulf you.   This was the path into the woods.   I'm all of 10 feet from the main road (Washington St, Dedham) and the bus stop.

Lawrence Path

It's a good thing I decided to take this path.   There's a main road through the park - Enneking parkway.   While it goes right through the reservation, it isn't very park friendly.  No sidewalks, and barely enough room on one side of the road to walk if you had to.   Cars speed by faster than the speed limit, so walking close the road is a bit dangerous.  Taking a path into the park is definitely preferred.   Stangely enough, if you drive it's allowable to park on the side of the road to visit the park.  No clue how accidents don't happen all the time.

Turtle Pond is the main body of water on the north side of the park.   Its still the source of Stony Brook, although the brook goes underground after running through the park.  The pond is supposed to be for fishing only, but the dock makes a convenient swimming hold for the locals (a few were swimming while we were there).    While nice, the dock itself needs some TLC.   Not sure how much upkeep the DCR does in the park.   We did see evidence of tree maintenance, but the dock, well.

Southern Dock at Turtle Pond

Under this dock is some marshy area, where we spotted some wildlife.   Nothing exciting, but I'm a city boy, and we don't see much.   :)

Bullfrog

Painted Turtle

After investigating the dock, we walked the path around the pond.  A nice walk, but with the drought in Mass, there wasn't a lot going on.  Less wildlife than usual.  Much of the marsh area was little more than wet mud.  Most of the trees and bushes looked a bit distressed.

Much beauty around the pond

Unfortunately, not everyone respects nature 

The monthly walks give me a chance to go exploring with a different group of folks - some I know from previous walks, and always a few new faces.  This trip we had an entomologist and a lepidopterist.  How often do you see people come to a nature walk with a butterfly net?

On this walk, looking for wildlife meant turning over leaves and rocks to see what we could see.  Again, the dry weather meant fewer insects, but we did make a few interesting finds.

Orgyia leucostigma

While I did help find bugs and caterpillars, I'll always enjoy the trees and solitude of a forest.  Stony Brook Reservation provides a nice mix.  Lots of trails (well used and well marked).   Some forest was very walkable off-trail, while other area had so much ground cover it can barely see through it.   Plus, I'm terrible at identifying poison ivy.  It never seems to look like the photos.

Always remember to look up...

This month was a last minute walk, concentrating around the Turtle Pond area of the reservation (North End of the reservation).  The park itself was very nice, and only a short bud ride from the end of the subway.  But I feel I only scratched the surface of the Reservation.  I definitely want to head back when I have more time, and its not blazingly hot outside.  There are plenty of trails and forest there left to explore.

See all the photos from this walk on my Flickr album.

Visit (and join?) the Boston Urban nature Walk facebook page.

Skater Boyz

Wandering around North Point with my camera one day I finally stopped at the Lynch Family Skate Park.

The skate park was built in an an area under a series of ramps built as part of the "big dig" in the early 2000's.   It began as a concept in 2000 - Boston's skateboarders really had no park of their own.  They can be seen all over town in parks and plazas, but there was never a park exclusively for them.   15 years later the park has finally open.

In fact, the whole area is worth a visit.  There's a large park-park where warehouses used to be.   The skate park.  A nice pedestrian bridge over the train tracks (Nice train watching area on the bridge and next to the skate park).  That pedestrian bridge leads to a plaza right under the Zakim cable-stay bridge.  Lots of fun exploring.



It's a nice park but has it's challenges for a photographer.  First, you're under the highway - which means you have half bright sun and half hard shade.   Always a challenge.   Second, this is a park for skateboarders - not a lot of places to randomly shoot.  You pretty much have to scout around the edges of the park.  If you go 'in' the park, you have a high risk of getting clocked by a board, bike or scooter.   (Apparently using razor type scooters at a skate park is also a thing.   Whoda thought).  Third, these are folks just having fun and trying things, so you never know who might be where at any given point in time.   (vs. a professional shoot or such, where someone is doing the same trick in the same place and you know what to expect).



I started with a lot of walking around and observing.   Where could I stand without getting killed.   Who was doing what where.   Who was doing 'interesting' stuff, and who was just puttering around. And, of course, what would actually make a good photo.

No one had any issues with me shooting.  Just respect their space and be a good sport about things.    Chatted up some of them with light conversation to see what they were up do.



Once ready to start shooting, I had to give some thought to composition.  Watching someone a few times to see what they usually do, then position myself around the bowl to get a good angle and good lighting.   I went with the mid range lens, as they went from near to far as they went around the bowls.  Switched to high speed shooting mode.  Then take bursts as things were about to happen.



Got some good shots.   Got a lot of OK shots.  A lot of lessons learned after seeing the photos back on the computer.   All in all I had a lot of fun, and look forward to heading back again and seeing if I can do better next time.



Some lessons learned.

• Get comfortable with people.    It's easy to take photos, but it can be challenging to walk into a group of people and start taking their photos.   Definitely a skill I need to work on.   Once warmed up to the skaters it was easier for me to feel comfortable being a photographer.   And establishing some rapport with the subjects made them a little more comfortable with me.
• Remember camera settings.   More photos were out of focus than I had thought.   I'll bump up the ISO next time.  Moving the camera to keep up with my subjects needed higher shutter speed.   I did do a decent job at keeping aperture high (wide) to make sure only my subject is in focus.
• Keep the human element.  It was easy to catch a 'trick' in action on the far side of the bowl.  You could follow their lead up then snap as they went in the air.   Got some nice photos - but they were all of the backs of the subject.   Having their face in the photo is always more powerful - even if you end up getting fewer 'cool' photos.   As a matter of face, some of the photos of just the faces of the guys concentrating on their skating, with no tricks, were as interesting as the action photos.   Will definitely take a different approach next time

See my Flickr Album for the best photos from this shoot.