I have been struggling a lot to create any photography this winter. I can’t remember the last time I photographed anything. I don’t know if it just the times we are living in getting me down. Or that I have just been too distracted and unfocused. Allowing the flow of social media to wash over me. Or maybe I am trying too hard to find “balance” by spending a little bit of time on all the different aspects of life I enjoy.

The challenge is photography takes some level of commitment. It takes time. Photography requires focus. And when you are unfocused and noncommittal then photography falls away.

At the encouragement of my wife I took a day to go out and focus on photography.

I have had so little energy and enthusiasm for photography that even after adding a new lens to my toolkit I hadn’t even taken it out of its box let alone used it. So, this would be the primary focus of a day out creating photography. Explore the world with this new tool. See what types of images I could create. And also maybe do a little more traditional waterfall photography as well. (I just can’t help myself)

Robert Treman State Park

I started the day at Robert Treman State Park in Ithaca, New York. I love this park for two reasons: Waterfalls and the Finger Lakes Trail. I wanted to use the new tools to photograph the winter woods at an F2 perspective. This would create a shallow depth of field and hopefully highlight the primary focus of the image.

I hiked a small section of the Finger Lakes Trail and focused mostly on individual trees. Trees that looked distinct or had an interesting texture or shape to them. And given that it was winter I wanted to be sure to capture the interplay between the trees and the snow, as in the image above with the tree sticking to the texture of the tree bark and filling in where a branch had broken off.

After Hiking in the woods I went back to the car to warm up (the projected high for the day was 15 degrees F) and change lenses on my camera and get my tripod. I wanted to photograph the frozen lower falls here at the park as well. I was surprised at how completely frozen the falls were. I have seen it pretty icy in the past but not as fully covered as it was on this day. Just a small amount of water was visible.

AS I walked over too the waterfall, I was walking along the stream that flows away form the falls and I saw a mink bounding out onto the frozen water. I was taken by surprise and exclaimed out loud to no one but myself, “Oh. Wow! A Mink!” And promptly scared the mink back into hiding.

It is this sense of wonder that I have deprived myself of by not creating photography lately. Getting outside and giving myself a chance to experience nature. Even this brief encounter with wildlife gave me the kind of feeling I have been needing. This is why I create. This is why I go outside.

Taughannock Falls State Park

The next place I wanted to go was Taughannock Falls State Park. The 200+ foot tall waterfall is always an impressive spectacle in the cold of winter. I also was hoping to capture some interesting photos of the part of the park that probably goes overlooked and maybe even people don’t know exists.

I wanted to photograph the trees and shoreline where the parkland meets Cayuga Lake. It is such a beautiful area and I wanted to capture some winter scenes there. And it is one of my favorite places for impressive trees.

Using the 40mm F2 lens to sight in the trees was a fun creative challenge. I photographed the wide variety of trees in as many ways that I could think of. Focusing on the tree trunks and catching the shadows, snow, and the lake in the background; or finding smaller trees I could fit completely in frame; Looking up into the branches of tall trees; And I even created a panoramic image from 4 shots to capture the full height of the 100+ foot tall trees at the park.

And if you like trees there are a wide variety here. Giant tall relatively thin trees with amazing branches high overhead. Average sized trees with that perfect sculpted look of the canopy you might expect in a garden or artists rendition. Small trees that have only recently been planted and still have protective barriers around their trunks. And there are even a few evergreen trees.

One of the toughest challenges was to photograph the trees while not having any man made objects in view (which is my preference for my photography) especially at a well appointed park such as this with many grills, picnic tables, and benches throughout.

All the time the windswept snowscape added an extra dimension to the images to try and capture in conjunction with the trees or in a solitary image of snow showing its texture.

Then I took another break in the car to warm up and switch out my gear and set up for photographing the waterfalls and the gorge. The gorge and the large waterfall are always impressive, but the winter snow brings a different element to the views. Something totally different. A little more raw. A little more intense and distinct.

But the best thing about this park in the winter is that the trail out to the 200 ft tall waterfall is relatively flat and it is well maintained so that even in the winter almost anyone can make the journey to see the sights if they want. It is a hike that is well worth it. And today I was there all alone until I was on the hike to go back to my car.

One thing I like about photographing nature in the winter is that the cold and snow reshapes the landscape in ways that make it completely distinct than any other time. That is one of the reasons I try to embrace the cold and get outside for some photos. In summer there are always flowers to photograph. But in winter there is not always snow. And there definitely isn’t always enough snow to make an impact. It is not always cold enough to freeze water. And we have freeze and thaw cycles that can often render the landscape a drab brown devoid of vibrancy, which I struggle with in winter. I prefer snow. And the only thing that can tame the Finger Lakes here in New York is the brutal cold temperatures we have been having.

I wanted to embrace the cold as much as I could so I could see how the lake was responding to the long bought extremely cold weather we have been experiencing.

Seneca Lake State Park

This is how I ended up at Seneca Lake State Park and the Finger Lakes Welcome Center in Geneva, New York. It was cold and windy at the north end of Seneca Lake. I embarked on brief excursions from my car to photograph the scenery, then drove farther down the road to photograph different areas. Deciding what to photograph was primarily determined by finding cool looking trees and the conditions of the lake.

I knew I wanted to go as far down as I could drive towards the marina and the jetty that protruded out into the lake. I thought this would provide some interesting character out on the lake. As I drove I was surprised to see how much of the water near the shore was actually frozen on the surface. I am not sure I have seen that much of Seneca Lake frozen before.

I really like the image I created there featuring the one large tree in the foreground with the frozen lake and the jetty in the background.

The more I explored the more I found interesting sights. Cool looking trees with textures. Snow clinging to tree trunks and roots. Frozen water and rocks. Areas where you could see mounds of ice forming along the boarder of the frozen water and what remained to splash up upon it and then become ice itself. The repeated splashes forming higher and higher mounds of ice. Then one of my fattier parts was where the water had been frozen but the water had gotten rough enough to break up the ice. It was more like a segmented sheet of ice. Still all close together but with cracks and edges. The texture and look of it was really cool.

The Drive Home

After I had my fill of the cold at the northern end of Seneca Lake I decided it was time to make my way home. But, I made one last stop to photograph another favorite waterfall. Aunt Sara’s Falls near Watkins Glen, New York. It is only a little pull off on the side of the highway, but it is always worth checking out. In the summer it can dry up completely, but when the water is flowing it is golden. And in winter it is frozen.

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