Category: Winter

Every now and then you end up in the right place at the right time … just by accident.  On my last visit to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, I was walking down Willow Point Trail which is lined with wooded areas on the left and open fields on the right.  There were several Eastern Bluebirds flitting around the ground in the fields and so I took a few images, but unfortunately the birds were backlit by the sun and the lighting was not ideal.  Then, one of the birds flew right past me and perched in a tree on the edge of the woods not more than 15 feet away!  Whoo hoo!  Despite the shadow on the bird from the tree branch, I still love this image!

I’ve been spending a lot of time at this spot over the last month.  It’s the main snow geese viewing location at the tip of Willow Point Trail at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.  There were only a few tundra swans on the lake yesterday, but the sunset was beautiful.  I took a couple of iphone photos before it became too dark.

A while back I posted an image from this same location that was taken in the early morning after an ice storm (go to:  http://betsydallasphoto.com/WordPressNew/?p=12968).  The images were taken at different times of day, with different cameras and lenses and in different weather conditions.  Today’s photo was shot in late afternoon after a dusting of snow when there was still a bit of sun illuminating the trees in the foreground and background.  The forest in between, however, is in shadow.  I love the colors and depth of this shot!

I wasn’t blessed with the greatest sense of direction.  As a result, I need to find landmarks to remind me where to turn when driving to a familiar location or even to help me find my car at the mall.  These three silos are my indicator for where to turn en route to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.  After about 10 years of driving there, I no longer need the GPS, but a landmark or two along the way help me to stay on track.

Sometimes you just have to take a detour.  One morning, as I was on my way to who knows where, I noticed heavy fog hanging low above the water at the lake.  I took a quick detour down to the water and shot a few pics with my iphone.  I still think that the photo quality from a phone is poor (and maybe that’s because I don’t know much about iphone photography), but it was all I had at the time.   You know the saying … ‘the best camera is the one that you have with you’ (Chase Jarvis) and it is so true!  Don’t ever miss the shot just because you don’t have the right camera or lens … just take the photo with whatever you have available!  I like how the outcropping of rocks mimics the shoreline in this shot – a repeating pattern of sorts.