Tag: wildlands

I am very pleased to announce that two of my works have won awards in the 2012 Connecticut Forest & Park Association’s photography competition, a contest which seeks out imagery that is especially representative of the state’s natural landscapes, flora and fauna, trails and hikers.

Blackledge Falls in Glastonbury was the subject of my piece titled “The Falls of Blackledge”, which won 1st place in the Connecticut Wildlands category. I shot this photograph in Autumn of 2011 during my very first visit to Blackledge Falls Park and I still vividly remember the way that every facet of the environment seemed to come together perfectly to create a truly dream-like scene. It was a privilege to be in the forests of Glastonbury to see this vista unfold before my eyes!

Shooting this photograph involved using a couple filters in order to capture all of the color and detail in the landscape. For example, a circular polarizing filter was essential to bring out the warm colors of the leaves against the bold blue sky, as well as to remove distracting glare from the wet rocks beside the waterfall. But even more important was the use of a graduated neutral density filter which allowed me to hold back 3 stops of light from the brightly illuminated trees in the background. This went a long way towards balancing the exposure, allowing me to capture detail in the shadowy, moss-laden rocks without overexposing the forest and losing those deeply-saturated colors.

This next piece, titled “Life on the Nonnewaug”, won 2nd place in the Flora & Fauna category. I shot this photograph at Nonnewaug Falls in Woodbury, where the East Nonnewaug River drops about 15 feet into a shallow pool before meandering further into the woodlands. The real challenge with this photograph was being patient enough to wait for the scene to come together as I envisioned.

I had seen a couple of green frogs darting about the pool and decided that I wanted to portray them in the context of their idyllic waterfall environment. Of course, this meant that I needed one of these skittish frogs to perch in the water in a somewhat specific area of the pool and remain still for a long enough time for me compose a shot. From the start, it was clear that they weren’t interested in participating. Every time I approached them they would quickly dive towards the deeper water and surface in the shallows elsewhere along the perimeter of the pool. This went on for a couple of hours. In truth, I had just about given up and I packed all my equipment back into my bag and was making one last walk around the pool before hitting the trails.

To my surprise, one of the green frogs had surfaced in the shallow water just as I was walking by and I figured I’d give it one more shot. I slowly unpacked my gear and set my tripod up so that my camera was suspended just above the surface of the water. To my amazement, the frog sat motionless even as I delicately extended my camera to within 6″ – 8″ of his nose! I took a small series of photos with slight variations in angle and exposure before packing everything back up. Still, the frog remained motionless until I took my first step back towards the trailhead, at which point it quickly darted away to some other corner of the pool. I have a tendency sometimes to personify nature and as I made the hike back to my car, I couldn’t help but smile at the way these little amphibians had effortlessly played me for nearly two hours before finally giving in. It was as if the frog had seen me leaving and said,” Look… we were just messing with you, but you’ve been a good sport about it… I’m going to give you one shot at this… don’t mess it up!” I’d like to think that I made the most of the opportunity.

You can see both of these works, as well as many other winning photographs, online at the Connecticut Forest and Park Association’s website at ctwoodlands.org.

Interested in Prints or Licensing?

• Check out the landing page for The Falls at Blackledge at my online galleries or check out all of my work from Glastonbury, Connecticut.
• Check out the landing page for Life on the Nonnewaug or check out all of my photography from Woodbury, Connecticut.