Chaumont Barrens - A Tradition

 

I have been traveling down to the Chaumont (pronounced sha-mo) Barrens Nature Preserve for several years now to see and photograph the wild flowers. It is the only place I know in NY that has Yellow Lady Slippers and Prairie Smoke. I have been told there are also Ram's Head Lady Slippers in the wooded area, but I've yet to spot any. The Barrens are an unusual environment with very thin soil over limestone. It is owned by The Nature Conservancy. There is a loop trail through the area that is about 2.1 miles long. There is a picnic area just off the parking lot with a picnic table, but you would need a strange body conformation to use it. When I tried to sit on the bench to eat the sandwich I had taken with me, the bench was so low that the tabletop was only about 2" below my chin. I ended up eating while standing. There weren't a lot of flowers this time. The window for spring flowers varies between the last week of May and the first week of June. The Prairie Smoke was just starting to bloom. Perhaps I was a bit early.

Dandelion gone to seed

Wild Geranium

Starry False Solomon's Seal

Yellow Lady Slippers

Blue Eyed Grass

Blue Eyed Grass Triplet (on one stem). I'd seen twin blooms before, but this triplet was a first for me.

A different angle on a Yellow Lady Slipper

Wild Phlox

The picnic area with the weird picnic table.

I prefer overcast or open shade for flower photos. Tuesday was a bright sunny day. For days like that, I carry a white umbrella. The two photos below illustrate why. Bright sun has the tendency to wash out color and detail. a white umbrella simulates open shade where the is no shade. The left photo is the bright sun view. The right one, taken seconds later, shows the effect of filtering the light through a white umbrella. The Columbine at the top of this post was in the natural shade of a copse of trees.

If you want to visit Chaumont Barrens, turn off I-81 at the Dexter exit when going through Watertown. I forget the number, but it is the middle one of 3 exits. Go all the way to the village of Chaumont (about 8 miles) and turn right at the gas station/Subway shop. Follow that road until you come to a left turn just after a small cemetery on the right. There is no sign directing you to the Preserve. You need to know where the turn is. The Preserve is on your left a half mile or so down that road. It is open from a half hour before sunrise until a half hour after sunset.

Chaumont Barrens - June 5, 2024

 

Every year for several years now I have made a pilgrimage to Chaumont Barrens to photograph wildflowers. It is a unique environment for the Northeast that belongs to the Nature Conservancy. It has some flowers not normally seen in the NE including Prairie Smoke, There are Yellow Ladyslippers in late May/early June but I missed those this year. Apparently because of our early spring they had already gone by.

Columbine

Prairie Smoke

Woods's Rose (according to Plant.net)

Viburnum

Tall Cinquefoil

Woods's Rose

Wood Lilies

Beardtongue

Golden Ragwort in a clump of grass on an area of exposed bedrock.
There is quite a bit of exposed bedrock.

Herb Robert - This was in a wooded section. I was fortunate that a patch of light was on the blossom.

About the Barrens

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/central-chaumont-barrens/?en_txn1=bl.ch_ny.eg.x.g

I have trouble remembering names*, people's names, and the names of things, especially flowers. I can recall a few easily but I usually end up looking them up in my wildflower books or lately using an app that allows me to take a photograph that it then matches to several possibilities. I won't swear to the specific ID of some of these, the roses for example. I'm not an expert and don't care enough to become one. I ID them as best I can because I know someone will ask.

*My inability to readily remember names is not due to age. It has been a lifelong thing, a trait that also showed up on a personality test I once took. It's a random thing. I never forget Herb Robert but I have a hard time remembering Columbine which I see far more frequently. I even have it in my garden.

Enjoy the photos and share the link to this page if you want to share with others. 

Daily Photo - Day 27

I hiked only 5 miles today, an out and back hike on the Stone Valley trail. This photo was made along the shore of the river at the point where I turned around, Cardinal Flowers growing amongst debris from high water flooding.

Daily Photos - Day 12

How's that for an alien creature?

Today I have 5 photos. I went to the Paul Smiths VIC in hope of finding some Sundew. I was photographing a cluster that I found when a young lady asked what I was doing. I told her I was photographing Sundew and started to explain what it was when she said: "I know, I'm here with a botany class from SLU." Then she asked if I knew what a tiny white flower a little farther along was and I admitted I didn't know. I hadn't seen one like it before. Just then the professor came along and said it was a Sundew flower. The clusters of carnivorous paddles are common he said but the flowers, on central stalks like the flowers on Pitcher Plants, are rare. So I learned something today and spent 45 minutes or so trying to get a photo that showed the entire plant in one photo. It proved difficult. I succeeded but not as well as I hoped. I may have to make another attempt.

The whole Sundew cluster:

A Sundew flower opening.

Another Sundew blossom looking down with the cluster below. The bloom is only about 1" from the lens and the stalk is 6-8" tall so the cluster below is very out of focus due to the shallow depth of field when working that close.

My solution was to photograph it from the side. I found a plant with shorter stems (about 4") so that it all fit in the frame and I could still get fairly close to the cluster at the bottom. I wish te background was not so cluttered or was more out of focus. I may try again.

Automated Photography?

Tamarack seed cones

In a stark contrast to my June 6th post I saw a crowdsource ad a couple of days ago that was promoting an artificial intelligence add-on for your camera. It is supposed to connect to your smartphone via Wifi or Bluetooth and control the camera remotely. Not unusual. There have been devices to do that for some time now. In fact, one of the earliest has folded due to the increased competition.

But this one is different. *You* don't control the camera via your phone, the AI does. Apparently, it is programmed with what a good photograph of each type looks like and uses AI to make whatever is in front of the camera look like that 'ideal' photo does. If you are shooting a still life, you choose "still life" from the menu, the AI sets the exposure, DOF, etc. to the formula and takes the photo. It requires neither technical know-how nor creativity on your part. You just have to point the camera, the AI does the rest. I didn't read it all. Maybe it even advises you on where to point the camera.

This trend isn't new of course. George Eastman started it with the Kodak Brownie, "You trip the shutter and we'll do the rest". And I'm not opposed to advancement. I was a fairly early adopter of digital, jumping on board when 4MP came out but I do think this is carrying things too far. When we surrender the technical decisions that determine the way our images look to a computer that simply applies a formula we will get nothing but imitations of someone else's photos from the past. It is bad enough that some photographers flock to 'the iconic locations' to repeat photos they have seen in Outdoor Photographer or other publications, now they can take a tool that will remove the variable of their own skill and personal vision.

How to take really great photographs in a nutshell:

1. Learn how photography works, the nuts and bolts of it, shutter speeds, f/stops, etc.
2. Learn how your camera(s) work. Read the manuals and practice using the controls.
3. Spend time "developing your eye", your personal way of seeing the world around you.
4. Find subjects that interest and excite you where you are.
5. Make photos, lots of photos, hundreds, thousands. Examine them critically. figure out what works for you, don't copy others and don't get caught up in other people's formulas for what makes a good image. To paraphrase Duke Ellington "If it looks good, it is good."
6. Have fun!

The photos with this post are from the Paul Smiths Visitor Interpretive Center of Paul Smits College AKA "the VIC". It was originally built by NY state but was turned over to the college (a forestry and hospitality school). It is about 45 minutes from my house and I go there several times per year to photograph and participate in the art shows that are held there. On this trip I was doing what is lately called a "forest immersion", just walking the trails and experiencing nature and of course, making photographs of the experience.

Pitcher plant flower

Insect trails on a standing dead tree

Deadwood on the ground

Lady Slippers AKA Moccasin Flower

Dragonfly on the boardwalk over the marsh

Tamarack greenery in the sunlight

Pitcher plant flower

"Something" growing through the boardwalk

New ferns in the woods

I enjoyed my morning in the woods and the marsh. I hope you enjoyed the photos. As always the contents of this blog are copyrighted. Do not repost or reuse without permission.

Flowers - I Love Flowers

Orange Hawkweed

Every year about this time I go out and wander the back 40 (it's really only about 6 acres) and photograph whatever I find that inspires me. When I finish the tour the flower beds in the yard (I am an amateur gardener) and photograph my successes there. The wildflowers are gifts. The only credit I get for their presence is that, unlike my neighbors, I don't brush hog the field every June and I allow the flowers to grow and go to seed.

After an hour or two or three of rambling about the field and yard reveling in the floral  beauty, kneeling, lying on the ground, fussing with the tripod to get the best angle on each bloom, I come into the house, download the 50-100 files, cull the exposures that don't satisfy me and adjust them to share my "beauty break" with others. This is yesterday's 90-minute break from the news cycle and whatever personal concerns that would otherwise have occupied my mind, a nature meditation of sorts. Enjoy, linger and take your own break as you view them. If you click on a photo, you get a larger view.

Common Pinks 

Red Clover 

Japanese Iris 

Pink Peony 

Japanese Iris - Two Colors 

Iris Closeup 

Peony and Opening Bud 

 Potentilla - Yellow Cinquefoil

Miniature Lilac - Late Blooming 

Columbine - A "Volunteer"in my Flower Bed 

 Chives in Bloom

I hope that was as nice a break for you as it was for me. All were made with a Canon EOS M3. I used a 24mm macro lens on a few. Most were made with extension tubes and either the 18-55mm zoom or the 55-200mm zoom. Editing was done in Adobe's Lightroom.

Please remember that all the photos are copyrighted. If you wish to share them, share the link to this page