It was my second visit to Stepstone Falls in southern Rhode Island. Thanks to Jim, I saw that remote corner of the state once more about a couple of weeks ago.
The falls are quite diminutive in a wooded area. This time, there was much less water and certainly much less color than our previous visit back in 2018. I had my infrared camera as well as the visible spectrum one with me. But, scenery lacking color, I decided to present most of the photographs in monochrome. Distinguishing the infrared from the regular camera images will be a bit hard.
We followed the steps down to the landing, which looked bigger this time. That was probably due to the lower water level, leaving more of the area to roam. Last time, looking into the water, I was able to see the strong reflection of the foliage creating some abstract views against the blue sky. This time, I could not see any color reflections, but I followed a few leaves floating around, mixed with bubbly foam, and took a few photographs of the patterns.
After we were done at the falls, Jim drove to Arcadia Management Area as we did back in 2018. The bland colors made it challenging to photograph. Again, I converted all photographs to monochrome except a few.
The pond with the reflections of the trees presented a nice view but not strong colors. There was an interesting cloud, almost like a plaid pattern above the trees. Its reflection on the pond was even more interesting, animated by the tiny ripples on the water surface.
While on the wooden walkway, we discovered that beavers seemed to have built a dam under it, blocking the normal water flow. A wide pipe, say about a foot in diameter, was placed under the walkway to facilitate the flow, with a wire cage on the pond side possibly to prevent the beavers from blocking that too.
As the water ran into the wooded area from the pipe and some cracks, it created small, I mean really small whirlpools with bubbles jumping around. Jim discovered a large bubble reflecting our image, looking down from the railing. We took a few photographs, you will see both of us in the eye of the mini eddy. When Jim went back to the car to pick up a different lens, I took a few shots showing only me in the bubble. (I remembered an episode of Seinfeld with a bubble-boy in the hospital!)
The trip lasted for about two to three hours, and it was good to be outdoors looking at and enjoying nature.
Click on thumbnails to see the full images.
Haluk Atamal
I liked all the photos except the waterfall ones. The bubble photos are especially interesting.
What bothered me with the waterfall photos was the shutter speed. For me, it stands on no man’s land. Neither long enough nor short enough. That, of course, is my personal taste. Otherwise a very interesting collection and a good example of being able to continue even with dull colours.
Thanks for sharing Cemal. Take care and best regards,
Haluk
A. Cemal Ekin
The much-favored “cotton candy” look on waterfalls looks too artificial to me. I prefer to render the way the eye sees the water, sometimes it comes out with more drops in mid-air. But, all in all, glad to hear you found some interesting frames. There is more color on the trees now but the leaves are also falling. Now, I will switch to the intentional camera movement experiments with plenty of color on the ground.
Take care,
Cemal
Paul
Really good to see you out and about. I enjoyed all the images and the rendering in B&W did work well.
I do agree with you regarding the waterfalls.
Natural is better
A. Cemal Ekin
Paul, good to hear from you. All is well I presume? Yes, I did not have much choice about converting most to monochrome, color did not add but subtracted.
Take care,
Cemal