leaf

One of the photo's from last months "leaf hunting" walk.

A walk in the woods

Being in an office on a beautiful spring day can be heard. For those unable to walk in the woods, I collected enough photos today to create a virtual walk for you.

This is through the Innsbruck Nature Center in Fridley from 11:30 to about 12:30. Its lovely out with blue skies and very little wind. The air was fresh, and a flock of robins was hunting about on the forest floor near the pond. They were a bit camera shy, but here's the path into the woods.

Path into woods

My goal today was to learn about using the macro focus on my camera, so I went for leaf photos. I'm sharing only a few of there here - this is along the path shown above. 

First leaf photo

yet another leaf

Heading further down the path on the ridge

With a glimpse of shy and birch trees in spring.

What is left of an old wooden fence just before the pond.

A few more leaves near the pond.

Here's the first pond shot of April. The water level is up a bit, but still well below normal.

The path next to the pond.

Another attempt to find the perfect leaf shot.

A view into the woods on the far side of the pond.

The first of the wildflowers.

The path back out of the woods.

New Leaves

Edited

unedited

Innsbruck Nature Center in the evening

New set of steps put in by Twin Cities Tree Trust. They did a great job with improvements in the center. This shot leaves me thinking something wonderful is waiting up there at the top of the steps.

I just like tree branches against the sky - they look happy.

Spring hasn't quite arrived at the pond with the island yet. The water level is very low - I probably won't get this angle again. There are already two Canadian geese and a couple pairs of ducks calling this home, so I may be able to get some little fuzzies swimming around in a few months.

Here are a few more from the Nature Center. These were taken about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. I was too tired to head to a park - I love having a wooded are within walking distance.

Innsbruck in Spring

I didn't get out until 6:00 in the evening for these. I knew the light would be a challenge, but went for it anyway.  Out of about 200 shots, I had trouble finding any to post. The disadvantage to a point and shoot is that you can't alter the "film speed", and low light shots are hard to keep in focus without a tripod.

I'm considering this for a microstock submission. I think it would make a great background or header image.

The evening light was not quite enough to keep the film speed level to where I didn't get blurry shots, but I do love the color of the new leaves. 

I had to shoot this guy about 10 times to get anything usable. Wind is not your friend when shooting plants.

I just kept messing around in the image editor I use. This is a negative effect along with adjusting the noise level. I think it's my favorite of that particular walk.

I don't believe any of these are of high enough focus for microstock submission, but if you view them at less than 100 percent, they still work on the computer screen.

I just liked the light. . . .

This is definitely snapshot - but there was something about the light in this one I liked. It's the closest I got to the early morning light that makes everything feel all "glow-y" and like there's room to breathe in God.

Silverwood

For those who have been following my attempt to get photos into some Microstock sales sites, I have an update over at the Learning Curve - Microstock blog. (The link is over in the side bar. ) The news is that Bigstock finally accepted a photo - the pine cones and blue spruce from an earlier post.

I do want to keep this blog about the wonderful parks and surprising views that can be found close to the cities. The one below is from Silverwood - a 3 Rivers Park District project in St. Anthony, MN. It was a Salvation Army summer camp before the park district purchased it a few years ago. These photos are of the bridge to the island and a view from the island.

Bridge to the Silverwood island.

A view from the island at Silverwood.

Latest Portfolio - All You Can Stock

I've mentioned posting images for sale on microstock sites, and am tracking my progress over at my Learning Curve blog.  I'll leave the detail there, but will share here that I now have a portfolio (a tiny one, but hey, they weren't rejected!) at both All You Can Stock and YAY Images.

I didn't take any additional shots over the weekend, but I will share some baby pine cones. I didn't have to walk far to find them, but would never have noticed them if I weren't looking for fun photos.

Snowy trees at night

With the last snow I went out and took some more photos at night. They are not "sellworthy", but I still thought they were cool. These were taken about midnight in a parking lot in Fridley, MN. I liked the color contrast in the first one.

Snowy tree at night taken with flash.

This was also taken about midnight, but with no flash. The lighting is from a street light nearby reflecting off the snow. I was hoping the catch the ghostly look of the snow covered trees under the lights, but this was about as good as it got. 

Midnight snow tree

Photos now on YAY Images

Several of my photos are now available at YAY Images.

This is one of them taken on a February Sunday in Roseville's Central Park.

 This is of the one of the ponds in the Innsbruck Nature Center. This one is directly behind the condos, and the ridge path is on the rise to the right of the ponds. I have summer and winter shots, so I'm posting both here. The angle is slightly different because the path was too icy to get all the way to the bottom.

Seed Pods in Locke Park, Fridley MN

I have no idea what plant this is, but I got carried away with seed pod images the other day. These are the oddest things I've seen - I love the curvy shape of them.

Briars and sky

Also in Roseville, MN.

Winter Berries

This was shot in Central Park in Roseville, MN.

Island Path at Silverwood

This Island Path at Silverwood in St. Anthony, MN.

I thought it would be nice to add some color here. This is from Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, Minnesota. I believe it is red dogwood, but that's just a guess. There are lots of other photos, but to get color at this time of year, it's blue sky and red dogwood.

Forest Path

This is of the main path on the ridge in the Fridley MN Innsbruck Nature Center.

Nature Center in Feb.

 Innsbruck Nature Center