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.