Bright Morning at Chestnut RidgeOrchard Park, NY It was a very foggy morning with humidity through the roof, not all that usual for early May in these parts of the world. It was not as hot though, making things at least seemingly more bearable. But that was rather deceiving as I found out after couple miles of paced walk.

It was a gorgeous looking morning though, bright, and everything around looking happy. The sun was lighting up the brand new foliage up on all of the deciduous trees bringing them alive. And despite the sun burning off most of the fog in the higher elevations by the time I arrived at Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, NY, there was still plenty of water in the air to act as a diffuser. It provided a perfect mood lighting!

In the first photo, where the sun was just above the treeline in top right, you can see some of that effect captured. And the back-lit wet grass in the foreground looked like it had frost on it even though it was just dense dew. I had to be careful with this photograph and its final processing on the computer. I usually like a full range of tones from blacks to whites but that would not show the scene ti was this morning. The diffused light opened up shadows everywhere and things were definitely on the bright side, which I wanted to carry over to the two-dimensional experience.

Sit Down and Enjoy Chestnut Ridge The next scene I came upon was so simple and so inviting. I loved the picnic table in the open meadow just begging people passing by to slow down, sit down, and enjoy the moment. The long shadows of the early morning provided some additional features in the grass and provided lines leading to the table too. And the light was still filtered through the humid air enough to add a hint of mood.

And the last photo here was really just a few steps away. I initially saw it a while back on my walk and was keeping an eye on it to see how the perspective develops. It's situations like that when you can observe a scene as you walk closer that you realize how much different zooming in with the lens and walking closer are.

I really liked the zigzag, the reversed S-curve of the road, disappearing in the woods. My hand was a little heavier with the processing of that photo than what I usually do. I wanted to highlight the out of focus highlights in the grass and the beautiful backlight in the trees, as well as to defocus some of the distracting details. To me, it was all about the light and mood here.

Curving through Chestnut RidgeOrchard Park, NY Curving through Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, NY

Enjoy the beauty that surrounds you!

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