Nikon N75 at Green LakeYates Park, Orchard Park, NY If you missed my last post I introduced a new photo collection of my local photographs from Orchard Park, NY. You can either scroll further down or click on the link I am sharing here. If you are from the Buffalo, New York area you may find some familiar sights, find ideas for a trip, or engage in a dose of nostalgia. At the time of sharing the new collection there were 161 photographs ranging from urban photography to natural landscape, from spring to winter, from sunrise to sunset, from color to black and white.

Today is a short continuation of the topic with a few photographs from the beautiful Green Lake located in Yates Park in the village of Orchard Park. It's a small park but a true gem. Some people stop and park there car there on their way to work to watch the daybreak, others do the same at the opposite side of the day for a sunset. There are a lot of people walking their dogs or on their own. For us it often serves as a wonderful turning point on our walks. When timing is on your side the small lake can provide quite the sights.

The warm light of the low setting sun can bathe the lake and the whole park in warm light and vivid colors and add photogenic long shadows to the scene. That's what you can see in the first photograph of today's post. Over the years I have tried many variations on the bridge, the gazebo, and the path winding through the western end of the park. It's always fun to play with angles and focal lengths and discover new opportunities. Some days I come with a fixed focal length forcing me to think through that eye into the world, other times like on this occasion, I will have a zoom lens that changes the process a bit and allows me to crop into the selected perspective. I always have to remind myself though that zooming does not change the perspective itself, it only resizes the visible window. To change perspective, one must rely on their legs and move around.

Footbridge at Green LakeYates Park, Orchard Park, NY

Footbridge at Green Lake, Yates Park, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed with a 35mm Nikon N75 camera on Kodak Colorplus Color Negative Film

Clouds always completely change how the last few minutes of the day play out. In the below photograph, a layer of clouds low on the horizon speeded up the sunset and turned the bright warm contrasty light into a subtle diffused moody illumination. What a change a few minutes and turning around can make!

All Quiet over Green LakeYates Park, Orchard Park, NY

All Quiet over Green Lake, Yates Park, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed with a 35mm Nikon N75 camera on Kodak Colorplus Color Negative Film

And again, just a few minutes later and several steps forward and we have the scene below. I know, one of the differences between the two is that I did not get the color balance in sync after scanning them from the Kodak Colorplus 200 film. Above has a hint of a green tint, the below more purple. But I liked the two varieties and left them like that. This can happen with film and scanning or with digital. With film, you get the initial rendering based on your scanning software and can choose to go in any direction from there. With digital, you get the initial take based on the camera software or the RAW processor on your computer. Either way technology selects the default and then it's up to you to interpret the scene. You can try to make it look as close to what you remember, to what you think looks natural, you can stick with the default, or you can lean into the bias and go with mood and feeling.

Falling Behind the TreesYates Park, Orchard Park, NY

Falling Behind the Trees, Yates Park, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed with a 35mm Nikon N75 camera on Kodak Colorplus Color Negative Film

As I continued my loop around the lake I looked for the vantage point in the last photograph of today's post. A few days prior I stood there without a camera with just my old smart phone in my hand and really liked the partially obstructed view through the trees. I wanted to come back as soon as possible knowing everything changes fast, including the timing of the sunset and the sun's position. Unfortunately, a few bad weather days interfered and I was not able to return until several days later. I found the location and sure enough everything looked just a little different. And of course, the zoom lens provided for different interpretations cutting different size windows from the reality in front of me.

Green Lake Sunset MoodYates Park, Orchard Park, NY

Green Lake Sunset Mood, Yates Park, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed with a 35mm Minolta XG-7 on Agfa Vista 200 Color Negative Film

I hope you've enjoyed today's return to Orchard Park, New York. I am sure I will be back many more times. We're enjoying this strange extended Indian summer now and while enjoyable it makes me wonder how dearly we will pay for it. Yesterday, Lake Erie was at 56ºF. Do we have a hefty lake effect snow in our near future? Is it going to be a solid cold white winter with La Niña taking the reins? Or is it going to be the dirty gray look of the previous two seasons? I have no idea but we will learn it soon enough.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! For more travel photography, my Travel Photography gallery offers an interesting mix of places all around.

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