Continued from Part I.

On this wonderful hot and humid summer day, even at eight in the morning, let's finish our exploration of a cooler place. This is the second and final part of the fall expedition to the Lower Niagara Rapids, a place I love every time I visit. 

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Here we are a bit further up the river by the second set of white water rapids. It is like a boiling pot with water bubbling all around. And it's a full audio-visual experience too. And something about it is very relaxing. Especially with a camera in hand I can sit in one place for long periods of time watching the action and trying to catch it at its peak.

Wild, Wild, Wild!The spectacular white water rapids of the Lower Niagara River with the last hints of fall in the background. Standing on the shore, watching the water repeatedly rise and crash, and hearing the roar makes one really appreciate the awesome power of water.

In the next photo we are at the very end of the trail. The true end where the trail disappears in the river. The end one can't officially go to any more, and it's just a few years when that changed. It's changes like this that really make me like the good old days when liability was not such an issue or maybe when people had more common sense and were not stupid causing trail closures and tall metal fences everywhere. Yes, it is a sore topic for me as it robs us all of having unobstructed access and view of many natural wonders.

The photograph was captured shortly after the water level was lowered by diverting more through the power plant for the winter season. That exposed many of the previously submerged rocks with their still lush green moss. Oh, yes, and the Whirlpool Railroad Bridge for a nice architectural background.

Whirlpool Rapids Railroad BridgeNiagara River definitely provided an opportunity to build some wonderful bridges for both automobile and train traffic. Here's the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge as seen from the gorge below after the water flow has been reduced by diverting more water to the power plant for the winter season.

And to close? I will share a little bit of the action with you in a moving picture. It has sound so you may want to mute if you are somewhere where that might be an issue.

The Power of Lower NiagaraStanding on the shore, watching the water repeatedly rise and crash, and hearing the roar makes one really appreciate the awesome power of water. Those are the spectacular white water rapids of the Lower Niagara River.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

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The summer is hot, the sun is bright, the outdoors are great. Here's just a quick post today from a recent nature hike exploring the faraway northern land. Yes, it's funny and a subject of local jokes how crossing between the northtowns and southtowns can feel like a cross-country trip.

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We hiked two separate trails that day and I enjoyed quite a variety of photographic material. Especially the first trail provided wonderful forest scenes, close up opportunities, and a great combo of a forest trail, boardwalk, and surrounding swamp land. But then, the open pond at the trail head of our second hike looked like, well, the photo below. An almost abstract painterly natural scene that I managed to stare at for quite a while before being ready to move on.

Oak OrchardA beautiful painterly summer scene

A beautiful painterly summer scene at Oak Orchard
Photographed with a Nikon N75 on Kodak Portra 400 film

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. Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them (commission earned) and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!

Letchworth ForestGreat Outdoors Mushrooms in the WoodsGreat Outdoors Leaning Trees of BirdsongGreat Outdoors Fall Colors of the Hanging BogGreat Outdoors Moss Lake ColorsGreat Outdoors

The Partnership of the Passing Pentax, Roll Number 1

This shows my selections from the second roll of film for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax project photographed in June 2020. The project was organized by Eric of 4xfourtography and included 13 photographers who would each shoot a few rolls of Kodak Double-X (5222) black and white film in the Pentax K1000 before shipping it to the next person.

White SheepSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

White Sheep
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

After shooting my first roll on the day the case with the camera showed up I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out with the second roll the very next day. I have swapped the swamp environment for the beautiful Lake Erie shore.

SparklesSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Sparkles
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

In the past I had observed that yellow and orange filters did not provide enough of an effect with the Double-X film. I dug into the data sheets provided by Kodak and noticed that the film had an increased sensitivity to blue and reduced sensitivity to red, which seemed to explain the observation. Thus, on this sunny evening, I kept the red filter on the lens pretty much throughout. Still, the effect was very subtle.

Rocky LakeshoreSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Rocky Lakeshore
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

This film simply shines in different conditions than other films. I am no emulsion expert and many films look the same to me, especially after slight post-processing to my taste. However, I am starting to see the pros and cons of some of them after having shot over ten rolls of them in varying conditions and with and without filters.

Wall on the ShoreSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Wall on the Shore
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

I love how the Double-X handles highlights. Often, they seem to glow and the gradation in highlights is beautiful. I especially love that aspect with surfaces and textures. Metallic surfaces work great, bright painted surfaces too, and even skin tones are rendered beautifully.

Balanced Rock TowersSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Balanced Rock Towers
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

While I visited this area of the shore several times this year alone, I had a similar experience with the project camera as the day before at Birdsong. I spotted some new subjects of interest, some different angles, and some things were simply different this day. For example the glare reflected of the water a few images up is a regular sight at that time of the day but I never thought to make it the focus of a photograph. So this day I did. I took an incident reading, added the 2-stop filter factor, and captured the photo letting the highlights do as they pleased. And I was rewarded with magic! On the other hand, the balanced rocks above and below were newly built and I enjoyed looking for interesting angles.

Balanced Rock Towers Close UpSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Balanced Rock Towers Close Up
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

With natural landscapes I definitely shoot more horizontal photos than vertical and I have been consciously trying for more variety for a few years now. Who knows, maybe there's a magazine cover hiding somewhere, right? This in fact is one area where the Stories of social networks may be helping. Since Stories are vertical, that is what one wants to shoot. And seeing the vertical composition on the cell phone often prompts a follow up with the camera.

Rocky BeachSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Rocky Beach
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

I find the smart phones a nice visualization tool anyway. Since I am not too big into the social sharing I usually work the location with my camera and here and there take a snap of the behind the scenes. And that reminds me of shooting a vertical for a story. And quite often, I like what I see and go back to the camera either for a different angle, or to turn it vertical.

CaveSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Cave
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

The strange round rocks on this beach have always caught my attention. But I have always preferred including water in my photos here. After all, it is the lake shore, right? This evening, I felt more free to stray from that constraint and include dry land only, with focus on the rocks and details.

UFO Rock LandedSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

UFO Rock Landed
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

And with this thought of an extraterrestrial mystery I will end today's post as well as the Partnership of the Passing Pentax series. The camera has long gone to its next stop for its next adventure, this time in Pennsylvania.

UFO Rock on BeachSturgeon Point on Double-X for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

UFO Rock on Beach
Sturgeon Point on Double-X 5222 for the Partnership of the Passing Pentax

Eric, thank you again, this was a lot of fun!

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

The Partnership of the Passing Pentax, Roll Number 1