Short URL:
Photo Sharing & Video Hosting by SmugMug
  Photo Sharing  Login  Help  
 
 
NaturePhotographers > arctangent  > Nature > Four Seasons > A Walk in the Woods - January 2009
Take a walk with me through Wildwood Preserve Metropark (Toledo, Ohio) on a cold sunny January day.

All the pictures in this gallery were taken in the two and a half hour span of my actual walk, and except for the first, panorama, photo are ordered chronologically. I wanted you to see the woods as I saw them, coming and going, and see how the light and shadows changed over that period.

For more on Wildwood Preserve, here is a link to the park's website: http://www.metroparkstoledo.com/metroparks/wildwood/
gallery pages:  1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>
< 1 of 99 >
12:23 pm,  Ottawa River viewed from the covered bridge.

Despite the bad stitches in this panorama, I kept it for the general sense it provides of the view northward over the Ottawa River and its floodplain.  Unfortunately the construction of the bridge precluded getting unobstructed views for a panorama using a tripod mounted camera.
11:57 am.  Brown, all-purpose trail, boardwalk portion

I began the walk at the east end of the upper boardwalk.  It carries one through mixed hardwood forest, across the modest bluffs that border the Ottawa River, and maintains the elevation across the narrow floodplain, over the river via a covered bridge, and back to the bluffs on the far (west) side of the river, where a boardwalk is no longer necessary for maintaining dry footing for a trail.
12:00 pm (noon), upper boardwalk, all-purpose trail.

At this time of year, even at midday, the sun is low enough in the south to provide a lavish display of shadows.  The designer of the boardwalk put numerous gentle curves in it, which adds to the visual interest, both in the wooden forms themselves, and also in the shadows they cast.
12:01 pm.  Upper boardwalk, all-purpose trail.

Each new twist and turn in the trail brings the possibility of different views of the woods, different angles of light for casting shadows, ...

The curves in the trail also provide a sense of isolation.  Other hikers, bikers, joggers, etc., soon disppear from view, and once again you have the trail, or at least a portion of it, to yourself.
12:02 pm, upper boardwalk, all-purpose trail.

You will eventually see, if you view the entire "walk", that the corrugations in the snow piled on the lower rails, and the shadows cast there by the vertical posts, constantly engaged my eye and my mind as I walked the trail.  I somehow felt that this particular combination of snow accumulation, light and shadow, were granted to me just this once in my lifetime.
12:03 pm, detail of snow on the railing of the boardwalk.

Note:  see another picture of this identical feature taken near the end of the walk (2:18 pm, page 7), when the sun has shifted to illuminate the other face of the notch.
12:04 pm, boardwalk, all-purpose trail

Detail of railing, snow, shadows.
12:05 pm, boardwalk, all-purpose trail
12:06 pm, boardwalk, all-purpose trail.
12:23 pm, Ottawa River viewed from the covered bridge.

Despite the bad stitches in this panorama, I kept it for the general sense it provides of the view northward over the Ottawa River and its floodplain. Unfortunately the construction of the bridge precluded getting unobstructed views for a panorama using a tripod mounted camera.
12:23 pm,  Ottawa River viewed from the covered bridge.

Despite the bad stitches in this panorama, I kept it for the general sense it provides of the view northward over the Ottawa River and its floodplain.  Unfortunately the construction of the bridge precluded getting unobstructed views for a panorama using a tripod mounted camera.
12:23 pm, Ottawa River viewed from the covered bridge.

Despite the bad stitches in this panorama, I kept it for the general sense it provides of the view northward over the Ottawa River and its floodplain. Unfortunately the construction of the bridge precluded getting unobstructed views for a panorama using a tripod mounted camera.
Original size: 3000x1712 |
Current: 800x457 |
Share photo: links, forums, blogs |
Keywords: park ohio snow scenery scene river landscape winter panorama ottawa riverbed toledo floodplain wildwood metropark ottawa river wildwood preserve
gallery pages:  1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>
< 1 of 99 >

Comments

| hide gallery comments |


Photo Sharing · About SmugMug · API · Browse Photos · Prints & Gifts · Terms · Privacy · Contact · Login
© 2013 SmugMug, Inc.
Show FeedsAvailable Feeds
Gallery Photos:
Atom FeedAtom | RSS FeedRSS