Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!
I haven’t been shooting a lot, but I have gone out a couple times this winter. This post is about the February snowshoe walk I took on a section of the Ice Age Trail. I knew hardly anyone used some of the segments in Lincoln county, but I was still surprised that I had to break trail this late in the season. Well kinda. There was a lot of animal tracks on the trail in some areas and none on others, but certainly some parts were easier to get through because of the other traffic. But for human traffic, I was the only one who’d been there in a while. The snow was deep enough for snowshoes at about 15 inches. Here’s a look at the trail as I walked back to the car –
The light was just amazing on the day I went out. There were some clouds up there skimming between me and the sun and created some softer shadows than when not there. I didn’t do a lot of traditional landscapes because of this, but I did look for interesting slices that represent the winter woods to me.
Of course I can’t ever walk in winter woods without stopping for leaves in snow. It’s like with mushrooms in summer and fall. I shoot a lot, but I stop to look at them even more. Some get their pictures taken like this one –
If everything would have continued just this way it would have been a successful outing that gave me joy. Something I’m sorely in need of these days, especially with my photography. And I got it. I came down a little dip with a big Eastern Hemlock on the inside and I noticed a bunch of small twigs and branches all around the base of it. Experience tells me that this is a sure sign of a Porcupine in the area. You know how much I love these funny rodents. No guarantees, but I looked up and check out who I saw –
Squee!!! An adult this time. And boy it was a lot bigger than the porcupette from my fall hike a couple of years ago. Yes…all that stuff at the bottom is poop. The den is not much larger than it is so it’s nice it makes the effort to poop outside. Most of the time it had the business end pointed at me and made some sad little squeaky noises, almost like squealy little grunts, out of what I believe was fear or at least nervousness at my presence. The sound made me wonder even more at the Latin name that is the root of the common name it has – porcupine (which actually derives from French). It means Thorn Pig and after watching the young one on that other hike, I thought it might be that its nose is quite mobile and they tend to snuffle in the leaf litter. Now I wonder if the sound they make, so like a pig, might be part of it as well. All wonderful and joyously I squatted down on the trail for 5 to 10 minutes and it got brave enough to turn around for a few seconds before turning back. Out of pity I left it while I continued on, but I was so happy to have another chance to photograph one of these charming little critters. On my way back to the car, I stopped briefly, but didn’t take any shots and left it in peace.
I’ll get all the leaves in snow shots taken care of now. I think they all have distinction and aren’t copies of each other either in shape, placement or condition of the leaf itself. This is why they fascinate me so.
See, they aren’t all exactly the same and I think they represent so much about how the forest feeds itself and renews the energy within it. Plus, isn’t that snow gorgeous?? It was very dry and crystalline and I think it showed well in the light.
In the effort to look for things that only winter provides, my attention turned to the many critter tracks I found all around me. From deer to squirrels to mice, there was obviously a lot of activity in the forest. I made an effort to find little sections and arrangements that I found interesting and did my best to find compositions that were a little out of the ordinary. Or tracks that are out of the ordinary like these made by what I think was a mouse –
It’s so squiggly and weird. Normally animals this low on the food chain zip in a direct line from shelter to shelter. And it’s kind of funny to think that this one might have been overburdened by whatever it was trying to bring back to its burrow. While walking down my driveway around the same timeframe, I noticed a mouse racing toward me with what must have been a very big acorn in its mouth. It weaved a little (not as much as the one up there) under the weight, but made it very speedily to safety. Can’t help but wonder what made this one dither and dash in such a strange way, but it makes for a good photograph and an intriguing one. At least I think so. Here’s what mice usually do when they get out in the open –
Straight as can be. Just making tracks and moving from place to place in the most efficient and least dangerous way possible. Often small rodents and mustelids make use of logs as little highways –
I’d be curious to know your reaction to that second shot with the sapling.
All the while I was out, I was consciously thinking about new scenes and elements I’ve never worked with before or studied, but that were part of why being in the woods in winter is so different and has its own special magic. With all the tracks around it was hard to find clean arrangements of saplings and snow, but this little section made me stop and I shifted around trying different compositions, settling on this one that I feel has the best balance –
The tracks at the bottom are deer, but I like how they underscore the scene and let you know that it’s still a wild place and things live in it so we need to respect their home. Lining up and arranging all those trees was tough and maybe not all of them are perfectly placed or have the most pleasing shapes, but it’s nature and no one should be ashamed at its seeming chaos or randomness. That’s why I left that little stem there at the bottom.
This stump made me stop, too. It’s not the first or only one that did, but the clean surroundings helped make it more of a central figure than one in a jumble of other elements.
These kinds of old stumps are so vital to a healthy forest and often have seedlings, lichens, mushrooms and flowers using them to make a stake in the territory. There are beetles, bees, and other boring (as in digging, not dull) insects that need these places for nurseries, too. With a blanket of snow they seem so much more alone.
This next one is one of my favorites –
It’s a gorgeous little bog-loving plant called Labrador Tea and there was a big swath of it where I hadn’t remembered a bog to be, but there it was with Black Spruce and plenty of of Tamarack pines to let me know. I might have to brave the mosquitoes because there was another plant that sometimes hangs on the edges of bogs – Pink Lady’s Slipper. I found a few seed pods above the snow, I’m not happy with the shots, but it’s nice to know they are there.
I love spent wildflowers in snow almost as much as leaves. No idea what this is, but I liked it –
So that’s it. My first, but not only, successful walk in the woods in terms of photography. I still love it and crave to do it, but need to work through this fallow period. I went out today (March 6) and so will have another snowy post for you and hopefully can continue to feel like my pursuit of this hobby is worthwhile. That sounded all gloom and doom and I didn’t mean it do. What I’m struggling with is the repetitive nature of what attracts me and what I make images of. Why bother is what goes through my head and so I’ve attempted to find some originality in the landscape and maybe it will lift my sprit and kindle my creativity as I explore new subjects and how to shoot them. I had a good day out today. Familiar trail for sure, but some new views and elements that I will bring to you next time.
