Chasing Light at Williamsport

Finding time for my cameras at the moment is a challenge. It’s baseball season and my son is playing on two different teams at the same time. I am also helping coach each of those teams as well. Between work, practice and games, there is not much time to venture out with my cameras. When you throw in my other husband and dad duties, that window of opportunity is even smaller. When I do finally get a small break, sometimes I’m too tired to do anything. However, last Friday I managed to force myself to leave the cave.

I’ve been picking up my digital camera to fill the gaps between my film projects. Out of my three main film cameras, two are not loaded with film at the moment and I’m working on a roll of random shots in the third camera. I’m trying to figure out what film and what subject I’m going to shoot next with the two empty cameras. The two ideas I’m entertaining involve shooting more color film. I’ve only used black and white film for street photography. I believe I just might break tradition and shoot a roll of Portra 400 in my OM1 on the streets of Nashville. Secondly, I’m thinking about loading some Ektar 100 in my Mamiya for some landscape and nature scenes. In the meantime, I will continue to use my dslr for those impromptu outings like the one in this post.

Friday had finally came and my evening was free. I was feeling tired, but the thought of capturing some images pushed me out the door. The evening light was coming to a close, so there was not much time for indecision. Usually when I get the itch in a moment like this and I don’t have a specific subject in mind, there are two areas that come to mind, Williamsport Lakes and The Natchez Trace Parkway. Looking at the clouds, I envisioned a nice sunset, a sunset that would look nice reflecting off some water. Thus, I set my coordinates for Williamsport Lakes.

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

Veering of track for a moment, the other factor about exploring Williamsport Lakes is the encounter with the local wildlife. Over the years, I have come across Deer, Blue Herons, Green Herons, Egrets, Bald Eagles, Hawks, and even a Mountain Lion. It’s scary stumbling upon a big cat with nothing between you but air and opportunity. I did manage to get a shot of him before he vanished. Yes, he literally vanished! I went for a lens change and when I looked up, he was gone. You can see the big kitty below and one of my favorite shots of a Great Blue Heron.

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / 40-150mm f4.5

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / 70-300mm f4-5.6

This reminds me of my departure from my wife when I head out with my cameras. She always tells me to keep my GPS turned on so they know where to find my body. There is probably four faces of death that we joke about regularly. They are death by a wild animal, falling off a cliff, armed robbery and stumbling upon someone’s marijuana plants. That last one would be hard to talk my way out of while holding a camera, LoL. Hopefully none of these will come to fruition. Ok, my whole point to this is that I always mount my 300mm lens on my camera and I keep it at the ready while I’m driving through the lakes. You just never know when you might spot something or when something spots you. I didn’t spot anything on this trip, but I was ready.

The picture of the sign is actually the last picture I made that evening. I figured it worked best in the post to present it first. I will post the remaining images in the order taken. With the light fading fast, I stopped at one of my favorite areas of the complex, Bluecat Lake. The sun was about to dip behind some trees so I had to work quickly to find a composition for my first shot. Before I got my camera out of the bag, I already knew where I was going to stand.

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / 14-54mm f2.8 – SNS HDR (7 Frames)

Since I was losing light, I did not have time to drive to the other lakes in the area so I decided to find more images at the same location.

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

After spending some time with the boats, I walked over to the pier. I liked the idea of shooting one of the benches on the pier and shooting the fish measurement sticker wrapped around the rails. I just had to figure out a composition. When I looked up and saw a couple in a boat heading my way, I decided to use them to round off my composition of the bench and sticker.

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

I like how the leading lines of the rail and bench lead the eye through the frame to the couple in the boat. Finding images from the ordinary is what I find challenging and fun about photography. After taking the photos on the pier, the sun had dipped below the trees. The best light was gone for the day, but the remaining light presented a different mood. There was still enough light to create some silhouettes and there was some color to boot.

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

Williamsport Lakes – Williamsport, Tennessee – Olympus E520 / Sigma 30mm f1.4

These landscape shots are nothing special. They are your typical sunset images. They are a dime a dozen if you will. However, I do like the way they turned out. This was more of an exercise and a therapy session. I need those from time to time, but it’s good to bring back some keepers, too! Thanks for reading!

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