Welcome to the WildernessSince TrailPixie.net launched in 2002, it has evolved into a blog about hiking and photography in the woodlands and highlands of West Virginia and abroad.Check out my fine-art landscape photography site at marcshaffer.net. |
Gates Pass Panos Near Tucson Arizona
Posted by Marc on June 28, 2009 PermaLink |
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Bear Rocks, Big Sky
Posted by Marc on June 28, 2009 PermaLink |
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Woodland Photographer on Flatrock Run
Posted by Marc on June 15, 2009 PermaLink |
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Green Season in the Highlands
Posted by Marc on May 20, 2009 PermaLink |
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The highlands are green. In the wooded wilderness, the blue-greens haven't yet overwhelmed the yellow-green underbrush. The sun still penetrates deeply to the bright, carpeted forest floor. Very, very green!! When is Saint Patrick's Day? The farms are preparing to plant vegetables, and the pastures are...really...really...green.
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Don't Miss the Forest for the Vista in Sedona
Posted by Marc on April 29, 2009 PermaLink |
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If you looked at the tourism literature or the websites about the Sedona area, you would think that all the beauty is tied up in vistas out on the horizon. In these images, the foreground presented unusual beauty and a contrast to the distant mesas and mountaintops. Adding drama to the images were the burned, black trees. One hiker we chatted with near the picture below thought he recalled the fires swept through in 2006. That made sense. The forests didn't smell like a barbecue, but in places they looked like one. While many trees were destroyed, it was amazing how many trees survived without a sign or with merely singed bark. This image was taken near the north vista during our gale-force-wind hike on Wilson Mountain. You can see burned trees mingling with healthy on the right side of the panoramic. I bracketed this image but ended up only using one exposure to make the panoramic. I like how the interest is all focused close-in. The distant mesa is a dramatic presence that provides context and scale for the viewer, but the mood of this image is in the trees, rocks, clouds and the hoodoo below. |
Hiking Sedona
Posted by Marc on April 24, 2009 PermaLink |
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It's been a few weeks since we returned from our week-long hiking adventure in Arizona. Getting back into the swing of work and life tends to suck all the photography post-processing time out of my schedule.
On our big-hike day, we made a twelve mile excursion to the mesa of Wilson Mountain at just over 7,000 feet. The winds were gale-force. Really, in this photo looking south towards Sedona, there was a 50 MPH wind blasting in our faces. We spent less than five minutes at the north vista because the wind was throwing so much dust in our eyes. Another hiking group had their lunch blown off the cliff and down the mountain. That was enough for them.
Friday, April 24, 2009
*Wow.*
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Tucson Spring
Posted by Marc on April 3, 2009 PermaLink |
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Last weekend we returned from a nine-day adventure to Arizona. The first half of the trip was spent hiking the mountains and mesas of Sedona. During the second half, we headed south to visit a friend in Tucson. Saguaro cactus dotted the land at every turn. Backlit Saguaro at sunset lit-up the spines creating a dramatic halo effect. I found that this image worked best with a very stylized duotone look--reminds me of old western movies. Stay tuned for more photos and stories of our adventures. |
Bald Eagles Close to Home
Posted by Marc on March 3, 2009 PermaLink |
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I always tell new photographers to make their craft an everyday activity. You won't improve if you reserve photography for vacations and holidays. Gaining proficiency with your equipment and talent for composition with the available light and limits of the landscape requires practice. So it is important to find photographic inspiration on your home turf.
The first photo shows an archetypal Bald Eagle pose. I successfully imitated a thousand other photographers who came before me. This second photo is more rewarding for me, even if it is less technically perfect. The Eagle is spied between branches, framed by complex intersecting lines. The sky is more washed-out. The image is generally colder and yet, more real and, inexplicably, more artistic. Sunday, March 22, 2009
Remarkable! Thank you for this incredibly detailed shot -- it will help tremendously with my Boy Scout patch designs. Would you email me your contact information sometime? I will look at the site for it as well.
God bless you.
Sincerely,
Brian
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
This second photo has now become my screen saver. I really like the light on the wings and the coldness of the sky.
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Snowy Owl in a Rut
Posted by Marc on February 3, 2009 PermaLink |
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We arrived at Assateague Island at about 8:30 in the morning and had found one of the resident Snowy Owls by 8:45. No sooner did I get out of the Jeep and start to setup my tripod did the little critter fly off and sit in a rut—directly in the path of vehicles that drive down the beach. I sat on the edge of a dune and watched the little owl for a minute when a couple of hunters came driving up the beach. They stopped a couple of yards in front of little Snowy-the -Owl, then drove around the guy. The owl didn't even flinch. I quietly walked within 50 yards of the little guy and he spooked, but a pickup truck can drive within 10 yards and he is motionless. So, we went back to the Jeep and drove up to sit 15 yards away and took several portraits of the little Owl. He seemed to like the camouflage and shelter provided by the eight-inch deep ruts left by trucks. I hope he pays attention to traffic. In all the places that we sat and watched the owl, when he finally chose to fly, he always flew away from us, not towards us. What, do we smell bad—we are human, maybe we do. At several points we sat and watched the owl stay in one spot for over an hour. This little flight is the best one I got. There were others, but they were always a variation on some theme of owl butt.
As always, I had to take some panoramic images. This one gives you a sense of the Snowy Owl's size and appearance in the habitat. Actually, I think finding a Snowy Owl at Assateague is probably a lot easier than finding them in the snowy north-country because his white feathers contrast against the tan sand.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Great shots! Love the close up rut image. The sand makes a great background for the Snowy. Would love to see the owl pano printed sometime.
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Sand, Water, and Sky at Assateague Island
Posted by Marc on February 2, 2009 PermaLink |
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I'll start at the end of our story; as we drove off Assateague Island on Saturday, we enjoyed a few fleeting moments of crimson sunset looking south over Sinepuxent Bay. I made this three-image panoramic by shooting handheld out the window of my jeep. I shot the portrait images as wide as my attached lens would allow—24mm—so that I could capture Venus hovering above. This scene lasted for less than a minute. After capturing these frames, I considered getting out and setting-up my tripod (in the middle of the road), but by the time the thought had formed, the sky had darkened and the water was black. Our trip to Assateague Island was to find the snowy owl that we photographed last December. We found the little critter and he posed for several hundred photos—more later this week. But, unlike our last trip, I vowed to not ignore the landscape for the bird. I made at least a dozen panoramic images, including these two. This second panoramic is also handheld, looking south down the beach and east out over the ocean. It probably covers about 110 degrees. This 'first draft' panoramic will need to be reprocessed because of some minor scalloping on the ocean horizon, but I really like the brightness of the sky and tire-ruts running south down the beach. This image gives you a good idea of the landscape of the island.
Monday, March 2, 2009
love the first shot!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Both very nice pictures taht capture the feel of Assateague. Also looking forward to an Owl pic or two...
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2008 Panorama: Highland Visions
Posted by Marc on January 22, 2009 PermaLink |
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Both these shots were taken in the waning hours of daylight, so it is fitting that these are the last of my Panoramic 2008 review.
This panoramic was taken last Fall at Dobbins Slashings—just north of Dolly Sods. It was dreadfully humid as we hiked up to the top of the Cabin Mountain range. The sky was thick summer gray. We dragged ourselves around Dobbins Slashings. The photos were not coming easily. We saw a bear rumble past us on the trail. I missed it. The sunset was barely visible through the haze. Before beginning our dark trek down the mountain, I used a telephoto lens to make this panoramic view of a copse of spruce.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I like the dusk image very much. Your stuff really is excellent.
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2008 Panorama: West Virginia Waterfalls
Posted by Marc on January 21, 2009 PermaLink |
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Any day you hike the Highlands of West Virginia, at some point, you find yourself trudging over roots, rocks and boulders and then suddenly you stop—distracted from your revelry—turn your head left, then right. You sniff the brightly-dampened air. You are in a trance as you calculate the direction towards the sound of cascading water. Your steps become light as you become a bloodhound searching with sound and smell for the waterfall cascade. You turn sharply off the edge of the trail and descend steeply—a controlled slide—down the hillside. Branches slap your face. Leaves an dirt are driven up the back of your shirt. At the bottom—you are within sight of the waterfall—you slip-slide your way across moss-covered rocks to your glorious destination. Serenity overcomes you. Time and place become immutable, the moment eternal.
Pendleton Falls is one of those cascades that never ends. It tumbles its way down into Blackwater Canyon over dozens of smaller falls. The challenge of photographing it is to avoid photographing it all in one shot. This precious little corner of the falls was barely flowing during the dry summer of 2008. Douglas Falls is a cool spot. You can easily walk or hike to it along the rail-trail. In the winter, the view is better because the trees aren't obscuring it. The boulders in the creek are a vibrant orange while the water has a Caribbean blue-green look to it. I'm not sure why this little creek is immune to the normal red-brown tannins that normally color the streams of the Highlands. My guess is that upstream the creek is treated with lime. This is frequently done so that creeks can better support fish and by extension fishermen. |
Trailpixie Pride on Inauguration Day
Posted by Marc on January 20, 2009 PermaLink |
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2008 Panorama: Highland Creeks
Posted by Marc on January 19, 2009 PermaLink |
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In the West Virginia Highlands you really can't get far from a great creek. You know the kind where you can probably rock-hop across with ease, but occasionally, you dunk a boot into the water—ah, the joys of getting your feet wet. This first creek panoramic was taken along Seneca Creek. I can't quite explain what I like about this rather ordinary view, except to say that I keep getting drawn back into the image. It is funny how an image can initially seem ordinary, but after living with it, I grow to appreciate it more. Otter Creek is one of those spots that I just can't visit often enough. As with any wilderness, Otter Creek is more magical the further you stray from a road. This shot was taken at the intersection of Moore Run and Otter Creek. I have never seen it as low as it was last October. When the water is higher, the swimming at this spot is fantastic, and the distance is just far enough to keep it from getting crowded.
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2008 Panorama: New River Gorge Bridge
Posted by Marc on January 18, 2009 PermaLink |
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Our vacation this year consisted of a week at the cabin in Canaan Valley. We had a great time hiking, paddling, and touring around. We took a rainy-day excursion to Morgantown—we had never seen WVU. We also took a day trip down to New River Gorge. We didn't really set aside enough time to do any serious hiking, but we toured around the area and saw some of the highlights. This panoramic of the New River Gorge Bridge was taken from the overlook at the visitors center. I shot the six-image panoramic handheld and aligned the top of the bridge with the top of the images, resulting in an interesting, if exaggerated, angled view. |
2008 Panorama: Pennsylvania Wilds
Posted by Marc on January 18, 2009 PermaLink |
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On the way back, we drove around the Pennsylvania Elk Country Scenic Drive. This little woodland scene unfolded to us after we marsh-mucked across a highland wetland area. I like how the humid air gives a glowing effect to the light behind the trees. On our drive, we saw a dozen, or so, elk—mostly in people's front yards. The cutest scene was an elk leaning over a fence into a goat's pen with the goat on its hind legs trying to sniff at the elk's nose.
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2008 Panorama: Potomac River and C&O Canal
Posted by Marc on January 16, 2009 PermaLink |
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The Billy Goat Trail is undoubtedly the most hiking fun you can have within five miles of the DC line. Hiking along rocky bluffs that drop straight down in the river never fails to amuse me. And then there are the other hikers: several years ago we were standing along the trail watching a deer eating algae out of a narrow marsh nestled between two hills. We were standing still enjoying the sloppy, green algae hanging out the sides of the deer's mouth when a clutch of spandex-clad power-walkers comes yammering their way down the trail. One of the women was heard to say, "The thing I love about my yoga practice is that it helps me to live in the moment and it makes me so self-aware." This, she said, as she spandex-bounced her way right past the beautiful deer—spooking the doe to splash noisily down the marshy draw. The panorama above was shot hand-held with a digicam. I am still amazed at the kinds of shots you can get with a modest little pocket camera. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and it was cold. Nevertheless, the Billy Goat Trail was still, in places, a traffic jam. Avoid this trail after 10:00 am, year-round. This final panoramic was taken from Maryland Heights, looking upstream. You can see the C&O canal in the lower right corner and the old Hilltop Hotel on the bluff on the left. The full-sized print is 60" wide and about 15" tall. I can only imagine that this image reads like a map of currents for many paddlers and anglers. On the upper-right side of the river, you can see the islands that are lit-up in the first panoramic in this posting. |
2008 Panorama: Sugarloaf Sky
Posted by Marc on January 15, 2009 PermaLink |
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I like to stay busy. There is always somewhere to go, something to do, someone to see. I like it that way. When the dark-days of winter come and my work keeps me from the bright skies of adventure, I sit in my studio and review old photos. It is these times that I appreciate the luxury of my past year of adventure. Today I reviewed all my panoramas from 2008. There are too many to post, but I made a collection that should have made the front page of Trailpixie.net. Over the next few days, I will post more than a dozen images that stitched together in time, represent my personal panorama of 2008.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
_Wow._
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Cute Enough to Make Your Head Spin
Posted by Marc on December 6, 2008 PermaLink |
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Go skiing or go to the beach? Skiing or the beach? Skiing or the beach? We chose the beach. After a week of debating the probability of good snow conditions versus the probability of finding one of the only Snowy Owls to grace the state of Maryland with its presence, we chose the Snowy Owl at the beach. We were pretty happy about the choice, We arrived at the Assateague Island National Seashore Ranger Station at about 8:00. Quickly picked-up our Over Sand Vehicle Pass, microwaved some tea, payed the park fees, and quizzed the rangers about the presence of our snowy owl. We were relieved and excited to discover that Little Snowy had been seen on Friday when a naturalist was doing a survey of birds. The five of us crammed into my little jeep and started down the beach. For about fifteen minutes, every bleached-out piece of driftwood or misplaced garbage bag sent us into conniptions--binoculars hurriedly scanning the horizon. We were desperate not to miss the little critter. It didn't take us too long though. After about 15 minutes driving down the beach, we spotted the little Snowy Owl near Kilometer 22.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Glad you chose the beach! Wonderful golden colors contrasting with the snow white of the owl!
Keep'em coming!
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Bald Eagles in Abundance
Posted by Marc on November 30, 2008 PermaLink |
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During most of our three-hour visit to the dam, the eagles kept their distance. They would get active about every forty-five minutes when one poor eagle would get a bit peckish and grab an unsuspecting fishy from the water. But then, that poor eagle would get no peace to go and eat its meal. No, no, no! At least three other eagles would chase the hungry one and try to steal its meal. The chase would end when the hungry eagle would drop the fish in the water and none of them would get to eat. I was pretty lucky to catch one of these little in-air altercations.
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