Six Mile Creek: Mulholland Wildflower Preserve to Potter’s Falls
Official head count: 21H, three D
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Sat June 8
Upper Treman SP and several nearby country roads
It was a beautiful bright sunny morning — but the conditions for taking photos were very poor. Out in the open the light was harsh and unflattering — under the trees is was sometimes so dark you couldn’t distinguish the hikers from the background — or there were disorienting spotted sun-and-shade effects.After a while we came to an area of open shade — you can see that the individual hikers are not casting any shadows on the ground ….….. I decided we should do a group shot, so we’d have a least one shot with clear light where you could see the people’s faces. There was some griping that I’d made everyone stop ….Too many hikers to fit into one continuous shot. Sorry some people are obscured — three hikers arrived late and missed the shot — and one person elected not to be takenThe three latecomers are on the right side of the front row — Norm is wearing a face shield and gloves against the sunJust one car passed us during the entire time on the roadsBack at the cars — very nice walk!
Official head count: 31H, five D
PS — Here’s the kind of light I like for hike photography
I took this shot of Casey in the parking lot of Wednesday’s hike — this is open shade
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Sun June 9
South Danby Road east to the Tamarack Lean-to on the FLT
Another beautiful bright sunny morning — great conditions for our walk — but terrible for trying to take photos in the woods — and, since this is a photo blog, that’s my main concernThe only place along the entire hike route where you can hope to get a halfway decent photo on a sunny day in June is along the east side of South Danby Road in the few hundred feet between the cars and the trail entrance. I figured this was our only chance to catch the hikers so you could see them clearly. Everyone made it into the group shot except Tiger, who was also taking photosTiger took a lot of shots in the woods on the way to and from the lean-to, but not one was usable. I’d rate this shot as borderlineWhen we last did this hike, in mid February, the DEC was in the middle of a big logging project and the end of the trail was closed because of impassable mud. It’s been restored and the mud in the area of the logging wasn’t bad this time.
Official head count: 19H, three D
PS — here’s Tiger’s version of the group shot I took at the start of the walk. I regard her as a better hike photographer than me — she has a better eye and steadier hands to keep the camera from shaking — but she didn’t get enough different shots of the hikers while they were lined up
This was her best shot, but two hikers are obscured — you’d be surprised how many shots you need to take to get one where everyone looks good and isn’t hidden behind someone else
