One of the most wonderful things is to be walking a forest path and suddenly come to a slice of rock looming dramatically through the trees. Often they rise as high as a house with more heft and grandeur than you think could be possible in a woodland.
Glacial erratics are also wonderful - these are often SUV or room-sized boulders that are literally dropped from glaciers in their retreat northward. They appear randomly and sometimes even singly. They surprise and delight and are often cleaved in two by intense freezing and thawing cycles. Ledge like this suffers the same fate as you can see. Those cracks and crevices are exploited and widened by lichens, mosses and other plants that colonize bare surfaces. Over time that creates soil for even larger plants.
Taken in the same spot and the same day as the lady bug picture - this is why it’s called the Rocky Hill Preserve! All my life I’ve been trying and mostly failing to photograph granite ledge and/or erratics in the forest. It’s probably one of the most difficult things to do as other New England photographers can attest.
This is the best I could do at this location. I remember having to get right into a small sapling and hold most of it out of the way for this shot, but it was the only way to make it work. If it wasn’t fall I don’t think it would be as successful so I’m glad I took the time and made the effort since it would be my last season in New England before moving to Wisconsin. Of course we have our own version of this here and I’ve been no more successful in photographing those either, but I do keep trying.
Specific Feedback Requested
So…am I crazy or does it work?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Tripod
Lightroom for all processing and lens correction. Nothing outside the usual black and white points, clarity & texture. Some sharpening. As Diane says, nothing heroic.
