Figure 1 – Peace in the forest, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Sudbury, Ma. October 11, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

It is that wonderful time in New England, that is called November – a photographer’s paradise. One almost feels guilty about the ease of spectacular color and the complexity of decay and resurrection imagery. This past Saturday was actually pretty warm. It got up to 75 deg. F and we went to the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. So I offer up Figure 1 as the quintessential fall foliage scene. But the warmth brought out all the turtles to sit on logs and soak in the last of summer’s rays before burrowing in the mud for a nice long winter’s hibernation. Such are the cycles of life in the temperate zone forest.

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 mm/F4 L USM lens at 70 mm. ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/640th sec at f/8.0 with no exposure compensation. 

Figure 1 – Sanderling lunch, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Newburyport, MA. Sept. 26, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

We have been enjoying several trips up to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island in Newburyport, MA. Now that is a truly wonderful place. And now the autumn glories have begun! The Saturday before last I was furiously photographing the Sanerlings, Calidris alba. They always offer fun and challenging photographs and as always the key to bird photograph is getting the eyes in focus. I am getting better at using my big birding lens.

The fellows of Figure 1 were feeding on a patch of flotsam, and, in truth, I didn’t even see that one of them had made off with a tasty lunch, ceviche perhaps. I am not quite sure what it is, probably some part of a starfish, but it does make for a cool photograph. As always in the surf line, the reflections mirror the birds beautifully.

Canon T2i with EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM lens at 260 mm, ISO 800 mm, Aperture priority AE Mode 1/4000th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – The dried crown of Queen Anne’s lace, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Sept. 12, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020

There is barely anything left of summer, but the days are still glorious and filled with September light. The Queen Anne’s Lace has begun to shrink into glorious, delicate, and complex puzzle crowns. The one in Figure 1 I photographed today with my iPhone X Max at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, my old and now renewed stomping ground. It was a cool, sunlit, and breezy day. I love these delightful twisted structures, and I love the fact that it is largely the physics of the drying process that creates.

Figure 1 – Sleepy afternoon on the couch, Belmont, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Figure 1 is another sight and happy memory of Labor Day Weekend. It is the simple and wonderful combination of cat and sunbeam. My friend Mr. Pili was so content that I could not bring myself to rouse him into a sleepy glare at the camera. Besides this is what cats do best. Despite the color in the photograph, the appeal to me here is the geometric tabby coat – wonderful swirls and the characteristic mark of the M on the forehead –  and the melange of geometric fabrics on the couch.

Pili stood for the picture, perhaps because it was complemented with an ear rub both before and after. Cats enhance us by sharing their world with us!

Figure 1 – Sunset over Spy Pond, Arlington, MA, Sept. 6, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

The obvious question to go with my fishing photograph of yesterday is whether there is a beautiful sunset image to go with it? And the answer, as shown in Figure 1, is yes. This is a PAN shot taken with my iPhone 10 Max. In my experience, you want to limit the pan to about 90 deg. That way you don’t get a lot of geometric distortion. Such a wonderful end to summer! I also have to marvel once more at the algorithms contained within Apple’s Cellphone cameras. On film, I am told, properly capturing a sunset is a tricky business. They need to be anticipate, that is photographed earlier than the point of glory. But here to the iPhone – No problem! 

Figure 1 – Idyll of Summer’s End, fishing on Spy Pond, Sept. 6, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

And so we have reached Labor Day, which symbolically marks the end of summer. Here on the east coast of the United States, and despite the pandemic, it has been a glorious summer. So it seems appropriate to end it with a brilliant idyll of summer. Figure 1 shows people fishing on the shore of Spry Pond in Arlington, MA. What is more symbolic of the lazy days of summer than fishing? What is more symbolic of the end of summer than a brilliant orange sunset?

Figure 1 – Chicken of the woods fungus, Belmont, MA, September 3, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Today was a marvelous and drizzly day, which took us into the wood at Rock Meadow in Belmont, Massachusetts. As we came upon a clearing we were greeted by the colorful fungus of Figure 1. This according to Google is a Laetiporus sulphureous, commonly known as a chicken of the woods. It is an edible mushroom, we are told, that takes like, yes you guessed it – chicken! 

Now here’s the thing, does one trust Google so implicitly that you are prepared to risk your very existence and actually scramble it up in your morning eggs. Here technology, friends, meets the existential and caution becomes the better part of valor!

Figure 1 – Great blue heron at the end of summer. Assabet River national Wildlife Refuge, August 30, 2020. (c) DE Wolf.

No trip to the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge is complete without a photograph of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). The one in Figure 1 was captured preening itself against the late summer flowers and the waxing fall color. As I said in my last blog, it was just a picture perfect day.

Good to know that I can still use my birding lens well enough to capture a heron with sharp eye at a distance.

Canon T2i with EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens at 365 mm, ISO 800 Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/2000 sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.