Dawson Forest WMA Waterfowl Protection Area

Just south of Dahlonega is Dawsonville, where many go for shopping as they have a great variety of stores and outlets. A lot of people don't realize there is a very nice wildlife management area just west of the shopping area, with lots of hiking/biking trails. I went a few weeks ago but it was a yucky day and have been meaning to go back.

Yesterday I went in the late afternoon to explore some more. Right when I arrived there was a quick rainshower but then the sun came out and the light and clouds were beautiful.

This swampy pond is marked as a protected area for waterfowl. I have yet to see many birds here but I probably come at the wrong time (and it's not the season yet). Due to a lack of rain the water was drying up so I could walk way out into what was normally underwater:

Here is when the sun came out:

 \

These were taken with my Nikon F2SB and mostly my 15mm f/3.5 AI-S with an orange bayonet filter. A few were taken with a 3.5cm f/2.8 Nikkor-S lens.

I wanted to try out one other lens so at the end of the roll I popped a 55mm f/1.2 lens on to see how it fared. Here's two images, one at almost wide-open, one at f/8:

I definitely need to come back before the water gets back to normal with my 4x5 (and proper boots, I almost lost my tennis shoes in the muck). But for now I am off for a short trip to Florida so perhaps I will have more swampy pictures next week.

Three Forks to Long Creek Falls (9/25/16)

Yesterday I spent some more time on the trail, this time going northeast from the Three Forks trailhead to just about where I stopped last time coming from the Hawk Mountain area.

This was a stunning area, well worth visiting multiple times. This trail follows Long Creek to the Long Creek Falls, but there are also several smaller falls on the way. What I believe are rhododendrons are growing everywhere, so I can't wait for spring which should be a wonderful part of the year for this area, but also the fall colors should be nice too.

I shot with my Linhof 70 technical camera on this outing, with my 38mm XL, 58mm XL, and 10.5cm APO Lanthar lenses, on Plus-X:

 \

More Atlanta - High Museum of Art

I met up with friends and students from Valdosta State on their field trip to the High Museum of Art last week. We saw the exhibit on Walker Evans, which was a wonderful experience.

While there I of course brought a camera - my favorite small 35mm lately, the Bessa L. This time I slapped a Nikon F adapter onto it and one of the most fun lenses I have - an 8mm f/2.8 circular fisheye. This lens is just a trip and makes really unique images. I try not to overuse it, but inside the museum it was pretty cool:

Now of course I can't view TTL with the Bessa, so I have a little viewfinder I bought online that's basically a peephole from a door to estimate the photo. This lens is easier to use on one of my F-mount SLRs, like my favorite F2, but that camera is much bigger/heavier, and I also wanted to bring a couple other lenses in my pocket, which is impossible with larger SLR lenses without a bag of some sort which I didn't want. But it worked pretty well.

The other lens I used was of course my favorite Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5, which is tiny and really good. Here's the rest of the photos taken while walking around midtown:

 

 

 

I also couldn't resist taking my last few images in the MARTA station:

That's all for this trip to Atlanta.