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:

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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.