Yates Mill Pond: A visit proving to be serene, memorable ... and picturesque

On Oct. 25, I took a short drive from home to Yates Mill Pond, a 174-acre park in Wake County, N.C., which operates as a wildlife refuge developed around a fully restored 18th-century grist mill and -- as the park's name suggests -- a 20-acre lake.

The water-powered grist mill is the only remaining one left in the county, which is home to North Carolina's capital city, Raleigh, the state's second largest city (behind only Charlotte).

Raleigh is Wake County's only city, but the county of 857 square miles is home to several incorporated towns -- Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Garner, Fuquay-Varina, Zebulon, Wendell, Knightdale, Rolesville and most of Morrisville and Wake Forest.

Despite all of that urban development, there are plenty of open, rural/rustic areas -- and county parks, not to mention one state park and portions of two others (I had visited, William B. Umstead State Park -- the one wholly inside Wake County -- in December 2014 and did a post about my shoot there in this blog).

Yates is the third county park I've visited; I didn't do any photography during previous stops (both short) at Lake Wheeler and Lake Benson parks, but those are on my list. They, too, are relatively short trips from my home.

I've mentioned the grist mill and lake at Yates Mill, but not the water falls, which doesn't get a lot of mention in official writeups of the attraction. The falls, positioned alongside the mill, is the most fascinating of the park's features. One view of the falls is depicted in the photo leading off the post.


As usual, click on any photo to pull up a larger, sharper version. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog while using a mobile device. A full gallery of images from my shoot there Oct. 25 can be found at my site at Smugmug.com.

Photo geek stuff: I shot photos during my visit with my Canon 6D equipped with a Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di PZD VC lens. The lens was capped with a B+W polarizing filter. I bracketed all compositions for three exposures to allow me options to use single frames or meld all three exposures into a single shot using Photomatix high-dynamic (HDR) software in post-processing. I used a mixture of single-frame and HDR photos for this post.

Above and below are a couple shots (there will be others in this post) where bracketing my exposures and processing them through Photomatix software saved the pictures because of the back-lighting I was battling. I visited the park in the early afternoon -- not ideal by any means -- for dramatic landscape images -- but on this day, it was a necessity because of time management that day. The wall you see above, which flanks a path descending to the falls area (see pictures below), came out dark in all three of the exposures, showing a hint of detail in the +2 version. That hint of detail in the +2 image (along with a little help with the shadow slider in Photoshop Elements) catapulted me to recover the detail you see above. Same situation with the "front" side of the mill below. It was almost all dark on the individual images except for a hint of detail in the +2 exposure. Again, the melding and shadow slider boost in PE enabled me to get to this. 

Above: This is a single-frame shot of a building near the mill. I was pretty pleased with it, although it helped that the sun lighting angle was ideal in this case.

The grist mill (above) from the side of the power-generating wheel and waterfall. Next three shots below are various looks and/or detail cuts of the waterfall, followed by a shot of the mill from the trail that circles the lake.

Above: On the path leading to the mill from the parking lot, you come across these antique turbines. I recalled seeing similar implements at the grist mill that is a hallmark feature at Indiana's town of Metamora.

Above: A look at the lake, or pond, from the start of the circular trail not far from the mill. On Oct. 25, you were seeing only a hint of leaves changing color at Yates Mill.  

Above: I can't say I've ever seen a waterfowl feeding station in water like this before. Could be because I haven't been to enough wildlife preserves. But I liked the reflection it gave me for this composition. 

Above: At just about the halfway point around the lake along the circular trail, one comes across this structure, identified by signage as an instruction center. I'm guessing guests (many of which might be schoolchildren) who take tours of the grounds stop here for a short spell to learn things from their tour guides. I would not have been able to pick up the detail -- and color -- in the roof that you see here without processing it in HDR software. A couple other angles of this building can be found in the full gallery. 

Above: I photographed this long pedestrian bridge -- from which visitors can start their trip around the lake (I chose the opposite the direction, ending the trip at the bridge) -- from several perspectives, all of which you can see in the full gallery. I present this one in the post, taken through brush along the lake on the circular trail opposite the bridge, because of its (attempted?) artsy effect. 

I suppose the highlights of my shoot can be found in the photos above and next two below, where having the reach of a 300mm lens enabled me to get close enough to photograph the blue heron and turtle sharing space on a branch (above), a swan (and its reflection) appearing to guard its nest (first below) and a different log on which three turtles were resting (second below). I shared info on where to find the heron and swan with two women I met on the trail right after I photographed them (but before I got to the log shown in the third photo below). In return, they told me about the turtles log ... and said the log at one point had been loaded with turtles until another individual came by, made a noise and scared them all away. By the time I got there (quietly so), three of the turtles had climbed back on.  

Above: I'm about three-quarters around the lake at this point. You can see a small bit of the mill on the far right ... and some of the tree reflections in the lake. 

This tree, which I came across while crossing the wooden pedestrian bridge, jumped out at me. 

Above: I photographed the park's modest amphitheater from several angles (all of which you can find in the gallery), including several showing the whole facility. I liked this the best because you get a neat grouping of trees in the background with a slice of amphitheater seating.

Above: If you start the trail from the start of the pedestrian bridge not far from the parking lot and amphitheater, you began with this view of the park. Again, I encircled the lake from the opposite direction, and came upon this by turning around at the end of my journey. 

Full Wasatch Lake gallery now up

It's taken me more than a month, but I've finally uploaded and done an initial winnowing of the mostly full volume of images taken in mid-April at Wasatch Lake. I had seven posts in April from that visit, but I've needed all this time -- in between other shoots and business -- to at least try to trim down the more than 1,300 shots I collected. It was an arduous task, and I still couldn't get the number below 875. At least for now, anyway.

If you really want to see a more complete gallery of images from my three days at Wasatch Lake in Owen County, Ind., and have some time to sift through all of them, visit the Wasatch Lake Spring 2012 gallery.

Scenes from Geist Lake on race day

The Geist Half-Marathon and 5K in Indianapolis and Hamilton County (Ind.) marked its fifth year last Saturday, and I was there. I was invited to photograph the event this year, and I eagerly accepted. 

My primary images were committed to the contracting firm that hired me to take pictures, but I did manage to squeeze off a few shots on a personal memory card in the moments before the start of the race ... and in the boat rides to and from that start line. It was the first time I'd ever been on this lake in a boat.

The rich, bronze-tinged photo leading off today's post was grabbed as the boat I was riding in headed northeast toward Olio Road, the start line in Hamilton County, moments before sunrise on race day, May 19. The view looks northeast. Below, I'm on Olio Road, about 15 minutes later. The sun is just beginning to peek above the trees in the eastern sky, about 15 minutes before the 7 a.m. start of the half-marathon. 

For full gallery of images from this shoot, follow the link in this sentence.

Above and next three below: Estates along the lake, photographed during the boat ride transporting me to the start line at the north end of Geist Lake.

Above and next two below: Easily the most enjoyable moments prior to the half-marathon start were observing these youths, wearing purple shirts emblazoned with "Lawrence Township School Foundation," going through a distinct warm-up routine -- dancing and grooving to the lively hip-hop music piped over the P.A. system to help energize participants. Andre, the tall youth in the front, led the group through a synchronized routine.

 

Above: A look north down Olio Road at the extensive lineup for both the half-marathon, which started at 7 a.m., and the 5K, which began in a series of five waves at 7:30 a.m.

Above: These youths are obviously loosened up for the half-marathon start.

Above and next two below: Shots taken from the Olio Road over Geist, including a very early morning water skier (immediately below). In the second shot below, the splash you see on the far left is the tail end of -- quite literally -- a fish out of the water.

Above and below: Some more homes along the lake, as seen on the boat ride back to the Fall Creek causeway, near the finish line.

 

Above: A boat in front of us as we near the Fall Creek Road causeway on the return trip after the half-marathon and 5K starts. Both 5K and half-marathon participants crossed the finish line a short jog to the right in Geist Lake Marina.

Sunrise, a burning glow perspective

It occurred to me yesterday, while reviewing my sunrise pictures from Wasatch Lake in April, that I didn't really try -- in any of the images in which the rising sphere is actually in full or almost-full view -- to play up the brilliance of the spectacle, its hues or its reflection on the water.

So I went back to my editing software and pulled up an image from the shoot of the second morning sunrise, April 18, and did just that, removing almost all of the highlights and doing very minimal tinkering with midtones and shadows, giving it a look that I've seen commonly in other sunrise and sunset pictures. I also added it to my Part I post on the recent Wasatch Lake visit.

I present the result above, with the original standard exposure below. To see all my images from my three-day visit to Wasatch Lake, see my Wasatch Lake Spring 2012 gallery.

Wasatch Lake: You've already seen the pictures, now here's the video

Just when I thought I'd wrapped up my recent trip to Wasatch Lake, I remembered that I shot some full HD video on my Canon 7D while there, which will add a soundtrack dimension to the images you've already seen.

I've uploaded the two clips to my video gallery at SmugMug. Both are panoramic shots of the lake, taken in the pre-sunrise moments of Tuesday and Wednesday, April 17 and 18.

The clip from April 17 goes about 300 degrees. Although I shot this on a tripod, the pan is not the steadiest. The clip begins at the owner's Lake House cabin, west of and adjacent to the one I stayed in, then sweeps across the central and east portions of the lake, giving you a look at the lake's undeveloped northside, an extension of the Owen-Putnam State Forest. You'll be able to see the spot where the sun was to come up about 5 minutes after the video was taken. You'll also get to experience the mist over the lake and the sounds of the early morning -- the birds tweeting and, at the 1 minute, 25-second point, the geese honking. At the very end, as the focus turns to the south side of the lake, you'll also see the pier in front of the cabin I stayed in. I shot this video from a spot just left of the pier.

The clip from April 18, taken from the end of my cabin's pier, is a full 360-degree pan, starting from the same spot, but going full circle. You'll get to see my cabin near the end.

Because of the high-quality video, it would be wise ... after clicking the start button for either video ... to immediately pause it and wait for the buffer to build far enough (I'd suggest waiting at least a minute and a half) so the viewing can be smooth once it does start rolling. If you don't, the clip will be jarring from start to finish.

To see all my still images from my three-day visit to Wasatch Lake, see my Wasatch Lake Spring 2012 gallery.

Return to Wasatch Lake, Part VI

So here we are, the promised wrap-up post on the trip to Wasatch Lake. In the previous five posts, we covered Sonny and Cher (the swans); sunrises; morning mists over the lake; other creatures, fowl and fish; and reflections on the water. This post is a sortakinda "everything else" entry.

Leading off the post is one of my favorite views of the lake. It's at the southwest end looking northeast. On the far left (just below center) you see the pier extending near the dam locks; directly opposite, on the far right with the bright red roof, is Cabin 7 (aka Sunshine), the western most cabin on the lake and, in my opinion, the cabin with the second best location. A frontal view of that cabin appears immediately below.

To see all my images from my three-day visit to Wasatch Lake, see my Wasatch Lake Spring 2012 gallery.

Above: Hickory Hill, Cabin 3, looks more like a fortress. It's the cabin with the most bedrooms (3); consequently, it can accommodate the most people (8). 

 

Above: White blossoms on a spring-bloom tree. One of the Ducksateers waddles nearby.

Above: The road leading to the lodge, a community building where guests can drop in to play pool or billiards, sit and relax or shop at the merchandise store. The grounds owners rent out the building for big gatherings as well -- reunions, receptions, conferences, etc. 

Above: In my first visit in October 2010, I easily ran and walked the trail that circled the lake. This time, however, winter snow and spring rain runoff -- and insufficient sunlight -- presented puddles like this on the north side of the lake, making running the trail prohibitive. I did walk it a few times, skipping through the bogs on the driest portions I could find.

Above: The pedestrian bridge at the lake's east end; it separates the lake, on the left side, from the beaver pond. I took many of my shots of Sonny, the swan, from here as he swam in the lake very near this bridge. Below: A closeup of a scene in the beaver pond.

  

Above and below: Two shots of the mini-rapids where overflow spills through the splash dam locks. Getting to the position to take this shot was a challenge; it's off the beaten path and required weaving through some heavy foliage. The picture above was shot using a shutter speed of 1/320; the one below, 1/5. I didn't have my tripod, so to make the slow shutter speed work in the shot below, I sat on the ground and rested the camera on bended knees.

Above: A sun dial, which you'll find on the pedestrian bridge separating the lake from the beaver pond. 

Above and below: Two of several bird houses I came across on the grounds.

Above: Along the long, half-moon loop trail, which scales the steep hill on the north side of the lake, you get an appreciation for the tall-tree forested area of the Owen-Putnam State Forest that bleeds over into Wasatch Lake property.

Above and below: I shot very few flowers on my visit. These are two examples.

Above and below: Lake views -- the one above, using a circular polarizing filter, which accounts for the rich blue in the water color near the shore.

Above: Just some floating horticulture on the lake water near shore.

Above: Another spring blossom tree.

Above: Vehicles parked near the caretaker/maintenance building at the entrance.

Above: A shot that could have been included with the "Misty Mornings" post. This is furniture on the pier in front of the owner's lake house, backgrounded with lingering, post-sunrise morning mist rendered smooth by wide f/stop bokeh.

Above: An antique rope-operated bell on the grounds.

Above: A decoration on my cabin, Peach Blossom (1).

 

Above: A juxtaposition composition -- tree vs. chair.

Above: Another swamp point on the lake trail at a point that leads over the earthen dam on the west end of the lake. By the second day I was there, because this spot gets more sunlight, I was able to pass without stepping in any water.

Above: The gravel road, caught in a morning moment of spot sunlight, leading to the lodge and Cabins 8 and 9 at the far east end of the lake.

Above: I turn to the Three Ducksateers to help me bid farewell to these posts about Wasatch Lake.