A Yates Mill Pond first for me: ice on the pond and minor patches of it on the trail

When I stopped at Yates Mill Pond Park yesterday for my daily walk, I had no intention of taking pictures because I’d done plenty of picture-making on other recent visits. But ... when you see something you hadn’t seen before, which happened Friday, it was hard not to pull out the iPhone camera and start snapping away.

The primary thing I hadn’t seen at the park before was ice on the pond, and there’s a bit of it in the lead-off photo. That murky, sheened section close to the shore was the only ice in this photo, which is the much larger section of pond on one side (south) of the main pedestrian bridge. 

I selected this photo to lead things off because of what I considered to be much more compelling compositional elements — silhouettes, reflections and cloud patterns — than the ice.

Ice on water was more prevalent elsewhere in the park, as shown in the series of photos immediately below this point. The first seven images below were taken on the smaller (north) side of the pond near the primary wooden pedestrian bridge. The remaining ice-on-water pictures were streams found on the early portion of the walking trail between the first and second pedestrian bridges.   

There were minor patches of snow (some mixed with ice) on the 2-mile trail itself. This was stuff that wasn’t able to melt from the recent warmer temperatures because of how tree branches sufficiently blocked the sun from the ground. 

But there wasn’t enough of the snow/ice to thwart walkers. I covered the full trail yesterday, and there was always a portion of path free of ice or snow that a pedestrian could land on to avoid the patches. I present a view images of that spotty white cover below. 

I returned to the park Saturday to walk, and many of the patches had disappeared or shrunk. But boy, the trade-off was a very gusty wind, dropping wind-chill temps to 20ish, making Saturday’s stroll the coldest-ever for me there. 

Fortunately, I’d checked the weather beforehand and added a layer of clothing, which turned out to be exactly what I needed. 

Much of the ice on the smaller (north) section of pond and on the streams near the second pedestrian bridge remained Saturday; almost all of it on the larger (south) section was gone. A curiosity Saturday: As I began my walk, there were scores of geese on the larger section of pond and a much smaller number — maybe a half-dozen — on the smaller section. They were all gone by the time I crossed the bridge on the return trip.

To see a larger, sharper version of a photo in this post, simply click on the image. To view a full gallery of images from the Friday shoot, follow the link in this sentence.

Return to Yates Mill Pond Park

 Spent a lot of time on the road and in the air in the past month, mostly for reasons I'll characterized as unplanned or family-related. I felt a little naked throughout because I elected to leave at home my DSLR and the bag containing my flash unit and almost all my lenses. 

Yes, I did all photography with my new iPhone 13 Pro, and I must say that with only a few exceptions, I was quite pleased with the results. With the DSLR, I'd have been able to use the exposure bracketing to work in high-dynamic range (HDR) processing in a way I'm usually accustomed to doing. 

I could still dabble with HDR with images taken on my iPhone, but I'd have to approach it different. But the huge advantages of using the iPhone were convenience, a lack of intrusion and the immediacy of both editing and uploading to galleries at my site on SmugMug.

I even used the iPhone the other day when I made my second visit to Yates Mill Pond, a county park about 5.6 miles from my home in Raleigh. During my first visit there five years ago, I used my Canon 6D for my photographs. 

I decided to present those images here first before delving into any of the photos I took on my recent travels to Indiana, where I visited my old stomping grounds, Garfield Park and its Sunken Garden, and where on a separate day, I attended the 2022 rendition of the Indy Irish Festival, also held at Garfield Park. 

Because I wasn't doing any in-camera exposure bracketing, I concentrated a lot of my iPhone compositions at Yates Mill Pond on silhouettes, largely because so many such opportunities -- and light contrast situations -- presented themselves while walking the mile or so trail around the pond. 

One of my favorites is the image you see leading off the post, and I give Lee Ann huge credit for it because she noticed it first. That tiny structure you see in the background in the center of the photo is the mill for which the park was named. You'll see the mill in closer-up photos elsewhere in this post. 

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of an image, simply click on it. This is particularly helpful if accessing the blog from a mobile device. For a full gallery of images from this shoot, click on the link in this sentence. 

Reflections, shadows and patterns (first two images below) were another attraction to the photography excursion, although the solar flare above (and one a little later) were kind of interesting, too. 

Above: This confluence of color, vegetation and water was another favorite from my batch. 

Above and below: The trail walk offered lots of opportunities to concoct ideas for compositions. 

Several turtles are camping out on this long tree brach (above). The tree trunks, branches and vegetation provide framing of the mill in the background (first photo below), and a trail marker of some sort (second photo below). 

A pedestrian bridge over the pond (above) and another interesting curving tree branch (below). 

The mill, again framed (above), a water reflection shot (first below) and a different view of the pedestrian bridge (second below).

  

We saw several downed tree trunks (above) during the trail walk, and the wildlife feeding station below is something I remember from my first trip. 

 

Above and below: More water, ripples and reflection compositions. 

I didn't have much opportunity to integrate people into my shots, but the one above was one such chance. The first photo below is the wooden installation you see a part of in the foreground above. And just off to the right of these shots are trash barrels, one of which I photographed (second photo below) for the interesting juxtaposition. 

 

One shot of the mill (above), a closeup of its wheel (first below) and a closeup of the water falling over the rock formations (second below). 

Above and below: A couple of shots of water rippling through the rock formations in the creek.

Lee Ann noticed the reflections in the mill window (above). She also was struck by the photogenic cobblestone walls and path below, which I remember (and photographed) in my first visit in 2017. In the background of the first photo below is a log cabin, which you'll see in a closer, more scenic composition in the second photo below.  

Above: The iPhone delivered (distortion notwithstanding) when I needed a wide-angle shot of the back side of the mill and sought to include the whole structure in the frame. 

There is an overlook of the pond and the dramatic water drop-off next to the mill from which I took the photo above and the first two below. The one above is another where I caught some interesting mid-afternoon flare and reflective sparkles in the water. The second photo below features another shot I was able to grab with some people in it. The are navigating the large stones spread out from the bottom area of the waterfall.    

Another reflection shot (above), this time of the mill wheel in the nearby water. Below is an exhibit of an antique wheel on display along the path to the mill.