I was still hunting for new places to go, spreading out further and further. Which is how we wound up going through Friday traffic rush hour up towards a greenway by the Mall of GA. Not my smartest move on the timing. But the end result was a lot of fun, a nice peaceful walk on a greenway without too many people.
The pictures I had seen online showed a water fall, well sort of.
Turns out it was a retaining wall where the water poured off the wall in a single sheet. That’s what it did when there had been heavy rain recently. On this day that wasn’t quite the case. I still got some cool shots of where the water was falling. Got to play around with long exposure again. And go on a nice nature walk with the girlfriend.
We found the “waterfall” and went down to it. There was kind of a trail you could walk/jump your way down. And I started climbing on the rocks to try different angles of the flowing water.
Canon 5D Mark II w/28-135mm @28 - 1/20 Sec - F16 - ISO 400
Canon 5D Mark II w/28-135mm @30 - 0.8 Sec - F22 - ISO 100
Canon 5D Mark II w/28-135mm @30 - 2.5 Sec - F22 - ISO 100
The last one I like a lot. There was an open section of the wall for the pond to drain off and it created an actual waterfall that looks pretty cool with a long exposure.
The other thing I got a shot of was when we were heading back to the car.
Canon 7D w/Tamron 150-600mm @600 - 1/500 Sec - F6.3 - ISO 3200
After seeing this I would learn about how Northern Mockingbirds flash their wings to attract a mate.
Besides that one bird that was the only wildlife I took a picture of on the trail. Which isn’t too surprising as I came to find out. The trail did go directly underneath a major highway. Lots of traffic.
So even though we were out somewhat late that Friday night, I woke up early and went back out the following morning. I believe this was another attempt to find a spot with access to Lake Lanier without having to pay for parking. Which was not successful. I drove from park to park after that until I found something, somewhere. I honestly don’t think I could find it again if I had to. I would just pull up parks on google and go from one to the next trying to find one with less baseball fields and playgrounds, and more nature.
Eventually I did find a very nice place, wish I could remember where it was. It had huge open fields, and a walking trail that went pretty far back into the woods.
I started out at a wooden platform watching the birds come from the treeline to down in the grass. They were too far for me to get any good images but it was good practice tracking birds in flight. However as the morning went on more people started showing up for picnics and whatnot. So I went further down into the woods where I came upon the trail. Which actually resulted in a lot more wildlife, as it was a few miles and no one was walking back through that.
Canon 7D w/Tamron 150-600mm @600 - 1/800 Sec - F6.3 - ISO 2500
I had never seen a bird colored like this before, spots on the belly. I was very excited to get home and research it to find out what I had spotted.
Turns out it was just a juvenile Robin, they lose the spots as they grow and get more feathers.
Canon 7D w/Tamron 150-600mm @600 - 1/800 Sec - F6.3 - ISO 2000
Canon 7D w/Tamron 150-600mm @600 - 1/1000 Sec - F6.3 - ISO 2500
I also finally got a shot of what I expected to see earlier on, the state bird. I assumed the most common in the state, but it was a few months before I had seen one. The Brown Thrasher.
Besides that little bird adventure the rest of the walk was fairly peaceful. I turned the corner in the trail and came across a deer, which I managed to get the camera ready in time for a butt shot.
Canon 7D w/Tamron 150-600mm @600 - 1/800 Sec - F6.3 - ISO 2500
And then the trail eventually opened up to another large open field, where I sat in the shade for a bit. Because by that point it was getting hot out. Thankfully I usually bring a water bottle in my bag. Even though I push them, I know my limits. But in the wide open space I did manage to see, possibly a vulture riding the thermals up above. I couldn’t get a good clear shot, surprise shooting directly up towards the biggest light source doesn’t equal good photos.
Still, great day. Good nature. Gotta see if I can comb back through my google history and find this place again.
Canon 7D w/Tamron 150-600mm @600 - 1/800 Sec - F6.3 - ISO 160