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Peeper Pond

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted February 19, 2017309 views7 comments

Here's a fall 2015 look at Peeper Pond on the North Tract of the Patuxent Research Refuge. It's about 10 miles from my house with 3 different sections. The central tract (not accessible to the public) is where they raise the Whooping Cranes. The North Tract has limited public access because is was formerly a gunnery range for the US Army. I've started volunteering there with plans to lead photography workshops. For being only 10 miles from my house it's a very different ecosystem from rocky, fast moving streams, with lots of shallow, swampy ponds, like the one shown here. (5D3, 24-70 f2.8 @ 24mm, 1/20s, f16, iso 200, tripod and polarizer)

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on February 20, 2017 at 8:49 AM

Looks and sounds like an area with with excellent and a wide variety of photo ops, Mark. Nice to have this one close to home. Beautiful fall color in nice light shown here.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 20, 2017 at 9:35 AM

Looks like a great place to explore and photograph! I like the view from the leaves in the water to the trees in the BG. Well taken. TFS.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on February 20, 2017 at 5:35 PM

It's really nice to see this looking this clean. A beautiful view of this fairly wild spot so close to Washington DC. When I grew up in the DC area in the late 50s and early 60s, the Patuxent was so polluted we couldn't go near it, but that was the part that was closer to the city.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on February 20, 2017 at 9:09 PM

Such a beautiful place for being so close to "civilization". Hope the other public doesn't find it and love (or abuse) it to death.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by D.A. Edwards on February 22, 2017 at 3:52 PM

Very nice photo Mark, no nits from me. Looks like a place to spend some serious time with or without a camera.

Registered on October 8, 2014, 226 Posts, 1187 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on February 23, 2017 at 12:48 PM

Lovely Autumn image, Mark. I really like the depth. There is a grass stalk in the lower left corner that you might consider cloning. The light and color here are real nice.
--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on February 25, 2017 at 9:31 AM

Looks like a nice spot to just sit and enjoy the calmness. For a crop suggestion, maybe more of a pano format with cropping below the floating limb? Minor nit, but the greens of the pines on the right look a little too saturated/luminous to match the rest of the golden brown trees. I like how there is a receding opening in the center for the eyes to go back into the scene, as opposed to if the trees were solid around the whole edge of the pond.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments