A Perfect Day For A Photo Outing

Merchant's Millpond State Park in northeastern North Carolina.  The light green vegetation covering
the pond’s surface is duckweed.  (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T5; 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 16mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/8; ISO 1600

Last week here in southeastern Virginia was perfect autumn weather!  The temperatures were moderate, the humidity low, on several days the sky was filled with cumulus clouds and the foliage wasjust starting to give us some color.  It won't be 'peak' fall foliage season here for another couple of weeks, but with the weather so pleasant, how could one NOT go out and photograph?

A close photographer friend (twolanetouring.com) was in town visiting my wife and I for a few days so, always striving to be a good host, I felt compelled to take him out and about to several places to photograph.  I have written about being a proponent of getting out and photographing during bad weather (bad weather makes for good images) but the weather was so nice, I couldn't help but get out and share photographic experiences with him.

One place we visited was Merchant's Millpond State Park in northeastern North Carolina.  Merchant's Millpond is only a few miles south of the Virginia/North Carolina border in Gates County and not a long drive from my home.  I had photographed there several times in the distant past and remembered how beautiful it looked with the cypress trees dotting the still waters of the pond.  Also, there are alligators in the pond!  Yes, alligators that far north.  

After arriving, we surveyed the area trying to get a general idea of what possibilities there were for compositions.  We then spent a bit of time in the relatively new visitor's center and the very informative lady working there gave us some information about where the U.S. Coast Guard just released some raptors they relocated from near their heliport.  Also, she said they have confirmed at least two alligators were present with some visitors saying they saw a third.  I asked if these were relatively small since the climate is much cooler than Florida or Georgia and she said no, one was about 12ft. in length!  That got my attention!  I planned to be vigilant as we walked around the pond and close to the water.  There there are the cottonmouth moccasins....  

In addition to alligators there are many other species of wildlife such as turtles, raptors, black bears, otters, raccoons, and on and on.  Quite a variety, indeed.

Besides wildlife, there are several relatively easy trails which allow you to walk around the pond and photograph from many different vantage points.  We hiked on a few and found some interesting compositions.

Cypress knees galore! (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T5; 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens @ 70mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/8; ISO 1250

The light was extraordinary.  There were several backlit compositions that made the cypress needles glow almost a bright orange (see the image at the top of this post, for example).  In several places we found the reddest leaves either of us has ever seen as well as yellow and some orange.  The Spanish moss hung and swayed in the occasional gentle breeze in many of the trees.  We also saw plants with bright magenta clusters of berries.  The lady at the visitor's center told us there were American Beauty Berries.  I don't remember ever seeing them before but upon checking the internet, you can purchase them in nurseries.

We had a very nice visit, made some good images and even spent time helping a couple (aged 95 and 93) put together a rubberized (PVC, I think) canoe with aluminum struts they had used for decades.  We first saw them in a parking lot working on the canoe, walked over and spoke with them, then went about our way taking a trail and looking for compositions.  When we returned about 30 minutes later, they had made no progress at all.  Spontaneously, we both decided to help and within another half hour or so, we had the canoe put together.  There is no way they could have assembled the canoe without help.  Helping others always feels good!

Fallen leaves 'floating' on a solid layer of duckweed which covers much of the pond. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T5; 16-55mm f/5.6 lens @ 34mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Walking deep in the forested areas around the pond it can be quite dark and you may have to raise ISOs as I did.  I only touched the surface of photographic possibilities in the couple of hours we spent there.  I certainly would have liked to have seen the large alligator, but from a safe distance.

If you are in northeastern North Carolina, the obvious place to visit is the Outer Banks.  However, just several miles inland is this terrific park which is full of interesting compositions for photography.  Also, camping, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, running from crazed alligators, etc.!  I'll be going back soon.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

All content on this blog is © 2013-2023 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.