This morning I woke up with a trip in mind. Days off seem to be hard to come by, and I find I want to do the most I can with them.
Early on though I decided to keep it close to home. It doesn’t always have to be go, go, go. Well, I don’t think it has to be.
Instead of racing around I stuck around the Airstream and the Dells. Nothing like having a little fun in your own back yard.
It struck me that folks get snippets of the Dells here and there through my photos and stories. But I haven’t really provided broad views of the place. So, today I set a task of shooting a larger panoramic of Watson Lake and the Granite Dells. The photo is below. You can click on it to see a larger version!
Yes, the pano looks a little small here, and even the version you click is small. The true version is a massive file! I reduced it to 18 inches long by 3 inches high just to save space when saving it. I merged 6 photos in total to give you this perspective. Ah, Photoshop’s Panoramic Merge tool works well. Takes a while, but it’s worth it! 🙂
The panoramic was shot from Watson Lake Park. It’s one of the many parks here in Prescott. There’s a lot to do in the park, and it’s a whopping $2 to get in for the day. I say whopping because that’s not much at all. Boat launches, facilities, picnic areas, weekend camping, group events, fields for flying kites, kayak rentals, and more! $2 a day isn’t bad. Shame I’ve seen so many people pull in there and skip the self pay station (it’s an honor system there).
After taking several panos I moved down from the high ground and walked along the lake “shore”. There isn’t much of a shore, as most of the shoreline is comprised of large granite boulders and cliffs. Here and there little grassy spots pop up, but then you’re back into the boulders.
As I walked the shoreline I scared frog after frog back into the water. They’d let out a squeak and pop into the water to hide. None would stay still for a photo. Fortunately the fish were more cooperative. Glad one set of creatures cooperated.
There was also a heron that I scared. Actually, it scared me. I came over a rock outcropping to look into the water, and there was the heron. It saw me and shot straight up into the air. The noise from it’s liftoff was amazing. And no, I didn’t get any photos….I was busy jumping backward!
Finally I wrapped up my 2 hour walk around Watson Lake park to come home and review photos. Pretty happy with today’s results! Oh, and for the purists out there, no edits, no HDR’s, nothing. Just what my Canon 40D captured. Wish I’d used a filter on the fish shot though, but I’d left it back in the car.
Oh, the other note for today’s shooting. All photos were taken with my 28-135mm IS USM lens. I’ve been playing with my 10-22mm so much I thought I’d better vary the lenses while doing the 30 Days in the Dells. I’m thinking tomorrow I’ll head out with the 50mm Macro or the 70-300mm zoom. We’ll see though, might change my mind. 😉