After consulting Google Maps, we decided to go back to Lake Sacandaga, taking a more southerly route around the bottom and up the western shore.
The Adirondacks are extensive and dotted with lakes but there is a limit to how far we can travel in a day, bearing in mind we have dependents at home!
A babysitter could be arranged but we don’t like being away that long.
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This was another rather disappointing drive but you don’t know what’s out there unless you go and look.
One aspect of the outing was distressing though. We counted no less than 9 dead porcupines along the route. Sadly dead is the only kind we have ever seen here.
The small comfort in this is that roadkill feeds other animals and birds.
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Roadkill is inevitable on country roads. Each time we catch sight of a corpse we sigh and offer up words of sympathy or a little benediction. Quite often we then discover we’ve been blessing a discarded shoe or a random piece of rubbish.
One always wonders how a single shoe gets lost.
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The lake had shrunk further since our first visit a week prior.
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We found almost no place where we could stop to walk.
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So we continued on the loop we’d plotted and I grabbed pictures where I could.
The trouble with drive-by photography is that you tend to come upon images suddenly, sailing past before you have a chance to focus or even to point the camera.
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And, as the car follows twisting roads, the light is constantly changing.
Screwy eyesight and shaking hands don’t help!
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Excuses, I know.
It doesn’t stop me trying. I see pleasing images of all sorts everywhere I look and capturing them has become a favourite pass-time.
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Another problem with on-the-fly photography is that you have no chance to compose the frame. You get what you get. One of my greatest frustrations is the existence of power lines.
There is a limit to what one can edit out without ruining the picture.
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Consequently, I take many more photos than I ever post but they must all be gone through and it is hard to remain objective. What I see in an image may not please anyone else or even interest them and when you look at a large number of similar photos, it is hard to determine which is the better or whether they are worth keeping at all.
Occasionally I ask Grant for his opinion and some of my attempts are dismissed instantly. I don’t take offense. Otherwise, why ask?
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Whenever I can, I make a point of looking up.
That day, out by the lake we saw many caterpillar tents hanging in the trees.
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You couldn’t call them strange, unusual or beautiful.
Just different.
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It’s just as well modern cars are different. There was a time when this sort of vehicle was not unusual on roads in America. In my view automobiles are still far larger than they need be, but can you imagine the congestion if more people still drove this sort of thing?
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We quite often encounter the above car in Greenwich which seems small in comparison to that red monster! My first car which I got second hand was a similar size and had no power steering. The only good thing about it was that it was so solid that when someone ran a stop sign, ploughing into me, I was totally unhurt.
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Back at home, the oversized sunflower was finally opening. The bloom, approximately the size of a large serving platter, is on a stalk 7 feet tall.
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It’s rather magnificent.
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Surrounded by more modest, yet equally cheerful companions.
Size isn’t everything.
You sell yourself short on the quality of your photos. Considering all of the in-car limitations, they are always really good. I feel sorry for the Porcupines. I love those spiny anuimals, and would love to see one in the wild that had not been hit by a car. I think of the babies left nehind, waiting for a mother that never returns.
Best wishes, Pete.
Sunflowers really do lift the spirits at this time of year, providing a blast of sunshine when the skies are dull!
Thank you, Carolyn, for always wonderful photos! Beautiful roads, with interesting things to see, such as the cars and trees. I love the solitary trees and a lake that is diminished by the summer. Your sunflowers are spectacular, as are all your flowers. And, yes, in the case of flowers, size is not everything.
Joanna
Your description of the trials and rewards of drive by photography is right on! WE, too, have taken to offering acknowledgement to road kill. Some days it seems like a full time job. We have learned to slow down, even more so at night, but there is no way to completely prevent hitting other living beings, so we try to be generous with ourselves and with others.
I had to laugh at your comment about how it’s usually a single shoe that you see lying somewhere – it’s something we always wonder about too. You might think that your ride was disappointing, but I really enjoyed the leafy lanes with the autumn colours. My dad always said that cars that still start with the turn of a key are the ones that last the longest – I think he had a point. Your winning photo for me? That close-up photo of the sunflower – it’s lovely!