Mostly Photos

Hunting Blind Sunrise on the Potomac River /  by Todd Henson

Hunting Blind Sunrise on the Potomac River #1

Back on New Year’s Day my father and I visited Widewater State Park in Virginia for an overcast and blue morning. When we went over to the Potomac River side of the park we were fascinated by this streak of warm light reflected from near the horizon as it created what appeared to be a finger or pointer directly at a hunting blind in the river. I hiked around trying for other perspectives and found one other I liked. They’re both very similar and yet the surface of the water and that warm pointer have a slightly different look.

Hunting Blind Sunrise on the Potomac River #2

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Overcast Blues on Aquia Creek /  by Todd Henson

Overcast Blues on Aquia Creek

On New Year’s day my father and I went for our first hikes of the year. We visited a couple locations, one of which was Widewater State Park in Virginia. I’ve previously shown views of Aquia Creek as seen from the park, and today we return to this view with a couple new photographs from January 1st of 2024.

It was a very overcast day, and in fact it began raining lightly for part of the time we looked out at Aquia Creek. The overcast quality gave the scene a very blue look with interesting breaks in the clouds near the horizon, providing enough light for the scene and for some reflections in the creek. This scene is also interesting in how you can often see different channels where water flows in the creek by the different looks of the water’s surface. Sometimes it may be caused by a boat that’s moved through, but this morning I believe it was all due to water flow and perhaps to any breeze further out. We didn’t see or hear any boats while there, and there was little if any breeze where we were on shore.

And, as luck would have it, one of a pair of mating bald eagles happened to fly into the scene as I was photographing, creating a nice little bonus in the upper left of the image.

Below is a panoramic photo stitched together from 29 vertical views of the scene with a 105 mm lens. It gives a taste of this wide open part of the creek, and of the calm feel to the morning. Perhaps this is why they named the park Widewater.

A Wide View at Widewater

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Autumn in Prince William Forest Park /  by Todd Henson

Leaning Oak of South Valley Trail (I love the windy mountain laurel branches to the right of the oak tree)

During the last weekend of October I was fortunate to make a morning trip to Prince William Forest Park and hike along parts of the South Valley Trail that parallels South Fork Quantico Creek. There was still some autumn color left on the trees and I was so happy to photograph it.

When I returned home I did find a couple of these images weren’t quite as technically perfect as I’d have liked but overall I’m still pleased with them and feel they do a good job conveying what I was seeing and feeling that morning, and I hope they do the same for you.

South Valley Trail in Autumn (an alternate view of the scene above)

Treescape in Yellow and Red

Seeking Structure in the Chaos of Autumn

The Forest Through the Leaves

Falling for the Scenic Drive

Leaves on Liming Lane

Journey’s End (the parking lot is just off to the right)

Last year I had another walk through the autumnal woods of Prince William Forest Park and saw a very different set of sights.

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