AN ORDINARY PARADISE
How Mother Nature Can Make an Ordinary Scene Extraordinary
Text and photography Copyright Michael G. Mill
All rights reserved.
April 22, 2004
My sleeping wife barely stirred as I gave her a parting kiss and tiptoed down the stairs. Having donned my quilted coveralls, I filled my thermos with hot coffee, made one last check of my equipment, and looked at my watch, four a.m. Stepping out onto the porch, I'm greeted with the eerie sound of two icy limbs rubbing together in the
Text and photography Copyright Michael G. Mill
All rights reserved.
April 22, 2004
My sleeping wife barely stirred as I gave her a parting kiss and tiptoed down the stairs. Having donned my quilted coveralls, I filled my thermos with hot coffee, made one last check of my equipment, and looked at my watch, four a.m. Stepping out onto the porch, I'm greeted with the eerie sound of two icy limbs rubbing together in the
stiff morning breeze. A Great Horned Owl calls from a distant hillside, to be answered almost immediately by another from the frozen creek off to my left. As my eyes slowly adjust to the pale moonlight, I can just barely make out the forms of two White-tailed Deer moving away from the salt block I had recently placed at the edge of the yard. Breaking out of my momentary trance, I make my way toward my truck. I must not linger here, Mother Nature is preparing to open her most magnificent show and I have to be there when she raises the curtain of darkness for her first act.
Is my destination a high Alpine meadow in Yellow Stone National Park, a wildlife refuge in Alaska, or perhaps the shoreline of a remote Canadian lake? No, my photographic adventures await at a quite ordinary place by our standards, not unlike millions of others around the globe. My destination of choice is the shoreline of Hopewell Lake in French Creek State Park located in southeastern Pennsylvania. The park is a mere 7,500 acres, for the most part known only by locals, and the lake, not much more than a puddle at 68 acres. Hardly the place to brave chilling winds at four in the morning, just to take pictures..... or is it?
I first began photographing at Hopewell out of convenience. Being a part time photographer, I get to practice my craft generally on weekends; therefore my time is limited and Hopewell is only a short drive from my home. However, after shooting at this location over and over again for more than a year, I began to notice that many of the best images in my files had been taken at this seemingly ordinary place. Why? Well first, we must realize that to Mother Nature, there is no such thing as an ordinary place, each is beautiful in its own way. In part, it is our own familiarity that leads us to believe otherwise. Second, we must understand that in nature the scene of the moment will never be repeated in precisely the same way again. There are the obvious changes such as seasons, weather, and the constant movement of wildlife, but we must also recognize the subtle changes of light and shadow as well.
Is my destination a high Alpine meadow in Yellow Stone National Park, a wildlife refuge in Alaska, or perhaps the shoreline of a remote Canadian lake? No, my photographic adventures await at a quite ordinary place by our standards, not unlike millions of others around the globe. My destination of choice is the shoreline of Hopewell Lake in French Creek State Park located in southeastern Pennsylvania. The park is a mere 7,500 acres, for the most part known only by locals, and the lake, not much more than a puddle at 68 acres. Hardly the place to brave chilling winds at four in the morning, just to take pictures..... or is it?
I first began photographing at Hopewell out of convenience. Being a part time photographer, I get to practice my craft generally on weekends; therefore my time is limited and Hopewell is only a short drive from my home. However, after shooting at this location over and over again for more than a year, I began to notice that many of the best images in my files had been taken at this seemingly ordinary place. Why? Well first, we must realize that to Mother Nature, there is no such thing as an ordinary place, each is beautiful in its own way. In part, it is our own familiarity that leads us to believe otherwise. Second, we must understand that in nature the scene of the moment will never be repeated in precisely the same way again. There are the obvious changes such as seasons, weather, and the constant movement of wildlife, but we must also recognize the subtle changes of light and shadow as well.
