Sometimes Mother Nature gives us unplanned gifts. Recently I hiked through some forest trails, down to the shoreline of the Niagara Whirlpool. I was expecting to capture some fall landscape images. Instead, I was rewarded with a number of forest details and abstracts.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

I’m one of those photographers who doesn’t ‘adjust nature’. I don’t place leaves on rocks, or remove debris from a scene. I let the simple beauty of nature call out to me to be photographed. It could be a single red leaf next to some moss.

Or a leaf that will soon be nudged off its perch by the next breeze that happens upon it.

I may be drawn to circular shapes that almost take on the appearance of fingers holding on to some bark.

Or the natural juxtaposition of straight lines and circular shapes on a rotting log.

A unique blend of muted colours on a rock face may entice. My mind then sees what it could become after a little work in post when its beauty can be more fully revealed.

Sometimes the handiwork of nature’s creatures is evident. Their meandering appetites etched for all to see.

Getting in tighter creates something more random. More abstract.

Changing a camera angle and bringing another surface into a composition changes it yet again.

Sometimes the beauty and the grandeur of the forest is not stretching towards the sky. It is near our feet.

Forest details are all around us when we are out hiking with our cameras in the woods. All we need to do is let them call out to us.

Technical Note:
All photographs were captured hand-held in available light using Nikon 1 gear as per the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using my standard process of DxO PhotoLab, CS6 and the Nik Collection.

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