Pine Pond Pano - a photo on Flickriver

Pine Pond Pano

            Here's a panorama that I captured yesterday afternoon... at a small lily-pond... hidden away in the middle of a large pine plantation.

I discovered this pond on Tuesday while I was out looking for mushrooms. "Wow, look what we have here!" were the first words out of my mouth (yes, I often speak aloud to myself). I enjoy taking photos of trees almost as much as I enjoy taking photos of perfect reflections... so to get both in one shot... well, that would be a double-bonus for me! This little spot offers so much photographic potential... I couldn't wait to shoot it!

There was only one problem though... and quite a big problem at that. Lying sprawled across the middle of the pond was a dead tree at least 10 metres long... with lots of branches sticking out... spoiling any photos that I might want to take here. I immediately realised that there was no way that I would have the strength to pull it out by myself, it was simply too heavy. My bakkie was parked on a small path about 50 metres away, but I figured that I could get it at least half-way closer with a little bit planning and effort.

So I returned here yesterday morning with my camera and tripod... and a 30 metre long ski-rope... hoping that this would be long and strong enough to pull the tree out of the pond. I wanted to drag it out without damaging too many lily-pads in the process, so that meant that ideally it should be pulled out straight, roots first. So I tied the rope around the roots and base of the tree... and then tried to manoeuvre my bakkie between the pine trees towards the end of the rope. But no matter how skilfully I reversed my bakkie, I wasn't able to reach the end of the rope... by only about another 5 metres... damn! As I was pondering my options, I noticed that the only things stopping me from reaching the rope were 2 dead and rotting tree stumps. If I could somehow remove those first, then my problems would be solved. Fortunately the stumps were so decomposed that I was able to break them apart and pull them out by hand... with a bit of effort (of course). 

On my first attempt I managed to pull the tree about 3 metres out of the pond... before the base and roots got snagged by something... and the rope snapped. I managed to free the snag and reattach the rope, but I only managed to pull it out another couple of metres before the rope snapped again. After 5 attempts the tree was finally well clear of the pond. Mission accomplished! :)

I'd already pre-visualised the composition and shot that I wanted to take here, so now that the dead tree was out of the way, I setup my camera and tripod, and waded carefully into the water. It was still early in the afternoon and the pond was still fully-lit by the sun... too many floating visual distractions. The other distraction was all the dead branches and sticks littering the ground and the edge of the pond. Hmmm... I said to myself... it's always much easier to pick up distracting elements than it is to try and clone them out afterwards. So I spent the next hour or so removing everything that didn't need to be there (i.e. anything dead). Now all I had to do was wait for the light.

And then... suddenly and seemingly from nowhere... a large bank of clouds rolled over and blocked out the sun for the rest of the afternoon. Double-damn!! But that's how it goes with landscape photography. It doesn't matter how much planning and effort you put into getting the shot... Mother Nature is always the boss here... so you can never be assured of capturing the image that you have in mind.

Although I wasn't able to get my pre-visualised shot... I was still able to get a few very nice photos before the clouds rolled over. And now that I've put in all the effort... I know that I can come back and get my shot anytime the weather conditions allow it.

Taken on: September 16, 2020

Tags:

Paul Bruins Photography

www.paulbruins.co.za

Southern Cape

Garden Route

Knysna Forest

Pine Plantation

Reflections

Nikon D850

Nikkor Lenses

Nik Filters

Panorama « less

Sets appears in: • Knysna Forest Photos • Panoramas

Groups appears in: • Forest & Tree • Knysna Forests

Camera: f/16.0, 1/50 sec, 39.4mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)

Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	39.4mm
ISO:	64
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows
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