I’d been waiting for a nice cool and wet weekend to go out and photograph some lichens and mosses. The best time to catch them is right after a good soaking rainfall, or in the midst of a light misty type of rain. Exposure to water intensifies the colors in lichens, and brings out their fruiting bodies. Early April also sees mosses getting an early jump on spring, and they respond to a good soaking as well.
All images taken along the Miller Woods trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park.
This view from the trail head shows the effects of a controlled burn that took place about a week prior to my hike. As you can see in the ground level view fresh green shoots are already poking up. Controlled burns help to enrich the soil and promote healthy plant growth. Soon this area is going to be so chocked full of fresh growth that you won’t be able to see the pond in the background.
I love getting an up close view of these Crustose lichens which are pretty common throughout the park. The little round brown/black features are the “fruiting bodies” of the lichens. The dark central part of these features are cells containing spores. The bottom image illustrates the incredible variety of shapes, sizes and colors found in the different lichens. When dry the colors are usually very muted whiteish/grey tones, but the presence of moisture brings out their vibrancy. This is why it pays to go out photographing in the rain.
Another beautiful phenomena you can find in the rain are these water drops which have been caught in the leaves of these plants which are just sprouting up out of the soil. Note how the shapes of the petals and the slender hairs combine to trap and hold these water droplets.
This time of year the landscape is dominated by lines. The clean unbroken lines of trees and their branches, of pussy willows and prairie grasses all have a chance to shine before the profusion of leaves and flowers overwhelm them.
One of the traps that are easy to fall into when it comes to nature photography is to always be taking photographs from standing height. It is a subtle but powerful bias since our eyes are mounted atop our heads and this is how we usually view the world. To help combat this I always carry a small camera (a Sony RX100) and a miniature tripod. I can easily set the combination up with the lens only a few inches off the ground. Sometimes I look intentionally for shots to take from a ground level perspective. Other times I just pull out the Sony after taking some images from higher perspectives and snap off a few low angle shots. Doing so almost always leads to fun and interesting images.
As I mentioned at the top of the post, it was a windy day with intermittent rain/sleet. Because of the forecast of course I saw no one else on the trail this day. But I did spot this Swan on the way out, at that time he was being harassed by some Canadian Geese. On the way back (Miller Woods is an out and back trail) I was being buffeted by gusty winds and I knew a line of rain/sleet was imminent. When it hit the Swan decided he wasn’t having any of it and tucked his head away as he was being pelted by sleet. I of course, being the more “intelligent” species stood there in the wind and sleet taking the Swans photograph. Just a few feet away from where I was photographing the Swan there were three small (about 2″) eggs laying out in the open just off the trail. Kinda sad because they will obviously not survive, I just hope they get eaten by some other form of wildlife as opposed to being stomped by a careless hiker. I am not at all sure, but I think they might be turtle eggs.
Mosses are yet another source of wonder and beauty which is easily overlooked. But when you look closely, as in these photographs, you can find so many fascinating shapes, forms and colors. So much detail packed into such a small space. Once the weather gets a little warmer, photographs like these will also reveal many insectoid photobombers in the frame.
