Stairs in the Woods
I am not entirely sure where I took these photos, but I remember that it was somewhere in the mountains during early spring.
After driving for half an hour on something that barely resembled a road, a large guest house rose at the at the end of it surrounded by pine trees and a couple of loosely stacked piles of cut logs. I parked next to the two cars at the front of the house. The latter looked semi-abandoned with old wooden joinery and dirty walls; the chimney was smoking, though, indicating that there were guests staying there. I walked around it and into the backyard where I discovered a path of neatly arranged stones leading into the pine woods.
I took the path hoping that it will lead to someplace interesting and worth exploring. There were old wooden benches here and there, as well as stone bins that were for the most part empty; it all looked like it has been a while since the last time someone has walked here. I wondered for a moment what those people in the house were doing here. The path circled the woods and led me back to stone stairs at the other side of the backyard. Unlike the house, the stairs were worth taking a photo.
Thanks for stopping by!
Dan
All shots are taken with my old Fuji X-T1 & Samyang 12mm f/2.
Your story reminded me of Thoreau's writings in Walden.
I like how you shot the trees - I never thot to angle my camera - duh! When I take a photo it looks like a jungle....I'll have to remember this technique.
I love the faint peach color of the sky in the first photo. (it's not pink, it's peach 🤣)
Haha, you and your colors! 😊 It's a pink-tinted peach 😁
Thanks Deb! Taking such shots is much easier when you have a camera with a tilting or articulating screen. Did your new lens arrive already?
Yes! I got my new lens. Practicing with it. You should have seen the first shots!! lol....blurry and ghostly. But I've been using my telephoto lens this week bc of the ice....I don't want to fall, again. I fell last year and was soooooo embarrassed. A high school kid came to my rescue and I suddenly felt like an old lady :) He called me m'am. lol I'm too young at heart still to feel old. But...I do have to be careful, I'm getting to that age where broken hips happen. ugh.
Okay, you can have your pink tinted peach. I'll give that to you 😇
Nice perspective on the surrounding forests. Makes me want to go and have a walk somewhere into the wilderness.
Something it’s worth it to walk without direction... in the unknown!
Thanks, Miro! Walking without a direction is one thing that always recharges my batteries :) Are you a mountain man?
I wish I had more time to walk in forests. I try to go at least a couple times in the year, hiking somewhere and going to different huts. I love the peacefulness of our forests.
You are in the perfect location for exploring the forests and the mountains :)
Is that hay on the stairs? Someone obviously put a lot of work into building those. What kind of guest house was it? I would have felt a little awkward parking at someone's house and walking around! It does seem like a strange place to put a house, though there are plenty of homes in the middle of nowhere here in the USA, too.
Like Minnesota's own Dorothy Molter, who lived in the Boundary Waters of northern MN, without electricity or running water until 1986.
Nice photos, especially the staircase. Do you still use the X-t1? I really wanted to get an X-pro2, but I'm heavily invested in Canon glass.
I think it’s pine needles on the stairs! In Bulgaria they are everywhere! 😀
Thank you, Mark! @mdosev is right - these are pine needles :) I no longer have the Fuji, as I switched to Micro 4/3 several months ago, but I kind of miss Fuji's ISO performance and the JPGs, which were out of this world.
I just read the article about Dorothy Molter - what an interesting story! It's hard to imagine how she was able to hand cut so much ice from the lake for her root beer.
Those are some big needles! We have some pines with long-ish needles around here, but they're probably about 3" long at the most.
Yeah, Dorothy Molter was a bit of a celebrity, in an odd hermity sort of way. "Hermit Root Beer Producer" would make a pretty amazing entry on a resume.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't remember exactly where they took their photos! 😊
I like how your top photo shows the feathery nature of the needles at the end of the branches on the pine trees. They make great silhouettes against the sky.
And the steps make me want to get a brush out and sweep them!
Hahah 😂 What a strange desire. That's someting my grandmother would have said, lol.
Hmm, maybe geotagging the photos would be useful, don't you think?
Thanks Gillian! :)
Bloody hell Dan now I feel ancient! And . . . it is a strange desire as I'm not big on cleaning. 😂
I love desaturated hdr look of these photos...second one is perfect, after a second or two of looking at it, it draws you in! Beautiful dear!
I was actually hesitating about including this shot, so I am happy that you liked it :) It's true that it kind of draws you in after looking at it for a while. Thank you!
excellent atmosphere and wonderful shots. highly successful and quality content. congratulations
Thank you so much, Ceren 😊
Beautiful photos, beautiful story!
Thank you, my friend! Beautiful cookies :)
Accidental finds are the best! And btw, that sky is salmon 😄
Hey! I am no longer sure if it's salmon, peach, pink or some other color!
It’s amaranth. 😂😬🤪😄🤣
These trees are like the last obstacle to eternal freedom...
Now that you have said it, they certainly look like that :) Thanks for your comment @goroshkodo!
Lovely set of images Daniel. Really love the stone steps too ~ The image has that old world charm.
Maybe if you'd peeped in the window ~ There may have been some interesting things happening inside to capture? You'll have to go back again. 🦋
I actually peeped through the window inside a dining room where people were playing cards on a table 😁
Thank you, Ally!