The Photo of the Week is posted every Monday.  Each photo aims to document the things I've seen, places I've been and all sorts of curious things I have encountered as I go about my daily activities.  Along with the photo I will provide some background and interesting facts about the image and some technical information as well.

Back a few months ago in September, I did a "photo hike" through Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union, CT.  Some photographs from that day are posted on my website but not this one.  Why am I posting it now?  Well, I was searching through my images looking for something specific for another project when I came across this one.  It is far from being the type of image I was looking for however, seeing it again took me back to the time when I was capturing this image.  As I was walking along the edge of the pond, this fallen tree looked like two long legs outstretched into the water...to me at least!  I guess it's like looking at the clouds, everyone may see something different.  The shapes and colors here were enough to draw me in to take this photo.

I set my tripod up on rather precarious uneven ground and used an 11 second shutter speed to smooth out the water which had lots of ripples due to the blowing wind.  I chose my wide angle lens because I was very close to the subject and this lens would give me more flexibility in framing up my composition.  To avoid any camera shake, I used a remote shutter release that allowed me to take the picture without touching the camera and creating blur in the resulting photo.  The wonders of Nature are all around us and if we allow ourselves to become more observant, you will be rewarded with an unlimited view of unique and/or unusual things to enjoy or photograph.

Equipment and Settings

Canon 40D
11 sec at f14, ISO 100
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM lens set at 22mm