Took a Walk

I had an errand to run in a nearby (nearby being relative in Texas) town and decided to explore a park that I haven't visited in a very long time.  There was a nature trail, but being by myself I chose to only go as far as the boardwalks (I had the entire park to myself).  I heard a few birds singing as well as a bullfrog, but otherwise I didn't see any wildlife.  I took a few photos of the landscape, which looked like bottomland hardwoods - typical of what can be found alongside bayous and creeks.  Since we've had some rain there was green - nice to see instead of everything brown & dying.

boardwalk over wetland/floodplain areas, 50mm lens

This is a processed photo - I adjusted the RAW exposure & fused them so that all the colors of the wet, weathered wood of the boardwalk would show.  As an experiment I adjusted the saturation & brightness in the RAW file for comparison & while the photo colors/tones were nearly identical - the detail of the colors in the wood just came out better in the fused version. 

blooming citrus, 105mm macro lens

This was about the only thing I saw blooming - a wild citrus bush.  I learned the story about these particular plants at another park - they were brought to the area in the late 1800s to use as root stock for growing more delicate citrus because they were so tough.  Obviously they are - even though they are not cultivated or used for growing crops - these bushes are still around (and have become naturalized).  They have very mean thorns which I thought was a nice contrast to their delicate white blooms.  This is SOOC - only cropped - no adjustments, nothing.

fern, 50mm lens

This bright green fern growing on the tree really caught my eye.  I believe it is resurrection fern and considering the foggy, rainy/misty day we've had I'm sure this was a happy plant.  It was truly bright green and always nice to find in the woods.  Another SOOC with only cropping - no adjustment. 

I've been carrying only 2 lenses since I'm trying to pack my camera everywhere I go, forcing me to get creative with what I have with me and improve with what I have.   I've also decided to try & discover more parks closer to home where I can take a few pictures, preferrably with some type of nature trail rather than a sports park.

But the best news of the day:  My 85mm lens came back from the shop - 5 weeks early - from getting that busted UV filter off - totally made my week.  Hope someone else had surprise/good news for the week, or at least was able to go outside and take a walk.  What did you see/photograph?