A few weekends ago, as the weather started to warm up and it was actually nice enough to do outdoors activities (can you tell yet that I’m not a fan of winter?), we decided to take advantage of it and do a short hike in the Helyar Woods, part of Rutgers Gardens in New Brunswick, NJ. We (Hubz and I) are hoping to make that a “thing” this year. It’s a great way to get some physical activity in and have fun while doing it. There are a bunch of awesome resources out there for people looking to find trails and hikes in the NJ/NYC area. NJ Hiking is a good one, and it’s how my husband found out about Helyar Woods.
Of course, I had to bring along a camera! I grabbed the DSLR and only took one lens, the Nikkor 50mm 1.8. This is one of my least used lenses, and I think it could use some more mileage. Of course, I’m always saying that I bring the wrong lens wherever I go, but it’s great to have some sort of constraint so you can stretch your creativity. I ended up taking a bunch of photos, and while I did complain (of course) about having the wrong lens, I think I got some pretty cool photos!
This is where I complained about not having my 105mm, but that bokeh is amazing!
Another take on the same little twig and leaves.
A little bit of magic – this wasn’t that special to see, but I like the softness that captured
I’m thinking of doing a lone leaf series…
She was barely there
A little drama with melting ice
Heh, my sometimes-willing model
Again, wish I had my 105mm, but I think this works too
This was an attempt to try to get something unique with the 50mm
The trail goes along the water for a bit. I originally thought this was part of the canal but it’s actually part of Westons Mill Pond
Another lone leaf!
Random TV and other junk found along part of the trail
Yup, a pair of undies. Which I had to capture, of course!
Last one for part 1 – I think this was some sort of poisonous stuff. This bush was bright green and full of leaves among a bunch of bare trees and dead leaves.
5 Comments
I really like the light in both the last image and the 6th to last. My favorite of all of these photos is certainly the 6th to last, it came out great. Well done here, and I think a lone leaf series could be pretty interesting!
Thanks, Nate! It was actually a fairly overcast day with the sun peaking through only occasionally so I tried to make do with what I had. I really enjoyed using my 50mm (though I complained a lot!) – it really made me stretch to get some good images.
Amazing, Preeti…you are so brave to just bring one lens! I really love how these came out and hope to get outside with my new lens soon, too. Love the randomness of the undies..and the idea of the lone leaf series, too. Black and white or color, both look amazing!
Lol, Mary, I’m nothing if not lazy, so the prospect of lugging a bunch of lenses around in a big bag is not appealing! But like I said, it does help with stretching your creativity. My most used lens is probably my 18-200mm, followed by the 105mm (MACROS!), so I just needed to get this guy out.
Ha, I totally don’t want to know the story behind the undies!
[…] Gone Hiking, Part II March 20, 2011 tags: 50mm, forest, Helyar Woods, hike, hiking, leaves, macro, Rutgers Gardens, trail, woods by Preeti Since I ended up taking a ton of photos (what else is new?) during my hike in the Helyar Woods a few weeks ago, here is the second batch of photos. (Part I here.) […]