Life at the Edge of the Wetlands

[AlanLichty]

When I first took this image in Rooster Rock State Park a couple of years ago I was so fixated on how colorful everything was I didn't really notice that there was a distinct line of dead branches and old small trees all along the edge of the stands of trees lining the wetland grasses. None of the grasses along the visible creek are actually dry and if you tried to walk over to these trees you would sink halfway to your knees in swamp grass. The trees at the edge of the stands are living a precarious life and if the water level rises high enough during the wet winter months can die off due to too much water covering their roots. When I went back last year to shoot this scene again I discovered that a large number of the trees that gave me this color display had in fact succumbed to this fate. All along the edges of these wetlands there is now a ring of dead trees extending about 10 feet into the stands depicted in this capture taken in 2023.

C&C always welcome.

 

[JimFox]

That's interesting about how it's changed. I really like this image. The golden tones of the trees compared to how the background has a blue cast gives that classic blue/gold contrast that's so appealing.

Was this with the Mavic? The level of detail in this is really sweet.

 

[AlanLichty]

That's interesting about how it's changed. I really like this image. The golden tones of the trees compared to how the background has a blue cast gives that classic blue/gold contrast that's so appealing.

Was this with the Mavic? The level of detail in this is really sweet.

Thanks Jim - I was horrified when I went back to this spot last fall and discovered I couldn't recreate this scene/color show given the die-off from waterlogged roots. This little V shape in the wetlands is where Young Creek (on the left) meets up with the outflow of Latourell Creek at the bottom right. The two creeks don't really look like creeks at all given how extensive (and deep) the swamp grasses are in this scene. I didn't realize this until I tried walking out into the "meadows" after seeing it from my drone and discovering I would need hip waders to even think about wandering around out there.

Yes this is from the Mavic 3 Pro and is a single shot using the 166mm lens. Processed with DxO PureRAW 5 and Adobe LR/PS.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice image of what you may not be able to recreate. The wetland ecosystem is interesting indeed !!

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice image of what you may not be able to recreate. The wetland ecosystem is interesting indeed !!

Thanks Jameel - I hope to get up into the Gorge sometime today to get a view of how the colors are progressing this fall. We've just had a few days of rain which should freshen things up a bit.