The Shawangunk Mountains And Mohonk Preserve

 

are my church

a photographer’s dream

an obsession.

 

I return

to scramble

Giant’s Path

Rock Rift

Bonticue Crag.

 

I return

to capture black snakes slithering

through the foothills

to meditate on the serenity at Duck Pond,

snacking on wild blueberries.

 

I rejoice in making a photo

of two Black Vultures perched on a ledge

then follow them with my telephoto lens

as they take flight

and then circle back to

inspect their new home.

 

I witness

fellow hikers’ reflections

in pools

beneath waterfalls

the cool mist

sweaty rock panorama.

 

I return with raw

close-ups of Spring’s

trillium erectum

wild ginger, and bloodroot;

all stalwart parishioners.

 

I return

to pan

Summer’s rhododendron bridge,

and zoom into a cloud

of pink and white mountain laurel.

 

I return

to shoot Autumn’s

red oak and mountain ash,

to snap the sugar maple’s

red, orange, and yellow leaves,

ablaze in my continuous shutter release.

 

I return

to marvel at the hypnotic revelation

that is the Gunks.

 

I return

in Winter

to photograph the glacial majesty,

the mirror images in footprints left behind

to find the divine in a frosty pine.

 

I return

to capture

the golden light

the blue hour and the twilights

in slow water and ice.

 

My focus

devout

day in and day out.

 

I return.

I return.

I return.

 

 

http://cornelia-dedona.pixels.com/