Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

Wildlife Refuge, that is.... in the Allegan Forest near Swan Creek. More work my newly IR converted Pentax K01.

In the Allegan forest last week:

Ultrafine Xtreme 400 @320, DK50 stock, 5min.

I do a lot of my outdoor photography in the Allegan State Game Area. This is a 50,000 acre (200 SQ. KM) area set aside for hunting, fishing, tapping, logging, horseback riding, camping and other purposes. It is not exactly a wild area since most areas are consistently visited by people (the designated wildlife refuges being the main exception to this) but given the large area of undeveloped land with minimal resident humans, it is more wild than not. So maybe it should described as a feral place that shows off the undomesticated side of both the resident wildlife and also the transient human visitors.

Whatever it is, the powers that be that attempt to manage the Allegan Forest try to set some boundaries and borders, mostly to keep motor vehicles out of the savannas, fields and woods. There are a lot of two tracks that pieces into the more wild areas of the forest and from time to time those who manage the forest put up gates or drop trees across the paths to keep people out. But gates, even those well anchored with concrete footings, can be pulled out of the sandy soil. And fallen trees can also be easily pulled aside. And so the ultimate barrier consists of multiple rows of large tree stumps, ripped out of the ground. And so - the subject of these photos.

Another take on the scene that I posted a few days ago. This was taken at the same time but at the start of a new roll of film - so it took another couple of days to shoot out the new roll and develop it:

 I move the camera a little but mostly switched to a wider lens. Taken with a Pentax Mz-S, SMC F 28mm f2.8, on Arista Ultra Edu 200. I accidently exposed this at ISO 100 instead of 200, developed in Microdol X 1+1 for 9 minutes.

Yesterday (August 12) in the Allegan Forest. A heavy rain came down a hour or so before I arrived and a faint mist was rising in the heat. I have probably passed this spot a thousand times without noticing it, but this time I finally saw it.

Taken on Arista 200 rated @ 200 and developed in Microdol-X, 1+1, 9 min @ 20C. 

Allegan Forest earlier this week - Pentax 6x7 with 105 f2.4 SMC Takumar, Agfa APX 100 in Rodinal 1+25. The large stock of APX 100 & 400 that I bought in 2005 is just about gone...

 

The shelf cloud of a fast moving thunderstorm, photographed yesterday in a restored oak savanna in the Allegan forest. The storm rolled in quickly and the downpour was not far behind this cloud.

Pentax Mz-S, DA 40mm f.28 XS pancake lens, Ultrafine Xtreme 400 film rated at 400 and developed in D76 1:1.

I'm not sure why, but the DNR plants winter wheat  rye in some of fields in the Allegan Forest, the game area where I do much of my outdoor photography. The game area was cobbled together from a lot of failed farms in the 1930's - farms that failed due to the very sandy soil that offers little support for crops. Here's a closeup of a the head of wheat rye stalk with a little spider on it. The wheat rye has grown fairly well this year, but is exceedingly thin in the sandy soil. The tan background is the rest of the field.

(Correction: I thought it was winter wheat, but after chatting with a farmer with a field full of this stuff I learned that it was rye.)