Fort Harrison State Park in Indianapolis is a great place to visit and relax. Even though it is somewhat close to the urbanization of Indianapolis, it offers a relatively quiet reprieve from the bustle of the city streets. I visited there recently to try to capture some of the spring colors as they were emerging.
The park has a centrally located “duck pond” with paved and primitive hiking trails in the vicinity.
Many of the hiking trails have bridges and steps to help navigate wet areas and steep grades.
All the insects were busy pollinating.
The cattails at the edge the pond were busy doing the thing that they do in the spring. Pollinating? Blooming? Shedding? Dying? I’m a photographer, not a botanist. I just like the way the light filters through the “fuzzies.”
This flower has very delicate, thread-like petals. The shallow depth of field (f/5.6) in this photo makes the front of the bloom in focus and the back slightly blurry.
This flower is known as “Butterweed” and this year it is growing all over Indiana. This specimen was growing in the shade at the edge of a wood.
More Butterweed growing along side of a walking trail.
I was on my way back to the car when I spotted these tender Sweet Gum leaves. I pointed the camera directly into the sun to get this shot. The sun is shining through the leaves showing the detail in the “veins.” I set my camera to the fastest shutter speed available (1/4000). I had to take several shots to get one that I was happy with because there was a stiff breeze and it was a challenge to catch the leaves when they were still.