I did not have a lot of time to travel, so, my wife and I made a short trip to Prairie Oaks Metro Park. It is part of the Columbus Metro Parks in mid Ohio.

Armed with the Pentax K-1 Mark II and a Pentax 70-210 mm f/4.0 lens I made my way around one of several ponds on park land. The sky was partly cloudy or clear and featureless depending on the direction you point your camera. I was careful to keep little sky in the picture wherever possible.

There are lots of waterfowl and I plan to return with my wildlife photo kit rather than the landscape kit I was carrying with me on this outing.

We were not there long because Mary Rose is uncomfortable with cicadas flying all over the place. Yeah, they were numerous. I just ignored them. I spent so many years on insect-filled trout streams that cicadas really are no bother to me.

Here are a couple of images from this trip. Next time, we will hit the place in early morning with the sun at our backs and photograph waterfowl with golden front lighting. Then, we will hit the place for evening shots and keep the sun at our backs for warm summer sunset lighting.

There are lots of heron and egret in the ponds of Prairie Oaks, but, the crowd of people and kayaks coming and going kept them at a distance. Next time, I’ll carry the Nikon camera and a 500 mm super-telephoto lens.