Mountain Greenery

Today’s Post by Mildred Alpern

In a mountain greenery

Where God paints the scenery ~ Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers

A last minute decision for a weekend getaway had me scrambling to pack. Inspired by Mark Toal’s post (Take a One Lens Mirrorless Vacation), I did just that. Mounting an Olympus Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 lens on my Olympus E-M5, I hit the road for the two hour trip from New York City heading upstate.

The 17mm lens (34mm equivalent) worked out well. It was wide enough to include the distant hills of the Berkshires in Massachusetts as well as the nearby scenery.

My vacation spot faced the Berkshire foothills stretching beyond an on-site gazebo with a charming pond filled with cattails, lily pads, and wild grasses. A series of inlaid brick steps descended to the gazebo where Adirondack chairs provided seating.

The outdoor eating patio canopied by striped orange and white canvas glowed in the crepuscular light over the guests, and I was able to capture the dining mood with the aperture wide open.

In particular, I like the clutch-focus mechanism of this lens enabling me to switch from AF to MF mode by pulling the focus ring towards the camera as well as its small size. This was a good choice to slap on my camera heading out, and it was all I needed.

All images were shot with the Olympus E-M5 and the Zuiko 17mm 1.8 lens. The landscape, exposure 1/640 sec at f/4.5 and ISO 400; the steps, exposure 1/80 sec at f/7.1 and ISO 400; the canopied dining, exposure1/200 sec at f/1.8 and ISO 400.