Reader Photo: Reflections in a Raindrop at Avalon Park

When Maria Hoffman was walking in Avalon Park on Saturday with her husband, George, and their dog, Honey, she didn’t expect to find the perfect photo opportunity along the trails. With overcast skies, she described the light as “very dull” but Hoffman always takes her Nikon camera with her just in case.

“…I was struck by my lack of inspiration to take photographs,” she said in an email to Patch. “Usually I'm clicking away.”

But inspiration found her anyway that day.

“Then, I came upon some forest-edge stands of multifora rose with their bare horizontal branches laden with water drops,” she said. “The drops glistened even in the dull light and drew me in like a magnet.”

It wasn’t until she returned home and enlarged the photo that she realized the beauty of what she captured.

“I realize that contained within each droplet was a fish-eyed reflection of its surrounding world,” said Hoffman. “It made me think that there are small worlds hidden all around just waiting for us to be observant enough to see them.”

Have you taken pictures in Avalon Park that you want to share? Upload them to our Avalon Park page here.

Avalon Park is a favorite place for the Hoffmans to go hiking.

“We love to see nature in all its seasons and especially love the wildflower fields at Avalon, now dormant with their brittle, brown stems knocked down by wind and weather,” she said.

Hoffman shot this photo with a Nikon D5100 using a Nikkor 18-55mm lens. She has submitted photos to Three Village Patch twice before. One series of photos was from Setauket’s September 11th Memorial Park ceremony in 2012 and the other was photos from super storm Sandy.

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