Tuesday, November 25, 2008

My World Tuesday

Lake Vincent's about 25 miles from us, is fed by a natural spring and is a popular fishing and boating venue. During 2008 they drained it in order to clean it up and then re-stock the fish in it.

The lake's surrounded by beautiful open countryside and topped by blue Oklahoma skies, which still never fail to stun me with their beauty and sheer scale. Another local feature I love is the wonderful red dirt, which can be easily seen at this time of the year, as everything else dies back.

In order to drain the lake, the valve below was opened on the dam to allow the water to flow out into the surrounding countryside. A good friend of ours is the local Game Ranger and he is overseeing the whole procedure, which at times has proved challenging.


One of the most interesting things to come out of it's depths, has been the re-appearance of cars from the 1950's period.

When I first saw the pictures in the local paper I thought they had all been dumped or worse still driven in! In fact they were placed against the dam to shore it up and in other area's needing support.


Since our last visit there in early summer, the rising water has already reclaimed some of these amazing old vehicles and soon they will all be gone from sight.



It is an amazing sight to see these old cars in plain view and also a photographers dream. We were also surprised at the thousands of shells covering the sand, especially the large Clam shells.


Draining the lake also revealed petrified tree's that have long been submerged. They make an interesting sight as the lake refills and will soon be back underwater.

Whilst we were there it was surprisingly busy with hunters and bird-watchers, it is a very popular local natural attraction for the wildlife and the peaceful views it offers. What I love is the total silence you get out there, with just the stir of the breeze around you.

As many of you know, I lost all the pictures I previously took when my PC crashed, and so I was delighted to return and be able to retake them. Since that time I have gained a wide angle lens, and this time all these pictures were taken using the Manual settings only.

I am much happier with the results and also deliberately chose to go later in the day, when the light was much softer and golden. It's amazing how reading a few good photography books can help!

We waited until the sunset over the lake and although it wasn't a spectacular sunset, it still allowed me some pretty shots. The Hubster also got some rock skimming in across the still waters, whilst he showed endless patience waiting on my snapping!

To join in the fun go to My World Tuesday

10 comments:

Suffeli kuvailee said...

BEAUTIFUL PLACE and photos!
have a nice week!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Sarah: What a very interesting look at your lake. I loved the skeletons of the old cars and you captured them beautifully.

Carver said...

This is a fantastic set of pictures. What a beautiful place and that's so interesting about the way the old cars were used to shore up the dam.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic photos and story! The petrified trees are amazing, and it's great you took pictures of them before they're submerged again.

SandyCarlson said...

The sunken cars are strange and mysterious! What an interesting place. And beautiful.

Lilli & Nevada said...

I love this, it was very interesting, who would of thought i do wonder why they don't remove the cars

antigoni said...

Awesome!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful World. Great report and taken.

EG CameraGirl said...

I'm glad you were able to go back and get new photos. What a tragedy to lose so many when your computer crashed! EW!

Connie T. said...

Great capture of the old cars.