Return to the Scene of the Crime III*:
Boyd Pond Park
“Mourners in the Fog” December 2021
Hello Friend,
If it’s New Year’s Eve morning, I must be at Boyd Pond Park.
Before I got back into photography, I was told about Boyd Pond Park by the owner of a local bicycle repair shop. She suggested I check it out for the hiking and challenging mountain bike trails. After walking some of the trails, I quickly realized I was not a good enough mountain biker to even try: very narrow trails through the woods that went up and down the hills with tight switchbacks. My take: I’d either be falling down a lot or walking my bike most of the time. So, I stuck to running the trails and getting a heck of a workout that way.
In the fall of 2019, I wondered around a bit with my camera for the first time. But it was during the Covid lockdowns that I started to go more often. It’s a large park with the 30-acre pond in the middle. It’s a well-visited park about 10 miles or so from town, and because of its larger size, even if other people are there, I feel like I have the place to myself. I don’t get to it very often because it’s in the opposite direction from my work. And if I am headed that way, it’s because I am going somewhere else and likely on a schedule.
“Mourners at Boyd Pond” April 2022
Though, I knew it was a park worth my time and attention. After a few small walks around snapping a few OK images, I decided to spend more dedicated time there over the 2020 holidays. Thus, on New Year’s Eve morning, I went out to explore a bit more in the rain and fog. But I didn’t have the confidence and the skill set I have now, so I really didn’t see much to work with. I was heading back to my car when I came up with the idea that since it was so gray, maybe I should try black and white for the first time on my digital camera. Months before I had accidentally set my camera to monochrome without know how I did it or how to change it back. After 10 minutes of panic, I did get it back to color. So, on that cold, monochromatic morning, I took the risk and switched it over on purpose.
With my umbrella and tripod, I turned around to head to some dead trees I had seen in one area, since I thought they might make interesting subjects. I lined up what I thought was two near trees and one stump farther in the water. After a few frames, I zoomed in more on them, and realized the “stump” was really a little heron just hanging out there in the rain, letting me get its photo. This lucky find told me that Boyd Pond could be a good place for me.
I went back a few times in 2021, but didn’t get much. One trip in November, I saw this newly, fallen pine tree in the water. I didn’t get much that morning. It was when I went back on New Year’s Eve morning with a still fog hanging over the pond, that I was able to compose one of my favorite photos from the park. Soon after getting there, I saw the possibilities of the scene. Not only was there the one fallen tree, another one was leaning over and creating a great reflection. Again, because of the gray light, I knew this would be wonderful in black and white.
“Serenity at Boyd Pond” December 2020
In April of 2022, after a few very warm days, I noticed the temperature was going to drop overnight. I knew the pond would send up some nice steam because of the temperature of the water would be much higher than the air around it. I returned to the same scene to checkout how things might be different this time. The difference was a slight breeze that kept the steam from forming up into a solid backdrop like before. Because the colors of the rising sun were coming through, color made much more sense. Getting these two, slightly different images, make for an interesting pairing that convey sorrow and loss in their own ways. (Does one speak more to you?)
Much like the bald cypress in Carolina Bay (Crime Scene P I), I continued to photograph this tree in different conditions. Though, this pine was not alive, so it slowly decomposed and broke apart.
Boyd Pond Park has another similarity to Carolina Bay, one of my other favorite crime scenes, in that it was purchased by the Aiken Land Conservancy and is managed by the Aiken County government. And in early 2026, ALC acquired 25 more acres to expand the park. This will ensure these types of wild places can be visited and photographed by people like me for generations to come.
Because of my continued visits, I am able to use this place as a training ground for me and any new photo skills I learn. As I mentioned earlier, I started reexploring black and white photography again while there. It was also one of the very first places I tried out IMC (intentional camera movement). During gray winter visits and vibrant spring and fall days all give me the opportunities to play with the technique.
“The Leviathan” July 2025
Though, it was the summer of 2025 that I gave focus stacking a shot. Early one morning, I found the trunk of a very large pine tree in the water. I was fascinated by the craggy bark showing above the perfectly still waters of the pond. I wanted to show the whole trunk, but there wasn’t an angle to do that and it was too large to get all of it in focus. My first attempt did not work. Luckily, I was able to go back the next day and try again. I worked my way up the trunk with four images. But since I can’t so the stacking in my camera, it was back home where I started to figure out how to blend them together correctly in Photoshop. Because there isn’t any reference for scale, the eye can’t tell how big or small this is. (It’s about 20’-25’.)
Of course, there is another big similarity between Boyd Pond and Carolina Bay, and it’s that I tend to stay close to the water to find my images. Even though I can spend hours there, and walk around the whole pond, almost all of my photos have water in them or are just a short distance away from it. When I do find something that is not a tree or bird on the water, like the spider in “Star Weaver”, its likely to have the blue of the pond in the background. I almost had to force myself away from the water in the Carolina Bay. Though, since I did, I have found many interesting photos of the trees away from the water. And that is going to be a challenge for myself in my coming visits at Boyd Pond. (It is of course, in the name.)
“The Star Weaver” September 2024
I started my exploration of Boyd Pond, not because of photography, but because of biking and running. And those areas I went through on those earlier adventures in the woods had some very interesting features. Feature I have not reseen with a photographer’s eyes. Will I see and create noteworthy images? I don’t know, because I haven’t taken the time and effort to go find them again. For me, one of the beauties in writing this particular post, is to give myself that nudge to remind me there is a larger park to discover, if I make the effort.
At times, even if we have the mindset to return to a place for inspiration, it can feel a little dull and repetitive. But if we make the effort to move away from the well-worn path – even a path we helped make – maybe we can find new ways to fall in love again with a crime scene we continue to return to.
My challenge this week is to relook at the places around ourselves with new eyes. And those eyes can use all the tools and techniques from all the prior visits to reexplore the place as though it was your first visit.
Thank you and keep creating what you do.
Patrick Krohn
April 2026