Familiar Scenes, Different View

I gave myself a task today as I started out on my Sunday hike. I'd go to all my favorite places and take the usual photographs of the usual subjects, but this time it would all be in black and white - bug and flower macros, land- and seascapes, birds, sailboats, whatever. And I gave myself options as I shot - for each subject I took shots in b&w (for reference if for nothing else), and in color (to convert in Photoshop). Then I'd pick which method produced the best photo.

Not everything I shot today produced a usable b&w picture. It was a bright, sometimes harshly sunny day, and that can create contrast problems. I think some of the shots that didn't work would have on an overcast day. Backgrounds were a problem as well - sometimes the subject stands out in color but blends right into the background in b&w, because although they're different colors, in grayscale they produce the same shade of gray. Oh well...

As usual, the hike started in Ballard Park, where the White Wood Asters, a sure sign of Autumn coming, are starting to bloom along the trails:

Down Hazard Rd. to Gooseneck Cove and the salt marsh, to this high tide scene:
















Just a little way down Hazard Rd. from this scene is Salt Marsh House, and right beside it is a tangled area of wildflowers, briars, reeds, and Poison Ivy. Among the wildflowers growing there is this Great Lobelia:

and some Orange Jewelweed:






















It turned into a breezy day, with a brisk one out of the NW, and I knew this meant that the sailboats were out in force, so I headed up to Fort Adams. The first boat I saw was this lovely little ketch just coming out of the harbor into the bay:
















And I caught her again farther down the bay off Jamestown on a following breeze, sails taut and pushing:
















My old friend, the schooner Aurora, came sailing down the bay trailing the ketch:
















Another boat, this time a 12 Meter, came out of the harbor to head down the bay. I believe US18 is Intrepid, but I'm not sure.
















And here comes the schooner Adirondack II:
















Another old friend, the schooner Madeleine, came tooling up the bay:
















And a little later the schooner Aquidneck came racing along, hull down and heading for home:
















Well, it was a long hike, and the wind, sun, and walking took the oomph out of me, so I decided to take the water taxi back to town rather than hike back in on Harrison Ave. with all that traffic. Ah! the only way to travel! As we pulled into the dock at Oldport Marine, I caught this shot of the draggers pulled up to Parascondolas' docks, the Shadowfax in the front of the line:

















And that was today's hike and photographic challenge.

Extra Picture:
This shot never made it to the b&w stage. This big, beautiful Common Green Darner dragonfly just blended into the background too well. It was problematic even in color, and I had to do some tweaking in Photoshop to make it work. So here's today's extra pic: