Virginia Countryside 4-12-12

 After work this afternoon I decided to hop in the car and take a cruise through a small part of southwest Virginia.  I head from Galax, where I live, to Comers Rock.  It's located out by Elk Creek.  Along the way I snapped some shots with a 50mm f2 manual focus lens mounted to my Pentax k20d.  I finished up the day on top of Comers Rock, and shot the last image with a 135mm f2.8 manual focus lens mounted to the same camera.  Thanks for looking.

Weeds on the roadside 

The crop factor on this camera leaves everything smashed into the frame when I can't back up too far:)

Tree farm

I like the soft look this lens provides

Some phlox growing around a mailbox 

A common view of the Blue Ridge Mountains

A Few Days in the Smokies

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

     A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Smoky Mountains with my girlfriend Ashley and some friends of ours. I had a totally awesome time even though we got rained on a little bit (just kidding, we got drenched to the point where I thought my rental lens was going to be ruined). I rented a Canon 24-105mm f4 L for this trip. The lens was mounted to a 5d Mark II. The following are images taken with this kit on my journey in the Smokies.

A joyful view of Happy Valley from that Look Rock thing. 

The Smokies from a lookout on the way to Look Rock.

 On the way back to camp, I had the driver drop me off about a mile from our cabin so I could shoot this creek. We stayed in a really nice cabin courtesy of Westley Woods Church Camp.

This tree is located right next to the creek pictured above.

 Still on day one, we started hiking to view the phlox. It was a six mile hike into White Oaks Sinks (I think that's what it's called).

Some private property on the way into the Sinks.

Some vegetation above a bat infested cave!

Phlox:what we came here for.

My beautiful girlfriend.

Bob Hayes, one of the coolest dudes you'll ever meet.

Shooting Stars, Falling Stars, I'm not sure.

My girlfriend and and her good friend.

Curly ferns!

An atypical tree growth among the phlox (my girlfriend thinks it looks like a swan).

I had a difficult time framing the Phlox as I do any time I try to shoot in a new environment.

Bob, Ashley and Jessica.  Michael(Snow) is also in this photo, can you find him?

With lightening and thunder nearby(not to mention pouring rain), I had but one opportunity to set up this shot before having to bail.

Some deer bask in the Jesus light on the Cade's Cove bike trail.

This is an operational mill in Cade's Cove.

Inside the mill, the 24-105 image stabilization came in handy for this longer exposure of the gears.

Pennies dropped into the mill.

      On the final day of our trip, I took a stroll through the woods and took advantage of some nice light. Thanks for reading!