Hanging Rock - North Carolina State Parks

So, when I found out that Hanging Rock State Park was less than 90 minutes away from my house I was just a little disappointed that I had not gone there earlier.  It will suffice to say that I was rewarded for waiting so long:)


Enjoy some of my favorite images below, or click here for the full gallery.

Near one of the first waterfalls I visited was a grown up bird wondering when the baby birds were gonna stop complaining.



Hidden Falls on the Indian Creek Trail.




The upper part of Window Falls




The Lower Cascades, my favorite falls of the park.




A sunset from Hanging Rock and a great finish to the day.



Moonrise at Fox Hunter's Paradise

I love a crescent moon. 

Back home the evening crescents over the Beartooth Mountains in a rich blue sky were something to sit and be amazed by.  Watching a moon rise or set is a wonderful experience, it appears as if the moon is slowly making its way up or down... photographing the moon is a different story, you don't really get a feel for how quickly it moves until you are trying to compose it in your frame.

In my earlier days of photography and a smartphone with no apps, if I were to photograph a moonrise, it would most likely be by chance that I was out and about already shooting. 

Nowadays everything(well, almost) is planned.  I know exactly when the sun and moon are rising and setting, I have a solid idea of where they will rise during different times of the year, and I plan around this accordingly. 

This particular trip was one that the gf probably didn't like.  The moon was set to rise at about 3:30am(give or take a few minutes depending on whether there is a mountain in your way).  Which meant getting up at 2:45am.
 I only live about 10 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Parkway is my current photography focus so I went to a place called Fox Hunter's Paradise.  It's a busy place during the day with motorhomes and motorcycles, but tonight I didn't see a soul.

I tried at first to use my Pentax K20d with it's 135mm 2.8 lens, but that cameras dynamic range and limited usable ISO quickly had me using my Canon 5d ii with the Sigma 50mm.

And I think it turned out just fine:)

The planet Venus accompanies the moon on her rise into the sky...

Panorama of Fox Hunter's Paradise

What makes the Blue Ridge Parkway awesome, is that there aren't any stops. Any intersecting highways are avoided by bridges over the parkway(or the parkway over the highway)

Here is one of the bridges.  This highway connects Galax, VA with NC.

Two images used here, one to focus on the bridge, the other on the stars.

I'd better get some sleep:)  Thanks for stopping by...

I love Spiders (Part 2)

I opted to set up a flash behind my subject here.  I like how all the water drops catch light and make a really nice line throughout the image.  If you look closely, you can see little starbursts on the points of light(notably the larger drop right infront of the spider on the first image).  The aperture was closed down to f14 for these images.  A small aperture is usually a nessecity for macro photography, as a razor thin depth of field is very hard to work with.

Click the images to view a larger version.

Thanks for Looking:)

 Thanks for looking:)





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!