The last of the Fall Color at Stone Mountain...

For the second time in as many days, I went to Stone Mountain State Park in North Carolina.  The fading fall color brings a bit of sadness to my eyes. All of this vibrant color is now dwindling to nothing more than brown sticks reaching for the sky... I guess we just need to enjoy it while it lasts and prepare for winter!

Looking up at a backlit red leaf

Just off the trail near the summit of Stone Mountain.  Rain and flowing water leave thier mark down the mountain.

A view from the homestead

A group of buzzards swooping around and acting like the juveniles that they are

Looking up at Buzzards above Stone Mountain

It's all about TIME

I don't want to complain to you, but I must tell you.  I have had the last three days off of work.  These were beautiful fall days with lots of sunshine and a nice breeze.  They were perfect for, well, anything other than what I was doing.
My sinuses have been giving me a bit of trouble lately, and ever since the repair man came to fix our oil furnace I have had a debilitating headache.  Possibly the worst headache I have ever had, and it didn't quit for over 3 days.  I gotta say I get depressed when I can't be outside on a gorgeous day.  When I am stuck inside(or just limited to what I can do) I feel like I am wasting my most valuable resource... Time.
I find it funny how much we as humans waste time.  More time is not guaranteed, nor is it ever able to be replenished, yet, we waste it like crazy.  Whether we are watching mindless tv, looking at facebook(biggest time killer ever), or just being lazy... we waste TONS of time.  Even right now as I write this, I am essentially killing time.  I don't have anywhere to be so I sat down and edited some photos from this morning.
Editing photos becomes cruising the web, reading news.... killing time.

In Edward Abbey's 'Desert Solitaire', he talks about a place where the days are long, and time seems to creep and last forever, just as it should be.
I couldn't agree more, it's hard to find that anywhere but the desert but I think it's still worthwhile to look.

Time is an enemy in life.  work deadlines, sales quotas, retirement funds, savings accounts, all things that take up multiple resources including time.  I think it's important for all of us to find time to escape time.  For me, photography gives me a sense of that peace.  Like today, for example.  I knew exactly when the sun was going to rise, I showed up early and set up different compositions, took some test exposures, adjusted my polarizer, and waited for the sun to rise.   I start shooting like crazy, hurrying from one composition to the next... and just like that, the sun was up, and the shooting was over.  But I didn't just walk back to the car and leave, the moment just after the sun comes up out of the clouds is my favorite.  It's when I turn the camera off, put the lens cap on, move the tripod off to the side, and just watch and feel the warmth.  For a moment there, I really stopped caring about the time, and that right there is a little slice of heaven.

Fall color near Fox Hunter's Paradise on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

White Oak Canyon Fall Color - Shenandoah National Park

 Fall is such an incredible time of year.  It's a wonderful time of year for photogs and non-photogs alike to enjoy the cool mornings, warm days, and some really intense color in the trees.

Shenandoah National Park has just about as much fall color as a camera sensor could handle.  Sometimes too much...  Now, I realize that this is probably not true, but I do feel as if camera sensors don't always do justice to the scene. Yet, other times, a camera sensor brings out more than the human would have seen anyways, so finding the balance can be tricky.  For example, if I tried to make the colors as vivid in the below photo as they were in real life, I would have some very funky, over-saturated images. 

But maybe it's a good thing that cameras only tell part of the story.  If we were able to fully satisfy our thirst for wilderness with a photograph, there might not be any desire to actually be IN the wilderness!

Oh well, until then I guess we as photographers(and many more successfully than I) will have to keep attempting to recreate the beautiful, colorful 3d world into a 2d format that is very unforgiving of your mistakes.

Both images below were shot with the same focal length(17mm), using much different perspectives.
Both images were shot at waterfalls in Shenandoah National Park,  about 18 hours apart.
At this time of year, the waterfalls in the area aren't exactly roaring:)  They more or less trickle down the rocks in tiny streams, dreaming of a day when they can be big and strong again!
 Because of this, the focus really isn't on the falls themselves, they merely play a part in the photograph.

In the top photo, the waterfall takes part in a colorful, yet stark scene of fall color, grey hemlocks, and bald rocks.
In the below photo, the fall color takes the stage in the form of a beautiful reflection.  And the only part of the falls that's visible is simply a shallow pool at the bottom.  
In both photos I used a Kenko Zeta CPL.  I like the Zeta line of polarizers because they are multicoated, reducing flare, and don't detract from your image like a cheap filter will.  They also are affordably priced at around $160(some polarizers can be well over $200).
In the top image I used the polarizer to remove the reflection from the water around the fall, adding to the contrast of the scene with the waterfall 'popping' out a touch from the dark rocks.
In the below image I used it to enhance the reflection of the trees.  This brought out not only the fall color, but rich blues from the sky as well.

 

Prepare For Luck (I'm Turning over a New... Moon)

Luck favors the prepared.  At least that's what most people take from Louis Pasteur's quote "In the fields of observation, chance only favors the prepared mind".

But sometimes, it's luck that makes you prepared in the first place.  Like this particular evening.

I was in Shenandoah National Park for the second time in less than a month.  I came here a few weeks ago with the gf, and loved it so much I knew I had to return for more fall color photography.

Upon my arrival, I had a two small hikes planned, and then figured I would catch the sunset from one of the park's 75 lookouts.  Easy... right?

Well, it's hard to plan photography sometimes, because we photographers are constantly finding different things to photograph.  A mile long walk through nice looking moss and leaves can take hours, and that's all before we get the our intended destination.
So there I was on the last hike of the night, heading for White Oak Canyon Falls.  A nice waterfall in a canyon full of fall color.  My award winning guidebook(which cost me $2 at the Big Meadow Visitor Center) said the hike round trip was 4.6 miles.

Off I went, I was about a half-mile into the trail, at about 4:45pm when I crossed an intersection with another trail where a man was sitting.  I nodded 'hi' and kept moving, until he shouted "Hey, you going all the way to the falls?

"Yes" I said,

"You gotta light?  You gonna be coming back in pitch black!"
In my head I knew that I would have to walk about .5 miles per hour for me to take that long, since civil twilight provides a little bit of light after sunset.

"Really?" I said, "My book said it's only 4.6 miles round trip"

Shaking his head he said "no, more like 4 miles one way"

"ok, well I guess I will just give it a shot!"  I smarted back to him as I walked away...

As I was leaving I could hear the man's wife mentioning to him that the trail was in fact, only 2.3 miles one way.

As a continued down the trail, I kept thinking to myself "man that guy was a Dbag, just because it takes him 2hrs to walk 2 miles doesn't mean it's gonna take me that long"

But for some reason, this interaction with this man made me hurry.  I kept looking up at the sky reassuring myself that I had plenty of time.  But my reassurances were short lived, I started to run.

And run I did!  I ran pretty much all the way to the falls, cutting out a TON of walking time.  Just before I got to the falls, I checked the sun calculator on my phone, and found out that the sunset was MUCH sooner than I expected.  For some reason I thought it was to be around 7pm, when it was closer to 6:30pm.

I took a look at the waterfall when I got there, snapped a photo or two, then made my way back.  I wasn't really concerned about the sunset, just getting out before pitch black, like the guy said earlier.

As you know, since I am typing this, I survived the dark abyss of the White Oak Canyon Trail.  I got in the car and made my way back towards Big Meadow.  As I passed the first overlook, what I saw was the tail end of an incredible sunset over the Shenandoah Mountains.  The layers of mountains and rich color were quite the sight to see.

And then I remembered a blog post I had read earlier in the week from a photographer mentioning that a very, very young moon(super skinny crescent) would be visible just after sunset.  I looked around for it but couldn't see anything, so I got back into the car and started eating an incredibly delicious turkey sandwich made with Earth Grains 100% Whole Wheat Bread.  The texture of the bread and the taste of the Miracle Whip and thinly sliced turkey were truly amazing... but then, I saw it, the moon.  It was behind a layer of clouds and falling fast.

I raced out of the car and started firing away, and just like that.... it was gone.

I then thought back to the man who told me to hurry, and how lazy I thought he was.  I'm glad that the part of me that controls my legs actually listened to him and ran the first half of the trail.  Otherwise, not only would I have been walking out of White Oak Canyon in the dark, I would have missed this awesome sliver of a moon.  I most likely would have been mauled by a pack of juvenile black bears as well.  :)

A young crescent moon sets over Shenandoah National Park

Morning in the Grayson Highlands

Grayson Highlands State Park is so sweet.  A short hike up the Rhododendron Trail yields some pretty impressive views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

At the Massie Gap parking area, you start off in a field of scattered trees, but as you ascend, the landscape becomes more and more open.  There are some rock outcroppings that, when climbed, give you a nice perspective of your surroundings. 

The only downside to the Highlands is the wind.  The wind, at times, can be punishing to say the least.  Today was no exception, actually, it was an exception, it was exceptionally STRONG today.

Just getting out of the car in the dark with that strong of wind is daunting.... I really didn't want to:)  But... I did, and it was worth it.  The wind presents multiple challenges.  First of all, everything is moving, A LOT.  Short exposures and high ISO is necessary, and a necessary evil at that.  Even the sweetest, most awesomest cameras suffer at high ISO.

This morning, a beautiful crescent moon was rising into the sky.  During the predawn hours, when the cloudiness is 'partly', the colors are beautiful.  The rich blue sky and rising sun create an awesome darkening gradient.

The wispy clouds wash out the crescent moon.



Big Pinnacle, the point off to the left, is the highest point within the park.  Lens distortion makes the hill to the far left seem higher.  You can see the trail on the bottom right of this scene, this takes you past the horses, and towards the Appalachian Trail.




This HDR(processed in Photoshop) was taken in crazy high winds, I had difficulty shielding the camera from the winds.




I took a break from most of the wind and headed down the hill towards the wild ponies.



A somewhat intimate portrait of a horse(my longest lens is 50mm)

Awesome fall color in the Highlands.  The road to the left of this scene, is the road you would take if going to the Grayson Highlands Visitor Center.  On the way back from the visitor center, you past the only place on a road where you can see Mount Rogers, the highest peak in VA.  It's not much of a spectacle, just a big hill.

After the sunrise, I hiked Big Pinnacle, a short and steep run up to the highest point in the park.


From Big Pinnacle, you can see the edge of Virginia, into North Carolina, and even the beautiful state of Tennessee.



On the way out of the park, I took a few shots of some awesome fall color.  I would highly recommend that all of you take a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains within the next few weeks:)

Thanks for looking.  :)

Clito Swimming Hole (Via 17-40mm f4 L)

Recently I posted on Facebook that I was considering selling all my Canon gear and going back to the new Pentax K5-iis.  I had been in a funk photography wise and really didn't like shooting with my Canon.

I think part of this was because of my lens line up. I only had 3 lenses and all were prime.  There is nothing wrong with shooting primes(super fast/sharpest available/less quality compromise), it's just much more difficult out in the elements to be changing lenses/filters to get the shot.
Back when I was shooting Pentax primarily, I had multiple zoom lenses that made shooting fun and easy.  It's also significantly less expensive to shoot a camera with an APS-C(crop) sensor.
Now that I have a full frame sensor I have found purchasing lenses to be difficult, to say the least.  I read reviews left and right, compare different lenses to different applications, and it seems that there is always a compromise.  And when you are on a budget and want the best you can afford, compromise is a must(even though it isn't super fun).
I ended up purchasing a 17-40mm f4 L from a store called Lee Hartman and Sons, in Roanoke.  It's the best compromise for me, I think.  It's sharp, weather sealed, much wider than my previous lens, and uses a standard 77mm filter.  The compromise, or downside to the lens is the f4 aperture(static stars need not apply), and the vignetting.

Today was the first day with my new lens.  I had an awesome time crawling about and wading in the creek today.  Having the ability to zoom was something I had taken for granted for sure!  I love how wide the perspective is, how sharp the images are, and just overall I find this lens to be a great fit for me.

Now I know why the 17-40mm f4 L is such a common lens among nature photographers. 

I used two images to capture more depth in this scene.

Leaves were falling like crazy today!

The Clito Swimmin' Hole

This area is along a dirt road called Clito.  Just turn off Spring Valley past the brand new moth-balled school onto Clito Road. 

When you hear country music stars talk about 'cooling off in the creek' or 'skinny dipping in moonlight' or any other kind of swimming hole, this is what they are talking about.  Being from Montana, I can't say I have a lot of experience swimming in rivers.  Mountain streams are bitter cold, and to me, even the lakes aren't swimmable till 2pm in the summer.  And the larger rivers can be hazardous to your health(currents that can KILL!)

But, when it's 95° out and humid as can be, a cool creek down in a hollar is quite refreshing.

Even now in October, the water was somewhat pleasant, not too cold to stand in for a long period of time.  Towards the end of my little outing I attempted to cross the creek in an area about waiste deep, but the farther out into the creek I went, the more and more the current was about to push me over, and since I was carrying my 'nice' camera, back to the shore I went:)

The below image was shot using two images.  One was focused on the foreground leaves, and the second on the background.  I could have gottent most of the scene in focus using f22, but the diffraction of that aperture can really bring down the sharpness of an image.  Hence, I shot the two images using f8 or f11 or something like that:)