Grandfather Mountain, NC.

40mm f9 1/320s ISO200

Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, USA

Looking across the "Mile High Swinging Bridge" at Linville Peak.  This weather yesterday was a beautiful gray overcast with pleasant temperatures and calm breeze.  It felt so good to be back on the mountain viewing the world from on high.  Hawksbill, Roan and Mitchell were all easily seen in the distance. Have you never been?  You should make a distinct attempt at getting there- satisfaction guaranteed.

snowspeed

300mm f32 1/20s ISO200 40mph

Welcome to Cleveland

"Captain Kirk and the Beauty Queen"

JOEL PORT

This album was released in November 2009 by Joel Port.  We worked together extensively on the music production nad preparations for recording these tracks.  There were thousands of photographs sorted and cataloged from live shows, recording sessions and candids.  Then there were the photo shoots with Captain Kirk, the pilot smiley.  There were two images that should have been attributed to Madison Sparks as the photographer.  She and I also had portraits inserted as homage ;)

Well, some preliminary sales figures from iTunes and Amazon are trickling in now and it's putting a big smile on our faces. It's a grand pat on the back for a job well done.

(who can link the reference of the title to this post?)

relation(s)

27mm f3.5 1/50s ISO200

prayers for grandfather

105mm f/5 1/400s ISO200

Mile High Swinging Bridge, Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina.

These last three weeks have been both beautiful and brutal on Grandfather Mountain and the high country area. The Christmas Day ice storm was devastating to the forests, trails and power systems. Recover has been slow due to extreme cold weather and it's lingering conditions. The ice damage will have visible markers for years to come in the tree tops.  I miss be able to touch the mountain and find another fix of that calm inner peace that so many people understand. Grandfather Mountain is special. We all are sending our thoughts and prayers to the staff and volunteers working to restore operations. We send our love and prayers to the mountain itself.

picnic art

55mm f8 1/125s ISO100

I stopped to have lunch at Sonic Drive-In one afternoon and decided to break tradition of eating from the car.  You know in that 50's drive in fashion... they come out in roller skates and deliver your food to you.  (it would be better if I was sitting in a '55 Bel Air with the rag top down.)  So anyway, I broke out to the outdoor seating area.  The polyvinylpolypoly coating in "Sonic Red" covered the diamond eye wire mesh table.  I saw a nice symmetry in it.  There can be a photo in almost anything.

Angel Guard

Palmetto Sunset

On the grounds of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina.  Here we are looking back across to James Island and Charleston.  The setting sun was slow to catch on... but then it exploded color across the canvas sky.  This was Thanksgiving Day and it wrapped up a great memory.

Tilt Shift Experiment

18mm f4.5 1/80s ISO200

This is an experiment for me.  I am becoming more and more fascinated with "Tilt Shift" photography and the effects it can have for miniaturizing your subjects. (check T/S examples) So without the expensive T/S lens you are relegated to after shot processing.  This site www.tiltshiftmaker.com is a great little toy to play with.   you'll quickly learn that most photographs don't make the change effective.  There is a perspective needed to make it really translate well.  As described, a downward view onto large areas works best. You'll see this in the example link.  I played it up with this one using my style of low perspective.  Here is a series of the photo as I stepped it through the process.  Elk River Falls is a 50ft drop into a very large pool for reference.

bundled

55mm f5.6 1/125s ISO200

We have all been here in our lives. The excitement of snow and the playing outside in the coldest weather with hopes of the greatest adventures ever.  This cold weather system is lingering on us right now, embrace it.  Find a way to rekindle the little kid in you.  Find a smile.  Find the adventure in it.  Suck it up for a few days and live in the moment.  Get out and throw snowballs with your kid.  Make a snowman with them. Get some $19 snow pants and some $7 gloves and play in it until you are sweaty and wet and smiling.  Then come inside for some hot chocolate and a toasty fire.  It's a winter wonderland... share in it's adventure.

Ghost Tree

55mm f5.6 1/125s ISO200

I stood below this tree and took several photographs.  Some were in focus and some were purposely out of focus.  I then chose two and laid them over each other to create essentially a multiple exposure.  I had an idea of how it would look in my head.  This was an exercise in capability of one of my software packages.  It's kind of spooks me.

caretakers

Pisgah National Forest. Elk Park, NC, USA.
The evergreens take seasonal watch over the hardwood collection.

rust

Newland, North Carolina, USA.

The winter weather has kept me bundled up and cabin bound a good bit the last two weeks.  I'm getting out slowly and will catch up on posts.  Happy New Year to everyone.

They Assemble

Linville Falls. NC.USA.

250mm f22 1/4 ISO:200

This is Linville Falls in North Carolina. It is a three stage cascade that is breathtakingly beautiful.  It was about 30deg. today and I was bundled up pretty tight for the 1 mile hike to this vantage point.  It was a bit more difficult due to the 6 inch ice pack we walked to get there.  I slowed the shutter for the water flow effect and manage to capture several good shots at 1/4s... which is pretty slow for hand held.  The post hike huffing wasn't helping.  I have a pretty good "cat" story from this water fall location.  One day I'll bring it to the blog for you...