Assateague and Chincoteague January
Stumpy Lake Fall 2020
Bridges and Night Light
Chincoteague Ponies
Richmond and Maymont
From day to night in Richmond, a beautiful fall adventure. Maymont Garden Glow.
A Rainy Hike and Seven Waterfalls
Determined not to waste the day with a fairly good forecast that the fog will clear and the rain is only called for early. I woke around 4:30am for the drive out to Shenandoah. Around sunrise the grey of rain and fog became visible. I continued on. Arriving at the park I checked in at Big Meadows to see if there were any spots available. “We have one available.”, the ranger said, “Do you want to look at it ?”. “No”, I replied , “I’ll take it.” Happy to not have to drive another hour to camp for the night I set out to hike. It was foggy and wet, as I hit the trail the rain got heavier. Traveling down hill wondering if I was utterly bonkers since I haven’t hiked in at least 6 months. I continued on and found some beautiful water falls along the way. I would stop and ponder and as the rain creeped through the trees and larger drops dripped from the leaves, should I photograph this, I mean I am carrying my camera and tripod all this way, it would be a shame not to use them. It’s raining I thought, well I will. So as I followed the trail and behind some groups wielding smart phones. I would pull out my tripod and set it up before pulling out my camera. I was quick already picturing the shot in my mind before exposing the gear to the rain. 2 quick shots at each falls and back in the bag everything went. I continued on the way for 7 waterfalls along the trail. Some falls were a little harder to get a good image at, so I would just stop and stand in the rain and enjoy them for a while. At one point going back up hill over slippery rocks, thinking I am very useless now if I happen across a bear, which I did not. All in all it was a fabulous adventure, one I would do again in the rain, since the falls swelled with water. A hot shower for $2.00 warmed me up before I cozied up in my car for the night.
Star Trails
Catching a beautiful sunset while waiting for the sky to darken and the stars to appear. Shooting star trails takes patience and a clear night sky. It takes over an hour to capture 200 or more photographs that will then be combined into one star rail image.
Once all the images are captured, they must be processed and stacked, I use photoshop image stacker for this process. Once done the image is revealed.all your patience has paid off.
Belmead on the James
After a 2 hour drive out to Pawhatan, VA, I met up with a group of people gathered by John Plashal Photo for a “Day of Discovery”. A historical tour with insight from some of the alumni who attended the school. The main building was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1845, the Gothic Revival architectural style was originally built for plantation owners by enslaved people. Then purchased by Katherine Drexel and her sister in the 1890’s, when the Belmead was transformed into a self sufficient school for African and Native american students. The schools were shut down in the 1970’s due to financial setbacks.
