#willawisps

[appalachianbacchus]

On June 4th, 2015, I planned to visit Prickett's Fort to take some photos of the interesting historical replica of an early settlement in the Fairmont area, but I was interrupted by someone who demanded the spotlight.

This duck followed me around as I took photos of the fort. She was very friendly and I assume she wanted me to give her food.

I did take a few photos of the fort and the old house built later and I spent some time with the ducks and geese by the river.

[appalachianbacchus]

I love the end of Appalachian Spring into the beginning of Appalachian Summer when the leaves start to open and fill the space around trees.

I took this photo in the beginning of May 2015. I went with a friend to explore the boulders at Coopers Rock. This was a section just beyond the trail which I found especially beautiful. The sunlight was just right, the leaves were glowing, and there was a small glade filled with underbrush.

[appalachianbacchus]

Sometimes we forget to check out beautiful places in our own backyard.

This lake is a six minute drive or a 45 minute walk from my house and I so rarely visit it.

Last summer, we had a drought and it was incredibly low. There was a little egret walking over the mud which was usually submerged and we walked along the lake as the sun set.

[appalachianbacchus]

October 1st, 2016

My friends and I used to play a game where we would go for drives and randomly pick places to go and turns to take.

We would say things like, “Turn Left, then Right, and another Right.” Then the next person would say “Left, Right, Left, Left.” We would drive around until we found something cool and we would take photos.

This trip took us up to my grandparents’s property. We started in the hayfield where we saw a spike buck, and then we climbed the mountain to the roadway lining the upper ridge.

After we explored my grandparents’s plot, we ventured to a neighboring area by the mines and their slag (burnt coal) dump.

You can see the conveyor belt in the back and my friend’s Jeep in front of the field.

We saw these pools high in sodium or sulphur and a wasteland of slag.

This particular dump has grown exponentially since then and I believe the accesses have changed.

[appalachianbacchus]

November 28th, 2016

On this gloomy day, I visited Valley Falls with my tripod and my neutral density (ND) filters.

It wasn’t snowy and it wasn’t too cold, so I spent the afternoon taking photos of the falls.

I’m always looking at the different textures of leaves and rocks when I’m taking photos. I try to provide a few shots grounding the viewer with the little things in my immediate surroundings.

I set up my tripod down river and caught some softer long-exposure shots of the water.

The ND filter I used gave a tinge of a violet overlay, especially on the rocks there.

I love the way these long-exposure shots catch that probably of bubbles and trickles forming a soft cloud.

The rapids downstream from the waterfall formed interesting shapes, especially with the long-exposure.

While I was there, of course I needed to give some attention to the actual waterfall.

I experimented with my color settings to show that contrast with Valley Falls and its iconic center stone.

I finished taking shots at the first waterfall drop upstream. That ash tree on the left side has since been removed to help slow down ash borer beetles in our area.

[appalachianbacchus]

August 29th, 2016

I spent our first morning at the sound side dock, awaiting the sunrise.

This old dock was a great place to relax and watch the sun climb over the horizon and stretch light over the bay.

As the colors shifted from blues and pinks to gold and blue, I went back to the deck of our rental. I had a better view of the picturesque fisher’s cabin on a little peninsula.

After breakfast, I went with some of my family members to visit the beach in the morning light. There was a dog who was supposed to be on his morning walk, but he insisted on visiting each pool of water.

I especially loved the colors of the morning. There was a rich blue and tan to start and a deeper, greener blue when the sunlight passed through the water. That water also painted the sand a deeper brown.

The morning sun shimmered along the water as little sandpipers fed.

I noted the frothy white against that warm, dark sand and my dad went swimming. I showed his silhouettes again that morning light.

I once saw a painting where the artist focused on that warm green in the centers of the waves. This was the first time I saw it myself in person.

As the water moved, it carved intricate shapes and crosshatches in the sand.

At the end of the day, we went back and I took some sunset shots and some longer-exposure shots in the dark. I showed the ghostly figures of people walking by as my shutter was open.

[appalachianbacchus]

December 18th, 2016

I went with my sister to show my niece the “Polar Express” themed event for children with the trains in Cass, WV

We started our trip by getting food at the Snowshoe Resort.

An interesting thing about Snowshoe is that it is built along the crest of a mountain. The views of this place are gorgeous all around. No matter the window, it is stunning.

Many buildings were designed with “Mountain rustic” aesthetic loosely inspired by Scandinavian towns and old Canadian towns.

In the restaurant, our view spanned over the western side with beautiful sunsets for later guests.

There was a heavy snow in the mountain area the night before we were there, but the ski resort also had their own snowmaking machine.

After we ate, we ventured to the town of Cass for the “Polar Express” themed train ride. Notice the snow levels were much less at this elevation.

In its early days, Cass was surrounded by ancient forests so, logically, the town started as a train-based timber town. That being said, this fact that this factory was also a paper mill came as a surprise for me. I didn’t get a chance to check the mill out for a few more years.

We boarded our train and my niece loved the idea of visiting the “North Pole”

After our train ride, we stopped at the general store. I loved the windows along the wall. It is very tourist driven now, but I like to think about the original general store. I’m sure it had groceries and medicines along with household items and even jewelry and furniture. It served as an emporium of sorts for local artisans.

At the end of our day, there was an older couple watching from inside the store as the last line of sunlight crept up the mountains.

[appalachianbacchus]

The sunset of August 22nd, 2016 gave us the last sunlight of a summer day after a hard storm.

I love to compare a good sunset to NC Wyeth paintings of sunsets, but this evening light was much different, more comparable to works by Jean-Honoré Fragonard or François Boucher.

The humidity and the angle of light were all perfect for this short interval, maybe five minutes, of perfect rococo clouds.