#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]

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.

[appalachianbacchus]

In the beginning of October 2015, I went with some friends to find a route to the less frequented side of Valley Falls.

It took some exploring in Grafton, and a little bit of risking damage to my car, but we found the road to the back view of Valley Falls.

The best part of this road was the less common shots of the waterfall. I liked seeing it from a new angle and experiencing this busy place differently. It was almost like a backstage pass giving us this new perspective.

The overcast and the depth and clarity of the water gave us one of my favorite colors. I don't naturally find this deep green in many other places.

One of my friends stood on a stone in an area where there were no other people exploring the river. It gave us the opportunity for some much more interesting photos.

As the evening approached, the sun set, and the sunlight climbed up the trees.