A long walk... a very long walk.

A wrong turn can make for an interesting day of shooting. On a trip to West Virginia I went looking for Eagle Rock and some scenic photos over looking a beautiful valley. Instead I found fog, horses, lizards, rain, and a little condensation. I did find my scenic over look (scroll down a little father and will see) but I think I got some got shots on the wrong turn too.



The wrong turn might have been the best thing for my photo expedition. With all the fog and rain I might not have been able to get any good shots from eagle rock but I had an interesting time on the other side of the mountain.



After I missed my turn I walked down the other side of the mountain and came across a house with the clouds sitting on top of it. The barn out back had two horses but only one of them wanted its picture taken.



Once I walked back up the mountain I took another wrong turn. Left, right, east, west it’s all the same on a walk in the woods. The point was to get pictures not get to a specific destination.

So this is when the rain started.



I guess it wasn't really fog I was walking through, it was the rain clouds. With the rain, cold and me trying to keep the rain off my lens I got condensation on my lens, unfortunately. Ruined a couple of good shots, tried to salvage this one not sure I succeed. With the clouds the condensation kind of blends in, right?




So my time in the mountains wasn't all rainy. The next day, the day I actually got to the place I was trying to go I got some good shots as well. This tree was obviously more determined to be there than me or all most anything else on this green earth.



I took a lot of shots on top of that mountain, a lot of the valley below with clouds rolling through but I really like this one.



It wasn't all mountain climbing. My brother and I went out to a secluded lake to do some fishing. I don't think it was secluded because it was hard to get to, it was the damn bugs. No one want to go near that place with out a full body suit, you know the ones the bee keepers wear.





Their was an old house and this run down horse barn. After I fought through the swarms of nats and horse flies and waded through the tall grass I got some shots off while ducking and weaving the nats.



I hope you like the shots. I certainly enjoyed taking them.

Descent of a Beer

A beer going down, not much better; maybe whiskey but that is for another time. Sitting around trying to watch a movie one night I took these photos. Apparently I was paying less attention to the movie than I was my drink. But what is wrong with that? The movie was RocknRolla; I will have to watch it again, I heard it is good, the beer Fat Tire.






Fat Tire is a small brewing company out of Fort Collins, Co. I can’t get in Virginia yet. The beer was brought up to me by my friend Billy from North Carolina. It has just been distributed to his city. He is a little obsessed with the stuff. I do find it a tasty beverage but I’m not nearly fanatical as old Billy.






While trying to concentrate on the movie I thought of the 60mm lens I have that I hardly ever use. I recently bought an 18 to 200mm lens that is a great all around lens so I rarely take it off. Their just happened to be a beer in front of me so I got out the camera out and started snapping. I also just got a SB-600 so I wanted to get some practice with that as well.






The descent of a beer is a short story but it is a good one; smooth, tasty and refreshing.

Around the Pond

I went down to visit a friend who lives in South Carolina just outside of myrtle beach. One morning I got up way too early, but the light was good and I was awake so I went out back and took some pictures around the pond (it was also too cold).









It doesn’t take long to get into the country in South Carolina. My freinds place is set back off the road a bit and he has a pond in the back and corn feilds, well not much corn growing this time of year, on either side.
I took one lap around the pond and snapped off a couple of frames and went back in to the warm house.

Below are some pictures of the some of the other stuff we got into that weekend. Country living is a little freer in some respects.

Inauguration For The People

After getting up at quarter to four and putting on two tee shirts two long sleeve thermal shirts, Icelandic wool sweater and scarf, two pairs of long johns, a pair of jeans, two pair of socks, hiking boots, and heavy winter I was ready to go to the Inauguration of Barak Obama.

I was lucky enough to find a place to crash in Fairfax VA Monday night. So I was only 15 minutes from a metro station. Amazingly I arrived at the metro the same time my friends did who were coming up from their hotel room in Richmond VA, they left Richmond at 2:30 am. So we were at the Vienna/Fairfax metro by 4:30am+- and kicked off the train by the second stop. Doors wouldn’t shut so they kicked everyone off the train not just us. We caught the next train without much incident. The train was packed as tight as anyone could stand. Actually it was tighter than my traveling companions could stand so we got off earlier than we had planed. Our early exit put us on the wrong side of the security check point for the parade rout. We had to walk around about 13 blocks just to get to the National Mall, about a block west of the Washington Monument.



On our walk around the parade rout we found a dinner that was open and got some nourishment for the long cold day ahead. So we walked the three blocks back to get on the west side of the parade rout and headed south down 18th street with a couple hundred other people. Despite the early hour everyone was in good spirits; a mood that would continue the rest of the day.

The sky was a dark blue, the sun was not up but it had started to push the black out of the sky. By the time we got to the mall the sky had lightened and the sun was coming up lighting up the clouds and the cold ground of the National Mall.



I knew I wouldn’t get close enough to the capitol to get any shots of the swearing in of Obama so I had decided to get shots of the people in the crowd; the citizens that had come from all over this country to be in DC on this day. Some of us wanted to witness history and for some I am sure it was a day they never thought they would see in their life time.








Obama campaigned on the idea of “Change”, as I see the change was twofold, the first change was the politics of old. I am as tired of the old politics as anyone but the other “Change” has been needed even longer; the election of an African American to the presidency of the United States of America. Over two hundred years after this “free” country was established and fifty four years after Brown vs. Board of Education decision a black man has been elected president. I don’t think anyone should have been elected for the sole fact of the color of their skin. I think Obama is a very qualified politician. This change didn’t start when Barak was elected or even when he was nominated. It started long ago in the Civil Rights and other struggles of minorities and has finally reached the White House. Not to say the struggle is over but this is a good sign that true change is happening.




It is amazing to think some of the people standing on the mall that day went to segregate schools and had to use segregated waiting rooms, eating establishments and so on. To think that in a person’s life time; they have been told that they are second class citizens do to the color of their skin and to see someone with the same skin become President of the United States of America, that is change.












As a side note: It bugs me that spell check doesn't know who the president is.

Inauguration Bound

Well I am going to head up to DC for the Inauguration of Barack Obama. I am going to try to do some mobile posts from my phone (with pictures hopefully). We will have to see how clogged the networks get. Once I get back I will be posting photo's from my "real" camera. I am still debating going up Sunday to see the show at the Lincoln Memorial. I have a feeling it will be the only time I will get to see Bruce Springsteen live. More to come on the inaugural travels.