Live oaks at the Chapel of Ease site on St. Helena Island

Adjacent to the Chapel of Ease on South Carolina’s St. Helena Island, is this lovely alley of live oaks. The main road when the chapel was built was certainly dirt and I suspect that this alley of oaks was part of that main road back in the day. Now Lands End Road skirts the site taking a more direct route to the edge of St. Helena Island. It isn’t the prettiest alley of oaks in the area, but it is striking nonetheless.

I looked for a way to include both the alley and the chapel in a photograph but the lighting when I was there didn’t allow for that. I hope to return soon to explore the area further. In the meantime, enjoy this image.

All that remains of this chapel of ease on St. Helena Island are its tabby-covered brick walls and an overhanging live oak tree.

Well, it’s that time of year again. I’m quickly amassing a backlog of images and blog topics that I can’t keep up with. Spring has sprung in the South and the short trips that I am able to take are resulting in dozens of quality images! I’m pretty stoked about sharing them with you over the next few weeks and months. In the meantime, I have some more trips planned that will yield yet more images. I’m not complaining though.

This shot was taken when Matt and I visited Savannah and Charleston a few weeks ago. We were able to freestyle a bit and found this cool old chapel on St. Helena Island near Beaufort. We had gone out to Hunting Island for sunrise, but it was a bit of a bust. I got some decent images but nothing to post. On the way back to Bluffton we took a detour to see another location (another bust) and drove right by this chapel. That’s the way it usually works for me. The spot I’m looking forward to turns out to be a dud but I find something interesting along the way.

This is a chapel of ease. These small chapels were built as part of a manor house or a larger parish as a convenience for those who couldn’t make it to the larger main church or cathedral. It was constructed in the 1700s but abandoned after being gutted in a forest fire years ago. The live oak is actually growing up out of a small cemetery adjoining the chapel. I loved the contrast of the tabby-covered walls and the softness of the moss draping from the live oak. I hope you enjoy it as well.

A view toward the entrance of Wormsloe through its famous alley of live oaks

A few weeks ago, Matt and I traveled to the Georgia coast to see a few colleges and do some photography. Well, that’s what we said why we were going. As much as anything, Matt and I both wanted to spend a few days together before he heads off to college this summer. It’s hard to believe that my first-born is eighteen and heading to college!

We’ve been to the coast together before and Matt wanted to revisit the area to see a couple of favorite locations. Matt didn’t have to twist my arm to go. I got to spend a few days alone with my son and visit some beautiful locations to photograph.

High on my list was Wormsloe, a historic location just outside Savannah. The whole of coastal Georgia is rich in history. It’s also beautiful in a completely different way than north Georgia where I hail from. One distinctive of the region is the live oaks that grow there. Their long, winding limbs with Spanish Moss dripping down from above make for wonderful photographic subjects. Wormsloe is a great example of a former plantation house where an alley of oaks was planted along the entrance road. One of Matt’s and my favorite past times is to looks for these alleys and capture the image. You’ll see several such examples over the next few weeks as I work through some pictures of spring in the South.

I hope you enjoy the image. I’m looking forward to sharing more soon.

An Audi R8 at Road Atlanta during the SCCA race in March 2013

It’s been a while since I’ve created a blog post. That’s partially because life has been very, very busy and because I had pretty much run through my backlog of images that I wanted to share. There’s still a few in the archive that I’m working on, but now I’m getting out more to shoot. It’s not that there isn’t anything to shot in the winter, but my eye certainly is drawn to the colors of spring, summer, and fall more than the monochrome of winter.

This image came from a recent outing to Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA. The track is a world-class race facility that hosts a variety of races and classes of cars. I’ve shot there before, but I never captured any images that I really loved. I made a ton of images that I love this time out. I may share some more in the future, but I wanted to get this one out there.

I really enjoy looking for different subjects to capture. I truly enjoy capturing landscapes, but variety truly is the spice of life. I find that if I shoot concerts, races, architecture, or other subjects, when I return to landscapes I enjoy them even more. So, enjoy the race photo and let me know what you think. But, soon I’ll be back to posts of my favorites. Enjoy.

A lifeguard stand at Playa Mantas in beautiful Costa Rica

As I write this the weather outside is cold and blustery. We are expecting two inches of rain overnight and the temperature will struggle to reach fifty degrees for the rest of the week. That’s not cold for much of the United States, but it’s pretty typical ugly February weather for Atlanta. So, here are a couple of images from this past summer that should warm your spirits and make you anticipate the warmer months to come.

My family and I had the opportunity to visit one of our partner churches in San Jose, Costa Rica this past summer. I had the opportunity to consult with the staff and leadership of Open House. We also visited three potential partners where short-term trips from our church in Alpharetta could visit in the future. San Jose is one of those cities that is all at once wealthy and cosmopolitan as well as impoverished and decaying. That’s not unusual for developing countries I have visited. Still, it is a sobering reminder of what can happen over time to even prosperous countries.

After our time in San Jose, we had the chance to visit a couple of spots where our teams might be able to tack on a day for debriefing about their trip. One of those locations was here at Punta Leona. I brought my camera along and shot a bit to capture some of the beauty of the Costa Rican coast. It truly is a tropical paradise in some places. I’ll post a few more images from Costa Rica before moving on to some other images from last summer.

Spring is just around the corner. I’m looking forward to being able to capture some of the spring beauty in the South. Enjoy.

A lone palm tree extends over beautiful Playa Blanca

Some late fall color lingers on trees and along the stream bed of the Oconaluftee River in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I’m always looking for images to make on the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since I often spend the night on the Tennessee side I tend to shoot there more often. So, when I travel through to the North Carolina side, I try to leave enough time to look for images there. I’m not always successful, but I certainly give it a try.

My focus is often the Oconaluftee River or one of the streams that feed it as it spills down from the higher reaches of the Smokies. On this particular trip some color lingered on the trees near the stream. In other spots the trees were completely bare. As I drove down from Newfound Gap I pulled over at each potential bend in the river to see if the view was something I wanted to photograph. The first five or six locations looked good at first but when I looked in more detail weren’t that great. When I arrived at this location I hoped for better results.

I scrambled down the stream bank and began to scout the location. I went through my mental checklist of conditions I wanted to see. Was there enough flow in the river at this point? Check. Was the stream relatively free of downed trees and other clutter? Check. Was there some color visible from overhanging trees? Check. In addition to all these, there were also some moss-covered rocks that added visual interest to the scene.

So, I set up my tripod and began to select compositions to shoot. I quickly became engrossed in my task and spent a happy hour or so clicking the shutter, moving my tripod to new locations, and generally enjoying the beauty of the scene.

I’ve included another of those compositions below. This one makes the Oconaluftee River the central element of the image. I like both for different reasons. Hopefully you will like one or both as well. Enjoy.

The Oconaluftee River with late fall color clinging to a few trees

The ridges of the Smoky Mountains as viewed from Clingmans Dome at twilight

This image is from the same sunset session that I described in the last post. As I mentioned then, I will probably never tire of taking images at sunrise or sunset from Clingmans Dome. One distinctive of this image is that I zoomed in fairly tightly on the ridges and individual trees are visible as silhouettes. The cloud layer in the west obscured the setting sun from a direct view but I still like the brilliant red that it painted the section of open sky above the horizon. I also like the contrast between the blue-hued mountains and the vibrant red of the background cloud layer.

There’s just a few images left from this fall trip. Then we’ll dig up some images from a few trips from last summer. Stay tuned.

The ridges of the Smoky Mountains as viewed from Clingmans Dome at twilight

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you might recognize these ridges. My favorite sunset spot in the spring and the fall in the Smokies is Clingmans Dome. The panoramic view from there is almost always spectacular. Even if the light show from the setting sun isn’t perfect, the ridges of the mountains below are always beautiful. Even though I’m always striving for new, better, and different, there is something about this spot that keeps drawing me back. There will be more from here.

This image almost didn’t happen. As I mentioned in my last post, I had to choose between the possibility of a spectacular sunset from Clingmans Dome or the certainty of shooting the elk herd at the bottom of the mountain. I chose the elk herd. Then, I drove as quickly as possible up the mountain hoping to catch some of the sunset. As it turns out, I think I chose wisely. The cloud layer you see at the horizon almost certainly blocked any view of the setting sun as it hit the horizon. Fortunately, the afterglow was still beautiful. That’s not unusual. When other photographers are packing up their gear just after sunset, I stick around. Some of my favorite “sunset” images were taken as long as 30 minutes after the actual sun set!

I think I will never tire of photographing the ridges of the Smokies. They seem to stretch out forever and leave little doubt about how the region got its name. The mountains of the Blue Ridge truly have a blue cast to them and the fog in the Smokies certainly can make them appear to be smoke-filled. Enjoy.

This bull elk is part of a herd that has grown significantly since being reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2001

I mentioned last time that I entered Cataloochee looking for the elk herd that had been reintroduced there in 2001. Well, I wasn’t alone in that pursuit that day. As I ventured deeper and deeper into the valley, I found myself in a carnival atmosphere. I believe it was a Friday evening and people from all around were gathering to spend an evening in the cove. Apparently elk watching is a popular pastime in western North Carolina! There are several large meadows in the cove that are prime grazing ground for the elk herd. People had parked all along the edges of the pastures waiting for the herd to appear from the tree line to feed in the lush fields.

I waited along with them for a while hoping to have an up close and personal encounter with an elk – preferably a bull. I paused at several spots but frankly didn’t have the patience to wait several hours for the herd to potentially appear. In fact, it was getting to be late in the afternoon and I wanted a chance to see a sunset somewhere. Cataloochee was great for some images but it definitely was not a sunset location. So, I headed out of the valley hoping to make it up to Newfound Gap or Clingmans Dome for sunset on my way back to Townsend.

Of course, once I had made up my mind to leave the valley, I found several young bulls. I noticed them the same way most people notice game in national parks. I saw a lot of cars haphazardly pulled off onto the shoulder and their drivers gesticulating wildly and taking pictures. This could only mean there was a bear or an elk sighting. I stopped along with the masses and pulled out my gear. There were three bulls grazing near the Cataloochee ranger station. Unfortunately, their racks weren’t well-developed and the background was not great. I took thirty minutes or so anyway thinking I wouldn’t get another opportunity until spring to photograph them.

Then, I set out for the somewhat lengthy drive down the eastern side of the park and towards Clingmans Dome. I figured that if I could maintain the speed limit and not hit any more traffic tie ups, I could just make it. For the most part, that’s what I encountered. There are always slow pokes on mountain roads. Fortunately, there were passing lanes and shortcuts that helped speed me along. Nevertheless, it became obvious that I would be arriving very close to sunset. I pushed on.

I took the Blue Ridge Parkway as a shortcut towards Cherokee knowing that it would dump me out at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. From there it would be about a thirty minute drive up the mountain to Clingmans Dome. As I came to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and turned onto US 441, I could tell I had a problem – and an opportunity. Another one of those crowds that assemble when spotting wildlife had grown all along US 441 near the visitors center. There is a large pasture there – probably 200-300 acres – where another elk herd had come out to graze. And this herd was much closer to the road. In fact, a large bull was closest to the road and the background was lovely. I had to quickly make a decision. Would I push on to get my spot for sunset images or would I stop to take shots of the elk? Knowing that I have lots of sunrise and sunset images but few elk shots, I decided to stop.

I quickly mounted my D800, 70-200, and 1.7x teleconverter on my tripod. I found a great spot and started firing away. As I held my position the herd started moving toward me. I was able to take more and more closeup images of the elk – specifically this young bull. At one point the bull moved so close that the ranger insisted we move further away for our own safety. I grudgingly complied. Fortunately, I was able to find another spot in the median that allowed me to shoot without interference.

I really couldn’t ask for much more with these images. The gear I was using created tack sharp images. The background of green grass contrasted nicely with the brown tones of the elk. The bokeh of the 70-200 created a nice muted background. The ambient light was still plenty sufficient to shoot at ISO 400 which is very clean on the D800. Even the late fall colors created a muted color palette above the fence line in the background. I suppose I could be greedy and with that I could have caught the elk bugling for his mate, but that would be a bit much. All in all, I’m very pleased with this image. And, I even made it to the top of the mountain for the end of sunset. But, that’s a story for another day. Enjoy.

Only a few trees hold their color on this late October weekend in Cataloochee Valley

When I first reviewed my images from my last fall trip to the Smokies, I ranked this image high, but not quite high enough to consider posting. As I began to post images from the trip, I noticed that one thing that I had at first not liked, now became appealing to me. I knew that I had missed the peak of fall foliage so I bemoaned the lack of color in my images. However, what I now realize is that the splashes of color that were present were accentuated by the lack of foliage on other trees.

That is the case with this image from Cataloochee. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly where I was when I took this image. I just know it was the afternoon that I traveled to and through the valley. I’ve often noted that the colors in the southern Appalachians are different from those in New England. There aren’t the vibrant reds and oranges found in Vermont and New Hampshire. However, the yellows and subtle oranges are beautiful in their own way. Enjoy.