Wintergreen Creek

A few weeks ago, I took a drive up to the Wintergreen Resort to take some photos of the slopes! The Virginia ski season will start soon, and a recent cold spell allowed some snow to made on the slopes. While heading home I took some photos of Little Creek which runs beside Route 644 on the way back from the Wintergreen Resort! The long exposure photos turned out great and I really enjoy taking long exposure photos! 

Directions is VA 151 (Patick Henry Highway) off Route 29 then turn into Route 644 (Breech Grove Rd) and the creek runs besides the roadway! 

    Little Creek

    Another view of Little Creek 

Peaks of Otter

The beautiful Peaks of Otter lodge as seen from SharpTop overlook! This photo was taken by Kevin J Struble Photography! This overlook is located off Route 43 and is about 10 miles from Bedford, Virginia! The hike is about 1.5 miles straight up from the SharpTop parking area, but the view is so worth it! You should be in decent shape and if hiking near dusk you need to bring a flashlight! 

Fall Colors

It's late September in Central Virginia and the leaves are in the early stages of changing colors! The leaves are likely changing early due to the lack of rain recently! Central Virginia has been extremely dry since about mid-August and likely the trees are conserving energy by dropping their leaves! Here is some early #fallcolor from Lynchburg, Virginia 

Early reds showing up 

This yellow tree was just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Big Island, Va

Captures from Garden City, SC

While visiting Myrtle Beach, South Carolina I visited the Garden City area at the end of Ocean Drive. This beach is a moderate walk from the end of the road, and must be accessed by foot! The property is private but there is a public beach access at the guard house! It can be only accessed during low tide, so plan accordingly! 

Ocean view at the of the inlet

Inlet at low tide showing the ripples left behind from receding water

Seaoats on the walk 

Sunrise over the inlet at low tide

Hollins Mill Dam

The blackwater trail in Lynchburg, Virginia is a great place to walk, bike and run thru a beautiful settting, and this Hollins Mill Dam Waterfall is located just off the Blackwater Trail. There is a parking nearby and picnic tables for a afternoon lunch. The falls can be accessed by taking Rivermont Ave, to Bedford Ave, then to Hollins Mill Road and the dam is clearly visable.

Hollins Mill Dam 8-24-15 in Lynchburg, Virginia

Butterflies

This afternoon I noticed these two beautiful butterflies in my flower garden! These two beauties rested long enough for me to capture them in full wing spread! 

7-27-15

Well after talking to other photographers, I have decided to take my photography to a higher level. This past weekend I decided to sign up for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. The Lightroom program is likely the most powerful photo editing software available, so I wanted to take my photos to the next level. my goal is provide a more clearer and sharper photo, and to show the actual scene that my eyes witnessed. My Canon T5i does an awesome job, but still the camera just cannot capture the actual view. So hopefully everyone will enjoy this improvement with my addition of Adobe Lightroom. Enjoy!!

 

Before Lightroom

After Lightroom

Sunrise under the Sea Oats

While visiting Myrtle Beach, SC I took a trip to Garden City Beach, SC to checkout a very private beach! The beach is located at the very end of Garden Ciry Beach and can onlybe accessed during low tide! 

    Waves crash on the rocks

    The Sea Oats trying to hide a sunrise

    Seaweed on the beach 

    HDR of the Sea Oats 

Equipment IPhone6

Canon T5i with 24-70mm Sigma lens 

Date 7-17-15

Wall cloud 7/15/15

The second week of July 2015 brought stormy conditions to Central Virginia! The week brought 2 straight days of storms producing wall clouds, and this very rare conditions for these parts of Virginia! No tornados touched down but quite a few small funnel clouds! 

Wall Cloud East of Appomattox, Va

This shelf cloud was part of the same storm for 7/15/15 and this photo is from just east of the Lynchburgm, Va city line!

This wall cloud was from 7/14/15 near Liberty University and River Ridge Mall!  This storm was on the northeast side of Lynchburg, Va and if a tornado had dropped down it would have likely caused much damage! 

Shelf Cloud

Shelf Cloud

Beautiful shelf cloud from Lynchburg, Virginia! I chased this storm on 7-6-15 for about 30 minutes! No damage from this storm but a classic shelf cloud! 

Flowery Sunset

Flowery Sunset 6-24-15

Amherst, Virginia

Taken with Iphone 6

 





 Beautiful Flowers with the sunset in the Background

Sunrise on the Rappahannock River

"The Essex Inn" B&B located in Tappahannock, Va is a great place to stay while visiting Tappahannock, Va. The innkeeper's Jermery and Ric are awesome hosts and you will not be disappointed! The B&B is located less than a block from the Rappahannock River and I wanted to capture a sunrise on the weekend of 5/23/15! I woke early on the morning of 5/23 and walked to the edge of the river! The morning was beautiful with basically no clouds to be seen and below are the photos captured below: 

Date: 5/23/15

Location: Tappahannock, Va

Equipment:Canon T5i

Lens: Sigma 24-70mm 2.8

Beautiful Rappahannock River Sunset

While Staying at a Bed and Breakfast named "The Essex Inn" located in a small town of Tappahannock, Va which was located next to the Rappahannock River. One of the innkeeper's Jeremy recommended Naylors Beach for a great sunset setting! The beach is located just off US 360 and is on the eastern side of Rappahannock River. The short drive was worth it as you can see it sunset listed below: 

Taken 5/22/15

Location: Naylors Beach, Va

Equipment: Canon T5i

Lens: Sigma 24-70mm 2.8

Sunset Photos

These sunset photos are from Hawkins Mill Road in Lynchburg, Va on 5-7-15 

Stormy Skies Move In

On April 30, 2015 some storms were approaching the Lynchburg, Virginia country side. I captured these photos as the storm clouds came into view.    Follow me on Twitter

 

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                                                                                                                                                   Equipment: Canon

1. T5i DSLR
2. 10-18mm Wide Angle Lens
3. Filter: Internal filter on camera "Art Bold"
4. No post editing was down to these photos

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Bold Sunset on Lynchburg

Tonight's beautiful sunset from Lynchburg, Va 4-25-15

Dogwoods at Sunset

A beautiful setting with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance and blooming Dogwoods in fromt this made for a great scene this evening of April 21,2015! 

         

I am also excited that I discovered a new point of view for sunset photos! I will be back again for a sunset shot! 

Location: Lynchburg, Virginia

Equipment:

Canon T5i

Lens Sigma 18-70mm 

Boston, Massachusetts from the Air

Boston, Massachusetts from the Air

Taken 1-29-2015

 Boston all lit up

 Boston while flying home

 Logan International Airport at Night

 

Boston at Night

Sunset from Candlers Mountain

Beautiful Sunset from Candlers Mountain in Lynchburg

 

These (2) photos were taking from thr top of Candlers Mountain in Lynchburg, Virginia. This mountain is often referred to as LU Mountain and it offers a great view of the city. The mountains in the distance are part of the Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The famous Peaks of Otter can be clearly seen in the distance. This photo was taken in February 2015, and the ground was covered in snow at that time!

The bottom photo was taken the same day and time frame, but I used a method called photostack. This is where I set my Canon T5i to snap a photo every 7 seconds of the same spot, then my son used photoshop to stack about 200 images on top of the first image. Very neat effect for sure.

Frog enjoying the Pond

Frog Enjoying the Spring Weather

 

 

While visiting the Old City Cemetery on Friday 4-10-15 in Lynchburg, Virginia, I caught this frog resting on the edge of the little pond. The pond was a peaceful scene on the grounds with gold fish swimming in the warming waters as the April sun shined.

 

The Old City Cemetery is a great place to visit while in downtown Lynchburg with lots of history related to the Civil War. Over a thousand Confederate Soldiers are buried here and a couple hundred union soldiers are even buried in this cemetery.

 

The Cemetery is easy to find and is located in downtown Lynchburg off 5th street. I turned on Wise Street off 5th street to reach the cemetery. Below is the link to the map and directions:

Old City Cemetery

401 Taylor Street, Lynchburg, VA

(434) 847-1465 () · gravegarden.org

Stormy Skies in Virginia

Stormy Skies in Virginia

On Wednesday evening 4-8-15 while in Bedford, Virginia visiting family the rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. I  brought my Canon T5i along for picture taking, and I sprang into action. I secured a high spot on the town limits of Bedford, Va off Route 43 (Peak Street). The spot had a clear view of the beautiful Peaks of Otter located on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and lighting strikes were lighting up the sky. I took over 900 pictures with my T5i and 20 or with my Iphone 6. Here are some of the shots captured that evening:

 

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 Lighting Strike (T5i)

 

Lighting Strike T5i

 

 Pano View with Iphone 6