Through My Lens

This is Big Creek Falls located near the Tennessee/North Carolina Border. For directions to this easily accessible waterfall click here.

My friends overlooking the Elk River near the Tennessee/North Carolina border on a very rainy day.

Spring colors are popping out everywhere. I have a feeling I’ll be using the macro lens a lot in the next few weeks!

I had a very fun studio shoot over the weekend… Mandy’s natural beauty, along with her ease with posing and being photographed, made my job very easy. Thanks also for my wonderful assistant Shelia, who worked with the hair, changing backgrounds, holding lights, etc.

The above image was shot with a three strobe setup. A single soft-box was positioned to camera-left as the key light. A reflector umbrella was behind the camera at a 2:1 ratio from the key light. I used a strip-light soft-box to highlight the hair. Aperture was f/8.0 with a 1/100 second exposure.

It seems a mountain stream can do wonders to set my mind at peace. This scenic stream is Higgins Creek, located in the beautiful Rocky Fork Tract.

I’ve seen a lot of groundhogs over the years, but this blond one is a first for me. There are actually two of them (both with very light colored fur) that live on a hillside right outside of my office window. I estimate this one is about 20 inches tall when standing on its hind legs. I’m curious if anyone else has seen a groundhog with blond fur like this one?

This beautiful, 100′ waterfall is located in the lower sections of the Rocky Fork Tract in Unicoi County, Tennessee. For more information and directions, please see my hiking report.

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200mmVR lens @ 22mm, f/25.0, 1.3 sec. shutter, 100 ISO

I was able to photograph this Eastern Bluebird today as it was hunting insects in mid-flight. The image is cropped from quite a distance (using 200mm focal length, and 400 ISO) so the quality suffered a bit. Regardless, I thought it was interesting in that I captured the image a split second before the Bluebird captured the insect.

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200mmVR lens @ 200mm, f/6.3, 1/2500 sec. shutter, 400 ISO.

Taken in the Grayson Highlands area of southwest Virginia where it’s not uncommon to happen across a herd of wild ponies.

This pretty little crocus and the warm weather this week has marked the arrival of spring for me. It seemed to be a long time coming this year. I’m glad it’s finally here.