I’ve mentioned multiple times on this blog how much I enjoy the Tremont Spring Photography Workshop and the friends I’ve made there. A couple weeks ago, one of those friends and his wife came to town for vacation and the two of us got together a few times to shoot some and had a blast. It is neat how a shared excitement for something will bring people together who might not otherwise have met (Paul and his wife live in Oregon).
There is a spot in Cades Cove that the Workshop regularly goes to in order to watch and photograph the sunrise, and since I’ve been going to that spot I had yet to see any good colors. I have gotten some really good pictures from there… but they just weren’t of sunrise colors. Well it worked out this time that I was in the right place, at the right time, and for a very few moments the sky lit up with some wonderful colors and God threw in a nice wisp of fog in the valley for good measure. Couldn’t ask for a better morning!
Not long after our good friend Dale Young passed away, I asked a friend of ours if I could go over to his place to take some pictures. I had an idea rolling around in my head I really wanted to capture and he was kind enough to oblige. Once there I tried to put some thought into what about the condo made it “his place”; what I was after was a picture of him, without him. At the time, I had no idea how hard it would be to do that, or how hard it would be to “finish” a project like this. It has been almost two years of picking it up and putting it down, but today, on what would have been his 75th birthday, I’m happy to finally share it.
From the house shoes I used to harass him about, to the old books he loved to collect, to his favorite “after dinner drink” and the ornate appointments of his home, it was all secondary to his chair. Dale would greet you at the door with a smile, a pat on the back and a “come on in here!”, and then we’d solve the world’s problems while he sat in that chair. It was the kind of chair you just sort of fell in to, and then might need help getting out of, and frankly it’s the one thing of his that would likely reduce me to tears if I saw it in person today. Of all his belongings, nothing says W. Dale to me quite like that chair.
Last week I mentioned that I had recently spotted some blue flowers and some white flowers in my neighbor’s yard, so I thought I would share the white ones this week. I’m not sure why, but I thoroughly enjoy taking these close up pictures of flowers. These images usually take a while to setup and photograph, and I generally end up putting way more thought into them than the more sweeping photos. Something about that attention to detail is fun for me.
Speaking of attention to detail, I hope you’ll join me next week for a very special Picture of the Week I have made as a tribute to an old friend. I have worked on next week’s image for almost two years and it has become something very personal to me; frankly I am both extremely happy and scared to death to put it out there for all to see.
So a couple weeks ago I started to launch into a series on Spring flowers, but then got distracted with other things here on Picture of the Week. Ooops… oh well. Anyway, instead of a series I supposed I’ll just pepper them in for a bit and see what happens.
Earlier this Spring as I was driving down our hill I happened to glance over in a neighbor’s yard and noticed a couple clumps of blue flowers and a couple clumps of white flowers that seemed to be just growing randomly. I walked over to investigate and this is one that I found. I was first looking for a symmetrical one but ended up liking this one the best… something about the flopped over top and the brilliant blue color struck me. I have no idea what kind of flower it is, but it was cool anyway!
A few weeks ago I decided to go up to the Foothills Parkway fire tower to work on another star trails shot there with the tower. I knew it was going to be a full moon that night so I got there just as soon as the sun went down and setup my shot. As if right on cue, when I was done taking my star trails shot the moon came up over the horizon and it struck me that what I was watching was probably better than what I had been working on. Sometimes… that happens.
I have to say that being in Cades Cove first thing in the morning is always an awesome experience. When my nephew and I went a couple weeks ago we were hoping for nice sunrise colors for a landscape shot or two, and while we weren’t blessed with that, we were blessed with some nice warm light and a good number of deer that didn’t mind their picture being taken. This trio was hanging around Hyatt Lane when one of the bunch decided to leap over the fence. So cool!
I mentioned last week that my nephew and I had bummed around Cades Cove on Good Friday and I had a few more images I wanted to share. You may have noticed that I’m mentioning my macro lens more and more, and frankly it is my favorite lens right now. I’ve been really enjoying taking detail shots lately because it forces me to slow down and just look at things to find either interesting points of view or possibly to point out things that a casual observer may have missed; this week’s picture I hope does the latter.
I have stated several times before how fascinated I am by the craftsmanship of our ancestors; a lot of which is on display in Cades Cove. As I was standing there checking out this cart, which is beside a barn near the Cable mill, I was really interested in how the hub of this wheel was put together. Neat stuff!
I was fortunate to have this past Friday off from work as my company was closed in observance of Good Friday, so my nephew and I decided to head up to Cades Cove. We arrived at the Cove in time for sunrise but nothing spectacular was happening in the sky and the clouds were rolling in quickly as the morning progressed, so we shot around inside a few of the churches in the loop. It occurred to me as I was sitting in this Missionary Baptist Church and looking out the window at the many graves, that the people who attended this little church so many years ago lived much different lives than we do but yet struggled with sin just the way we do today, and that the same Savior died for their sins as did mine. Such an amazing truth.
It may not feel like it outside today here in East Tennessee, but Spring has officially arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere. We had enough warm weather last weekend for the flowers to really start blooming everywhere… just in time for a cold snap to come through and turn all their vibrant colors a little dingy. Before that though, I did have a chance to go out and do some playing around with my macro lens! This week’s picture of the week is a bee’s eye view (as Holly has described it) of a periwinkle bloom. Here’s hoping this cold weather moves back out again so we can all go out and enjoy nature some more!
This past week the Panstarrs comet came in to view here in the Northern Hemisphere and I was lucky enough to get out to photograph it. Some friends of mine and I headed up to the Foothills Parkway and got pictures of it from the Look Rock fire tower. The comet itself was very faint and would have been impossible to find unassisted. There is, however, another comet that is supposed to pass by earth this fall that should be visible easily with the naked eye… so I would expect to see another comet on POTW later this year!
Running in to a rhino in the wild sounds like a pretty neat experience (and truth be told… it was) but then it occurs to you that there is a WILD rhino standing right there!
While Holly and I were touring around Nepal and China, one of the things I really wanted to do was go to Chitwan National Park and see the northern white rhinos that live there in the jungles (and maybe see the tigers, which we didn’t see). We have never been to Africa (yet), so this was really our first real safari experience with a good number of exotic animals. Leading up to this particular citing, Holly and I had seen rhinos while touring the jungle on elephant back and in a canoe. While on the elephants, the rhinos really pay you no mind and in the canoe they just seem annoyed by you and walk away. This particular adventure though was on foot. After leaving the canoe we walked through the forest which was amazing! As we were walking, troops of monkeys would run by about 20 or 30 yards away and you would hear noises and calls not found back in the States. Then we reached a bank that dropped off about 15 feet down to the river basin. The grasses down there were tall and thick and your mind races with what could possibly be hiding down there.
Our guide Brahma scanned the area and then spotted this big guy chowing down on the vegetation and excitedly pointed him out. We were standing next to a good sized… dead… tree and Brahma suggested I climb it to get a better vantage point for my pictures. With his help I scurried up the tree to a giant limb and started clicking away. Just like on the Discovery Channel, birds kept landing on its back and right on cue they all faced the same direction. About that time I heard Holly say something to our guide; I turned to look just in time to see Brahma pick up a large chunk of wood. Interesting. Holly asked if I was in danger; he responded “Oh, he’s fine up there”. He shook the log and said “just in case”. LOL Oh, right… we’re not at a zoo!
You know… sometimes things just don’t quite work out the way you planned them.
This past summer when Holly and I went to Europe, we decided that we should stop for a day in Prague on our way to Germany. I had heard so many wonderful things about the city that it seemed silly to pass right by and NOT stop… so the plan was we’d leave our friends behind in Krakow, spend a full day in Prague and then go to Munich the following day. Well, a misunderstanding in Krakow led to a missed train (the last one of the day as luck would have it), construction on the tracks led to long delays and so by the time we arrived in Prague it was afternoon; our bus tickets for Munich were for the next morning.
So what do you do if you’ve only got an evening in Prague? With such a short time it didn’t make sense to do more than one thing. After a short discussion with the people at the front desk, we decided to stroll down from the hotel and see the famous Charles Bridge and do what any other tired travelers would do… eat. There are a good number of restaurants right by the bridge, many of which have outside seating, so after walking around for a bit we picked a table with a nice view and had a wonderful dinner. Our waiter was hilarious, the food was amazing, and the city… well, it IS beautiful. When we return this summer though, we’ll be sure to stay longer. The city certainly deserves more than just a few hours!
I told you POTW would make it back to Washington eventually! In celebration of only having a month left of Winter (which hopefully means this cold weather will get on out of here) I thought I’d share this picture from last Spring when we visited Seattle to try to get everyone in the mood for flowers (as if you needed convincing) and green returning. This is also the last in my black and white series (see images 1, 2, and 3); and while it certainly won’t be the last time I post a black and white picture, I promise March will be full of color. Thanks for humoring me as I’ve explored this style of photography. Hopefully it has been as enjoyable to all of you as it has been for me.
A while back I posted a picture showing off the craftsmanship of the cabins in Cades Cove, which I think is incredible. Even more impressive though, in my opinion, are the ingenuity and creativity of the various mills in the park. The John Cable grist mill, pictured here, is probably the most famous and frankly is the most photogenic. I can just walk around and check out the details here for hours. So fascinating!
While I was there on this particular day, the gentleman that runs the mill was wandering around looking for something and so I struck up a conversation. If you look at the picture above in the lower left-hand corner, there is a block of wood with rounded edges… turns out that’s what he was looking for. As part of the tradition of the mill, the Park maintains the mill in an operational state the way it was run back in the day; including using animal fat as lubrication! From time to time in the evenings, the mill operator told me, a bear would come by and steal this cap and then proceed to lick all the fat off! Part of his morning routine was to find where the bear had left it when he was finished.
Are you allowed to have a favorite tree? If so… this is mine. Where Hyatt Lane runs in to the loop road in Cades Cove; just out from the Dan Lawson place, sits this tree. All you have to mention to my photography friends is “the tree”, and we all know exactly which tree you’re talking about. If you’ve been following along with my photography blog, you may remember seeing this tree before (here’s the first photo I posted of it), and true be told… I have countless pictures of it. I love the symmetry of it, I love the aloneness of it; I just love it.
On this particular morning the fog was extremely heavy (for whatever reason this spot always has a good chance for fog); so much so you couldn’t see the tree from the road just 50 yards or so away. The scene for us was more black and blue than it was black and white, as the light of the sun was just beginning to awaken the park.
I have a couple of confessions to make with this image… first and foremost, I must confess that this is one of my favorite pictures that I’ve taken in a while. The second confession I must make is that I can’t take total credit for it!
Two weeks ago when I posted the Clingman’s Dome sunrise picture (see it here), I mentioned that I had quickly left the Oconaluftee Overlook after getting the shot I was after (see it here) to get there in time. In my head, the show at the first spot was over because the color was gone (or almost gone), so I left. Well, on the morning that my friend Steve and I went to the Foothills Parkway for a sunrise shot, we were blessed with some beautiful pinks, reds, and purples (see it here)… but when the color was gone I was ready to pack up and look for something else. Steve wisely suggested we hang around for a few more minutes just to see what the light would do. Sure enough, the sun rose a little more and lit up the back edges of some of the mountains as well as the fog in the valley; it was beautiful. Another friend of mine, Tom Vadnais, always likes to say that most photographers show up late and leave early… and while we didn’t show up late on this particular day, I was certainly ready to leave too early.
The next bit of credit I need to give is to a friend of the family, Brenda Cornell. A while back Brenda brought me a stack of Outdoor Photographer magazines and the one issue that stood out from all the rest was the issue on black and white images. In high school I used to mess with black and white quite a bit, but since digital had come along I hadn’t really played with it much because I could never get the images to look the way I wanted them to. Well after reading that issue and toying around with it for the past year, I finally have some images I really like which I’m going to share in the month of February. Thanks for the inspiration Brenda!
Last week I mentioned that I was going to continue a thought… but that is going to have to wait another week because I wanted to share this picture instead! Like most people in the Knoxville area, Holly and I were stuck at home Friday because of the ice storm; well, more out of concern that it would get worse than it actually did. Anyway, later in the morning the ice / rain slacked off enough for me to want to venture outside with my camera and I found lots to take pictures of. My favorite image of the day was this one… a dogwood bud, perfectly encased in ice. How neat is that?
On the way up to the Oconaluftee Valley Overlook where last week’s picture was from, I noticed that the Clingmans Dome Road was still open… as it turns out, it was the last day it would be open for the season. After getting what I was after at the overlook, (more on that thought next week) I decided to shoot up to the Clingmans Dome parking lot (another great place in the Smokies to watch the sunrise) for a look around and I was treated to a beautiful sight. As I was getting out of my car, the sun was just starting to reach into the valleys over the shoulders of the mountains and clouds still hung around in other valleys. It was spectacular. I found myself literally running from spot to spot because the light was getting away from me quickly… but I was having an absolute blast! As much as I don’t like getting up super early, I certainly do enjoy starting a day like this.
For the past several years I’ve been attending the Spring Photography Workshop at Tremont (you may remember this image from a couple years ago) and every year the schedule shows that Saturday morning, weather permitting, will be a sunrise shoot at either the Foothills Parkway (see last week’s sunrise image) or the Oconaluftee Valley Overlook. For whatever we have always chosen the Foothills Parkway (I’m guessing because its an hour closer LOL) and that has left me dying to make it to the other at some point. I’ve seen pictures from that overlook many times and I just love that valley; classic Smoky Mountains. Any way, once I got my Friday’s blocked off for photography in December I decided to make the trek up there one morning… and was not disappointed.
If you’d like to see this spot for yourself some time (or have wondered where is a good place to take sunrise pictures in the Great Smoky Mountains), drive up New Found Gap Road (Highway 441) towards Cherokee, North Carolina and the pull off is at mile 15.4 on the right (it’s the big pull off on the right just past Clingman’s Dome Road). It is a stunning spot and an excellent place to watch the sunrise. Watch for ice though… the road was icy up there even though it was fairly mild in the valley when I left home.
My friends at work like to give me a hard time about how much vacation time I take. Some people have different strategies for their time off… and I of course have my own; use it. At the company I work for we have the option to roll a week or sell a week, and anything left over at the end of the year is lost. My personal philosophy is to never sell time, never roll time, and never lose time. So, what does this have to do with the sunrise picture above? Well, in November I realized that I still had some time left and no vacation planned… so I decided to take every Friday off in December and use that time to go photograph. Several days I got up for sunrises and some days I stayed out late shooting the stars. Over the next several weeks you’ll be seeing the fruits of that labor.
This week’s Picture of the Week was a gorgeous sunrise I had the opportunity to witness New Years Eve morning with a friend of mine, Steve Zigler. I have been on the Foothills Parkway hundreds, if not thousands of times and have watched many sunrises and sunsets, but I’ve never seen a sunrise from there like this. It was quite beautiful, and the little bit of snow that was on the mountains was an added bonus.
Special Note: I posted this story last week on Facebook, however Holly corrected me on a few of the details, so here is the full and correct version of the story
Holly and I were sitting around the other day, reminiscing about Christmases gone by and I was reminded of our first Christmas as a married couple. Ah the good old days. That was the year I made the most amateur of husband mistakes; buying your wife a piece of clothing that she hadn’t first put her stamp of approval on. Well, the sweater she’s wearing in this picture is in fact that piece of clothing. Apparently I asked her if she liked it (I think the trauma of rejection has removed the events from my memory) and she did what any good newlywed in her situation would do… she lied and said she did. She wore it a couple of times so I would see it on her and then promptly moved it to the back of the closet; she couldn’t bring herself to throw it away. It took her a couple of years before she finally admitted that she didn’t like it at all… in reality she actually hated it! LOL But alas, she still has it to this day, as a reminder of my undying love for her… and of my terrible taste in women’s clothing.
Now, I would assume that most of you are going to look at the sweater and think to yourself that it isn’t that bad… I mean she does look exceptionally cute in it. Rest assured though, its terrible.
Here’s hoping you made some memories this holiday season that will last a really long time… even if it takes you a while to realize it!
Let me start by saying I’m not going to do this story justice… but I’m going to try anyway. I’d like to introduce the family that got a really cool gift this year for Christmas… a brand new, fully furnished, house. How awesome is that?
Unless you’ve been under a rock here in Knoxville, you know that ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was in town earlier this year and built a house for a very deserving family. What you may not know though, is that there were two other families who were finalists and ultimately didn’t get picked. Meet Mickey, Charlotte, and Yvette… one of those two families. After the winner had been announced, Yvette’s mentor Denny asked her Sunday school class if they would mind pitching in and helping with some updates to their home. One thing led to another and our church decided to come together and just build them a whole new house.
As part of the process I was asked if I would do a photo shoot with the family so they would have some nice new pictures to hang in their house… I was honored… and immediately knew I was in over my head! I asked a photographer friend of mine, Noelle Bell, to join me and together we got the job done. That in and of itself was a blessing, but yesterday I got to help out with filming the big reveal as well. A small group of people from Fellowship who had helped build the house, along with friends and family gathered together to give this dear family the keys to their new home. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas.
Okay, so I had something totally different in mind for this week, but it is going to have to wait till next week. I ended up getting a new lens this week (thanks for the Christmas present Holly!) which I’m totally thrilled about. My niece came over yesterday for a couple minutes and I managed to talk her into posing for me while her aunt was getting ready, and I really liked this picture.
There is that moment… I’m sure all parents (and in this case aunt and uncle) can relate to this… when you realize your little kid (or in this case niece) isn’t so much of a little kid any more. This was that moment. It is funny because we all call Holly “little Holly” to distinguish her from my wife Holly, “big Holly”; but that isn’t going to work for much longer as “little Holly” is almost as big as “big Holly”.
One thing that Europe seems to have on the rest of the world is public transportation. The train systems there are impressive; if you have enough time, you can get to almost anywhere by train. Really cool stuff. A friend of ours let us borrow his copy of Europe by Eurorail before we left and I was absolutely shocked at the lattice work of tracks all over the place. Now price, on the other hand, that’s a different story… it felt like sometimes you could fly somewhere cheaper then taking a train, but by in large, its an excellent way to get around. Holly and I have used trains as a way to get around several times before in our travels, but never to the extent we did on this particular trip.
On this particular day in Germany we had some time to kill before our train departed so I took the opportunity to walk around and take some pictures. I loved the personality of the old trains and sleekness of the new trains. They’re definitely fun to look at and photograph, and I really liked the new-tech versus old-school these two had going on.
As we were approaching Berlin by train I have to admit I was a little skeptical. The area outside the city is not particularly pretty and is flat as a board. A bit of a contrast from the Alps we’d just left behind. If you like scenery and beautiful mountains, then the Bavaria region of Germany is for you. If you’re interested in history and architecture… Berlin is the place (though there is amazing architecture all over Germany and Europe for that matter); which we quickly realized after finding our way downtown.
Since we had such a short time in Berlin we decided to buy some passes for the Berlin City Tour; which are these cool double-decker busses that circle the city, stopping at all the interesting highlights. You buy an all day pass and then get on and off as many times as you want… which is perfect. When one bus leaves, another comes by in 10 or 15 minutes. Holly and I were captivated by all the things we got to see. We’ve seen some REALLY cool stuff from our world’s history… but this was stuff we had read about over and over in history books from school OR remember seeing on the news. Not the least of these was the remnants of the Berlin Wall.
Located just down the street from Checkpoint Charlie, this is the longest piece of the wall still standing. Behind it is an open air museum which outlines the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and beside it is the former headquarters of the Nazi SS. Having just been to the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau only days before, this was an interesting stop that helped continue to paint the picture of what all went on in this part of the world during World War II. The wall itself is surprisingly thin, I could have gripped it with my hand. When standing there staring at what is left though, I was struck by a similar thought that I had walking in to the concentration camps at Auschwitz; it is interesting how easily we pass from one side of Germany to the other now, when not that long ago you would have been killed for it.
This past summer when Holly and I went to Poland, we decided to stay a little longer after the group left to bum around some other parts of Europe we’d always wanted to see. Germany was really high on our list; specifically Bavaria. A friend of ours recommended we go check out the Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen, so that’s what we did! Like so many other places we visited in Europe, the castle was actually under-going renovations on its exterior… so there was an unfortunate amount of scaffolding surrounding much of structure; not so great for pictures. The very face of the castle had no scaffolding on it so we set out to try and find a good spot to take pictures from that angle… that led to a cable car ride up into the mountains, which led to us walking out a trail, which led to this view. No castle… but man was it spectacular! I later realized that the Austrian border was just behind us there. Pretty neat stuff! As it turns out, the best place to take a picture of the castle from up there was down a long, and totally different trail OR you could just hang out the window of the cable car… which is what I ended up doing. At any rate, we got to experience the beauty of the Alps, whether there was a castle in the picture or not!
I can’t honestly say I’d ever really want to rewind the clock too far… especially if I had to go through Middle School again… not that had a bad childhood or anything, quite the opposite actually, but being an adult is a lot of fun (or at least it can be). I will say this though, there are times when you have to admire the simplicity of being a kid. Yesterday afternoon was one of those times.
Holly and I got the leaves up off our front yard and when we were finished we went over to help our neighbor finish hers. When it was all said and done our neighbor’s grand daughter came running to me for a hug and as I picked her up, instead of hugging her, I turned and tossed her into the massive pile of leaves that we created. The fun ensued. It was so much fun, in fact, that Holly and the little girl’s mom decided to join in as well. As is customary every time we play, someone gets hurt and starts crying… but man, it was a good time while it lasted!
This autumn in East Tennessee has been absolutely spectacular. We are now well in to November and there are still a good number of brilliant trees hanging around (like the ones in my neighbor’s yards). Last week I posted that I had taken the opportunity to go shoot some in Cades Cove, and while it was a little past peak time for colors in the Cove itself, there was a spot on Laurel Creek Road that was amazing. I’ve been trying to tell myself that when I see something worth taking a picture of, I should stop right then instead of thinking I’ll see something similar later… and this was one of those times for sure. The yellows and oranges at this particular spot were almost neon and I felt like this withered old stump was a nice contrast to everything going on around it.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a half day off from work and head up to Cades Cove in the morning. The colors had been fantastic around the house and I was guessing they would be in Cades Cove as well. I managed to get up there about an hour and a half before first light… and as I expected, there was a substantial line of cars already waiting at the gate. I drove past them all and parked… hopped on my bike and proceeded on. These are the joys of living close by; I’ll be taking pictures of stars, fog, and the morning sky while they’re all still waiting in their car for the ranger to open the gate.
As I was waiting for “something to happen” I was struck by a few things: how awesome it is to live so close to such a beautiful National Park, how awesome it is that I have a job that allows me to do stuff like this, what a gorgeous morning it was, how much fun I was having, how much God has blessed me, and the list went on and on. After running through a long list of things I was thankful for I got the idea for this picture.
This sums up the kind of morning I was having that day.
It’s that time of year again, time for the Komen Knoxville ‘Race for the Cure’. This has become one of those days that we look forward to every year. It is always such a fun time to hang out with friends and family and it is encouraging and inspiring to see all the survivors and the people who come around them. Holly and I have been so fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people and truly feel the love and support. Thanks to everyone who came out this year to help us celebrate life, and thanks to everyone else that didn’t get to come out as well. This journey would have looked a lot different without all of you.
In case you missed it last week, Holly got the chance to go on TV and discuss the Race for the Cure and what it means to her as a survivor, you can check that out here.
By now everyone is used to me being on TV; well this past week Holly got her time in the spotlight! Our friends over at Komen Knoxville invited Holly to come on the Fox Morning Show here in Knoxville to talk about her breast cancer story and what the Race for the Cure means to her. She did an EXCELLENT job, and despite Abby Ham’s suggestion that I had been coaching her; she did it all on her own (okay… I coached her a little, but not much )! Check out the video below to hear what she had to say!
Speaking of the Race for the Cure, there is still time to sign up for next week’s event! Join our team and come out to support Holly and all the other survivors. We’ll be getting together beforehand for a group photo and we’d love to have everyone there.
I had the opportunity to go up to Windrock today, which is something I have been wanting to do for a while. I have seen the wind farm driving to work many times on super clear days, but honestly didn’t know exactly how to get there or how bad the roads were up to the windmills. Luckily though, I’ve got friends in the know and everything finally came together today. I’ll have to admit, it did not disappoint. Those things are MASSIVE… and it got me thinking… I wonder what they look like at night, as in with stars flying by!
The purpose of the trip, as it turns out, was not actually to take pictures of the mills, but to do some video work for a race a buddy of mine and one of his cohorts are putting on. If you’re in the area (or maybe even some people outside the area) you may have seen Facebook postings about an event called War at Windrock put on by Dirty Bird Events. I somehow got conned in to helping put together a promo video (you can tell they really had to twist my arm huh?) for what looks to be one heck of a run. Keep an eye out for that video in the near future! Until then… well… you can look at this neat picture. LOL
This time last year we were celebrating being done with cancer with our friends and families. It’s hard to believe how quickly the time has gone by. Holly has been done with everything for over a year now and life is no longer filled with doctor appointments. It’s interesting how “normal” changes with the circumstances you’re in.
Just like last year Holly and I attended the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk in downtown. The event seems to be growing quickly, and despite the chilly weather and threatening clouds, there were a good number of people that showed up. It was great running into friends and supporting a good cause.
One afternoon while Holly and I were in Charleston, we decided to go for a walk up on the Ravenel Bridge. The bridge has nice pedestrian and bicycle lanes and has easy access from the Mt Pleasant side. While we were up there Holly spotted some dolphins swimming around below us (it took me a minute to find them, but once I caught on they were easy to find) which was totally neat; we hung out just taking it all in.
It was a beautiful day and there were several boats out… and then there was this one sailboat. Sailboats always stand out to me for some reason; there is something adventurous about them I think. As it approached I loved the angle of the sun and the super long shadow. I loved the texture of the water and the way the white boat stood out from its dark surroundings… it reminds me that I should try sailing someday.
When Holly and I were planning our trip to Charleston, one of the things I was really hoping to do was get some pictures of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge that connects downtown Charleston with Mount Pleasant. I don’t remember exactly how many images I got of it, but I could easily do and entire month of POTW with just pictures of that bridge! It is a beautiful structure for sure… but there’s a bit of a trick to it. It took a bit of digging to find the perfect spot to take pictures of the bridge. Good ole Google Maps came through for me though in satellite mode, as it usually does, and what I found was a public boat launch off 5th Ave (see it on a map here). If you’re ever in the area and would like to snap a few pictures… check it out!
A couple weeks ago Holly and I decided we needed a long weekend and I had beach on the brain. After some convincing, Holly agreed to go to Charleston (I know, right? Who has to be convinced of these things?) and we were off. I hadn’t actually been to Charleston since High School so I was anxious to get back because it is such a beautiful area. One morning before heading to Isle of Palms we decided to do some looking around in the markets and the surrounding area. While on Church Street we found this beautiful old cemetery with this amazing tree in it. I loved the long, low branches that reached out over the silent tomb stones. Beautiful place.
There was a sign here that I just loved; “The only ghost here is the Holy Ghost”.
Okay, so I’ve established that I like shooting star trails and shooting at night… maybe slightly better than shooting during the day. Unfortunately for me though, this summer has been pretty crazy with all the rain and the cloudy days / nights. The last time I actually got to shoot at night here in town was back in the early summer when I got the Fireflies and Star Trails shot. I’ve been itching to get back out there though, and since I haven’t been able to I thought I’d share a couple pictures that I took a while back but never got around to blogging about.
This week’s picture of the week is a self-portrait I did one night up on the Foothills Parkway. I set the shot up thinking it was going to be interesting, but the longer I sat there and the more I looked a the scene, the more I didn’t like what I was seeing. The tree on the right just wasn’t clean enough to get by itself and the trees on the left crept in no matter how I framed it. It was an amazingly clear night though… and I had already started the process… so at the last minute I decided I would just put myself in the shot and see what happened. I’m not quite sure why I chose a Superman type pose, but I did (maybe that’s a glimpse into my subconscious self-image?). After I put it altogether I got a kick out of it. Here I am… me and my star trails.
Another of my favorite pictures from the camp we did, this one is of our friend Wiktoria. Wiktoria was the kid that Holly instantly gravitated towards. She reminded us both a lot of our niece Holly and she had a very sweet spirit… she’s also a pretty good shot with a basketball!
On the first day of camp, all the kids made little reflection books and then towards the end of each day were given time to journal in them. For the younger kids this meant time to doodle, but for the older kids, it was cool to see them all really putting some time and thought into the exercise. I caught this one of Wiktoria one afternoon as her and some of her fellow campers sat quietly in the gym.
One of the games we had the kids play as part of the camp we put on was an adaptation of dodge ball. There was a line dividing the field and as the teams hit players with the various objects given to them (rubber chickens among other things), they would sit down. The twist was that there was a “medic” who would come around and heal the players who had been hit. The fun part was watching the various teams come up with ways to hide the identity of the medic as best as possible and then try to protect them. This week’s picture of the week is of one of the huddles before the game as the kids tried to devise their plan of attack. The winning strategy turned out to be taking the largest kid and using them as a shield for the smallest kid who would be the medic. As the big kid got hit, the small kid would immediately tag them back in the game. Genius!
Okay, so after 3 weeks of really heavy posts I thought I’d lighten the mood and share some funny stuff. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Holly and I went to Poland as part of missions trip through our church. A team from our church and a team from a church we partner with in Poland joined up to do a vacation Bible school type camp for a little over 50 Polish children. We all had an absolute blast and formed what I hope will be long friendships.
This week’s picture of the week is of some of my new friends from Poland; Bartek, Agatka, and Nico (left to right). One night after we had finished up with our camp I got the chance to just go bum around at the waterfront in Szczecin with these guys and it was super cool. Holly and I certainly got to know Poland better than any place we’ve ever visited and as I mentioned, actually go to know people there. It was a radically different experience then we’d ever had… one that has made a lasting impression on us for sure. It was amazing to me how quickly we formed friendships while we were there; we truly feel like we have a Polish family now.
The past couple of weeks (week 1 / week 2) I’ve been talking about our experience visiting concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland, and I wanted to end the series with this image. Frankly if I think about this picture long I’m moved to tears. This particular place was fairly early on in the tours and was the first thing that really “bit” me.
This wall, known as the black wall or the wall of death, is situated at the end of the courtyard between the Block 10 and Block 11 buildings. Conservative estimates say that some 20,000 people were executed here (though one SS member, Gerhard Palitzch, claimed to have personally executed 25,000 here). Most of the people sharing the courtyard with me this day stopped to take their pictures about 12 feet away and it seemed implied that you should keep your distance. One woman stepped forward though and reached out to touch the wall as she bowed her head. No one had really been saying much of anything, but it seemed that everyone fell quite for a moment as this woman stood there.
For me, the weight of the place where I was standing got a little bit heavier.
One of the exhibits in the museum at Auschwitz is a collection of shoes taken from the individuals at the camp. The museum in Washington, DC actually has a similar exhibit and it is just mind blowing to know that both exist… and both are absolutely huge. The one in Auschwitz is part of a greater exhibit with piles and piles of people’s things… luggage, tooth brushes, eye glasses. It really helps conceptualize the sheer number of people murdered here. Each pair of shoes represents a life.
As I walked around the room looking at all the shoes, piled literally from the floor to my eye level, I had gotten to the point where I didn’t lift my eyes past the lowest ones on the floor. My friend Jerry whispered to me, “look at the red shoe”. I looked to the top of the pile and there it sat, one small red shoe in a sea of black ones. One individual among many that lost their life there.
I warned my readers last week that I was going to start a new series on the concentration camps we visited while in Poland. As I mentioned then, I anticipate that the posts will be heavier than is typical for my posts. I want to share these thoughts as much for myself as anyone else… I doubt there will be anything ground breaking here that no one has read or seen in a movie before. Like the atrocities that have taken place in Tibet (and continue to this day) though, I feel these stories need to continue to be told so we do not forget. These are images and realities that we cannot afford to become desensitized to.
When you step out of the bus at Auschwitz on a beautiful day as we did, it is hard to wrap your mind around where you are. There were crowds and a rushed pace; all the things you’d associate with an area of high tourist traffic. As you walk through the notorious gate with the message “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Makes You Free) overhead, the gravity of it all begins to set in.
I stopped and looked down this fencerow and it occurred to me that I had just taken something so very basic for granted; the luxury of being able to walk through an open gate freely. That simple thing was denied so many people who met horrible and untimely deaths on the very grounds I was now standing.
It has been a while since I’ve shared any of the star trails shots I’ve done, so I thought I’d throw one in here this week. If you’re at all interested in how I do these, I’ll be doing a presentation at the Blount Country Photography Club that meets at the Maryville Library on August 16th. The club starts at 6:30 for social time and I’ll be presenting some time after that. If you’d like to show up, I’d love to see you there.
This week’s picture if from a little earlier in the Summer. It was the first time I had been out at night in a while (and the first time I hadn’t had to wear 3 layers of clothes) and the fireflies were amazing! We had a good time hanging out under the stars and I’m itching to get back out there!
–Dan Thompson
P.S. Spoiler alert. Next week I think I’m going to start a series on Auschwitz and Birkenau from our recent trip to Poland. I was going to just share one picture in a series on Poland, but the more I worked on the pictures, the more I felt like I couldn’t stop at one. I’ll warn you that the posts will be quite a bit heavier then normal, but it is an experience I feel I need to share.
Okay, I promise this will be the last oddball picture… at least for a little while. Last week we took a look at some of the textures and colors of the abandoned houses in the Elkmont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This week’s picture is of one of the cabins in Cades Cove.
I’m always fascinated by the craftsmanship that went into the cabins in the park. I’m quite certain I couldn’t get logs to fit together this tightly using modern tools; let alone the tools of the day. I’m constantly struck in our travels by what people in the past were able to accomplish given the right amount of time and determination. I think we sometimes may discount past people groups because they didn’t have modern technology… but lots of them sure had ingenuity. Next time you’re in the park, take a minute and run your fingers along the corners of the cabins. Neat stuff!
A couple of weeks ago I posted some pictures I had made with a macro lens a friend of mine let me borrow. I mentioned then that macro photography is all about details, lines, and textures. I know the next two weeks may be a little off the wall (no pun intended), but hang with me… I’m exploring some new things here.
While wondering around Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you’ll no doubt be struck with interest by the ghost town that has been left behind there. If you like creepy old houses, this is a great place to wander around. A few of the houses there have this beautiful shade of blue stain on their exteriors. When I went to photograph them, I decided to boil everything down to the simplest point of interest… the color of the stain, and the grains in the wood. After goofing around with the camera for quite some time and not getting what I had in my head, I put the camera on its corner and just started paying attention to the lines.
On one of our first evenings in Sandestin, my family and I decided to head over to “the wharf” and check out the shops and restaurants there and were subsequently blessed with one of the prettiest sunsets I’ve seen in a while. Holly and I hurried to the car to get my camera and hurried back… missing the actual sun itself dropping behind the horizon, however the show continued on for quite some time after. Lots of people were standing around taking family pictures as the sound of local bands filled the air from the nearby restaurants. THIS is what family vacations are all about!
Just about every where Holly and I go, we like to have some sort of interaction with animals… its just kind of our thing. When we got to Sandestin a couple weeks ago I started trying to think of something we could do with our nieces so they could experience animals like we have; enter the Gulfarium. The Gulfarium is a small aquarium in Fort Walton Beach, FL built around the idea of getting up close and personal with various sea animals… very cool place. We managed to get the girls in the sea lion encounter (plan ahead and schedule your encounters online as many sell out days in advance); and judging by the smiles plastered on their faces for the rest of the day, I would say they enjoyed it thoroughly.
In this particular picture Maria is giving the command for the sea lion to wave. The interaction in and of itself is awesome, but what I really love about this picture is the look on Sophia’s face (yellow skirt beside the photographer). So much fun!
Week before last the whole Thompson family got together down in Sandestin, Florida for a nice family vacation. This was actually the first time I had ever been to the Destin area and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! The beaches were beautiful and the ocean was incredibly blue-green. Most importantly though, we all got to spend some quality time together and have fun. This father’s day I’m thankful for times like these when we get to make new memories and laugh about old ones. Happy Father’s Day everyone!
In last week’s POTW post I mentioned that part of the fun of macro photography was that you notice things about your subjects that you may have never paid attention to. This week is another example of that. One of the mornings of the Tremont Spring Photography Workshop it was a fairly overcast day; perfect for shooting flowers and things like that, but almost all the spring flowers were gone already because our seasons were so off this year. I snapped around on what flowers I could find and then just started looking around for other things to photograph. I found a snail and so I worked on it for a while and while I was down on my hands and knees looking around I noticed a couple of fern limbs that were dying. What caught my eye was the rich color… almost autumn like, and then what kept my attention were the various textures of the leaves and the stem (textures are another common subject with macro work). I am sure that in all the hiking I’ve done over the years I’ve stepped over, and likely on, things like this a hundred times and never noticed how pretty even a dying fern can be.
A couple weeks ago a friend of mine let me borrow his Canon 100mm Macro lens… and man was it fun! For the next couple weeks I’m going to show off some of the pictures I was able to catch with the up-close-and-personal lens.
With macro, it seems the subjects are limitless. This week’s picture is of one of Holly’s gerbera daisies. Part of the fun of macro is that you notice things you never have before… like the fact that these daisies have what look like many other flowers blooming inside them. Neat stuff!
Holly and I have been fortunate enough to have visited Washington, D.C. on several occasions in the recent past, and I must say; if you’ve never been you need to make time to visit. The museums are incredible and the memorials will take your breath away. The symbolism of each memorial and the thought that went into them are unique and spectacular.
The Vietnam Memorial, for me, stands out among the rest. I am a firm believer that if you can stand in front of this wall and not get choked up, you seriously need to check your pulse. The size and scope of the wall itself are baffling and when you consider the number of names and then the number of families impacted it is just awe-inspiring. I find myself speechless every time I stand in front of it and even now as I write this I am struggling for words to describe it. While Holly and I were there last I squatted down and just stared at the names before me. I was struck by my own reflection amongst their names. In a very poetic way, I am able to stand here… because those names and the names like them at all the other memorials around Washington D.C. and elsewhere are there. It is a great reminder that freedom is not free.
This Memorial Day as we all enjoy our families and time away from work, let us all remember the high price that was paid that we could do this very thing.
Ooops… oh well. Anyway, instead of a series I supposed I’ll just pepper them in for a bit and see what happens.
Before that though, I did have a chance to go out and do some playing around with my macro lens! This week’s picture of the week is a bee’s eye view (as Holly has described it) of a periwinkle bloom. Here’s hoping this cold weather moves back out again so we can all go out and enjoy nature some more!
