Sugar Hollow 3/15/2018

I feel like there has not been nearly enough downtime during my spring break, but the weather hasn't been too great for hiking anyway, so I guess I'll just be glad I got outside at all!  Two mornings ago I was snowed in out in Wise County visiting friends, but yesterday afternoon the temperature climbed into the low 50s, so a friend and I walked a few miles around Sugar Hollow park to get some exercise and enjoy the sunshine. 

There's not a whole lot of green in the park yet.  Daffodils and various trees have started blooming around town since February was so warm, but the trees in the park were still dead-looking.  Some of the grass was green though! 

Steele Creek 1/27/2018

Just an easy walk along Steele Creek Park Lake on the gravel path as we had kids in tow.  The colors were mostly blah grays and browns, but I found that the photos didn't look so bad if I made them black and white and boosted the shadows just a bit.  Despite the past few days being in the 50s, there was still quite a bit of ice on the lake, which made for some cool photos!

It took some editing to get these colors to come out, so this photo isn't entirely real...

but I like it anyway. 

Roaring Run 3/22/17

I was determined to go on a photo-adventure while in Lewisburg this past week.  It was hard to decide where to go though.  My closest options were an hour away, with some of the places I wanted to go closer to 2 hours away.  The weather was also not super cooperative.  There were some dreary wet and gray days, which in hindsight would have been better because I was trying to photograph water, but in the end I went hiking on a brilliantly sunny day.  It was a gorgeous day to be in the woods, but a difficult day to get the silky long exposure photos I like.  I did manage to get a few though, and I definitely enjoyed my time in the sunshine!

Always got to jump for joy!

Playing around on some fallen branches across the path.

More photos from this visit and my visit several years ago can be found at GMcD Photography

(photos from this visit start at #26)

roaming through my childhood backyard

It wouldn't do to travel and not go on at least one photo-adventure!  I'm only in RI for a few days, and yesterday I spent the day feeling too cold to get myself out the door to wander around taking photos.  Luckily today was a bit warmer, and I didn't go outside at all before my adventure, so I couldn't be frightened off of it by any coolness in the air.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day for photos.

My friend and I used to have picnics under this railroad bridge.

I wanted to go down under it today, but the path was too overgrown to navigate with my cameras.

There were a few teepees in random places in the woods today.  

I've never seen them before.

The colorful leaves are already gone in WV, but I was glad to find some here in RI!

Of course I had to put my tripod to use and have some fun!

Lake Sherwood Recreation Area

I had a fun night with a group of friends last night so today I was ready to recharge with some solitude and my cameras.  I slept in, then decided to drive up to Lake Sherwood for the morning.  It's a little less than an hour away, and I hadn't been there yet.

As I was driving along a winding road through the forest, I could see little waterfalls in the stream that paralleled the road.  I eventually found a spot to pull over right next to a neat area in the stream, and so I spent a good bit of time there before continuing on to the lake.

I love the sun streaming down in this one.

I eventually headed on to the lake, where signs informed me that all cars were charged a day fee from May through September.  Glad I came in November.  I didn't see a single other person the entire time I was in the area, which was perfect.  I like solitude on my adventures.  

I could hear the geese long before I could see them, and they were clearly not happy about my presence.  They took off for an even more solitary spot shortly after they caught sight of me.  I didn't even have time to adjust settings on my camera to get the exposure right.  And it was hard to focus because the sun was so bright. 

I kind of like the blurred effect in this photo.

This guy was also very unhappy with my presence and quite vocal about it.  It took me awhile to find him, but he was so loud I found him eventually, way up in a tree.  Thank goodness for zoom lenses...

It gets harder to find colorful photos every weekend.  

Now that it's halfway through November, there are hardly any leaves left anywhere.  

It has occurred to me that I'm pretty lucky it hasn't snowed at all yet.

I prefer colorful photos, but at this time of year it seems the only way to 

really get them is through heavy editing...

 Having fun.

Enjoying the peace and solitude.

I really wish I had thought to bring a book along.

Sunday Funday 11/8/2015

I want to go on as many photo adventures as I can while the weather is still decent out, I'm not sure how often I'll manage to drag myself out to take pictures once it's too cold to keep feeling in my fingers while using a camera!  Yesterday was rainy and dreary for most of the day, and by the time it was almost nice out, I was enjoying my couch so much I didn't feel like going out and doing anything.  So I enjoyed a day on the couch going through photos and doing a bit of this and a bit of that.  It was good to have a quiet and relaxing day after a very stressful week at school.  

Today I wanted to bike in the morning, and I had told Sue I would trail ride at 1:30, so that didn't leave much time for a photo-adventure, but I was determined to get some camera time in.  So I went down to the Fort Spring boat launch, only about 15 minutes away.  I had some fun taking photos of the water and being silly jumping around, then went straight to the barn and brought my camera along on the trail ride.

Fort Spring

The trees are bare but the sky is brilliant!

a bit of editing fun

Trail Ride

Pony heard the crinkling sound of the water bottle and tried to bite it, so Sue stuck it in her mouth for her to drink out of.  It was hilarious.

 Check out the cloud of dust she just shook off...