After hanging around for several hours to catch the sunset at the M.B. Miller County Pier in Panama City Beach Florida, I wanted to get some more shots at night. I waited just long enough to get some light from the nearby parking to light the bottom of the pier, but still get the stars in the sky. I love the way the slow shutter speed blurs the wave
I did a little exploring a couple weeks ago and ran across this set of railroad tracks. As I was driving past them, I noticed that the turned gently and kinda faded into the distance. I actually backed up from where I was initially taking photos and then got low to get this shot. I thought the texture of the rocks and cross ties really stood out from this angle.
This is probably one of the last photos taken of Laurel Falls inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park prior to the government “shutdown”. Fortunately, I made it through some of the park the weekend before and this was one of the stops. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the end of the mile plus trail. This has to be one of the easiest trails I have walked. The entire thing was paved and the trail actually intersects the waterfall at about it’s mid point. Of course, I could not be satisfied with the normal shot from where the trail made it to the waterfall, so I climbed to the bottom so I could see all of it.
Since I don’t get that many chances to revisit places, I have to try to make the best of it based on planing. One of my favorite tools is Google Earth. I use it to visit places before I actually set foot there. If you have photos turned on, you can even get a preview of what you can find there. Possibly even what it looks like at different times of the year. But the ting I have had most success with is browsing the route I plan on taking. That is how I ran across this waterfall. I saw a couple photos in Google Earth and thought I might stop on the way to Frozen Head State Park. Lets just say that I would never have known where this was if I had not seen photos and the approximate location. Although the falls are only about 20 yards from the road, they are completely invisible.
The first several hundred yards of Goforth Creek above where it joins the Ocoee River are packed full of waterfalls and cascades. It is like a big jumble of rocks and water. This was one of those small areas where water just seeped through many cracks and was dripping all over the place.
In all the years of traveling to the beach, I have not been told as much about dolphins and told to look for them as much as this last time. When we went to Eden Gardens State Park in Florida, I stopped by the park office on our way in. I was just inquiring as to where the best photo spots in the park were located. I got the whole park spill, which included making sure I stopped at Tucker Bayou and watched for the dolphins. Even though I spent a while watching and listening, all I walked away with was this photo of the bayou.
A couple months ago, I was driving around near home and ran across this sunset. A while back, I took some shots into the sunset in this general area of another sunset. I not sure which I like better?
I have always been of the opinion that you are never too old to learn and if you think you are, you have hit the point when you are knocking on heavens door. Over the past few months, I have had my patience tried. However, I learned a good lesson… Even when you think your patience has run out, it still makes a difference. I took this shot of my youngest this past weekend. She is my photographic poser and had wanted me to take a photo where she was sitting. Apparently, I was not fast enough and she got angry. I just had to wait her out to get this shot. Mind you, it did not come after much heckling from me. Yeah right.
Several days ago, I took a drive toward Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee. Unfortunately, I did not make it to the park before it closed, but the dusk brought out tons of deer along the fields bordering the roadway to the park. I shot this just after sunset, but during the twilight hour.
We were surprised when we went through Cades Cove. Only two times a year, they have the grist mill operating and once a year, they have Old Timers Day. Old Timers Day is when many of the Coves’ families return for the day. They also have musicians playing all the old traditional instruments. I was impressed with their abilities. It did not look like many of them had played together before, but they did quite well. I snapped this shot while enjoying the music.
