Vines on Trees
Martinsville Virginia
A Butterfly Gathering
A colorful mix of butterflies, gathering on the damp sand along the shoreline of the Smith River near Martinsville, VA.
A Welcome Visitor
My mood improved considerably when I happened to see one of our friendly yard squirrels sitting on our garden sundial eating a morning snack. I had a 55-200mm lens but didn’t need the long range. 50mm was just fine. I was less than 15 feet away.
Small City Architecture
The city center of Martinsville, Virginia offers many photo opportunities to me, regardless of its small size. I think it’s representative of how much architectural history still remains in small town America.
Wide View of Architecture
I really enjoy making photos with my Fujifilm 16mm lens. That was especially true on a recent photo walk in downtown Martinsville, Virginia where we live.
Countryside Morning
I’m really not sure why I was motivated recently to go buy gas for one of our cars before I ate breakfast, but I’m glad I did. The sky was clear and because of recent warmer than usual weather there was a lot of ground fog about. I remembered there was a dead end road behind the gas station where I was going. I’d driven down that road before and because of the morning fog, my mind envisioned possible photo compositions. After buying gas, I drove down that dead end road and this is what I saw.
Going past the barn I drove to the end of the road and looked up toward the low hills through a pathway in the brush that was inviting. However I decided just to record the scene and return home for a waiting breakfast, happy I’d been so motivated so early in the day.
Scenic Trail
We have an excellent exercising trail near where we live in Martinsville, Virginia. I walked a portion of its newest section recently, not so much for the obvious exercise value, but for the photo opportunities that I expected to see. Here are two examples.
Looking and Finding
Sometimes I’m limited by location when it comes to photo opportunities. Traveling to places where there may be unlimited possibilities is great, but I find that’s not as simple as it once was given age and health. So, I have to look harder closer to home.
Focus on “Little” Things
I have developed a habit over the years to view things around me, no matter the subject, and wondering whether or not what I see would make an interesting photo. That’s easy when I’m in a prime location with spectacular views all around me. It’s more challenging elsewhere. It’s in those locations where my habit has been the most beneficial. Here are a few examples.
The “little” thing here is the missing window pane. I didn’t see that until after I downloaded the image. My initial interest was the age and style of the building. The missing glass was my reward for “looking.”
The building facade of stone is what I liked about this image. One does not see this sort of early 20th Century architecture that often. The stained glass church window below, surrounded by the detailed brickwork, is what caught my eye.
I could have photoshopped this photo to “light the lamp.” That would have been fun to do, but not for publication. When I made this image I thought about returning at night to see it lit for real. But, I figured it was fine as is.
