Each year I do a calendar from some of my photos for my family. I use Qoop to create my photos because (A) they do a pretty good job and (B) they are a bit cheaper than some of the alternatives. What they lack, though, is a good space for text, so the photos have no descriptions. Therefore, I’ve started putting the descriptions here each year.
Cover – Looking Glass Falls
This is a photo of Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest north of Brevard, North Carolina. Normally, there are tons of people here, and it’s hard to get a shot. We were there on a spring morning in the middle of the week, so it wasn’t very crowded.
The photo was taken with a longer exposure time to give the falls that silky look, then processed in Photoshop with the ReDynamix plug-in to bring out the details.
January – Railroad in Snow and Fog
January’s photo is actually several years old. We had a two-hour delay because some light snow, but I had decided to come on into the office. I also decided I had some time for breakfast, so I drove over to the Lyman Cafe. As I was crossing the railroad near my office, the fog, snow, and bend in the tracks caught my attention. This was the result, shot out the window of my car.
February – I-385 Traffic Trails
February’s shot was a repeat of one I had taken before. Overbrook Drive crosses I-385 right at a point where the freeway curves into downtown Greenville. Chip and I were out shooting some long-exposure shots one day last spring, and I captured this one. The long exposures turns head lights and tail lights into traffic trails.
March – Twin Sisters Peaks
For March I selected a photo that was taken last summer. The photo is of the Twin Sisters Peaks in the Cascade Range in Washington State. Laura’s mother’s next door neighbor, Duff, was taking us for a ride through the foothills of Whatcom County one afternoon. I pulled over at a wide spot in the road and took this shot.
April – Lilies at the Water Line
I’m always combining photography with my other love, paddling. For April I selected a shot that was taken on a trip to Lake Marion with my friends from Lowcountry Unfiltered. We set out from Carolina King Landing on the east side of the lake and paddled around Persanti Island, looking for geocaches along the way. In addition to geocaches, we found lots and lots of water lilies in bloom.
This shot was taken with a little Fujifilm waterproof camera. I held it right at the waterline to get this shot. It was then processed in Photoshop with the ReDynamix plugin.
May – California Gulls
A couple of years ago Laura and I headed to San Jose, California to visit her cousins. We took a side trip to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. After our visit, we walked along the sea walk down toward Carmel-by-the-Sea. These sea gulls were posing out on the rocks.
June – Coneflower
Each summer I have to take the obligatory coneflower shot, and this summer was no different. I usually use a macro lens, but this time I just used a telephoto to get a narrow depth of field.)
July – Heron Taking Flight
Out on the flats, the reclaimed farmland on the way out to Samish Island in Washington State, there are some wetlands where wading birds gathered. Last summer we stopped one evening on the way out to the island to capture this shot.
August – Lummi Sunset
This is yet another one from last summer’s Washington trip. The shot was taken on the north shore of Samish Island. The sun is setting over Lummi Peak and Samish Bay.
The shot was taken with my little waterproof camera after a late afternoon kayaking trip.
September – Egrets and Trestle
Alan and I took our kayaks down to Low Falls Landing on Lake Marion back last fall. I liked the pattern of the trestle with the birds in front.
October – Furman Japanese Garden
It was a perfect fall day and the colors were spectacular, so I headed up to Furman University to take some shots. This picture was taken in the Japanese Garden across one of the pools. The shot was processed with Photoshop using the ReDynamix plugin.
November – Kayaks from Cockspur Lighthouse
This was from another Lowcountry Unfiltered trip, and the photo has an interesting story. We had paddled from Tybee Island out to Cockspur Lighthouse. Most of us had climbed to the top to admire the view, but a couple of our compadres decided not to attempt the difficult dismount from kayak to make the climb. We called them wimps.
This photo was taken just before the kayaks came untied and floated away with the tide. As we watched them float off, our two friends whom we had recently derided were now graciously rounding up our boats and towing them back. Ah, the humble taste of shoe leather.
December – Cedar Falls Dam
Cedar Falls is a new park in southern Greenville County. It’s at the site of an old textile mill on the Reedy River.
I set up my tripod in a low, ground level configuration for a long exposure shot. This was the result.
So, these are the photos for 2012. Enjoy!
Wow! Perhaps the most evocative is the railroad in snow and fog for January. Though that February 385 shot is “urban night techno.” Good stuff.