January 31, 2007

• The Next Step…

  Exploring!
  
  
  At the end of my last post, I left you with a taste of an
  exploration trip with my buddy Don. Our first stop was
  the Chicamauga battlefield park… I grabbed a few shots
  there that I personally found to be pretty darn cool!
  
  Remember the image on my last post “Red Wall”?
  Well, here’s a shot of the building that inspired it.
  
  
  “Peaceful Refuge”
  
  
  
  
  A few hundred yards further down the path we came to another small
  building and Don and I peeked in through the cast iron gate it had for a door.
  
  
  “Curious”
  
  
  
  
  I know, I know… Lens flare is evil.
  Somehow though, I like the way it lends mystery to certain images.
  It’s also a throwback to my love of the sky I suppose…. Ties things
  to reality in an odd way.
  
  
  And as I’m already thinking whimsically, let me give you a brief intro
  on my friend Don… In all honesty, he’s one of the main reasons I am
  where I am today in photography. In April of last year, he helped buy
  me my first digital SLR, in exchange for my old camera and old laptop.
  
  A steller deal for me, I’ll tell you, and one of many that he’s blessed me
  with. Though I have lots of friends, he has persistently done his best to
  be there for me, and to stand by while I’ve run all over the continent and
  made many changes in my life over the past 2.5 years we’ve been friends,
  he continues to remain one of my most trust worthy friends.
  
  Don’s a highschool teacher from North TN, who after watching a man die
  on a motorcycle, took it upon himself to do his best to equip riders with the
  safety gear that could save their lives. We met after he offered to give me a
  set of boots that I desperately needed, but couldn’t afford to buy anywhere
  else. I told him that he was my “new best friend” and I suppose it stuck
  pretty well. Any way, I know he’ll be reading this, so thank you again Don!
  
  
  If you want, go check out his semi-new blog and encourage him to post more!
  He has some hilarious stories to tell, and some excellent photography that I
  know you would all enjoy.
  
  http://www.xanga.com/dghamby
  
  
  
  Back to my tale.
  
  At the same stop, I caught this image of a re-created wooden fence.

  
  “Wooden Fortress”
  
  
  
  
  Remember, all of these were taken at the end of October,
  so the Fall colors were in full effect! Look for more of
  them later in this post.

  Let’s fast forward a couple more stops.
  In the distance, Don and I could see a really cool monument
  that looked far too much like a chess piece to not photograph.
  A few careful turns and we were in it’s shadow.
  
  
  “Chess Anyone?”

  
  

  In looking at that image again, it looks a bit like it’s listing to the left.
  Ahh well, too many images to edit!

  Let me do a little two step on you, and take ya’ back a few hours…
  On the drive down from my loft in Dayton, we passed a couple of
  insanely cool spots that warrented turning around and capturing.
  The first one is this:

  
  “Fallen Driveway”

  

  I just couldn’t resist the light and colors…

  *Side note on this image… Here’s a perfect representation of
  a shot that was totally screwed up, then fixed by photoshop.
  I took this one with my white balance improperly set… A warm up
  filter in PS quickly set that right, then some selective curves were
  played with to show what I saw on that cool October day.*
  

  After I jumped back in the truck I discovered my mistake, rectified
  it and hopped out again less than a mile later to shoot a building that
  I’d seen countless times but had never taken the time to stop and capture.

  
  “Overgrown”

  
  

  I just love that little shed/ home… Each time I drive past it,
  it’s one step further towards falling down, yet somehow it’s
  beauty grows with it’s distress.

  From the battlefield, we drove South into Georgia.
  After a fairly long drive we made our way into
  “Cloudland Canyon State Park”.

  If you’ve never been, I HIGHLY recommend it, it’s gorgeous!

  
  Me at Cloudland:

  

  I gave my film SLR to my friend Heather the month before,
  so Don let me borrow his Pentax to play with along with
  my D-SLR… Fun stuff.

  A moment after that shot was taken, another photographer took my
  place… He was equipped with not one, but TWO Canon 5D’s so I
  knew that this was the kind of guy I had to talk to.

  Turns out that he and his wife shoot stock photography all over
  the East coast. Their work has even been featured in National Geographic!
  We exchanged emails a few times, and I hope to meet up with them the
  next time they make the commute from Virginia.

  Photographer at Cloudland:

  

  I’ll have to check through my email box to find their photo album
  addres… Their work is gorgeous!

  As we walked back through the parking lot, I captured this image
  of a picnic spot with a serious chimney!

  

  Gosh, I love Fall colors.

  The next stop for us was the “Lookout Mountain Hang Glider Park”

  As soon as we arrived, I spotted this guy, looking across the horizon,
  seemingly planning his next flight.

  “Lookout”

  

  A quick look to the left or right revealed a plethora of gliders
  and their pilots all awaiting their next launch.

  

  Gosh, even just looking at these pictures is making
  me miss hang gliding!

  The only thing in the air while we were there was a group of
  these RC gliders… They were awesome to watch!

  

  Perhaps the highlight of this stop was chatting with a guy on a
  motorcycle and discovering that he knew a lot of the people from the
  hang glider park that I used to fly out of , and that he’d even flown into
  my old airport!

  Such a small world.

  It’s now 3:15 AM, it’s time to hit the sack.
  Will do my best to finish this post tomorrow.

  Blessings to you all!

  ~Eric

  
  

  • 3:14 am
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