Blue Ridge blog

Giving you the bird(s)!

After work I went to the Valle Crucis Park. The weather was behaving and I wanted to see the havoc recent rains had wrought. There was some devastation, but the birds didn't seem to care. I saw many robins, including this one (top) perched on a fallen branch near the pond.

Later I saw a Blue Heron strolling and dipping his feathers in the waters. I scared it at first and it flew away only to return within minutes. I stalked it for a while, squishing my brand new sneaks in the mud, until he tired of me and flew down the Watauga's stream.

I returned home at dusk and noticed foreign globs in the trees. I finally figured out the blobs were turkeys perched way up in the poplars. I pulled out my 300mm lens and scooted 'round the woods till I could find a respectable silhouette.

Keeping it real

This is a photo I took yesterday morning while leaving Valle Cruics Park.
Today, I haven't done much other than change out bloody gauze for fresh and ponder images in a Joyce Tenneson book given to me by a dear friend.
Let me explain.
My baby had her wisdom teeth extracted today. As her caregiver, I have stayed by her side, patting her hand, dutifully exchanging ice packs, but mostly forcing pain pills down her gullet. When she has not been lucid, I have enjoyed picking up the book and gazing at the photographs within, wondering at her art.
My friend, an accomplished photographer himself, was fortunate to spend a week at a Maine workshop studying with Tenneson. Before his departure I had told him of my insane envy because Tenneson is one of my favorite American female photographers. I was introduced to her work back in 1997 during a gallery showing in New Orleans. She was experimenting heavily with polaroid products at the time and her portrait images were etheral and haunting. And they still are.
My friend met me at the doctor's office and sat with me while my daughter was under the knife, all the while entertaining me with the details of his adventure and keeping me from worry.
Then he gave me the book. Inscribed by Tenneson inside is:
"For Marie, A Lady of Courage and Grit! Joyce 2007"
I laughed outloud when I read the words and said to my friend,
"She doesn't know me."
He replied,
"No, but I told her about you."
Somehow, I loved his words best of all.

Want to know other contemporary American female photographers I admire?
Sally Mann, Mary Ellen Mark, check out this photo she made down in Valdese. And then there is the not so contemporary because she is dead, Diane Arbus. Last but not least is Cindy Sherman.

On dragonfly photography...

After a total of 6 hot hours focused on shooting dragonflies (or snakefeeders, as my husband calls 'em) I now know a thing or two about the little boogers.
First, they are fast, but with a bit of patience, I learned there is a vague pattern to their behavior, depending upon the particular variety.
Second, the day must be hot and sunny for the dudes and damsels to come out and play. I used my macro 105 mm 2.8 lens and my 80-200mm 2.8 lens in manual focus mode only. Forget any fantasy thoughts of using the camera in continuous auto-focus mode in capturing dragoflies. My technology ain't there yet.
My original mission was to shoot dragonflies in motion in their habitat. I know. That was a funny. After a dose of reality and more than enough sweat in my eyes, I altered my self-imposed goal to simply be happy getting a successful image at all. I found 3 locations around the pond at Valle Crucis to sit in wait. All photos were taken in the afternoon between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. I found that overexposing a wee bit helps bring out the shadows on the bodies of the dragonflies. Most of these shots have minimal post-processing although some curve and contrast correction in Photoshop was necessary. I found the percentage of shots in focus increased when I increased the depth of field, especially when trying to capture more than one insect in a frame. I shot hundreds of photos which had either the face, tail or wings of the bugs in focus--depth of field in macro mode at high shutter speeds just isn't as easy as it sounds. When shooting dragonflies, bring a sit-upon otherwise you will get a wet butt.
This is my husband's favorite shot. I think probably because they look like bad asses here. By the way, I asked my him why he calls them snakefeeders and he said that his mom always called 'em that because where you find snakefeeders, you'll find snakes...

A Snake Feeder rests upon a reed in Valle Crucis pond

More on dragonflies later...

On the family front:
Awww, I'm so proud. While shopping downtown Boone yesterday, my youngest bought her first hippie dress to wear for her senior portrait. I just knew one of my daughters would enter into a 'Boonie' phase.
My eldest has one month of play until she enters college life. But oh wait, wasn't that a redundant phrase?

Just another married couple...

Nope. This isn't a representational photo of my husband and me. Rather, we are basking in the glory of not only having raised a bona fide high school graduate, but also having a house reclaimed from beloved, but 'glad they're gone' family.
These are just some old birds hashing out their own little issues at Valle Crucis Park today.
I'm tired. I don't remember the process of my graduation from high school in 1981 lasting for two whole weeks. Like every thing these days, I believe it is a bit overdone. Not to belittle the accomplishments of my kids or yours, but sheesh, must we clap at every mediocre act they do? For me, it only makes failure seem almost average.
I'm just sayin'....and I'm tired.

Valle Crucis Park

This is the Mast Store Annex as scene from underneath the tree near the old bathrooms in Valle Crucis park. Yesterday I took a small walk in the park. Except for the red roof of the store, everything seemed to be colored linen white, polarizer blue and appalachian spring green. Ya know what I mean? Planet Earth was colored some intense shades.
Oh and, the excitement of the day? Some friends and I listened on the police scanner as the deputies chased some foolish young man attached to a Honda crotch rocket fly through the town of Boone at speeds in excess of 130 mph. My editor yelled at me, " Hey Marie, go get a photo." I laughed. "Yeah, let's fire up the old news helicopter parked out back." Fortunately, the maniac motorcyclist escaped without becoming a mere greasy spot on the road and he didn't hurt anyone else in the process. Unfortunately, (that is, unless you are a Smokey and the Bandit fan ) he also eluded the law. He was wearing a red helmet, was riding a silver and red Honda bike and was last seen in Trade, Tennessee.
Speaking of Tennessee and colors, yesterday looked just like to the Appalachia flag on the top of my side bar designed by the talented Tennessee Jed. This post explains his philosophy in flying the Appalachia flag. He is a wise Obvious Prophet, that Jed, he is.

Release

Weird as it may seem, this was the very first shot I took of the dandelion and the only almost successful one. It seemed so simple with the first shot; I plucked the dandelion at the base, poked it into a stick of a small tree, used my SB-800 in off-camera remote mode and waited for a gusty breeze. That's all. I took many shots while folks passing in Valle Crucis park wondered what the heck I was doing. I like this shot. My only criticism of it is I wish there had been a couple of fluffy out-of-focus clouds in the background and that the released seeds weren't blurred so much. I reckon they were in a hurry to depart the mothership. Frankly, I blame my Nikon D70. It ain't up to rapid fire required for this particular task. Oh well.

On the family side:
Both my girls are in pre-AP-exam mode. How to I recognize the signs? Easy. Both are voluntarily cleaning their rooms. Talk about activity avoidance. My eldest did say today that this upcoming week would be the worst one of her life with the stress of 3 APs and one AP project due, but she is looking forward to life afterward. I resisted the tempatation of telling her all about college exams.

Checking out a hillside overlooking Valle Crucis

Look! It is a random hillside photograph. My husband and I made a couple of figure eight laps around Valle Crucis Park yesterday evening. We were walking on the front side of the park looking towards the old Baird farm when I noticed a white tree heavily backlit by the setting sun. It was approximately 6:30 p.m. I had my camera and 200mm lens with me, but had left my sunshade in the Jeep. My patient husband held out his ball cap and I wiggled my position around enough so I could limit the sun's flare. He's a good man. But I maintain he is also fortunate I don't like to shop. It all evens out, I reckon.