and, sometimes you go back

During our first trip up to Tryon and Saluda we began to lose the light....it was already fairly late in the day and the sun was slipping behind the "mountains."  We decided the views were worth getting up before the sun on Sunday and doing it all over again.  The day dawned with a spectacular sunrise that we were not in place to capture, then the early clouds began to burn off.  As we got higher into the mountains, the temps dropped into the 30's with a very brisk wind....We weren't all dressed for the weather, but did take some lovely pictures.

This view is just outside Saluda heading west.  There is a lovely view of about 180 and a farm driveway perfect for viewing.  As you can see, the color was perfect.

Wandering aimlessly all about.....

Saturday was another day to go exploring to see what we could see....in the end we wandered over to Saluda, NC, then Tryon and back into SC at Landrum.  It turned out to be the peak of color a couple of weeks earlier than normal so we had lots of scenery to enjoy and many pictures to take.
This is a view of the Saluda Grade - "the steepest rail line in America" but it is no longer running any trains :-(.   Wayne took this picture late in the day and then "painted" it with oils.

It would have been exciting to have ridden this line and been able to climb the grade during peak colors!!

Inside the shed

It sounds like a horror movie, but instead it was pretty neat in the shed on the farm we stopped at last weekend.  I just stuck my head in to see what was there, and this is what I saw....bat chairs!
This farm had days worth of photo ops..every door, every hinge, inside and outside of each building, the old fence.....The only thing missing was really good light, but unless you can come back, you take what you have and work with it.  Since this was shot inside a shed, lighting wasn't an issue anyway.

Here they are - the world's first bat chairs.....Inverted and hue adjusted.

An American Beauty

An American Beauty for those of us who were young and crazy in the 50's. Perhaps the cream of the crop: 1955 Chevy! This one sits with its friends in a yard along Hwy 55 in the upstate South Carolina just south of the NC line. Still proudly flying the stars and stripes!

It has been digitally painted and has reclaimed some of it's past glory, and, in fact, may have gained some with age (like the rest/rust of us)

It turns out that old cars lend themselves to photography and give us a chance to preserve their charm and nostalgia for a few more generations. Enjoy!

This and any other photograph you see on our site are available for purchase. We will soon have an internet site, but in the meantime, we can be contacted at backroadsandaliways@gmail.com

Nice folk

I wrote the other day about all the great pictures we were able to take on our way home from Wake Forest. I haven't had a chance to do much, but Wayne has "painted" a few. He also borrowed a sky to add to the drama. Enjoy.

Oh, this is at an old farm along a road we took by mistake. When we got to the "entering NC" sign we turned around and got to stop here and shoot to our hearts content. More to follow.

Great weekend

Just a quick note on a great weekend and art fair in Wake Forest, NC. The weather forecast was iffy, but other than a couple of brief spits of rain it was a great day. We are very encouraged by our sales and the reception.
On the way home we took some "backroads" and got some more great shots to work on. We found an old farm full of completely weathered buildings and the very nice owners let us shoot to our hearts content. Many thanks to them. We are not completely sure where we were at the time, but just tiptoeing along the NC/SC border just west of Charlotte.
Many pictures to follow in a few days.
We also came across an ancient gas station and some rusted old cars.
Backroading really is the way to go!

When it goes right

Last Saturday we took part in our first real "ART" fair. The others have turned out to be crafty, other than just art and attracted people not much interested in buying photographs, so this was going to be our first real test.

The day broke totally fogged in, a little damp and a little chilly. We actually couldn't find the park in the fog though at one point we could see it down below us. Using our human GPS and as much common sense as we could, we finally arrived to set up. Right from the start we were impressed with the quality and creativity we could see in the booths going up around us, so despite the damp, our spirits were lifted.

By the time we got set up the fog was lifting, and by the time the fair officially opened, it had become a bright, gorgeous early fall day and stayed that way right to the end. The occasional stiff breeze kept the temperature comfortable and our well anchored canopy didn't budge.

So, attendance was reasonable, sales were pretty good and people were happy and having a good time. Many who didn't buy still stopped to chat, so we met a lot of interesting people/characters and left feeling very positive about the day.

These are photos of us in the booth. This is our "good weather" set up. Less favorable weather results in different configurations, but we have a very flexible and adaptable booth. We are hoping we get to use this set up in Wake Forest this coming weekend!