January mix

We've been having the first "real" (read "icky") winter since I arrived in Greenville 5 years ago.  Not a lot of tolerable sunshine or warmish cloudiness for taking pictures, so it's been a good time to learn some new techniques. I've been working on water and found a nice, quiet place to shoot when we've had some (too much?) rain.

Interestingly, there  is a stand of bamboo near the little falls and suddenly Greenville can look tropical even on a chilly, soft day.

Something there is that loves a wall...

I guess it's me.  I find myself wanting to photograph interesting walls, and here's the latest.  I think the paint was applied to cover up graffeti, but it sure made an otherwise ordinary wall much more interesting.  This is along a lovely walking path in downtown Greenville. 

Agua

I've been reading a lot about photo technique and trying to learn to slow down water to get that wonderful motion look. I've tried several times but was not happy with the results.  I never took the written instructions with me, so after a lot of trial and error, and error, I finally learned my lesson on Sunday.  We had MORE rain over the weekend and the rivers were raging, so we headed to a favorite spot (as yet mostly undiscovered) to try more shots of water.  I was a little dismayed when we arrived to see just how raging the river was, but we gave it a shot.  I still wasn't having any luck - tripod and all - when I looked at Wayne's picture and saw it was exactly what we were looking for.  After taking a look at his camera settings, I changed mine and instantly had more luck.  We spent the next several hours taking waterfall shots around the Greenville area.

I've got more to learn, but I'm so happy with the 1st days results.

painting a wall

We were in Clayton, GA for a few days and came out of the biting cold to have a delicious pizza at Zeppalins.  This is a wall that caught my eye.  The first shot is as I took it - hand held, no flash.

I've played around with it a lot but probably don't yet have the perfect finished product.  Most people prefer a very colorful version.  It's quite fun to work with something so basic and see what it becomes.

Time flies

Here it is the next year already and we are way behind posting photos.  So, here is one from New Years Day taken from the top of Black Rock Mtn in north GA.   It was a beautiful day - warmish down by the Chatooga, but really cold and windy at the top of the mountain.  Lots of nice views in the winter, but this was one of the nicest.  Very little adjustment here.  The trick was to sit on the cold, wet ground behind a post to block the sun so I could take this view of the the receeding mountins to the south.