The stage is an enchanting place

My Friend Sheila Kay Adams, graciously allowed me to photograph her on stage at the ISIS and White Horse over the past weekend. Here is some of the magic.

I set my old dumb ass down in front of the stage at the White Horse until Sheila finally noticed me.

Boy, it is hard to get up off the floor nowadays!

This is her banjo, it is hand made and makes music that fills the soul.

Another one from the White Horse. See how I tried to frame her inside those people. I'm gonna try and make it better.

Story tellin' at the ISIS.

Now we hear that voice that carries history, soul and passion in her every song.

A Mini Mushroom

I was going to work one morning and saw, through the corner of my eye a little quarter sized thing on the ground. Upon further inspection...
I pulled out my camera and played around with different exposures and lens and finally, after only about 20 shots got this one.

Some saw this said they thought the clover was a distraction. I kinda like it because it gives a little perspective. What do you think?


olc

During the setup for the 9060 party, the girls were putting together a memory board. From left to right is the Runtyun, my Mother, my cousin, the originator of the whole idea, my sister.
Thanks guys for doing such a great jobs!

OLC

I first got this camera, my first DSLR and went around a river park. Unfortunately, I did not have the background to understand some of the aspects of digital photography. I saw this guy and his person sitting on a bench. He knew I was up to something and kept his eyes on me. I don't think his person even knew I excited. I like the smile.

OLC

My Mother celebrated her 90th birthday this year. Not only that, but my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. We had a party, but before the party The Runtyun and I went to Katuah Market to see what their food was like. This is a sample of a Vegetable roll-up they offered. Yes it tasted as good as it looks!

OLC

The Runtyun was out shopping with a friend and I had a few minutes to play. Unfortunately, my time was cut short, due to efficient shopping practices,(who would have thought with a teen ager and all!)  because I think there may have been a few more interesting pics, this one was the first image I took  and I think it was the fore bringer of many more. The Runtyun, however had used up her money and gotten  some really nice things. Thanks Chris!

OLC

Mommy and the kids

I was sitting in my backyard when this family went by me on their way home after a day of foraging. I had to get my camera and that set the nervous mom to walking a little faster, but I think I did pretty good anyhow.

olc

A leaf in ice

I was sitting in my back yard when these guys passed by on their way home from a days foraging. Unfortunately, I had to get my camera and that started Mommy and they all started to walk away. I think they were about 75 feet from me when I finally got this image. No PP, just straight from the camera.


olc

So there I am at the super market and I hear a couple talking about see a bald eagle. My ears begin to burn and I eavesdrop a little hoping to learn where the sighting is. No luck. Finally I draw up my courage and ask them where they saw the birds. They were nice enough to to tell me a general location.

Segway a few hours, actually the next morning and it is really cold—I hate cold weather and this is one reason I moved Asheville. (well the best laid plans and all…), I am close to where I think I may have a chance to see the eagles. It is cold and the sky is calm with nothing flying higher then a foot off the water. Like I said I do not like the cold so I have lots of cloths on which all culminate in jeans worn til there are holes and a hoody sweatshirt and fleece vest. I did not do this on purpose, but think of Jax in Sons of Anarchy. I am walking around the park, with camera in hand, and finally realizing what some one might think when a park ranger just sorta shows up to look over some lights near by. 

I take inventory.

So I go over to the guy and ask him about the eagles. He still does not loosen up, but he stays around and tries to look like he is doing something besides checking me out. Finally, he sees my camera and tripod and I see his shoulders relax a little. We talk and he says that he thinks the eagles have nested over there someplace, but they come by the park and hunt. Now we are talking! I have some kind of idea as to game plan.

I tell him I understand about disturbing Bald Eagles and their nest, but that I really want to get a few shots. He begins to relax  even more and tells me about a hunt he witnessed. I asked what time did this happen. Middle of the day, was his reply. This blows my idea of dawn or dusk.

Now for the reason why I am posting this here. “About time,” you think rather loudly! Does any one out there have any enlightenment as to the habits of Bald Eagles in Western NC?


OLC

A day on 74A

Well, I got this bright idea to go and take some pics go motorcycles...dunno why, it jus felt like a fun thing to do. The Runtyun said she would come too. So what did I have to loose. Here are the best of what I took. There will be a learning curve. But I think I have the basics.

Let me know what you think.

olc

The last two were taken at Hickory Nut Gap Farms. I really want to know which one is the better of the them.

Thanks, olc

Dad at the Blue Sky Cafe

I took this on my Fathers 88th birthday.

I love you Dad!


olc

The Princess getting her fingers done

Recently we had a celebration for my mother and Father. It was a great todo requiring much planning. My Runtyun, the Princess, had to look just right. This was the first step. There were a few more, though I felt she was beautiful just the way she was!

Thanks Princess Ellie!

So, the set of 3 extensions has 3 different lengths, a 13mm, 21mm and 31mm They do stuff to make the image bigger, or they allow me to put the subject closer to the lens for more detailed resolution. I spent all night on my birthday taking pictures of a cute bear candle using various lenses and F-stops and shutter speeds. Being methodical, I shot with my 50mm lens, then the 18-55 at three different mm. 18mm, 35mm and 55m. Finally, I used the 55mm-250mm at 55mm, 130mm and 250mm. With all three lenses I started at the largest aperture, or opening and stopped down to the smallest. By doing this I was working with delta of field, or the range in which the subject was in focus. In some cases, only a portion of the bear’s face was in focus, while in others the whole bear was not only in view but in focus.

In the background, I put some Christmas tree lights to see how the different apertures received the light, thus affecting the shape of the representation of the bulbs. It turns out that the narrower the Depth of Field was, the more depth of field was revealed in the xmas lights. The aperture also affected the shape of the bulb, sometimes it was perfectly round, while other times the bulbs were six sided. All of these things were expected, I just wanted to do the experiment and prove it for myself. Some of the pictures are really nice, though the biggest lesson I learned was that in order to use the long lens, I’ll need to get much further way from my subject than my kitchen table allows.

So feast your eyes on the pictures and let me know what yo think!

THANKS! olc

BTW, I did no Post Production on any of the images.

A couple more

Pigeon Love

I found these guysin a park while my van was being worked on. They looked pretty happy so I had to take their picture for posterity.


olc

Biltmore Plaque

I was walking around and saw this plaque on the Biltmore HQ in Biltmore Village. I liked the shine.


olc

Mom in all her color

My Mother.


olc

Feed Me!

This was a squash The Runtyun was growing. The Blossom just peeked out and said, "Feed Me."

A smile from the queen

My mother

We were at the fine place called the Blue Sky Cafe. We have been there before and enjoyed their ambiance a few times. Mom likes their roll-ups!


olc

Dreamin' 'bout ridin'

Some times it seems like I spend more time working on the Grinner, than riding it!

Cloud Burst in Color

A pretty flower

Cute Little Girl in the park

I love the happy, yet accidental, thumbs up she has. The Runtyun and I were celebrating Friday Night during the summer. This little girl was dancing during the Drum Circle at Pritchard Park I don't think this video was the same night, but it may give you an idea of the energy  the evening gives.

Mini Mushroom

I wanted to try out the macro ability of a lens, so I got about 6 inches from this delicate little thing.


olc

My Dad

We were enjoying dinner at a local place called the BlueSky Cafe

olc

This guy wants a ride!

We were getting ready to go for a ride. I was packing the bike when I saw this tag along.

olc

The Power Plant

One evening The Runtyun and I went to the local power company runoff lake, Lake Juian. We walked around a little and finally I saw this.

Streaks in the sky

As a courier, I do lots of deliveries. Many of the places I go to are personal homes and others are to businesses. Most of the time, for most deliveries we never go back unless the customer is getting a number of packages. However for a few accounts we have a schedule and make deliveries on a planned basis. I can build a relationship with some of these recurring customers.

One of these customers in particular has a rather challenging life, yet his attitude is always gracious and welcoming. He has a garden and I think that it fulfills him in ways that I cannot understand. From his garden the earth gives him sustenence in the form of vegetables and herbs. The man has found it in his heart to share some of our earth's bounty with me. For this my life and my Runtyun's life are better.

Thank you sir for your generosity!

I had delivery in Tennessee one early Saturday morning and decided to take my new camera along with me just incase I had the opportunity to get some shots. Well, 100 shots later, one stood out. There were others but I saw that this one had potential.

After working on it and trying to find the sun rays and pulling out the colors and definition I came up with this image. When I took it down to the local photo shop to get it printed, I was disappointed to find out that the file size was too small for a good sized printout. Needless to say I was a little disheartened. After hours and hours of post production versions of the image, more than 20 at a guess, to find out the image would not work---well you can guess at my feelings.

I went home and decided to print it on my cheap desktop printer to see what the image would look like and guess what! It was beautiful! So I went down to the local CVS to use their printing kiosk. I figured that for less than $5.00 if it was no good...

The image came out beautifully and I plan to matte it and give it to my friend at my next opportunity.


olc

A leaf at the end of summer

I had spent the afternoon at a nice little place called the Straightaway Cafe. The music was good and beer flavorful, I drink beer for the taste. Really, I do! It was time to get the Runtyun who had been spending the day with her youth group and I arrived a little early, so I walked around and saw this leaf about ten feet off the ground.

A great time to check out the new lens!

From my back porch on the first day of the State Fair

I took this image the other night. The most striking thing about the scene was the incredible whiteness of the cloud against the blue sky background. When I went to PP to have a look, the image was not very inspiring, so I used a filter to create a Black and White rendering. I also tried to use a little framing around the parameter to highlight the cloud itself.