New 2017 Calendars

My new calendars for 2017 are out.

Click Here to purchase  and to view larger images. Thank you for your support. 😊

It's Spring In the Valley. Time for Nesting!

It's Spring time in the Shenandoah Valley and all the birds large and small are breeding and nesting. Spring is off to a chilly start with some night time lows in the 30's and the chance of snow this weekend but the little bursts of color from the flowering trees and the breeding wild turkeys confirm that "yes it really is Spring" even if the weather says otherwise. Happy Spring everyone! :-)



I'm a hobby photographer with professional dreams and my photography is self sustaining at this point but if you wish to contribute to funding my dreams, prints and greeting cards are available below, just click on the images below.  Any little bit is much appreciated! :-)  :

Birds Birds Birds!

I decided to spend a day with the birds a couple of days ago. The top photo is a pine warbler, the middle a white breasted nuthatch who actually picked up that chunk of suet that was the same size as him and promptly dropped it Lol! He bit off more than he could chew but I retrieved it for him so he could finish his meal. The bottom photo is a male downy woodpecker. These were shot using my Nikon 2.8 70-200 VR lens on a tripod (VR mode turned off since it was on the tripod which can actually cause blurry photos if left on while on a tripod). I hope to one day be a full time professional nature and landscape photographer but at this point in time my  photo sales are just enough to sustain my photography as a hobby and pay for my website and a savings plan towards better gear. If you would like to contribute to my journey to professional photographer, my photos can be purchased as greeting cards, prints , canvases, iphone & Galaxy cases and throw pillows.  Thanks for stopping by. Photo Links below if you wish to purchase anything :

Return To Massanutten Spring With The Big Camera

About a week ago I found a little mountain spring  that was a 2 mile day hike from our home. I only had my cell phone with at the time so I snapped a photo with my litle Galaxy. I knew I wanted to return with my "Big Camera". So I set out to return yesterday with my Nikon D300 and a 2.8 17-35 mm lens, a circular polarizer and a two neutral density filters (a 4 and a 10) and a tripod and cable release. For some reason the hike seemed sooo much harder than the first time! When I returned with an aching back and sore knee I realized once I got home and weighed my photo gear that I was toting 11 lbs! Oh well I got a good work out in and a photo I'm pretty happy with. Here is the resulting photo from my hike. I hope you enjoy it too and feel a sense of peace from it like I did when I was there.

Prints and greeting cards can be purchased HERE if you would like to support my photography endeavors. Thanks for stopping by my blog and feel free to share my blog. :-)

Beauty In Our Own Backyard

Sometimes you don't have to go as far as you think in search of photo inspiration. I was recently lucky enough to make a new friend  who told my hiking buddy & I about a trail that we didn't even know existed that ends at this beautiful little spring. I was super excited when I first found out about it and and wanted to check it out to see if it was worth bringing my SLR camera and a tripod and it turns out it is! I shot this with my my phone but I'm definitely going to return with my big camera and tripod soon. It's a good work out too. It takes a total of about 2 hours round trip from the woods behind our house with a good deal of it going up the mountain and then down the other side so I'll be getting back in shape in my quest for beautiful photos too which is a win win! :-)

Seeing A Photo's Potential

BEFORE:

AFTER:  

I was going to scrap this photo until my husbad asked about the photos from our Passage Creek shoot. I thought that I didn't have anything worth trying to salvage after viewing the photos and I was kicking myself for shooting into the sun. I was so excited about trying my new Ice ND 10 filter and Indoro tripod legs with Benro ball head that my brain just said "shoot some moving water" and I neglected to take things into account like what happens when you shoot into the sun ie. flares and sun spots! Oopsie! So I found the one with the best exposure, edited in light room and then got to cropping and editing in PS Elements 11 to see what I could do with it. After I found a crop I liked, I cleaned up the rest with the spot healing tool and cloning tool and a little noise reduction on the water with Topaz Denoise and then some selective sharpening with Topaz Detail and a little  dynamic contrast adjustment in Topaz Adjut 5 on the detailed areas like the rocks and trees. The first photo is the originial with some light room edits, the second is after PS Elements/ Topaz adjustments. Sometimes it's good to give photos a second look before "filing" in the recycle bin. :-)

Prints can be purchased Here

Shenandoah Valley Sunrise 2-11-16

Good very chilly morning from the Shenandoah Valley near Luray, VA. Temp was 17 degrees this morning! I shot this on my new tripod combination this morning. Loving it so far, it's not super heavy and holds everything nice and steady and is simple to use which is good when you haven't finished your coffee yet! :-) . I got some Induro legs and a Benro ball head here: Here and Here at B & H Photo.

Shenandoah Valley Sunrise 2-6-16

Good Morning from the Shenandoah Valley near Luray, Virginia :-)

Shenandoah Valley Sunrise Feb. 1, 2016

Good Morning from the Shenandoah Valley. After a blizzard at the end of January, we have melted out to warmer temperatures. Today it's currently 52 degrees! A nice Spring preview for sure! :)