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.

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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! :-)

My First Public Exhibition

I'm super excited! My baloon photo was chosen among the photos of Vincent Warrick & Neal Lewis to be hung in a display in the Page Memorial Hospital. The hospital recently moved into a brand new building and this display is seen as you walk in the front entrance of the hospital. The hospital wanted to showcase local photographers myself included.  More photos from Vincent Warrick can be seen here . And more phototos from Neal Lewis can be seen here. What an honor to be shown with two amazing photographers! 

Feeding Winter Birds

Here are a few of my favorite winter birds in the Shenandoah Valley:

These little beauties "will work for food" and seem more than happy to pose for me when given their favorite tasty bird treats.

We have three feeders in the winter months to help our little bird locals get through the winter months.

We feed them home made suet, black oil sunflower seeds and safflower seeds. The cardinals really like the safflower seeds.


My home made suet attracts a wide
variety of birds ranging from
woodpeckers, to wrens.

 Here is a loose recipe for my home made suet:

I buy the store bought suet for the
little plastic molds that they come in and then I use those for my home made suet. The birds will eat the store bought but they devour my home made.

Recipe:

Melted Lard (not Crisco but real lard) Maybe about two or two and 1/2 cups
Once melted, remove pan from heat and add about a cup of peanut butter
Add about a 1/2 a small bag of cornmeal
Add about 2 cups of black oil sunflower seed
Add enough flour until the consistancy is about that of cookie dough
Scoop into the molds and put in the refrigerator or freezer until hard and then you can pop them right out of the mold and put them in any suet feeder.

Good Morning It's A Great Day to Be A Photographer

Some days are better than others. Today was certainly one of those that falls into the better category. My morning routine is to wake up in the morning, drink a nice cup of French roast coffee and check my emails and Facebook. I had been feeling a little blue about my photography lately and started wondering if I should continue to put so much energy into it since my sales had drastically dropped off. Well this morning the powers that be told me loud and clear to keep going! 

 I first saw a message from a friend on Facebook that said they had seen my photo on the Washington D.C.NBC 4 Weather News . I submit my photos to them when I get a pretty sunrise or snow scene and sometimes I'm lucky enough to have a photo shown during the weather segment. Thank you Tom Kierein! 

Then I got another message in Facebook from   Shenandoah River Outfitters requesting to use one of my photos for thier website in exchange for two free kayak trips on the beautiful Shenandoah River!  How could I refuse?  The photo above is the one that Shenandoah River Outfitters wants to use on their website. 

The photo below is the one that was shown on the Washington D.C.NBC 4 Weather News this morning. 

To anyone reading this blog, I hope you all have a great day too! :-)

The Colors of Winter

Winter is often devoid of color here in the Shenandoah Valley when all of the deciduous trees shed their leaves and the farmer's fields turn brown... but sometimes we are blessed with vivid colors in the middle of winter like this double rainbow that graced the valley yesterday.


 

 After the clouds parted we were blessed with this colorful sky. The sky appeared to be on fire with warm and welcome tangerine and orange hues. I'm so thankful for the colorful days of winter that give me hope that Spring really is just around the corner!










If you would like to support my photographic endeavors, please click below to purchase greeting cards or prints. I create my photography on a shoe string budget and do not pay for any advertising, so please feel free to help spread the word about my photography and share my blog or photos! Thanks for any help in allowing me to follow my passion, it's much appreciated! :-)


 

The Cicadas Are Here!

After 17 years of slumber the 17 year cicadas have emerged here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They emerged from the ground and left their little shells hanging on plants and trees everywhere. Some people think they are creepy and gross but they are fascinating to this nature lover. I was delighted to have such a willing subject to try my macro lens out on. They are docile little creatures. I even held one on my finger and had one perch on my wrist. They don't bite and despite the rumors they are not a plague that will destroy all trees and crops in it's path like locusts would. In fact they are not locusts at all. A grasshopper is more closely related to a locust than a cicada is. 

The high pitched "singing" that sounds like an alien spaceship about to land is made by the males and is their mating song. Here is a sample of the high pitched cicada mating song I recorded this morning.

After they mate the females will make little slits in tree bark where they will deposit their eggs. In 6 weeks or so little ant like white nymphs will hatch out and make their way to the ground where they will begin their journey into the ground. The burrow anywhere from two to 24 inches down. While living underground they feed on plant roots sucking out the juice with their little sucker mouth parts. When the conditions are just right 17 years later they will emerge again.  

Every 17 years not only will their arrival be an event for us humans living in the Eastern United State to see and hear (they are not found anywhere else in the world but in the United states)  but they are a dining event for fish and birds and animals as well. Moles are said to dine on the fully grown larva right before they emerge. Some brave humans even eat them! They are said to taste like shrimp or asparagus and they are low in fat and high in protein. I won't be one of those brave culinary pioneers though! This nature lover prefers to just observe them.