North Carolina Mountain Foliage

We recently took a trip up to the mountains in North Carolina to get a taste of fall. I still believe that Florida has seasons, but there is no comparison when it comes to the fall foliage displays of the northern states. We rented a house for a week and we tried to soak up as much mountain and foliage scenery as we could. I didn't take as many photos as usual thanks to a few days of rain and a few days of being sick.

Here is the long view from the deck. It's quite a sight to see these large swaths of forest all changing color. The area around the house was at peak color, or very close to it.

One morning I got up before sunrise to make a few photos since the forecast called for heavy fog. Up in the mountains, the weather never really followed the forecast and it ended up being rather clear. On other "clear" days the area around the house ended up being completely fogged in. Gotta love that mountain weather. Anyway, this waterfall was just a short walk down the gravel road from the house.

While walking back to the house, the sun came up over the mountain and starting streaming through the foggy forest. I made several photos of the light shining on to the forest floor, mainly ferns, but this one was my favorite.

Back at the house, the early morning light combined with the wet leaves of the past two days of rain made the colors really pop.

The opening in the forest in front of the deck acted as a funnel. The fog and clouds would come floating up the mountain and push right over the house.

I couldn't resist a handheld self portrait in front of the blazing colors.

That same day we did some hiking around Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi. The foliage was already done at these elevations, but the summit of Mitchell is mostly weather beaten pines anyway. It was very interesting to walk through such a unique high elevation ecosystem.

Karen took the camera and got a few shots of me with V.

Here is Karen taking in the view.

Back at the house, a setting sun backlights the forest and makes the leaves glow.

I managed to capture a few portraits of V in front of some nice foliage.

During a family hike around the house, we encountered these amazing leaves.

Finally, another view from the deck. The sun had already gone down and it was getting dark. Balancing the camera on the deck rail and using a long shutter speed really brought out the yellows.

Well, that's it for our trip. Karen and briefly lived in Asheville so we really enjoy going back to that area. I wish Asheville had an ocean, or Florida had a mountain range. Oh well.

Harbison State Forest

I recently had the opportunity to go for a short hike in Harbison State Forest in South Carolina. I didn't take too many photos but did manage come home with a few.

Tis the season for blazing star. I found a nice patch of these in full bloom adjacent to a large meadow.

I was happy to find this large meadow after leaving the trail.

An interesting bug visits some Queen Anne's Lace flowers.

A vine of some sort climbs up a pine tree.

Everywhere I went the goldenrod was blooming nicely. This little scene seemed to represent fall with all the rusty orange and yellow colors.

This isn't a great photo, but I just love seeing a nice open forest that you can wander through freely. The soft bed of pine needles everywhere was a bonus.

These photos were from a recent trip to SC. I took lots of photos so I will be posting them gradually in the coming days. Stay tuned.

Dotted Horsemint

At sunrise, these Dotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata) really shine. After several months of waiting, I am impressed with its floral display. This is a great, low-maintenance plant native to Florida. Click on an image to see it bigger.

A few different angles/compositions.

Grasshopper

While strolling around the backyard, V and I came upon this great grasshopper. We always see lots of cool insects, but this was the first time I've seen something this big and bright. It turns out it is a fairly common American Grasshopper (Schistocerca americana).

A standard full length shot just to give you a good look at the insect. In the shade it wasn't quite bright enough, so I added some light with the built-in flash on the camera. It's been a while since I used that thing, but they do pretty well in these macro situations.

And here's a closer look.

Sky on Fire

We had some family in town this past week so I took my brother-in-law Matt (also a photographer) to Fort De Soto to do some exploring. We made our way out to the beach in time for sunset and I am glad we did.

We were running around trying to make images as the sun went over the horizon. Little did we know the best shots would come well after the sun had disappeared.

While walking out the beach we passed a few other photographers and one said something like "20 more minutes and we're out of business" referring to the fact that the sun would be setting in 20 minutes. But I have found that the hour after sunset can be just as good, if not better, for photographs.

I was traveling pretty bare-bones and only had one body with a 17-50mm lens. I wish I had my 12-24mm wide angle because this is where that lens shines.

During the walk back to the car, the sand dunes provided a nice border to the image. Unfortunately, the sea oats had already dropped their "oats" so they just looked like bare stalks.

As we got closer to the car, some mangroves also provided a nice foreground element to the image. It was getting pretty dark here, so I was trying to hold the camera as steady as possible shooting at 1/10 second.

There are several clumps of palm trees along North Beach that I have used in sunset shots before, but I usually walk right up to them so they are the main element of the photo. Here, we just pulled the car off the road and rolled down the window. We kept inching forward until the trees were not blocking any of the clouds. Shooting from a car allows me to brace the camera on the door frame which was very important since this shot required a 1/4 or 1/2 second shutter speed. This shot was taken approx. 1 hour after the sun had officially set!

I've been getting lots of requests for more shots of baby Vanessa. Hopefully I'll have some more posted soon!