Several months ago, I posted a portrait of NJ, my son, and our tiny little pup, Tobie. We decided to reprise the portrait again earlier today. Going from memory, we tried to recreate the same pose. Keep in mind, if you look at the original, that Tobie is a dog -- and doesn't always cooperate like NJ does. LOL!
So many photos taken lately -- and so little time to update this blog. Argh! Well, here's one from my favorite area festival -- a Christian music festival. It's called Youthfest -- and it happens in Tabor City, NC every year, during the Yam Festival. This year, we were very blessed to have Nate Sallie and Newsong. Personally, I have been blessed to work with Youthfest for the past four years. AJ, our oldest daughter, helped out this year -- and received the only real perk some of get for working with the festival. Shhh... it's a well known "secret" that some of us serve dinner (prepared by the famous Todd House) to the performers.
Another shot from the 2008 Loris Bog-off Car Show. Today's shot: a 1940's Ford V8 Deluxe. Yes it was raining a bit, too.
Last year, I featured the Tabor City Yam Festival. This year, I am featuring the Loris Bog-off Festival. For nearly 30 years, Loris, SC has hosted the Bog-off -- a rural Fall festival where the "bog-off" parts mean "chicken bog" for everyone. We have lived in the area for more than a decade, but have never attended the Loris Bog-off, until now. My favorite part was the car show. So, today and tomorrow will feature shots from the 2008 Loris Bog-off Car Show. Today's shot: a 1950's Chevrolet classic. Yes it was raining a bit, too.
This past weekend, my son and I went fishing at a nearby pond. He was bored that we were not catching anything, so he started playing around the edge of the pond. All of sudden, he called me over to see a "huge catepillar". My first thought was, "Yeah right -- huge? Not." The catepillar was huge -- at least 3 inches long and .75 inch in circumference. Frankly, it was the largest catepillar I've ever seen. And, so colorful!
Every now and then, when I'm out on a photo walk, I come upon something really cute or interesting. My last photo walk was rather uneventful. Then, some movement caught my eye, down in the grass. And what did my wondering eyes see? This cute little baby tree frog. I took 10 or so quick macro shots - and let him go on his way. Isn't it cool that he even smiled for the camera?
Here's another one of my favorite macro images -- a large bumble bee on the delicate petals of a hot pink zinnia. Gorgeous! I'm enjoying the Fall... aren't you?
I shoot flower photos as often as I have time... and sunlight. Going out and shooting pics relaxes me and helps clear my head. When a wonderful capture like this one occurs, it is such an awesome blessing. And special thanks to the kind anonymous person who told me that the flower shown here is a golden zinnia. The hornet looking insect lighted for a few seconds and then disappeared.
A curious little creature found her way into our yard recently. She was a beaut... and not nearly as aggressive as I thought she would be. When I asked NJ, my son, to get me something to put her in, he brought me the blue plastic pencil box. I could not have come up with a better background for the macro shots that followed. Here is one shot of the curious praying mantis...
The dog days of Summer are over... and it's time to say goodbye to the beach and ocean dunes. This photo pays homage to one of my favorite places in the world -- Myrtle Beach, SC. Although Myrtle Beach is becoming more crowded and tourist-oriented, it's still a great place for family vacations or long walks along the shoreline at sunset.
The last of the trio from the roadside flowers is a not really a flower at all. It's a weed! No, it's not a crabgrass yellow "flower", but looks kinda like it. I like the opaque look of the petals in the morning sunlight. Have a good weekend!
There's something about the leaf and flower buds of a hibiscus that intrigues me. Look closely at this photo, especially the large version, and I think you'll see why. I almost deleted this photo in the camera, thinking it was out of focus. But, when I looked at it on my computer monitor, I found that the soft edges were from the almost white shadow cast by water droplets. Not bragging, but it is a very cool effect, in my opinion.
The drive to work each day takes approx- imately 45 minutes. Along the way, I see many sights that are common to rural North Carolina. One thing I enjoy is that each Summer, starting in late June, a bunch of hibiscus flowers comes into bloom along a ditch bank on my route to work. Last year and this year, I stopped a few times to photograph the flowers. Recently, I decided to "focus" on macro shots of the leaves, insects and the flowers themselves.
A few months ago, the Blog/o/Foto featured what is still my favorite photograph (of the ones I have taken). Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to photograph either the same lily or a like one -- in the same fish pond. The cool thing about this is the fish pond is in Ohio and I live in North Carolina. It was great to go back to the same spot and capture another image. Truthfully, I was hoping I could photograph the same (or another) lily -- and possibly get the same astounding result as the first image.
It's odd what you will see when your eyes are opened to the world around you? After watching a bird "fuss" and fidget every time anyone or anything ventured near the rocks at Lake Tabor, I started looking to see what all the fuss was actually about. Lo and behold, what did I find? Rocks! Lots of them. Hidden right out in the open, among the black, white & gray granite rocks were three... no, four beautifully round rocks. Rocks, which weren't rocks at all -- but bird eggs.
If you look at the time in this post, you'll see I altered it -- just for fun. I don't believe in luck, but do believe in God's use of the number 7 as a sign on completeness. So, why not be completely, complete and have a Blog/o/Foto post on 07/07/08 and 7:07PM?!? LOL!
I absolutely love it when my children develop an interest in hobbies we can enjoy together. Lyssi, my youngest daughter (we have two daughters and a son), has found that she likes photography, too. So today, I salute her for being interested in truly learning how to take good pictures, make good decisions on care of her camera and for not setting the blasted thing on P&S auto and snapping away. Here's to you Lyssi! Daddy is proud of you!
Looking at the red bonnet of yesterday's flower against the black background made me smile so much, I decided to add a super-duper, closeup, extreme macro of the same flower. FWIW, I have NO idea what the real name of the flower is. If you know, feel free to post a comment. I'll update the blog post and give you credit. THANKS!
As you already know, macro photo- graphy is a passion of mine -- especially macro pics of flowers (my fav photographic subject). For some reason, this floral macro garnered a lot of attention from coworkers who use some of my photos as their computer desktop background. If you like the small version, click on the image to see the full-size photo.
Just for S&G... I wanted you to see that our local fall festival, the Yam Festival, does include real cele- bri-tay. Haha! That's right, none other than Miss North Carolina 2007, Jessica Marie Jacobs.
