52/52

Week 52! I made it through a whole year with this project. I took pictures of two of my nieces this week, so here is one from that photo session. They were sporting their favorite NFL team jersies. I'm working from a laptop this week, so this is SOOC.

51/52

A busy week and not much time for photography, so this was taken here at home. I applied a vintage effect to it with Color Efex Pro.

50/52

Really? I'll be sticking with my artificial tree, thank you. And it already has lights on it. (These sure do smell good though.)

49/52

December morning here in the Carolinas. This is off a country road just a couple miles from home.

48/52

The leaves have pretty much fallen off all the trees around here. It's looking like winter. Now, we just need some snow.

47/52

We've still got a little fall color hanging around, but it's not going to last much longer.

46/52

Music through the years.

45/52

I took portraits of a friend this week. I've got a few of the pictures done and will be working on the rest this week. Hopefully, she'll be happy with them.

44/52

The pumpkin carving contest at Old Salem was this weekend. Lots of creative artists out there.

The Parkway

I have a weakness for photographing roads. When I'm out and see a scene I like that includes a road I often stop to take pictures. I don't know if it's the lines cutting through the landscape or the idea of where the road leads - I just know I like them. This one was taken about a week and a half ago on the Blue Ridge Parkway around mile post 416.

43/52

The fall color is coming along pretty nicely here in town - more and more trees with nice color. This was taken at the park I always go to for pictures - Reedy Creek Park. There was a lady fishing while I was there taking pictures, so that added to the scene. I thought it was funny that while I was taking a picture of her fishing a fish popped up to the surface of the water right in front of me causing the water to ripple.

42/52

Jullian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was taken at eye level from the trail I was hiking as I was heading back to my car.

41/52

Most of the trees are still green, but the color is beginning to come along at Reedy Creek Park.

40/52

40/52 - I've photographed this bridge many times, but I think this is the first time with the 50mm lens I'm using for this project. This was taken yesterday, 9/29/12, at Boone Fork on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The leaves seem to be turning earlier this year to me. I don't remember seeing this much color in September before.

39/52

It's apple picking time. On at least one of my trips to the mountains this time of year I stop and get some fresh picked apples. They're the best. It's hard to eat the store bought apples after having these.

38/52

This isn't the image I had intended to use this week, but it will have to do. The memory card that had the image I planned to use decided to die on me somewhere between the county fair and home. I'll have to wait until next year to try to get the shot again. This is Providence United Methodist Church here in Charlotte. Another great little country church that is surrounded by the every-growing city.

37/52

Was at Johnson C. Smith University to take pictures and was delighted by the inscriptions on the buildings pointing to God. You just don't see this kind of architecture and inscriptions on new buildings anymore.

36/52

Stopped by St. Paul Presbyterian again to try to come up with some decent pictures of it. It's a beautiful little church that I drive by all the time.

35/52

The dogwoods and other similar sized trees are beginning to change to their fall colors. It's early for that, so my guess is it's due to stress from the warmer than normal summer we've had. Either way it signals that fall is on the way. Can't wait!

34/52

One of my favorite things of summer is the Farmer's Market. Not only are the fruit and vegetables the best, but they also make great subjects to photograph. :)

33/52

Some of Charlotte's historic areas have some really nice homes and landscapes. I need to spend more more time in those areas taking pictures. This one was taken along Kings Street here in town.

32/52

32/52 - Made a quick trip to Freedom Park this week and captured this shot. I like low light, low contrast images and the 50mm lens is great for these type of images.

31/52

A trail that leads to the water's edge at Reedy Creek Park here in Charlotte. I've spent many days and hours taking pictures in this park and most times I visit I see something new.

30/52

30/52 - I took pictures of a friends new baby granddaughter this weekend. She's so sweet!

29/52

Yep, another church picture this week. I had planned to photograph this church at sunset, but a storm rolled in and provided some really nice cloud cover. I had hoped to capture some of the lightning, but wasn't able to. I didn't get to make too many photos before the rain began, so I'll have to revisit this church on another day.

28/52

I decided to stop by another local church to take pictures this week. There are so many old churches in this area that I could create an entire project of church pictures and still not cover all of them. Something to think about.

27/52

The small church by my house. It's such a nice looking church and I really need to stop and photograph it more often. This was taken yesterday in the 100+ degree weather. Sweat was dripping off me, but I was having a good time and didn't notice how much I was sweating until I was finished taking pictures.

26/52

It was a good weekend for the pool. I was the only one there for a little while, which was nice. I'm at the half-way point for this photo project. Just 26 weeks to go.

MacKenzie Springtime Portraits

It's time for the annual portraits of a friends daughter, MacKenzie. I've been taking her pictures for the past couple years and it's amazing how quickly kids grow. She's such a pretty and sweet little girl and reminds me so much of her mother.

These are just a few from this springs session.

25/52

This didn't turn out quite how I had imagined, but it still works. I wanted to make a summery type image with these flowers and the blue sky. The official first day of summer is this week.

24/52

Stopped by a church nearby where my ancestors attended more than 150 years ago. Since the last time I was there they've added plaques and Confedrate flags to the graves of those who fought during the war. This is the headstone of a family member in one of the branches of our family tree. His birthday is two days after mine - different years of course.

Hipstamatic Images of the Blue Ride Parkway in Color

Just a few more images taken with my cell phone and the Hipstamatic App - this time in color.

The old oak tree in the meadow. You can't really tell in this picture, but this tree is huge.

The red barn on the Parkway. I usually photograph it from the street, but walking around to the back side of it gives it a completely different look.

One of many types of split rail fence along the Parkway.

Price Lake - a great spot for camping and enjoying the Parkway.

Hipstamatic on the Blue Ridge Parkway

On a recent trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway I took several pictures with my cell phone and the Hipstamatic App. Hipstamatic emulates several old film and camera types, so you can get pretty creative with the images. My favorite are the black & white films, which is what was used for these images.

The high contrast from this scene with the dark shadows and bright sunlight was perfect for the black & white film setting. This was taken along one of the trails at Cone Manor.

A simple image of the growing grass and passing clouds on the Parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway along one of my favorite sections on the park - Julian Price Memorial Park. Grandfather Mountain in the background is covered in clouds.

A favorite tree I often photograph when on the Parkway. I decided to make the trek around to the back side of the tree to photograph it this time and the scene from this angle was more beautiful than I imagined.

Another shot of the tree photographed above. The tree is in the middle of a meadow with wild daisies in bloom all around.

These guys were funny. It started with one and eventually there was a whole crew following me up and down the fence as I took pictures. They were funny. In this scene they were all standing side by side in a line when one of them nudged another one forward as though he was to speak or say something for them. They stood in this formation for a few minutes giving me plenty of time to take some pictures.