I would like to discuss something that I am pretty sure happens to all of us who put our hearts into our art… we get discouraged for whatever reason along our creative journey. I know it has happened to me over the years, and I know I haven’t always handled it so nicely. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten better about NOT letting setbacks discourage me, and here is why. 

Today was a big day for us as we set up a table for our first Arts and Craft show. It was a local  show being held within our gated community, and one that we had hoped we could manage to sell some calendars we had printed up just for this show. Unfortunately the show was a bust for us as we didn’t sell a single calendar. A part of us is a bit down due to the money we invested in this endeavor, but another part is looking at the glass half full! 

I have always loved a good sunrise or sunset within an image as I feel that the sky is an intricate part of a great landscape shot. Now when I was first really getting into landscape photography I was still of the mindset of a normal human being, and that was to rise and be out shooting when the rest of humanity was awake. I found that by keeping those hours with my camera I was in locations that I wanted to photograph, but so were many other people. So I learned to scout out locations in the daylight, and then get back to those locations in the early morning hours as I found that VERY few people will make the effort to be out before the sun comes up.

We are SO excited to be selling our first ever calendar! We will be attending a local Art/Craft show and decided to have these calendars printed. We are selling them for $20 each, so if you would like one please contact us directly. All images were shot within the Virginia and West Virginia area.  Below are a few examples of the images that are inside. 

I have been at this a long time and I still love a great sunrise or sunset! Capturing a magical sky is one of the greatest challenges I love as a photographer. I cannot count how many times I spent hours driving somewhere only to have Mother Nature disappoint at curtain call. But when She decides to give us a wonderful show I must be ready.

The 2017 autumn colors here in the Shenandoah Valley took quite a while to arrive due to the unusual temps we had throughout late September through late October. It seemed that every time we’d have a cold snap, 80 degrees followed it for days which killed many of the leaves that had begun to change. The colors finally arrived, but for the most part they were muted, with patches of brilliance to be found. This made me change the way I shoot autumn. So instead of my usual vistas I concentrated more on the intimate details of the season, which in the end I feel that I came out with some wonderful images which made me feel more connected to nature.

I feel like my head is under water in the Social Media Pool. There are just too many choices for this old brain to keep up with today. Now don’t get me wrong, I love to browse through and discover new talent on the different sites and be totally inspired by them, but the problem I have with social media is the whole “social” part of it.

Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia is one of my favorite spots when I am wanting some quality shooting and escape time from the suburban jungle. I love this state park year round, but I especially enjoy it in the winter as a layer of snow adds such a  beauty to the landscape here. The park sits in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, which is one of the most scenic areas in the central Appalachian Mountains as you can see from the image below.

It had always been a desire of ours to see New England in the autumn as we had seen many photos of the New England  landscape alive with  seasonal colors that always seemed richer than any other place in America. This bucket list trip finally happened this October as we made a trip to Vermont on a whim when our photo trip to Cape Hatteras was ruined due to Hurricane Matthew.

Working completely off of my smartphone Brenda trusted me in booking us a nice place to stay. I found a charming place on Lake Champlain, it was a barn that was restored and had a beautiful 2 bedroom loft. I should correct myself here, where we stayed wasn’t actually “on” Lake Champlain, it was on an island IN Lake Champlain, Isle La Motte to be exact.

One of the things that I learned when I was photographing weddings is that you must be able to “roll with the flow and get the shot” because the event won’t stop if you’re having a camera issue. I have learned that to be true with landscape shooting as well.