"Peak Foliage Burst"

  During this whole fall season, I have been in constant search for gorgeous color. Traveling from place to place. I know for some of us that season has now passed. For others it has barely begun.
 This image is for all you lovers of autumn out there. For everyone who loves the vibrant leaves that only come once a year.
  Although this wondrous time of year is short lived, it brings with it much anticipation for me. I marvel at every tree, every color, every leaf. I enjoy each step in crunchy leaves after all the beauty on the trees has passed.
 So until next year. We can savor what we saw, what we captured in photos. We can dream of the color, the scents, the amazing brilliance. We can wait longingly till the season of seemingly endless color returns!!
  I hope you enjoy this last bit of peak foliage!!

"Historic Front Royal Virginia"

This isn't Wordless Wednesday, instead it's " Few Words Friday"!

These two lovely historic buildings are part of the old historic area of Front Royal Virginia.
The town, the gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains is a wonderful mix of old and new.

                                       Enjoy! :)

"The Civil War"

A few weeks ago, I was able to attend a Civil War re-enactment at historic Greenfield Village. I love history,  history from all time periods. This time it happened to be from the Civil War era.

 

There were encampments from both the Union and Confederate sides, drills, exhibits, marches, food, medics, and just about anything you can think of from that time period.

I took many photos there, and instead of my typical images of nature, landscape, architecture or cars. I decided to focus on people, the re-en-actors themselves. 

There are three images in this set. I processed them in sepia to give them the feel of the time period.

 

One image is of a grieving widow. Which has a pretty interesting story to go with it on the etiquette practiced at that time for a woman in mourning. Quite different from today for sure!

Another portrait is of a gentleman from the Kentucky Regiment who was sitting outside of a log cabin, which had become their temporary home during the encampment!

Lastly there's a photo of men performing a drill on what it takes to use a canon. I think these guys were having a lot of fun!

I hope you enjoy this little trip back in time. At some time in the future I'll tell you a bit about the etiquette and standards that women in mourning had to endure. That's a huge story in itself!!

In Mourning

Kentucky Regiment

At the Ready

"Bright and Lively"

While searching for beautiful flowers and signs of spring. I came upon these tiny orange beauties. The petals were so small, soft, delicate, and a gorgeous hue of orange. Almost like a pumpkin! I thought they'd make a nice addition to my floral images.

In a few months we'll be seeing large sunflowers, dahlias, zinnias and such. For now I'm happy with this bunch of little wonders. Each with a perfect set of six lovely orange petals!

                                                                 Enjoy!!!

"Zapped"

    For today's image I decided to go out of my comfort zone in processing and do something quite different for me!
   I started with an image of a lone tree in the fog. I have processed this image in the usual way previously. I love the way it looks in its natural state, but I thought, hey why not try something new!
   The first thing I did was take this into from Lightroom into Nik Color Efex Pro. I applied a monochrome solorarization to it, and adjusted it till I achieved the look I wanted. I then sent it back into Lightroom where I added a bit of contrast, as well as a bit of fill light. Finally I sent it into Nik Silver Efex Pro, where I used the initial preset, but adjusted it slightly for a darker look.
  I titled this image Zapped because it gives me the feeling of electricity, or a tree hit by lightening! I hope you enjoy this image. It was fun to do, and takes something usual into something a little out of the ordinary!!
  If you get the chance. Take advantage of the Solarization setting in Nik Color Efex Pro, and see what interesting images you can create!!