West Virginia Photography Workshop with Corey Hilz

Elakala Falls

This past weekend, I participated in a photography workshop hosted by Corey Hilz in the Canaan Valley region of West Virginia.  Corey did an excellent job leading the workshop and providing instruction to the participants in composition and image processing techniques.  The last session consisted of a critique session of selected images from each participant.  Corey's critiques were very helpful in helping us see areas the images needed improvement and also the possibilities with the right image processing applied.

Sunrise at Dolly Sods

This post includes a small selection of the images I captured during the weekend.  Enjoy.

Cascades around Douglas Falls

Sunset at Lindy Point

Douglas Falls

Canaan Valley State Park

St. Louis Arch

While in St. Louis last weekend for a friend's wedding, I took the opportunity to capture some photos of the St Louis Arch.  Officially called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the stainless steel arch is an amazing piece of architecture.  The arch soars into the sky 630 feet, 75 feet taller than the Washington Monument.  At night, the stainless steel structure shines in the dark as it reflects the lights of St Louis.

Also at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is the Old Court House where, in 1847, Dred Scott sued for his freedom from slavery; an event that hastened the beginning of the Civil War.  The Courthouse is currently undergoing some reconstruction.

St Louis Old Courthouse and Arch

First Snow

First Snow at White Sulphur Springs Heritage House

This past weekend, my family went to a weekend getaway at White Sulphur Springs, Eastern conference center of Officers' Christian Fellowship.  While there, we received around 10 inches of snow.  Snow of any amounted is unexpected for the end of October, but great fun for photography and enjoying the time away.

OCF just opened the Heritage House conference center this past spring, so not only was it the first snow of the year, it was the first snow to fall on the newly opened center.  

Night falls on the first snow at Heritage House

2011 Nature Visions Expo

I learned yesterday that three of the images I submitted to the 2011 Nature Visions Expo were juried into the Expo.  The three images are posted below, although a couple of them have been featured in previous post.  You can see my images that were accepted into the 2010 Nature Visions Expo in this post.

The Nature Visions Photo Expo will be held the 11 - 13 November at the Hylton Performing Arts Center located on the Prince William County Campus of George Mason University.  They will have several speakers, including a keynote address by Art Wolfe.

 Saguaro cactus and star trails around the north star.

Eastern Box Turtle, taken near Pittsburgh, PA

Eye of the Turtle

 Cook Forest State Park, near the Allegheny National Forest.

Forest Dreams

Virginia Military Institute

While in Lexington, Virginia over Labor Day weekend, I made an early Saturday morning trip to the Virginia Military Institute Post.  Even at the early hour of 6 AM, the cadets were quite active, especially new cadets living on the 4th (top) floor of Barracks.

VMI Old Barracks

Cadets streaming out of Barracks for morning formation

Cadet walking past Jackson Memorial Hall

VMI Cadet Battery

VMI Cadet Battery

Fort Point

Golden Gate Bridge before sunrise

Another trip to San Francisco and a few more images from the area around the Golden Gate Bridge.  This time I concentrated on the southern side of the bridge in an area called Fort Point.  Fort Point is where the first ship to enter San Francisco Bay dropped anchor in August of 1775.  Unfortunately, I arrived there just in time for the iron door into the fort to be clanged shut in my face (literally), so I didn't get to see the inside.

Golden Gate Bridge around morning twilight

Perhaps next time I visit there, I can get an image of the top of the bridge sticking out above a fog layer.  For more images from the Golden Gate area, see my previous posts titled: Golden Gate at Sunrise, Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco.

Golden Gate at Sunrise

I had the opportunity to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge.  This was my first time at the bridge during sunrise.   As on my first visit, I was fortunate to have remarkably clear weather, although my shooting angle was essentially the same as the last photo in my second visit.   Since I was shooting into the sunrise, I was pretty much done by the time the sun actually rose above the horizon.   I was glad of this later when I encountered the traffic delay from an accident on the way to SFO for my late morning flight.

Golden Gate Bridge at Sunrise

This image is a merge of three images taken in portrait orientation and then combined using Photoshop CS5.  Each exposure is 30 seconds long.

Columbus Day Weekend Shooting

Sunrise over the Potomac River

With the long Holiday weekend, I went out a couple mornings for some early morning photo sessions.  I was largely motivated by the Mindful Eye Community Assignment on long exposure night photography.  This assignment required an exposure time of 4 minutes or longer.

The first shot, shown above, was of the Potomac River at Algonkian Regional Park about an hour before sunrise.  The sky was perfectly clear, the river calm, and the sun rising to the east provided a beautiful gradient of color across the sky.

More images after the jump.