January’s “New Spot” – Poole Knobs Recreation Area on Percy Priest Lake

So this year I’ve decided that I’m going to start a monthly challenge for myself. I find that when I get out to take photos I often head to the locations that I’m familiar with. This year, I’m going to attempt to get to at least one new-to-me location every month. I’m hoping this helps me to find many more great places to shoot in middle Tennessee.

 

January’s “New Spot” was Poole Knobs Recreation Area. Less than 30 minutes from my house, I can’t believe I’ve never been there. It’s an absolutely beautiful spot and perfect for sunrise photography. There was tons of drift wood and rocks lining the shore of Percy Priest Lake, something you don’t get at the lake I usually shoot – Radnor Lake.

 

These were all shot early one Sunday morning in January. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have an idea for a place you’d like to see me shoot, let me know! Leave a comment here or send me an email!

 

Most of these photos are HDR photos processed with Photomatix. If you are interested in creating HDR photos like these, you can get a 15% percent discount on Photomatix by using the Coupon Code “MALCOLMPHOTO” – Read this blog post for more information! 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Rural Northern Virginia

After leaving UVa, I headed north to meet my aunt, MariAnne. MariAnne is a great photographer, I encourage you to visit her blog. She is a master of black and white images and long exposures.

 

We rode all around some rural back roads looking for photo opportunities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


This is a new addition to a series I’ve started of self portrait reflections. This one was much different than any of my others with the curtain, and bars. I also liked how dirty the windows were.

 

 


This one is my favorite from the day.

 

 

At the end of the day, I stopped by Herndon Virginia to visit my brother. This is a shot of downtown Herndon at sunset

 

Thanks for looking!

The University of Virginia

A few weeks ago I had to take an unexpected road trip to Charlottesville, Virginia. My wife and I both grew up in Charlottesville and we have family and friends who still live there. Early one morning, I decided to head into town to get some photos of the University of Virginia. UVa has a beautiful campus. I only had an hour or so so I decided to shoot the Rotunda as the sun came up. Turns out it was very foggy so there wasn’t much of a sunrise, but I still managed a few good shots.

 

 

 

Rotunda

The statue shown is a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Later, once it got a little brighter out:

Here are a few others from the grounds:

This last photo is of Scott Stadium. I was not inside, I was laying on my belly shooting under a fence, the things we’ll do to get a shot…
Scott Stadium

After I left UVa, I headed to Northern Virginia to meet up with my Aunt MariAnne, who is also a photographer. Photos from that outing coming soon!

Thanks for looking!

The Best of 2011 – Landscapes/Cityscapes and Scenics

So 2011 is drawing to a close. I feel like my photography world has grown exponentially this year. It started with the completion of my “This Week at the Lake” project. That was a project that I truly enjoyed and was proud that I made it the entire 52 weeks. I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to do once that was over. Was I still going to take many photos? Of course the answer was YES!

 

2011 brought me many new clients and friends. I photographed engagement sessions, family portraits, babies, weddings, and parties. I grew my stock photography collection on Getty Images from just a couple photos to over 180. I’ve licensed photos to companies all over the world and mailed prints to clients all over the US. October brought an amazing opportunity  to display my Radnor Lake photos in a gallery next to extremely popular local artist Phil Ponder. I even covered a couple college football games and the Murfreesboro Christmas parade for HobNob Murfreesboro.

 

I’m going to break up “The Best Of” posts into sections. This first post features my favorite landscapes, cityscapes or scenic photos. I hope you enjoy them!

This Week at the Lake - 47/52

This first shot was taken on a cold snowy morning at Radnor Lake. It was the lead shot for Week 47 of my project. I was the first (and only) one out there. No footprints to mess up the scene! Standing on that deck is where I get a lot of my sunrise photos at Radnor Lake. This time, I decided to include the snow covered deck and benches in the shot. I like how it turned out!

 

Wrong Side of the Tracks

This is a shot I got at Shelby Park in Nashville. I met a few local photographers there and we walked around taking photos waiting on the sunset. I really liked how this turned out. I think it’s a good reminder to look around when taking photos. Look up, look down. Try to get a unique angle.

 

Vanderbilt at Night

Years ago, I took a shot similar to this on film and I really liked it. Finally, I made it back there and tried it with my digital. This was taken at Vanderbilt University. I like the colors and lights in this shot.

 

Lightning - in HDR

I have to admit, in photography you have to have a LOT of luck. Be skilled enough to put yourself in the right spot at the right time, be skilled enough to know what to do when it happens. But other than that, you need some luck. I was set up to shoot the sunset this evening as some storms were rolling through. I had seen some lighting but not much. As soon as I pushed the button, the lighting streaked across the sky. Seconds later, it began pouring. This was the only shot of this sunset that I got. This might just be one of my all time favorites!

 

A Self Portrait

This was my first attempt at a window reflection self portrait. I really liked how this turned out and I’ve done several others. I find them very interesting to look at. Trying to determine what’s inside and what’s reflected. This one was taken downtown Murfreesboro Tennessee. I have an album on facebook that has the others if you are interested in seeing them 🙂

 

Cannon

As soon as I left work this day, I called my wife and told here we were going somewhere to shoot the sunset. I could tell the skies were shaping up to make for an awesome sunset. We decided to head to the Stones River Battlefield in Murfreesboro and this is the result!

 

The Linn Cove Viaduct at Sunrise

This is the Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. I was vacationing there and knew that I wanted to get a shot of the viaduct. I scouted out this area the day before and realized that the sun would be rising over this scene. So the next morning (and the last morning of the vacation, so it HAD to be a good sunrise!) my brother and I drove, hiked, climbed in the dark and waited for the sunrise. We were not disappointed as this beautiful sunrise took shape over the viaduct.

 

Morning Rays on the Blue Ridge Parkway

On the way back to the house from getting the sunrise shot above, we came across these sunrays breaking through the trees onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. I took a couple shots but decided they needed something else in them. I told my brother to go stand in the rays.

 

LP Field at Sunset

Sometimes you get a shot in your head that you want. It’s rare (at least for me) that it ever happens exactly the way you envisioned it. This one, however, did! I’ve envisioned this shot in my head for a long time. I’ve been to a few Titans games but never at sunset. This year, I was invited by a friend to a preseason game. The timing was perfect and the seats were already near the top. All I needed was some color! Sure enough, the sky started lighting up so I headed to the 50 yard line and got this shot.

 

Follow the Light

Not much to say about this one, I just really liked how it turned out. I love the light and color and the path leading you in.

 

Nashville, Tennessee

This is my favorite Nashville Skyline photo taken in 2011. I like the lighting and colors. This is such a classic spot, every time I’m downtown I just have to get another skyline shot. It’s really an impressive scene from the Shelby Street bridge.

 

Radnor Lake

Just another beautiful morning at my favorite spot in Middle Tennessee. When you shoot at the same places over and over, it’s hard to make the photos unique. For this one, I backed up to include the path into the water and waited for the sun to peek over the ridge to give me a flare.

 

State Line

This one is from my hiking trip along the Appalachian trail. Straight ahead is Jane Bald, and Round Bald. The left of the photo is North Carolina, the right side is Tennessee. This is near Roan Mountain Tennessee.

 

Another from my hiking trip. This tree was near my camping spot on the first night. The fog and the mist gives it a mysterious look.

 

Foggy Tree

Taken on a foggy morning in Murfreesboro. I just loved the fog, the fall colors, and the look of this old tree. This is one of my top favorites of the year.

 

Foggy Fall Morning

This was taken on the same morning as the shot above it. I really love shooting in the fog. Everything looks so mysterious.

 

Radnor Lake Sunrise

Another shot of a Radnor Lake Sunrise. There was so much color in the sky this particular morning.

 

A Christmas window display

Finally, it’s another shop window/reflections shot. The key to these is to find the right window with enough interesting stuff inside and interesting reflections from the outside. I knew I wanted to get one of these of a shop window with Christmas decorations. I circled the square in downtown Murfreesboro several times trying to find the right window. Finally I came across this one, it has a great display inside and the reflections worked perfectly showing the courthouse clock tower.

 

 

And that’s it! Just a few of favorites from this amazing year. Thank you to everyone who continues to support my photography and here’s to an even better 2012!

 

Don’t forget, most of my photos can be purchased by visiting the Storefront Site.

 

Are you a photographer thinking about HDR photography? Purchase Photomatix from hdrsoft.com and use the coupon code MALCOLMPHOTO and get 15% off! Then check out my tutorials!

 

Happy New Year!

Radnor Lake

The last couple of months I’ve visited Radnor Lake in Nashville a few times watching fall arrive. No need to write much, I’ll just show the photos 🙂

Here are a few shots I’ve collected during those visits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a reminder – most of my photos can be purchased online by clicking here!

Thanks for looking!

 

 

The Appalachian Trail

A month ago, my brother and I planned a hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. It’s been so long since I did any overnight hiking, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into!

I really wanted to do a section near Roan Mountain. I used to live in Johnson City and have been up to Roan Mountain many times, but never on the AT up there. After some internet research, we settled on starting at Carvers Gap. [mappress mapid=”2″]

Carvers Gap is right on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line.

On the way up, I stopped for a few photos

 

 

As I was heading up the mountain to meet my brother, it began hailing! When I got to Carvers Gap, it was raining off and on and it was very windy. We tried to wait a little to see if the weather would pass, but finally decided to just head on. It was already late in the day and we wanted to get to Roan High Knob shelter before it got too dark. Roan High Knob is about 1.5 miles from Carvers Gap, but the climb was pretty steep.

We hiked through the rain and made it to the shelter to find that people were already set up in it. So we pitched the tent in the rain/mist.

 

 

Some other photos of Roan High Knob:

 

 

 

 

This one is probably my favorite photo from the entire trip…

 

The next morning, we packed up the wet tent and headed back down the mountain. The target destination for the day was the Overmountain Shelter, about 5-6 miles. It’s an old red barn that’s used as a shelter on the Appalachian Trail. The views from there are supposed to be great!

That morning, it was still wet and misty. Here are some shots from the first mile or so that morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we made it back to Carver’s Gap, we continued to the balds. It was very windy and low laying clouds were moving so fast!

 

 

Because of how windy and wet it was, I was reluctant to get the camera out much.

We hiked on. A little after lunch, we made it to Overmountain Shelter (after a short detour on a wrong path 🙂

 

 

Before even leaving home for the trip, I had a shot in mind that I wanted to attempt. I wanted to photograph this barn at night with some very long exposures so to get the star trails streaking off to the left. Once we got there, I started getting my camera gear out and I realized that I had lost my remote trigger. In order to long exposures, I had to have that trigger 🙁

So, instead, I got a shot of the view

 

There were already several people at the shelter so we decided to head back to a campsite that we passed a couple miles ago on the trail. Most of the day was downhill, so we knew we had hard uphill day waiting for us so we wanted to get some of it out of the way.

We made it to the campsite and finally got a fire going!

 

It took us so long to get this fire going. The ground and wood was still pretty wet and the wind was constantly blowing pretty hard. But we got it going so we got to eat a hot dinner.

Without my remote trigger, I couldn’t take any star trail photos. I have, however, seen a technique used to photograph the stars with only a 30 second or less exposure using a very high ISO. So I decided to try it:

 

 

 

 

I noticed the nearly full moon rising between the trees:

 

 

The weather had improved greatly the next day. It was a hard hike as it was nearly all uphill. But once we made it back to the balds, it was amazing:

To the left is North Carolina, to the right is Tennessee. Straight ahead is Jane Bald and Round Bald. The ridge in the background that still has some green on it is Roan High Knob, where we camped the first night.

And finally, here is the Appalachian Trail heading toward Jane Bald

 

 

What a fun trip! I’m definitely planning on doing it again sometime soon!

Thanks for looking!

The Same Shot

 

Just for fun, I thought I’d process the same shot 2 completely different ways. It’s amazing the differences!

 

The first was cropped tighter and processed using cinematic tones in Photoshop CS5. The Second is an HDR image processed in Photomatix and Photoshop CS5.

 

Also:

 

 

Which do you prefer?

 

Thanks for looking!

City Life – Nashville Street Scenes

So here’s something different from me today. I recently participated in a photowalk around downtown Nashville with some fellow photographers in the Murfreesboro Photographic Society. I took a bunch of photos and decided I wanted to try a cinematic type processing for them. After many tries, I feel like I got something I like. I hope you enjoy some Nashville city scenes….

Thanks for looking!

Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina

Time for some more photos from my recent trip to Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. All of these shots were taken at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. Grandfather Mountain is home to the “Mile High Swinging Bridge”. It was cloudy and hazy the day we visited but it still offered some amazing views. Enjoy:

(my younger brother enjoying the view)

Thanks for looking!

Like what you see? Most of these photos and many others can be purchased at the MMP Store! Click to enter the storefront!

The Blue Ridge Parkway

I recently visited one of the most beautiful areas in the United State, Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. Much of the trip was spent on a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a scenic road that goes from North Carolina through central Virginia. It is a beautiful drive and I encourage you to check it out!

Here are a few shots I got while on the parkway (all photos were taken near Boone or Blowing Rock North Carolina):

Thanks for looking!

Like what you see? Most of these photos and many others can be purchased at the MMP Store! Click to enter the storefront!