Paddling Lake Martin

I took this shot back in September while visiting Lake Martin, just outside of Lafayette, back in September.  I entered in last night's Bay Area Photo Club Honor's Night program and the judges gave it a Gold award.  We were on a swamp tour on the lake when our guide pointed the spot out and said it was one of the most photographed sunset locations in the country.  My main thought when I see this shot is that we saw gators in this lake that were bigger than either "boat"!

Selfie at Elkmont

I took this self-portrait in an abandoned cabin at the Elkmont Campgrounds in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park near Townsend, TN.  This is one cabin in a ghost town that was created when the facilities were "officially" abandoned in 1990, but the state of disrepair shows neglect going back much further.  The national park wants to level the town but, some of the buildings have been deemed to have historical value so the fate of the town will likely be disputed for some time.

CREEK AT ROARING FORK

This is a three shot HDR of a creek located off the Roaring Fork Motor Trail in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park near the Gatlinburg entrance to the park.  We were there during the last week in October and caught the fall colors at close to their peak.

BACKYARD MACROS

I took these two macros in my backyard yesterday to experiment with adding textures.  I used the same "Flypaper" texture on both ("Dangerous Liasons"), and these photos are the results.

ADVANCING TREES

I took this shot of the Roaring Fork Nature Motor Trail in Tennessee the last week in October. I used a slow shutter speed with a mid-range zoom handheld for the effect.

METHODIST CHURCH AT CADES COVE

I think this Methodist Church is probably one of the most photographed churches around. I did a GOOGLE IMAGES search on it though and I didn't see any shots I liked as much as mine. [Of course I could be a little biased!] It's taken from the Rich Mountain Road which is a 12 mile unpaved mountain side ride that runs one way from Cades Cove to Townsend, TN.

This shot was hand held with my Olympus O-MD EM1 and a 40-150 F2.8 telephoto all the way out.  Settings were F4.5 # 1/800 and ISO 1250 on auto.

MENNONITE FARM

This was one of my October entries in the OPEN division of the photo clubs Honor's Night program.  This farm was located in a Mennonite community in Tennessee and was photographed in July of this year.  I added texture an focus adjustment to give it an aged diorama appearance.