I observed this magnificent creature when I was at Arby's in Lincolnton. He was watching over a large empty lot waiting for some rodent to make a wrong move. I took this with my Sony NEX-5 and 18-200mm lens which I am glad I had with me.
Look around sometimes, it is amazing what most people miss...
Mark
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Another hike in the Gorge and another new place. We visited Hawksbill Mountain and were blessed with smoke from a controlled burn adding drama blowing up the Gorge. What a view!
Mark
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I decided this year to do a 365 Project but since this year is a leap year I am going to be doing a 366 project instead. The goal of a 365 or 366 project is to take a picture a day and upload it to a Flickr group. The idea is to get yourself focused into seeing photographs every day. I am not going for contest grade pictures all the time, and with this project I have been mainly using my iPhone 4S. It is always with me and I can edit and upload my photograph from the bed if I need to.
Here are some of my favorite shots so far:
All of these were taken with the iPhone 4S and edited with Snapseed for the iPhone.
It is a fun project and I try to get my shot in before noon. Really gets the creative juices flowing! You can view all of my progress throughout the year on Flickr
Mark
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Thanks for checking out my website. I hope you enjoy the photographs as much as I enjoyed making them.
Here is my entry "Roaring Fork Falls" that won best of show.
Here is "Friends" which won 2nd place in the Black & White Category.
Here is a link to my online gallery if you are interested in acquiring my work. If you want to like me on Facebook here is the link.
I would also like to encourage anyone interested in photography to come join a great group of photographers at the Lincoln Photography Club. The next meeting is Monday January 23rd @ 7pm at the Lincoln Cultural Center, 403 E. Main St in Lincolnton. Hope to see you there!
Mark
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This morning I met up with the CNPA at the Carolina Raptor Center for a private photo shoot for 3 hours. This is my personal favorite of the set as I love Golden Eagles and how the light was working for this shot.
I really enjoyed playing around with the lighting on this shot! Very majestic bird!
The CRC had a wide variety of birds of prey, especially the owls. These shots were taken with my Canon EF 100-400mm lens and it worked wonderfully. The background is blurred out and the way I shot this the pine needles in front of the owl is out of focus and barely noticeable!
I really like how this Great Horned Owl can change his looks from gentle owl to "I'm going to GET you!" by retracting his 'horns'.
This is a barn owl and was actually my first subject of the day. It was then I noticed the 'light' and how it outlined the edge of this bird. I looked for the same light later on. Glad I am able to notice when the 'light' is doing some cool things to my subject!
This was one of the few shots I used my 24-70mm instead of my EF 100-400mm on to show how little this screech owl is and how well he blended in to this tree trunk. You will probably never notice one of these little birds in the forest as they sit very still.
Here is a close up of this tiny owl. One of my favorites of the day!
Here is a Peregrine Falcon, one of the fastest animals on with a recorded dive speed of 202 mph! What an amazing creature!
After the photos, we headed up the road and enjoyed some BBQ and good coversation. I had a great time and thanks to the CNPA for coming up with some great venues for us nature loving photographers!
Thanks for reading!
Mark
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I took second place at the 2012 Lincoln County Arts Council Photography Competition for my photograph of my two "puppies". I shot it in color but simplifying it in B&W really took this picture to the next level.
As the winners were announced I was happy with my win. I did not expect I would win any other awards, but there was still one Category left... "Best Of Show". As they read out the title of the best of show, I heard "Roaring". I knew that I had an entry entitled "Roaring Fork Falls", and that was the name that was read off. I was shocked, humbled and honored that one of my photographs had won "Best of Show".
I took this photo when Bob with the Carolina Nature Photographers lead an trip to travel to McDowell County to photograph four waterfalls. I would like to thank Bob for leading this trip and showing me this beautiful waterfall called Roaring Fork Falls. I have really enjoyed my short time with the CNPA and I am always learning something new from this group.
Thanks to my family for allowing me to go on these adventures to pursue my passion! Without your love and encouragement I would not be who I am.
Last, but not least... Thank you God for making these beautiful things in the world for me to photograph and pointing things out that are truly special.
One of the biggest things I have learned in this, be sure to print out your best shots for as great as they look on your computer screen, they look even more amazing printed!
Thanks for reading!
Mark
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I headed up to Shortoff Mountain at the Southern end of the Linville Gorge. The weather forecast called for high winds and highs in the lower 40's, a blustery day but a great hike. As I began the hike I noticed that the icicles were melting, it would warm up slightly, but not enough!
The pond on top of Shortoff was frozen as well. I always enjoy visiting this spot.
One of the many overlooks along Shortoff. This is looking North up Linville Gorge. The wind was so intense here, that you could only stand for a few minutes before the wind chill would burn your finger and face with COLD! It was a pity I could not stand and stare like I like to do.
My goal was to hike toward the end of Shortoff near Chimney Gap. I didn't want to loose much elevation so I opted to stop at a rock outcropping and take a few shots of Table Rock from this angle. This area was damaged in a forest fire started by lightning back in 2007.
Here is a 15 second video I took of the area, there was NO shelter from the wind here!
Table Rock is the icon of Morganton and the namesake for many businesses in the area. It is also a fascinating rock formation that changes dramatically from different angles.
On the way back out I took a closeup of Pinch-In Ridge where Pinch-In Trail goes down to the Linville River.If you follow the ridge, you can see the trail in places. It is one of the hikes I plan on going on once day!
As much fun as I had hiking solo, I knew a strong cold front was coming through and with it, snow! The clouds were blowing in from the North and it looked like I had better head back down Shortoff. Later on that evening this area received several inches of snowfall!
And so ends another glorious experience in the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area!
Mark
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On my first outing with the CNPA, we visited four waterfalls in and around McDowell County. I really liked Roaring Fork Falls near Busick, NC and I wanted to try and shoot Tom's Creek Falls again. Since I was off from work it was easy to just go!
As I made my way from Morganton to Marion, I noticed that at the higher elevations there was a coating of snow on the high peaks to the West.
I shot almost everything HDR this trip but even HDR would not help me with the lighting situation at Tom Creek Falls as the Sun just was not helping things. The water flow was nice and I have yet to give up on this waterfall, but I think I will wait until Spring before I try it again. Exploring Tom's Creek below the waterfall, yielded this nice little cascade. I really like the way the water runs through the log!
Roaring Fork Falls was a little higher in elevation and there was still a few patches of snow left on the rocks. Just some slush. Last trip it was my favorite waterfall and it did not disapoint! I wish I had visitied this falls first but it turned out decent!
Just zoomed in a little tighter.
As I was coming up to Roaring Fork Falls on NC 80 I passed under the Blue Ridge Parkway, so after shooting Roaring Fork, I decided to get on the Parkway and maybe score some nice shots from the overlooks. The BRP was mostly clear with some slush in some spots but perfectly driveable... that was until I reached this tunnel at Little Switzerland. On this side it was slushy, on the other side it was a SOLID SHEET of ICE! I was happy I made it to the next exit at the Mineral Museum and rerouted to Spruce Pine, to Linville Falls and back to Morganton. So much for 2WD!
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!
Mark
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As I travel around in my journeys, I often find little gems like this old gas pump. I am glad I am able to capture this with whatever camera I have on hand which in this case was my iPhone 4S.
It is so amazing that you can take a picture on an iPhone 4S, edit it and then upload it to the web.
Later,
Mark
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It has been a busy few weeks and while I have not been blogging, I have been making many photographs. Two of the things I have been shooting are the Christmas concerts that occur this time of year.
The first was a friends concert which I learned how to use my Canon EF 24-70mm F 2.8 (non IS) and my EF 100mm F 2.8 Macro (IS) in low light.
I really wanted to be sure that I could capture my Daughters guitar and it worked out that the 100mm Macro with Image Stabilization worked great. I found it to be useful in the isolation shots I wanted to get of my Daughter!
The 24-70mm worked great for the group shots and wide angle.
I think these images turned out great and the 100mm Macro is a great "Concert" lens.
Mark
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