Saturday is my favorite day of the week because it’s when I set the computer down, grab my DSLR and then meet up with a friend. We leave from here, have breakfast at a local Shoney’s and then see if we can’t see a freight train to photograph.

It’s a perfect stress relief for a writer.

Nothing is more relaxing-no matter how much I love writing-then to go out to concentrate on photography. It’s during this time that my mind detox’s and I end up creating plot ideas, stories or even create new characters. Yes, I’m still doing writing activities, but it’s far less stressful because I’m not sitting at the computer trying to figure it out.

Of course, this depends on whether CSX and Norfolk Southern cooperate and move some trains during the daylight hours. When they do it works out perfectly; if not, it becomes a long nap in my truck. Lucky for me today was one of those times that the trains were moving so I actually got to enjoy seeing a few.

Now that I’m home for the day, and have edited my pictures, it’s time to sit down and get back to writing. But, I couldn’t start up without talking about today and thanking you, the reader, for following this blog. J

Sep 8 2013

Local Photos

Typical Country Road in the county I live in.

Closed Exxon Station in a small town not far from where I live.

The Library in the town

Corn was harvested up here recently. They’ll probably plant another crop to be chopped up-stalk and all-to make cattle feed.

An Abandoned Store down the road from this field

Scotchtown was the summer home of Patrick Henry, the American hero who is known for his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech.

Aug 24 2013

8-24-2013 pics

Aug 18 2013

Photos 8-17-2013

Aug 17 2013

Photographs for 8-17-2013

Aug 10 2013

Bad Weather And A Photographic Adventure

Today I set out to try and get some photographs of trains. Well, as luck would have it, CSX didn’t get the memo and nothing moved. Well, shit, time to think of something else to do, so I shifted into fine photography instead. So, my friend and I left the small town we were in and then headed further north into the county in search of landscape photo opportunities.

I was halfway through my work when the clouds, which had been building all morning, started to turn dark and threatening. Ok, fine, the storms that were predicted were coming. I got that, so it was a race to get the work in before the storms hit. I got the last one in 2 minutes before the storms hit in earnest.

Well, once again as luck would have it, I didn’t get a chance to photograph Mineral, Va. It is famous for being the epicenter of the major East Coast earthquake 2-3 years ago that damaged the Washington Monument. Suffice to say, as things were going by then, my friend needed to hit the loo so we had to stop in Louisa, Va. and brave the elements.

That’s when the fun started.

Trying to drive down 522 South during the storm was a dangerous trip. The rain came down so hard that it looked like dense fog and my truck was hydroplaning only running 30mph. What was normally a 20-25 minute drive turned into 45. Several times the road was covered with water and I had to crawl across it. Thankfully, I have a 4×4 truck with an off-road package so I sit high up and things went smoothly. If I didn’t know the area as well as I did, I wouldn’t have gone through the water because that’s how folks get killed. Luckily for where I was, there weren’t any creeks or ditches nearby to cause an issue.

Suffice to say, it was a miserable trip home and I’m very glad to have made it home safe.