A picture may tell a 1,000 words but it still never tells the whole story. I’m going to take you on a journey back through the lens and out the viewfinder to tell you the story of the making of the image.
So last night I got you up to speed a bit on what has happened since I 1st told you about the vision/mission God has given me. I realized as I was composing that post that I really haven’t given a very clear picture of my vision. That is what I hope to rectify now.
Well, it’s been a little over 8 months since I wrote about my dream for the future so I thought I would post an update on what’s been going on.
While I have been learning a LOT, the whole process feels like taking baby steps. You know the shaky, unsure, off balance kind of steps I’m talking about. They are cute and part of the learning process, but they don’t cover much distance. Here is a sampling of some of the baby steps I (along with my family) have taken:
A picture may tell a 1,000 words but it still never tells the whole story. I’m going to take you on a journey back through the lens and out the viewfinder to tell you the story of the making of the image.
Yesterday and today I have been printing some photos onto some beautiful 100% cotton canvas and then stretching them onto wooden frames (a.k.a. gallery wrapped). It is a pretty time consuming process that has my fingers aching, but it is soooooo worth it. I like the way they look much more than when framed under glass. There is something about a photograph on canvas that really makes it special.
As I took a break to drink a tasty cup of Organic, Fair Trade coffee I thought about why I prefer gallery wrapped canvas prints over framed prints. Not surprisingly the realization that I came to spilled over into thoughts of religion and faith as well. If you have read any of my previous posts you no doubt have seen that EVERYTHING about my life and my photography is bound up in faith and this is what I call my Journey.
Getting up early and going to bed late caught up with me. I had wanted to get up early to get more sunrise image but I woke up with a splitting headache. I couldn’t seem to shake it even after going back to sleep for an hour. I almost packed everything up and head home, but I new that I should go out and shoot here while I could. Headache or not I was in the mountains and that is better than being in Charlotte.
After getting back to my camp at Roan Mt. State Park in TN, cooked myself a VERY tasty omelette and tried to decide on where to shoot next. The combination of my early rising, hiking with a 30-ish pound pack, and full belly, however, made me quite sleepy so I opted to take a nap before making any decisions. Yep, that’s just what I needed, a nice relaxing nap.
Ever try taking a nap in a campground in the middle of the day?
Day 2 of my trip to Roan Mt. came really early. 4:00am is not the time that I generally enjoy getting up in the morning, but the sun (& the other CNPA members) weren’t going to wait. Wisely, I had laid out all my clothes and gear the night before, so I was out of my tent and ready to roll within minutes.
It’s a good thing I had those extra minutes, because I spotted a few deer as I was leaving the campground & slowed down a bit for safety’s sake. Let me just say that driving in the dark at 4 in the morning on a strange winding road is difficult enough without the prospect of deer in the road adding to it. Anyway, I got to Carver’s Gap met up with my fellow nature photographers and headed up the Appalachian Trail toward Round Bald.
Friday, the first full day of my trip was pretty much open since I wasn’t meeting the other folks from CNPA until Saturday morning. There were so many trails to check out that I didn’t know where to start! I decided to check out a trail that I thought I had read about earlier in the week: The Cloudland Trail. I quikly consulted a trail guide provided by the State Park and headed down to the Visitor’s Center to find the trailhead. As I approached the trailhead which is behind the Visitor’s Center I saw a sign that read something like “Cloudland Nature Trail a service project of the Cloudland Nature Club.” That and the relatively short length of the trail was beginning to make me suspect I has made a mistake.
This last weekend I finally took a trip to a place in the mountains that I have been wanting to photograph for a few years. I’d seen photos from friends and other photographers of the Roan Mt. area and they always made my mouth water, but for some reason or other I never made it up there. An outing with the Charlotte chapter of the Carolina Nature Photographers Association (CNPA) gave me just the “excuse” I needed.
