15 of us traveled to Oconee State Park near Mountain Rest, SC for a couple days of hiking, eating and conversation. It was a great time and presented great photo opportunities as well (with one marked exception). I managed to let my D7500 and good lens fall in the lake, so many of the pictures are taken with an older camera and a fixed 35 mm lens. That made the experience just like film photography before zoom lenses were developed.
The pictures are from a walk around the lake and the trail to Tamasee Knob the first afternoon. The second morning the group hiked the trail to Hidden Falls and Disappearing Falls in the morning, and in the afternoon Amy and I visited Pigpen Falls and Licklog Falls. So I got four waterfalls in two days, none of which I had ever seen before.
Between hikes, I shot lake views at sunset and sunrise. On the hikes I shot random images of the remaining fall color. There were no clouds, but the sun was low enough to create amazing vibrant colors.
For reasons I cannot explain, the images are not in order. I hope to figure that out and correct the problem.
Several of us from the North Georgia Photography Club went out on a cloudy, misty day to see if we could find some good fall color to photograph. My choices of where to go were lousy, to say the least. We went to Reedy Branch Falls in South Carolina and Black Rock Lake below Black Rock Mountain. Both places were nice, but lacking much color. The color was up higher. We should have driven up the mountain into the state park to see it. But after Black Rock Lake, we continued down the road to the Sylvan Falls Mill, now a B&B. So, while I didn’t get the color I had hoped for, I tried to compensate by using the software to create special effects.
A few from a quick run to West Bank Park on Lake Lanier.
The North Georgia Photography Club hired Earthquest to bring in a set of wild birds that can not be released into the wild again. We had a couple of hours to photograph them. We did this in the late afternoon, and as the sun set, the light and shadows became tricky to handle. I took all of these pictures with my big telephoto lens, so in some cases I have to back off to 30 feet from the bird. It was great fun.
Clara rode in one more equestrian competition, this time in dressage and stadium jumping but not cross-country jumping.
I hiked some miles in Cloudland Canyon State Park as the pre-hike for the Hearthstone Hikers. I was hoping for fall color and the waterfalls. One of the two materialized, but it was a good, strenuous hike. The fog was thick in the canyon when I arrived mid-morning, but it dissipated as I walked along. The leaves had just barely begun to change, so there was not much opportunity there. The waterfalls were very nice however, and I was able to take the time to find good angles, set up the tripod and try a number of exposures.
Made the trip to the gardens to see the new wildflower garden. Many, perhaps millions, of Cosmos in full bloom. I am not entirely sure these are native wildflowers, but they sure are pretty. It took me a while to figure out where the pictures were in all that color, but these are the results I like. YMMV. I was in full sun, and so the colors were very bright, with few shadows not made by the people there.
Had a great hike from Woody Gap toward Miller Gap past Preacher’s Rock. Great weather for hiking and good photo ops along the way. We did not go all the way to Miller Gap because we didn’t want to hike back up the hills we went down. 🙂 Good lunch at Georgia Barbecue in Dahonega afterward.
Pictures from the first two weeks of October. First is the first good sunrise after quite a stretch of rainy, dull days. Then there are some shots of the remaining raindrops or dewdrops around the yard. Next is sunrise a week later, and lastly monarch butterflies in my neighbor’s yard. Still waiting for fall color, but that is coming soon.