Ghost Trains–10-4-2019

First off – thank you Nick for leading the way!  You made a dream come true last week, you rock! 

We started out before the sun kissed the horizon.  The train of ppl grew as we moved closer to the area we were heading too.  A big old Grand Isle/Madawaska caravan! With several stops.

The walk is relatively short, the drive is not!  Worth every moment of it though!

It’s fascinating to walk into the clearing and see these monsters of metal.  And to think of the track laid down, and upkept for all those years. 

Awe inspiring. 

‘nuff said.

I blew out the background on some photos to get better detail of the trains.  And in some instances, it was hard getting the trains without someone crawling all over them!  Yet, still so much fun!

The colors were great that day as well, and yes, I brought Arrow with  me!

Then another short hike to another section of the ghost trains and more phenomenal pictures. 

I snagged a few in B/W as well as graded them later in lightroom.  I sometimes think B/W brings out more detail and also gives you that “back in time” feel.

Then the drive back home, and the day was over.  4 hours there, 4 hours back, about an hour at the trains and all these pictures and good memories to show for it!

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Adventure with Rhys–8-5-2019

A yearly or biyearly thing, a day out with Rhys!

 

Rhys has this thing for “abandoned” house.  There are only so many out there, but we ventured around and found a few spots.

We worked on Sunflares and angles and seeing the “big picture” this time. 

We stopped in at an old caboose that Rhys had fun with.  of course, he really wanted to get inside – but alas – it was locked!

I got a new buddy, the Green Arrow!

An awesome field of yellow!

The day ended with Viv visiting as well, I do think Archer liked her. 

Abandoned Trains in Bartlett, NH–06-26-2019

I went out looking for this place last week and didn’t find it.  Today it was hot, and the trailhead was packed.  So, I downloaded google earth (whoot for tech!) and found it!

Let’s start w/the black and white!

These are the color options, tada!  If you look super close, you can see the photographer (moi) in the lens ball.  I didn’t notice it when I was taking the pictures due to the bright sun. 

Did I mention it was hot?

06-15-2019–VT Road Trip!

Sometimes you do not need a destination.  My goal was to – drive!

I picked a road and drove, heading towards Vermont.  I picked a town.  Literally at random and hit – go!  Lupines!!!

I love playing with perspective and focal points, I’m not great at it, but I like doing it.  Looking at a flower from the ground up is different then when you look at it from above.

I loved that the clouds were coming in.  The sky is such an interesting place.  Some people love that sold blue.  I do as well, but give me interesting clouds any day!

As I mentioned, I am part of a Facebook Photo Page that does challenges.  Our challenge, if we accepted, I did, was “in the garden”.  So the last two weeks I’ve spent a lot of time looking a flowers

I saw this out of the corner of my eye and totally brought me to Stephen King’s It!  The old MiniSeries?  Where he is standing there in the swampy area?  I don’t know, I loved it I promptly slapped on the brakes and ventured along the road, down the embankment, and snapped a few pics. 

Driving around I think in Lancaster?  I saw a trail on the side of the road by the bridge.  Stop I did!  I found this old abandoned factory.  So, in I went!

The most unlikely stops.  A Jehovah Witness Church.  Great pinks!

Last, but not least – I stopped over in Sugar Hill.  I had scouted this place for some night photography, it looks great in the daytime as well!

05-02-2018

Fingers in the sky and abandon doors. 

Perfection.

I’ve been doing these – “Take as many in five as you can” sessions lately, as I drive home. 

Not much difference between the color (above) and the black and white (below)

Best of September

Ah, Sept, almost fall!  My fave time of the year.

2010

These are my FIRST pictures with my Canon Rebel SX/DSLR – Previously, anything before Sept 2010 was scanned from my film photos (still a Rebel, I’m a Canon girl)

2013

I spent 7 weeks in Milliknocket, ME doing my clinicals.  The last two shots of 2013 are my first “long exposure” shots.   

2014

Fall! Up on the mountain in Lille

2015

I was at my 1st New Mexico assignment for all of Sept of 2015 – what a great area too!

The below picture was taken atop an inactive volcano – in that view, you can see Texas in the far distance.

2016

Sunset, flowers, and views from atop Haystack Mountain

The following few pictures of of a “photo drive” I took with my nephew that summer.  We had a BLAST!

Views from Haystack!

2017

I spent ALL of 2017 in MAINE!  Down state and home. 

 

One of my fave sunsets!  I love those colors.

I bought some relatively cheap magnification/marco lens filters.  Most of these are at 2x

A Little Drive

Abandoned, overgrown houses and barns always make me think of what would the world look like if people began dying off, or an EMP hit, or some plague struck us down. (Not a zombie thing!). Half eaten meals on a table, VCR tape still jutting from a VCR, a coat draped over a now overturned kitchen chair. Trees and brush sprouting through the basement floors, edging up the stairs and into the 2^nd story of the house. So I decided to go venture out and find a few of these places and just “look around”. I’ve been feeling very lackluster about writing lately, but passionate about taking photos, maybe I could get one to spark the other into gear.

There is a sadness in places like this and a story. Why was the house left like that? Why is all their “stuff” still here. Of the odd things you see while traveling, that make no sense in the realm of the world. The WTF things.

Or the beauty that hides in the areas, the wild grass, the wayward trees, the hidden treasures in the overgrown brush that tangle your feet.

We did come across a car from yesteryear. To which my nephew, Rhys asked “Can we take the steering wheel!” What a guy!

Those places, those once-homes to humans or animals, are relics frozen in time with dust and cobwebs. Snapshots into time that has just transpired, the blink of an eye if you think of the age of this rock we live on.