I am a West Virginia native who has always loved photography. I have studied it for many years. I recently turned my hobby into a business. I do event photography, senior and family portraits. I also have several home décor prints and items available for purchase. Some of my photos have been used for book covers. I hope to soon have an on line store at this site.
Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Azalea Buds 3220″and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.
After the rain stops my mountain comes alive with songbirds. They dart hither and yon between the feeders trying their best to stay hidden. As the days progress I see more and more signs that warmer days are drawing closer. The texture of the forest has begun to change. The buds on the trees are really swollen and will soon erupt into lush greenery. The sound of Little Elk Creek giggling as it flows to the Gauley River also fills the air. The next mark on my natural calendar us the Mayflowers and Trout Lilies. I have noticed the variations in the colorsof the forest floor that tells me that something is bursting through the leaf litter. Patches of bright green break up the plane of dull brown hillsides. The mists are rising from the earth instead of settling upon it which tells me that the ground is warmer than air. It’s time to start prepping the garden when the soil wakes. I stepped over to the Orange Azalea and judging by the scales that have fallen off it won’t be much longer before it opens up and springs to life. In some ways I feel like I’m returning to life along with it.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “New Leaves On A Volunteer Apple 32020” and was taken just for Forage Friday. All of the photos are my original work and are available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.
I’ve posted a few images of the Bradford Pears in the parking lot of my day job but they’re not the tree in bloom right now. A couple of years ago I spotted an apple that had washed down the creek and come to rest on the edge of my yard. Some of the neighbors upstream have apple trees so it didn’t really strike me as unusual. I also have chosen to allow the trees to take over the banks of the creek to prevent erosion and stabilize the soil. I didn’t even notice that the apple had sprouted until I saw the single bloom last Spring and this year it’s added a few more. If it’s as I suspect the apples are the same variety as the ones upstream. They will be hard, knobby and tart. Not really great for eating off of tree but wonderful for baking.
My grandmother Dempsey always had a houseful of absolutely delicious food but there was three things that we always looked forward to having. The homemade bread that was always freshly baked and warm from the oven, peanut butter logs that were a kinda like a Reese’s cup but far superior and the homemade apple fritters from the trees in her back yard. There was a bunch of cousins that were mostly boys but most of them were well grown by the time I was old enough be sent to the back yard to gather apples. If the kids in my age group it was usually myself and my brother along with my cousin Billy who would pick up and shake down a poke of apples. Now for some who don’t know how many apples are in a poke there was a time before plastic bags that your groceries came in a paper sack. The most common was a #70 peper sack that the older generation refered to as a poke. The biodegradable paper bags were done away with in order to save the environment starting in the late 70s. But I digress. The poke of apples were all hand peeled and the skins tossed into the compost pile on the edge of the woods. My grandmother would chop some of the apples into a sauce with spices and when it was rendered she would add some wedges and cook it down a little to make her filling. The shell of these little pies was a homemade pie shell about the size of soft shell taco and once filled they were fried in lard. ( I believe it was lard but I am not sure. ) It doesn’t take 3 growing boys long to empty a plate of fritters.
Because apples are a pretty common food in modern times we could write a whole book of different ways to use the fruits. Apples are made into both hard and sweet cider as well as vinegar, breads, applesauce, chips and much more!
Once when I was a kid I thought that it would be funny to quote “an apple per day keeps the doctor away” as my doctor walked into the exam room. He just smiled and replied, “don’t throw apples at me.” But truth is apples do in fact have some medicinal value to herbalists. An old time cure for diarrhea or constipation was applesauce. But there’s a value beyond that. The leaves of the apple tree itself are used in teas for stomach ailments and are said to be mildly bitter. Most of the articles that I read suggest mixing the leaves with other things like blackberry leaves, strawberry leaves, honey and cinnamon. The mix of leaves are going to be astringent. I would also suggest that you gather the young leaves for tea because the older they get then the more astringent they’ll be. That same mix when made from the older leaves can be used externally for acne and skin infections. According to James A Duke of the Peterson’s Field Guide the leaves of apple trees are antimicrobial and a strong tea made from bruised apple leaves can be used to wash minor wounds.
Apple wood is absolutely gorgeous. One of my all time favorite walking sticks was made from a whole crab Apple tree that was reclaimed from a project that required the tree to be removed.
Do you have a favorite apple recipe or have you ever made a tea from the leaves? Let me know in the comments below! 😊
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!
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Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Geese At Daniel Boone Park 31220” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.
Geese are funny to watch. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the air or on the water if one of them honk the others repeat it in sequence. Now I don’t really speak goose so there’s no real way for me to know if the message is repeated accurately or not. However, because of the amazing efficiency of nature I presume that it’s clearly understood among the geese.
If only people could operate this well. If geese were like humans the leading honk would be a beep by the time the message is repeated throughout the group.
Something that both geese and humans have in common is how fast word is spread. For the geese this is a necessary skill for flying as a single unit. If one bird crashes then they all crash. For people, the faster word spreads then the less accurately it is delivered. Which is something to remember in the internet age when we communicate faster than ever before.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Pipevine Swallowtail Visiting Joe Pye Weed 82020” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.
The sweet scent of the wildflowers drifts in the humid air. The ever present songbirds call from hidden perches in the thick canopy. I stood there enjoying the blessings of life in Appalachia as the pipevine Swallowtail sailed in on the breeze. And deftly lit on the buds of the Joe Pye Weed. Her world is one of a constant struggle for survival and yet she carries peaceful contentment on her wings. I have to wonder if her secret is that she only concerns herself with the task at hand. When it’s time to evade the bird she dips and flips and the bird is confounded. When she’s hungry she feeds on one bloom at a time and when she’s done she dances in the wind. She has all the tasks that are common to life on planet earth but she doesn’t try to do them all at once. She simply takes care of them as the need arises and when they’re complete she leaves that task done.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Morning Serenity 31520” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.
The new day greets the big blue truck with a cool mist as we roll down the Midland Trail into the Kanawha Valley. The roads through the mountains are lined with little waterfalls and moss covered rocks that bring the feel of an arcane world that lays just inside the boles of nearby trees.
In truth, the little waterfall is right on the main road and like most of roads here there’s just enough room for me to completely leave the highway and be comfortable setting up my gear. I am aware of the traffic as the other cars surge past on their way to the daily grind but my focus is on the water as it cascades from the rocks. The contrast between the flowing water and the static stones brings a soothing feeling to the hurried morning. The sound of the trickling water and the smell of the fresh green moss soaks into the core of my very being and for a moment I am at one with God through his handiwork. The connection brings peaceful contentment and the strength to get through the rest of the day.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!
Tobook me simply reach out using theContact Pageand we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.
Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
Did you know that I also do portraits by appointment? If you’re interested in a portrait session either message me on Facebook or Use the Contact form. The YouTube link below takes you one of my slideshows.
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer.
LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC 