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 “Boone Hen” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
Tilley settled down on her favorite roost on the banks of the beautiful Kanawha River. The water lapped gently against the stone as the clouds parted and sun came out to greet her. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell of the mint growing by the river. After a long morning of foraging she was ready for a break. She didn’t really need much to relax. Just a quiet spot on the river and the warm sun. A Swallowtail butterfly floated by on the breeze and caught her attention as it sailed into the mint and began to feed. Tilley turned her head slightly and became mesmerized by the way it fluttered it’s wings grooming each flower as it searched for nectar. When the butterfly finished and fluttered off again Tilley settled in and began watching the river. The sunbeam was like a warm hug as it lingered on her rock. It wasn’t long before she would succumb to the state of relaxation and fell into the perfect nap.
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 “Giants In Their Field ” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
The titans stretch out forming a bridge between heaven and earth as the sun sinks low into mountains. The gentle breeze seemed giggle as it played with the tall grass. The titans sway and dance slightly to a tune that only nature comprehends. The heavens above are alive as the clouds shift and transform themselves into a stream of abstract art. In my fancy the clouds form faces and flowers, mountains and valleys. I can see rivers of clouds that flow through the scenes. At one point A Chinese dragon crossed the sky and disappeared into a magic box. The clouds have always told me such wonderful stories!
I found myself frozen at the foot of giants watching these stories until the laughter of a screech owl broke my trance. The sun was just peeking out from the opposite ridge and it was time for me to get back into the big blue truck and head home once again.
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 “The Forgotten” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
I was just out wandering around and looking for something interesting to catch in my lens when I notice the fence just off the main road a bit. I allowed my eyes to explore the area. I was looking for a trailing vine or maybe a small bird roosted in the chain link. Then I noticed the lock. It was just hanging there. I used the zoom lens to get a closer look at it. Locks are either indoor use or outdoor use. This one was obviously in the wrong place for a while. Time and the elements have frozen it with rust. I wondered if I had stumbled upon another love lock but a love lock should be on a bridge not a fence. Bridges represent transition where fences symbolize a barrier. Then on closer inspection of the image I saw that this lock was left open.
I realize that the lock was more than likely used to secure the nearby gate and was probably retired due to it’s inability to withstand outdoor use. But the symbolism of a rusty lock left hanging open on the fence was not lost on me.
The lock when open represents the concept of vulnerability.
The rust symbolizes the passage of time.
The fence symbolizes a barrier.
What is not pictured here is the gate. For the sake of the example lets say that the gate was open. That puts a whole new perspective of the story of the rusted lock. One of a person who has been receptive for a long time.
In the English language we generally use the word “love” to describe romance. But there’s also the concept of friendship, brotherhood/sisterhood, the relationship between a parent and a child, the affection we have for our pets and so on.
Perhaps the image that I captured is another “Love lock” after all. It’s just a different kind of love. A love for one’s extended family of community. Not a lock that holds in but an openness that invites the world to stop by from time to time and share a story.
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 “The Filling Up” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.
Our lives are like vessels. Whatever our life containsis is what we have filled up with. Be it good or bad. That’s also going to effect what we have to pass on to others and what they have to pass on to us.
We’ve all known that person who just has to unload every time they come around. We might try to step in and help them out at first but after a while it gets tiresome. Have you ever wondered where all that negativity comes from? If we’re all vessels and carry whatever we’re filled with then why are some people so full of negativity? It has to be one of two things. Either they are filling from the wrong source or someone else is contaminating their vessel at some point in their lives. When I was a kid I use to hear adults say “consider the source ” whenever certain conversations came up. I always thought that phrase was in reference to the negative person but as I’ve gotten older I have come to consider that the negative person might be simply filling up from the wrong source.
When I started my blog a couple of years ago the first goal was to get my photography out in front of the public. The very next words out of my mouth was that “I want to bring as many people as possible into a positive frame of mind.” It’s one of the reasons why you’ll never see politically charged topics on my site. Regardless of anything else I want you to come away from the blog feeling like I have added value to your day. I want this site to be a source of good things that you can fill up with.
I realize that this particular post is a little bit of a deviation from my normal writing but as I stared at the feature image the thought of filling up a vessel was strong in my heart and I felt like it was time to reaffirm my mission for my new readers. Yes I do want to sell copies of the photos but just as important to me is providing inspiration and imparting something that makes your daily life a little better than it was before you opened the link. I want to pour good things into your vessels.
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 simply “Sassafras Leaves”. The image was produced specifically for this article and is not really as a “sales piece”. However, if you see an image on my blog that you would like to purchase just follow the instructions at the bottom of the article .
The warm humid air carries a sweet spicy aroma as I approach the small trees growing along the road. Because I live in rattlesnake country I use the hook on the end of my walking stick to pull the branches to me instead of wading through the weeds. Taking a bit of the fresh leaf and rubbing it between my thumb and forefinger releases even more of the aromatic oils. Sassafras has one of the most pleasant fragrances found in nature. To me it’s the strongest identifying quality of this very useful tree.
I suppose that my first experience with Sassafras is the preschool memory of my dad coming home from work with the root bark. I remember that he held it out for me to smell. Then he put it a pot of water that was simmering on the stove and the whole house smelled like warm root beer. That was late Fall and the memory of that experience is just as strong as it ever was. But today I have a different purpose for the sweet oils of the Sassafras tree. I plucked a few more leaves and began to crush them up in my hands. I rub the resulting liquid on exposed skin and tuck the bruised leaves under the brim of my hat. The fragrance helps hide me from the mosquitoes that lurk in the shade. Thanks to my grandfather for teaching me this trick while out caring for the cattle.
Sassafras is leaf was formally used for the flavoring in gumbo! Now, I have not been able to enjoy this one personally and gumbo from a commercial source must not contain Sassafras by law. In fact it’s banned from all commercial production due the risk of cancer from the essential oil. ( And yet Philip Morris can still sell cigarettes on every street corner. ) We haven’t been able to use it commercially since 1979. Before that root beer and root beer candy was made with natural extracts and real sugar.
These days this wonderful tree is still sold as an ornamental plant. The large purplish blue berries are a favorite of songbirds. I have to say that I’ve noticed that the drop in the bobwhite and drop in popularity of natural Sassafras flavored products seems to coincide. It’s worth propagating the tree just for the wildlife value alone.
The one commercial use that the FDA allows us to have is the exotic lumber value. Sassafras hartwood is considered to be very durable and is absolutely beautiful. As a forest owner you could probably do pretty well by producing a handful of timber sized Sassafras trees per year. A quick Google search turned up asking prices around ten dollars per board foot. So a rough value estimate of an average Sassafras wood 24 inches thick, 8 inches wide and 30 feet tall came out to around $6K per tree. ( This was a very quick and very rough estimate and it’s been 30 years since I actually had to estimate the value of timber so I am not positive about that estimate. ) Purists may not consider the commercial use of lumber to be foraging. To those good folks, I need to point out that foraging is using the resources of the land to feed yourself and others. Since $6k will buy a lot groceries it counts in my book. And if done right it will open up resources for renewal of the lower canopy to thrive and mature. And that estimate doesn’t really include the possibility of novelties made from pieces that a mill might reject such as lathe turned jewelry and bespoke canes.
Overall, it turns out that Sassafras has a lot to offer and we haven’t even considered the medical uses. ( Mainly because of the FDA ban ) I may revisit this one in the fall when I’m in the mood for a homemade root beer!
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 