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 “Ebbing 100620a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Standing on the shore of Summersville Lake as it returns to winter pool is a surreal feeling. Knowing that this was once farms and forests makes me feel as though a grave is being opened before my eyes to reveal bones of stone. I’m drawn into the world of the past as I wonder about the conversations spoken on trails that have been washed away from decades of flooding. The trails are gone but the voices still echo near the foundation of a silo on the distant shore. Their words are indistinct but the tone is one of family and friendship enjoyed as a hard day’s work comes to a welcomed close above the river. Other voices come from a general store as horses trot by the doorway while neighbors make plans for a harvest celebration. Clouds roll through the October sky to greet the geese in formation as they travel south. The geese honk to each other and on the ground below a whimsical child responds with the bulb horn of his father’s model T. Are there ghosts in the bottom of the lake? Or are they just echoes of the heart longing for a connection to the past?
Don’t take a single moment for granted friends and be blessed throughout your days .
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that 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.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Rust & Reclamation 100620cs” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Old weathered fence posts, rusted wire and wildflowers hold a special place in my heart. The elements of a world engulfed in the flow of time slowly returns to their raw forms. The steel wire was once black sand rich in iron oxide. The fence posts in their raw from grew from the rich humus to which they return. But lest we think that all is decay and entropy time also brings renewal. The flowers provide a bright spot. All along the old fence the tiny asters bloom. The old rusted wire fence will provide shelter from the groomers blades and support against the high winds as they twist their way up through woven wires. They have also been observing the flow of time. Waiting for the days when rain is gentle and sun is not too hot. The tiny flowers will last late into the season and a few will still bloom throughout the mild winter in my little slice of Appalachia. Honeybees do not hibernate and so the scant blooms will be important as survival food for those days that are warm enough for bees to fly. In my own yard I still had a handful of asters in bloom when the first Spring Beauties and crocus opened. So for me the asters symbolize hope in the promise that God will have what I need when I need it.
Hope is the thought for tonight friends. Be blessed throughout your days.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that 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.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Plains Coreopsis 100620a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
The gentle October winds gently shake the field near the Battle Run Campground at Summersville Lake. Small grasshoppers spring into the air and take wing through the drying stems of fading wildflowers. Occasionally a Sulphur Butterfly flutters through checking each bloom for the disappearing nectar. They’ll need every precious drop of energy to make the long journey south. Along with the butterflies Fenches,Chickadees and Wrens forage the tall weeds of the spillway. Some search for insects and others pick seeds from stems that held the wildflowers a few short days ago. The small ones are silent as they feed but in the distance the caw of crows carry on the breeze reminding us that they own the lake now. Gone are the skiers and swimmers and the lower waterline now draws more attention from fishermen trolling the banks in hopes of raising a monster from the inky depths. The soft down of thistle floats gently by and turns skyward. In my inner child’s imagination I see it fly to heaven above and land on a cloud at the feet of an angel who will guard it well until the Spring planting. The seasons flow like a river and nobody can hold it all in their hands. Here in the waning water days of the sun I learned to enjoy the last light rather than mourn its loss. Light to us humans is like the last drops of nectar for the butterflies. We should take in as much as we can to carry us through our journey.
And with this thought I close tonight’s post. Enjoy your time and be blessed throughout your days.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that 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.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Blue Winged Wasp 90820a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Our Friend Cindy asked me for help identifying a wasp that she spotted. What she described is a Blue Winged Wasp.
The late summer sun casts its glow across the open field illuminating the insects that buzz about a few inches above the grass. They seem to ignore me as I wade through them although several nearly collide with my bare legs. They’re definitely wasps and at first glance they look like yellow jackets swarming but they made no aggressive movements so I persisted until I spotted one at eye level. This wasp feeds on pollen and nectar which means it’s not a yellow jacket or hornet of any kind. It’s docile behavior gave me confidence to move in for a closer look however I cautious about crowding it. The body is black and the wings are iridescent blue like a mud dauber but it’s abdomen is orange with two large yellow spots. This is a “Digger Wasp” which is also known as a Blue Winged Wasp or sometimes Blue Winged Digger. The scientific name is Scotia dubia. This gentle wasp is actually a friend of gardeners.
It gets the name Digger Wasp because when it’s not feeding on pollen and nectar it’s hunting grubs in the lawn or garden. It specifically targets scarab beetles like June bugs and Japanese Beetles. Somehow it’s able to detect them underground well enough to distinguish scarab beete grubs from the hundreds of other grubs the feed on the tender roots of our lawns and vegetables. The online community was was sparse on the finer points of how this is accomplished but I suspect that those heavy club like antenna are the secret. Insects use their antenna to smell with. If you look closely at moths and butterflies you’ll notice that their antenna are either feathered or club shaped. In most butterflies the antenna end in bulbs. These bulbs are clusters of olfactory nerves that can sense oders over great distance. In the Blue Winged Wasp we see that the antenna are thick the entire length. I wasn’t really able to confirm it but it stands to reason that the antenna are thick because they contain a lot of these nerve clusters. I suspect that they know where the beetle larvae is by smelling them below ground. Once they have their target they will tunnel right down to the grubs and paralyze them with a sting. Sometimes they they lay a single egg right there where they captured the grub but other times they’ll bury it to hide it while they dig a better hole to place it in and then lay the egg after the grub has been moved. The grubs are not dead. They’re only paralyzed and when the egg hatches the wasp larvae eats the grub. A Blue Winged Wasp larvae will then spin an underground cocoon and transform into an adult Blue Winged Wasp.
The Blue Winged Digger Wasp is a solitary wasp. They are found in clusters but only if there’s sufficient scarab beetles to host the eggs. In 2016 a wet Spring led to an increase of Scarab Beetles and then a wave of these predators which is still going strong today in some areas.
There is an interesting tidbit about this wasp’s relationship with certain orchids. Some orchids have adapted to mimic the female in this family of wasps. The male becomes confused and mates with the orchids and by doing so pollenates the orchids.
White any wasp will become aggressive if you step on them or try to catch them the Blue Winged Digger Wasp is not generally considered a problem. When they are not controlling the scarab beetles they are likely pollinating orchids as mentioned before or the females are visiting one of the other wildflowers such as Goldenrod or wingstem.
Image Titled “Blue Winged Wasp 90820b” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.
Overall, every state extension office between the Eastern Shoreline and the Rocky Mountains listed the Blue Winged Digger Wasp as a beneficial insect so if you have them around they’re only there to help.
That’s it for tonight friends and be blessed throughout your days.
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that 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.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 “Viceroy Butterfly 91320” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page. The warm September sun washes over the marshlands on Muddlety Creek as I creep along the edges watching for various wildlife to present themselves before my lens. In excitement I spotted the bright orange wings of a monarch butterfly resting on the leaves of an alder tree. But I was fooled. This was not a monarch. It’s in the “Royal Admiralty” along with the monarch but it’s a pretender to the butterfly throne. It is a Viceroy Butterfly. In fact, every butterfly that I have published as a monarch this year have actually been Viceroy Butterflies. The two butterflies along with the Queen Butterfly are closely related and all 3 have similar colors and markings but the heavy dark bar on the forewing of the Viceroy is the quickest way to distinguish it from the Monarch. The marshlands here are full of willows and that may account for the heavy concentration of Viceroy Butterflies in the area. Where the monarch hosts it’s eggs and caterpillars on milkweed the Viceroy hosts on willows. The Viceroy Butterfly concentrates the Salicylic Acid ( AKA aspirin) found in willows and poplars ( they also host on poplars) and this makes them poison to predators. Another thing that the Viceroy does to protect it’s babies is that the caterpillar looks like bird droppings. Which would certainly take them off the menu for birds.
That’s it for tonight friends. Be safe and be blessed throughout your days!
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that 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.
If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is
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 