Category: black and white photography

Light & Shadow

black and white photography, Thoughts and Musing

At the moment I snapped the image above a dark cloud cast it’s shadow on the river. The resulting contrast highlights the mountain in background giving us the impression of a destination within our reach. It’s when the darkness overshadows my life that I truly appreciate the goal ahead. It’s the shadow that that defines the light.

The dark times that come to us are like the passing clouds. They come and go. Without the shadow this would be just another image of the train trestle crossing the Gauley River. Without the rainy days the river would dry up and my mountains would be just another pile of rocks. The dark times in our lives bring the life giving rain and as it passes and light returns we can see how close we are to home.

The First signs of Spring

black and white photography, travel, West Virginia

The days are noticeably longer in the Appalachian mountains. Mother nature has begun to open her sleepy eyes. The buds on the trees have begun to swell and some of early flowers will be in bloom in just a few weeks. We’re still expected a few cold days and a spring snow is quite common in the end of March or early April. The Southern breeze occasionally peeks up out of the Gulf of Mexico to share warm kisses and hasten the thaw. Soon it will be time to plant gardens and make plans for cookouts and family gatherings. Most of all, there’s opportunity to find a nice quiet spot and just breathe in nature.

The tree in the image above grows in a park next to New River Gorge Bridge. The bridge is over 3000 feet long (924 m) and 876 feet high (276 m)

The catwalk under the bridge is open to the public and tourists can walk out over the gorge. I have texted with and seen pictures of one of the engineers walking the steel beams without a net or safety line. But I digress.

With the weather warming up I hope to bring you some fresh images of West Virginia. Our mountains and valleys are truly beautiful in the Spring.

Relics

Abandoned, black and white photography

Every so often I find that my curiosity gets the best of me. I’ve always been an explorer at heart and when I see a piece of junk left behind my inner child wants to play Indiana Jones. I have passed this old drilling rig for thirty years and kept telling myself one day I’ll go down into the overgrown field and check it out. It’s not as simple as it sounds. I live in rattlesnake territory and they absolutely love to make their dens in old machines. It was still winter I figured that they were still hibernating if not frozen stiff and so I made my way to the rig. Since there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, I moved cautiously through the briars and winter grasses. I used my tripod to push back the brush and make sure I actually wanted to step there before moving forward. When I finally reached my goal a took a few minutes to appreciate the object before my eyes. I was touching history. Maybe not Earth shattering history but someone’s history. The drilling rig was more than likely used by miners to get core samples for the coal industry. I looked over the broken gauges and switches. The key that turned the machine on was still in the ignition. Levers that were frozen with rust had not been touched by human hands in decades. The steel cables sagged and the wheels had rotted away. I think about the men who operated the drill. I imagine the hot July and August days on the job site. The dust rises from the bore hole turns into mud when it lands on their necks due to sweat. The type of men who do this kind of work are hardy and take pride in the job. They deal with the misery of labor by laughing when it’s over. I would not be surprised if break time included some pranks here and there. There always at least one person on a crew like this who is afraid of snakes and a cheap rubber snake left near a lunch box is better than T.V. These men are not just coworkers. They’re family. They say that history is really his story . But it’s their story and our story. And when you come in contact with one of the relics, it’s your story too.

The Summerville Lighthouse

black and white photography, West Virginia

As I sat down to write to write tonight’s post the wind is howling on the ridge above my home. I can hear the wind chimes ring loudly in the front porch. There’s a storm on the way. That’s the reason why I chose the picture of our local lighthouse. Lighthouses are the iconic representation of hope in the storm. I can’t look at a lighthouse without having a sense of peace and security. (That’s why I incorporated a lighthouse in my business logo.) Finding peace during a storm one of life’s necessities. It helps to have a lighthouse to provide a fixed point to focus on. Metaphorically speaking, we know that there will multiple storms in our lives. We will need that beacon of hope to focus on and guide us through the fog and blinding rain. For me, Christ is my lighthouse. That doesn’t mean that there’s never a storm. But it does mean that I have a fixed point to focus on and find that peace again.

Planting Seeds

black and white photography, Thoughts and Musing

The image above was taken in Kanawha County West Virginia at the Southridge shopping center.

I consider myself a forest dweller. Sure I spend most of my day in a cubicle and earn money on the internet but it’s an alien world to me. I want nothing more than just a shaded path along a babbling brook. That’s my real home. As a child I would find a stand of seedlings and try to weave them together in a little dome. The hemlock trees worked the best. They were flexible enough that you could weave them without breaking the trunk. And, they were lush enough for a good shelter. We always hoped that a natural graft would happen and we would have a permanent place to play. We wanted to shape a future. While the plan to grow seedlings into houses never quite worked the idea behind the plan is still sound. Take what resources you have and work them into a future that makes you happy.

Relationships are like trees. The kind smiles and words are the seeds we plant in lives of those around us. They are received into heart and soul of our friends and family. Those seeds of love are going to grow into warm hugs when we need them the most.