Tag: art photos

The Peaceful Passage

Color Photography

Walking down a quiet country road during the peak color of Fall is one of the most peaceful experiences that life has to offer. The crisp breeze coming out of the West fortells the change of season and soon the gray skies will overtake the Appalachian Mountains. But for now, bright yellows, deep reds and cheerful oranges are on display to warm the spirit. Large squirrels dart and play in the branches occasionally shaking the leaves free. Down into the little gully below I can hear the local wild turkeys as they scratch back the leaf litter looking for a meal. Some of the trees are already bare as the forest prepares to rest for the winter. Some of the songbirds have already gone South and on the day I took the picture I spotted several flocks of Canadian Geese flying in their chevron formation. As I walk a little farther I spot something wiggly crawling on pavement. A woolly worm in search of just the right spot where it can spin it’s cocoon and snuggle in while it transforms into a tiger moth. The old timers said that you could predict the winter by the amount of black on a wooly worm. The more black it has the harsher winter will be. This one was average but it remains to be seen if he was right or wrong. The light continues to fade away and soon my denim jacket is feeling a bit thin. The big blue truck waits with a tumbler of hot coffee and I am ready to head home to share my my thoughts and the treasure in my lens.

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. You can follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook or if you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s image is titled “peaceful passage” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6 – $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10 – $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes.

The Little Dragons

Color Photography, wildlife

I have to admit that I never met a lizard that I didn’t like. Of course that might all change if I ever run into a Gila monster or a Komodo Dragon. Here in the Appalachian Mountains they don’t get much larger than this little guy in tonight’s feature image. The Five Lined Skink. The largest one I’ve seen was one about six inches long but in the eyes of a little kid with a vivid imagination it was a living dinosaur! I was never able to catch one but I always wanted to make a pet out of one so I could teach him to play Godzilla with my toy soldiers. In those days home movies were still shot on film but I had visions of setting up the scene shooting my own monster movie. It was during this endeavor that I learned about the trick tail. I was hunting for a big one that I had seen out by the barn. I was cautiously lifting up old wood an pieces of bark with a stick in case of a snake when I found him. My hands moved like lightning and I caught him! However the lizard had a surprise in store for me and the blue tail broke off in my hand. I looked down and saw the empty tail wiggling in my hand and started crying because I had broken my lizard. My kind and loving grandfather explained that it lets go of its tail on purpose and that the tail grows back. (Of course as a child I thought it grow back instantly like magic). At one point there was one with a forked tail living close to the house. It’s tail had not completely detached and the new one grew in next to the old one.

As an adult I smile and even speak to the little lizards on my property. I try to save some space for them on and around my property and in return they help keep the insect population in check. It seems that I got my pet lizards by simply leaving them alone and letting them do their thing.

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. You’re also invited to follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Guardian On The Bridge” because he lived on the wooden foot bridge of my former home. Prints are available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6- $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10 – $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes. I am available for portrait sessions by appointment. Just use Facebook or Contact Form to inquire about the rates.

I Dare You ( part 4 )

Uncategorized

Tonight’s post is the final part of I Dare You. You can avoid any spoilers by starting with I Dare You part 1. If already have part 1 in your Trick-or-treat bag but missed the middle here is Part 2 and Part 3.

We stand there staring at the old mansion in the foggy moonlight. We’re sitting ducks out here in the open I whisper. You look at a run down abandoned building with its sagging beams, broken windows and holes in the roofing. I can tell by the look on your face that you’re not happy about trying to hide in a place that looks like it’s straight out of a horror movie. You don’t want to get stomped into a little puddle of goo by a tree monster do you? I continue as I nudge you forward. Reluctantly, we move up onto the porch and try to peak inside. There are broken floorboards, fallen plaster and debris everywhere inside. Cautiously we jiggle the doorknob. The old lock fails due to the extreme rust and the door freaks open. When I try to step inside the floor just inside the threshold gives away and you jerk me back just in time to prevent me from falling through. What’s plan B you whisper as we gaze down at the fresh hole. As we look around we spot a detached root cellar with the door ajar. Simultaneously we look at each other and say “Plan B!” We head for the cellar door. As we get close we can smell the musty air coming out of the darkness. There’s a sound coming from the inside. Someone or something inside begins to groan loudly. The door bursts open so hard that it knocks us both down and we look up at the tall moss covered figure towering over us. We began crawling backwards to get away as the creeper groans and stomps the ground. We think that we’re gonners for sure. Then the thing starts laughing hysterically. But it’s a human laugh. The creeper reaches up with its gnarly hand and pulls back the hood of a ghillie suit. It’s Derrick. The captain of the football team. Happy Halloween he yells as he continues to cackle. Derrick is a jerk but we both had to admit that he got us pretty good. That was you the whole time! You exclaim. Derrick confesses that he overhead the dare and since he lives close by he ran and put on the ghillie suit. It was his cat that met us on the trail. After a few more laughs and some reconciliation the three of us decide to have one more peek inside the old mansion. As we stroll comfortably back across the lawn there’s a terrible commotion out on the edge of the foggy forest. We can’t believe our eyes as one of trees pulls it’s roots from the ground and begins walking towards us. As we turn to run we see that Derrick is far ahead of us with no plans of looking back. You and I run for lives vowing never to set foot on an abandoned property again.

Addendum..

Old Man Redburn chuckles as he watches the young teenagers run away. As he walks to the pickup truck parked at edge of driveway he thinks about how every year kids come looking for the creeper. He sits on the tailgate of his truck and removes the stilts and the coveralls that he glued tree bark and Spanish moss on all those years ago when he started the rumors of something in the woods.

Hello Friends! Thank you for your support of my page and I hope you enjoyed my four part Halloween story. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. Please also consider following Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Echoes In The Mists 2” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

I’m also available for portraits by appointment. Just use Facebook messenger or the contact form for details.

I Dare You ( part 3 )

black and white photography, Fiction Story

If you’re joining us in the middle of the story please read I Dare You part 1 and I Dare You part 2.

The shadow disappeared into a thicket of hemlock trees. Did you see that? I whisper. It’s way too big to be the cat. Not taking our eyes away from the spot where we saw the shadow we move slowly away this part of the trail until we reach a point where we turn to run. Just as we make a break for it we can hear something large crashing through the forest. The sound of twigs snapping and branches breaking is accompanied by heavy footfalls on the bare earth on the trail behind us. I scream “He’s gaining on us!” You glance back up the trail to see a large humanoid shape. His long stride gives him a great advantage in the chase but our adrenaline is making up the difference. With the pounding of our hearts beating in time with our pace we run to a point where the trail goes downhill. My toe catches a exposed tree root. As I try to regain balance I crash into you and we both go down. We land just off the trail and come to a stop in the high weeds. The light goes out from the impact but in the moonlight we see the shape of our pursuer rush past us. He’s still on the chase. He didn’t see us fall. You observe. We continue the hide in the weeds until we can no longer hear the footfalls. “You and your dares” you mutter as we pick ourselves up from where we landed. The light is broken but we can see that trail ends just ahead. In the distance we can see the old derelict mansion in the moonlight.

You can now jump to part 4 to see how the story ends 🎃

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 don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Echoes In The Mists” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6 – $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10- $15.00

I am also available for portraits by appointment. Rates will vary depending on the type of session.

I Dare You (part 2)

black and white photography

If you have not read part 1 of I Dare You please click here.

We both stifle a giggle as the black cat stops several yards away looking confused with our reaction to being stalked. We also swear never to let others know how scared we were. The trail twists and turns through the forest. The vine covered stumps of long dead trees dot the edge of the pathway. As you sweep your light ahead of us the stumps cast shadows that occasionally look like people sneaking through the forest. As we tease each other about the sneaking shadows there’s a noise that makes our blood run cold. Was that a scream in the distance? A gust of wind rustles the leaves close by and we both freeze in our tracks. Listen… was it the wind or something else? I swear it sounds like footfalls. Then the screaming again. We look around but there’s nothing there. Then the trilling starts. It wasn’t a scream. It was the screech of an owl in some distant tree. Okay. I have to confess that I’m not feeling as cocky as I was when I dared you to walk the trail. After all, Old Man Redburn is said to have spotted the creeper in these woods. What’s the creeper? It’s supposed to be the result of a science experiment gone wrong. A tree that came to life and walks around. As I begin describing how a scientist accidentally fused his DNA with tree and gave rise to an eight foot tall moss covered monster that stomps on people you sweep the woods again with your light. Only this time, one of the shadows moves the wrong direction…

To be continued on part 3

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 prefer to Follow the blog without Facebook then at the bottom of my Welcome page you can sign up for email alerts.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Superstition 1” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

Current price list is

4×6 -$5.00

5×7 – $10.00

8×10- $15.00

Larger prints will vary