Conservative Art – Page 59 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park

The Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park in West Virginia is one of our most popular places. It’s especially popular with artists and photographers. I think the reason why we’re so atracted to it. The mill harkens us back to a simpler time when life was more organic. The days when water and horses powered our technology. This allowed for a life that was less micro managed. There was time for friends and family to meet beside a steam and enjoy life. Small stones accumulated in a pool near the bank hold an entire world of colors and shapes. Insects and crayfish dart around in the pool like waterborne fairies performing a dance. This is what real life is.

The mill is still in operation certain times of the year. We have friends who still take grain to the mill and grind it flour. Home baked bread from home raised grain has a smell and a flavor not found in the bleached out over processed chunks of starchy foam that comes in a plastic bag. Real bread is a wonderful experience.

Today the subject of automation is discussed at length. There are doubts and fears as well as hopes and dreams. I look at the image here that represents the automation of the past and I’m reminded that before the mill all that flour had to be ground by hand. There would have been no time for observation of life in the water. No time for pleasant conversations about life. I have hope that automation of the future will provide the same benefits if we are wise with it’s use.

If you’re interested in visiting the Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park in West Virginia you might want to check out the link below.

Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park

Taking A Coffee Break

Color Photography

The railroad bridge at Gauley Bridge, West Virginia is one of my favorite photo subjects. I stop there occasionally and raise my camera to get a feel for lines and angles. The petina of the rusted steel and texture of the vine covered masonery works well with the water and foliage. Just a few feet away the Gauley River joins with the New River to form the Kanawha River. The water here is clean. It’s a great place to fish, kayak or just sit back and watch the river. On this particular morning I stole back about 10 minutes from the daily grind to enjoy some coffee and watch the fog lift. Anytime we have the opportunity to take control over the clock and enjoy our own lives it’s a good day.

A Trip To The Meadow River.

Color Photography, The Meadow River

Today is dreary day in the mountains of Appalachia. There’s been heavy rain and gray skies all day. By morning the ice and snow is supposed to return. On days like today I like to look at the summer images that I’ve taken. It makes me feel like I’m sitting by one of our rivers with a Zebco 33 and one of my favorite lures. The simple repetitive action of casting and slowly drawing the line back in has a meditative quality for me. I don’t even really care if anything bites. Like Zen archery ( or at least my understanding of it ) it’s all about clearing the mind and regaining focus. The image above was taken on the Meadow River during one of these trips. The spot is known mostly to locals and I’m sworn to secrecy as to the exact spot. Behind me a small campfire crackles softly making just enough smoke to keep mosquitoes away. It didn’t seem to bother the butterflies that danced and played on the buttonbush. I made one last cast into the river and slowly retrieve. There’s a tug on the other end of line. But, I let him go. Sometimes is not about the fish, it’s about the fishing and memories that are made.

Beneath Dreaming Tree

black and white photography

There is a place in my dreams where a lone tree stands bridging heaven and earth.

As nighttime falls and the land sleeps the clouds come dancing by.

Stars sing in chorus to the nightbird’s lonely cry.

A maiden enters my dreams. Her green eyes pierce the night and she takes my hand.

Rise up you sleeper she whispers softly.

This dream is short and our time has come.

Our thoughts and hearts are one.

But all too soon will come the dawn.

And our dreamworld will too soon be gone.

For sunbeams shatter dreams and the life that will be.

We loved and laughed with warm embrace beneath that single tree.

Til golden light erased the night and stole my dreams from me.

Beneath the sun I toil, the dream still in my head.

With hopes that my dream returns to me, when tonight I go to bed.

Pretending

Color Photography

Today circumstances colluded to prevent me from participating in the corporate Monday. (I’ll try to hide my disappointment 😁) My moment of freedom allowed the opportunity to drop by Cathedral Falls and catch an image of the frozen waterfall. The winter scene awakened the child in me and soon I could imagine myself as some Paleolithic hunter tracking a woolly mammoth on the ice. Never lose your ability to pretend. Adulthood doesn’t always mean that can’t play hooky and have an adventure.