Gauley Bridge – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

A Quick Stop At Gauley Bridge And Morning Memories

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Morning Run” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The fog gently floats on the surface of the river as the Sun breaks through the gap between two mountains. The small birds below the bridge quickly scatter into what’s left of the high weeds along the banks of the river. They get quiet but the still flit around a bit rustling the dead leaves. Sometimes there’s a heron in the shallow edges but today it’s decided to stay on the roost until it warms up a bit. I rolled down the window for a better view of the outside world and when I do the cold air spills in and causes the steam from my coffee to show. I listened for the geese calls but they’re on the ground today and not giving away their position. I can smell the wood smoke from a nearby chimney and it always takes me back to random memories of stoking the fire in that old Fisher stove on cold mornings. In my mind I can hear the squeaky iron hinges on the stove and feel the heat of the hot coals as I rake back the ashes and lay a fresh piece of cured oak on the grate and breath new life into the fire. As the flames spring to life and catch on the fresh wood I’d close the door of the stove and open the draught. Soon the crackling sound of a strong fire would prompt me to close the draught again.

A gust of wind invades the cab of my big blue truck and I’m pulled into the present by the sudden chill. The sooner my morning errands are finished the sooner I can go home. I carefully back up the truck and head back on the road.

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A Mist Covered Morning On Three Rivers

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Waiting On A Train” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

As the morning light fills the world a thick fog flows down the mountain and pools over the three rivers. I pull the big blue truck off of the road and jump out for a few shots. The water birds turn to greet the sun as it lights up the valley. The train doesn’t use the bridge in the distance but in my spirit I can hear the faded echoes of the train’s horn and the rumbling of the thunderous wheels that passed by in a forgotten age. The trees were just starting to show their colors and my morning coffee shielded me from the penetrating cold carried in the mists. As I stood on the bank of the Kanawha River looking to where it joins with the Gauley River and the New River I had to thank God for placing me in these mountains where every day is a new creation and every moment is a work of art.

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Connecting The Circles

black and white photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Gauley Bridge In Onyx” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

My big blue truck rolls to a stop at the three rivers. A soft breeze flows down the mountain and gently shakes the leaves. A deep slow breath released me from the day’s cares as I listen to the birds chattering in the undergrowth. Bridges symbolize transition making them perfect spots to shift attitude away from the corporate culture and back into real life. If I’m still enough I can pick out the individual birds and hear the rivers gently lapping at the rocks on shore. I close my eyes and I can feel the direction of the sun on my skin. Up on the mountain the birds fall silent as a buck strolls through browsing the leaves. A crow gives three quick caws behind my as he flies through to alert the others of my presence in the empty parking lot. The world is made of concentric circles and they all connect if you can just push back the noise and let them speak to you. It only takes a few minutes to regain my center and clear away the mental clutter. I climb back up into my big blue truck and head home with a renewed sense of peace.

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A June Wedding For The Gauley River.

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “The Gauley River In Her Veil” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The Gauley River wears a veil of mist as she marches forward to meet the New River and become the Kanawha River. She’s adorned with the reflections of the trees that stand as witnesses to her joining. In the middle of her waters is the remnant of the original bridge that was made of wood and stone. When I have time to stop and catch a breath the old foundation is one of those things that I like to focus on. The cut stone appears to be held together with nothing but gravity. Even the worst flooding in one-thousand years wasn’t enough to erase the history of the old foundation.

A closer view of the original bridge foundation. It seems to be held together by the sheer mass of the stones .

As I continue to join the trees in witnessing the marriage of the Gauley River and the New River the water’s surface is suddenly alive with small V shaped wakes as a school of bluegill feed on the surface.

Upstream I can see that the fog has begun to thicken and fill the valley. The opportunity for photos will soon pass. I raise my lens and capture the pageantry of nature.

The evening sun slips below the ridge and it’s time for my big blue truck to complete the trek home.

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The Water Falcon

Color Photography, wildlife

The early morning sun breaks over Gauley Mountain to wake up the three rivers area. As my big blue truck rolls by I noticed something odd perched on a piece of driftwood out in the middle of the Kanawha River. I had to rub my eyes and blink a few times. We had always joked and called that partially submerged log “The Gauley River Monster” because of it’s resemblance to the famous Scottish cryptid. But this morning it actually seemed to move it’s head. I pulled into the parking lot of the Glen Ferris Inn and in typical redneck fashion wheeled into a 180 back up the road. I keep a small set of binoculars in the console. I knew that there was no way possible that the log had grown a living head overnight and just needed to see what it was. It’s neck was long like a goose but it’s beak was pointed like a heron. Except that it seemed to have a hook on the end like a bird of prey. The legs were short like a duck and it even had webbed toes. Skin around the face seemed to have bumps and scales like a buzzard. I found myself asking God if he had parts left over from other birds when he built this one. Then it spread out it’s wings began to dry them in the sun. This day I only had my cellphone as a camera and the digital zoom just didn’t bring the bird in with enough clarity to make me happy. But it did access Google and I found a match. It’s a cormorant! I have been around lakes and rivers my whole life but had never seen this odd dinosaur looking critter before.

The bird is considered to be pest by modern day fisherman. However, in Asia they use the cormorant as an aquatic falcon. The bird is given a collar to prevent large fish from being swallowed and then it’s released into the water to dive down. It’s been found that a cormorant can dive as deep as one hundred and fifty feet! The birds return to the raft and wait for the fishermen to remove the stuck fish. They don’t seem to be harmed by this and it actually looks like they bond with the owner.

The ones here are pretty standoffish though. Even my 400 mm lens can barely bring them in for a photo.

A local cormorant standing on the “Gauley River Monster” which is fully submerged in this photo.

I have stopping in these spots on a fairly regular basis and trying to catch them doing something other than standard out on that log. Then finally one morning I caught the feature image. The cormorant took off from its perch and flew in circles slapping the water with his wings. I’m not sure if it was trying to flush out prey or just playing and enjoying being a bird but it was a spectacular show. I have watched a few days and this seems to be something that they do often.

I also thought that because of its reputation as a pest in North America that it was a non native species but they are found all over the world.

The literature on these birds is quite extensive, especially in the cultural references. I could write pages and pages just covering all the little threads on Wikipedia alone but as life would have it time is the limiting factor in everything. And it’s time to metaphorically turn my big blue truck back onto the highway and look for the next subject to photograph.

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