Tag: Lloyds Lens Photography

The Waterfall at The Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge Tennessee

Color Photography, Uncategorized

By special request of my dear friend Sophia Ismaa I’m going to share with you the waterfall at the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.

I was asked to describe the atmosphere of the scene.

As the late fall sun eases it’s way West the crystal clear blue sky fades into a soft purple in the Eastern direction and a golden band on the Western skyline. The shadows of the Great Smokey Mountains began to grow long as the crowd makes it’s way from shop to shop in the little tourist village. Pigeon Forge is a showcase for Appalachian artists. Paintings, pottery and woodworking can be found in almost every shop. The breeze carries wonderful aromas wafting from the Old Mill which is now a restaurant. As we make our way down to the Pigeon River below the mill the sound of falling water overcomes the clamor of crowd in the streets above. The golden sun is now disappearing behind the mountains and the streetlights are starting to come to life. This is magic hour and I have the power to freeze time.

Cardinals in Springtime

Color Photography, wildlife

I would follow you anywhere.

You are my whole world.

It hurts when you are not in sight.

You are the other half of me.

– Lloyd A Dempsey II

Living outside of office at my day job is a pair of mated Cardinals. (Cardinalis cardinalis) . Their marriage is strongly based on commitment. Cardinals mate for life and engage in courtship on a regular basis. Every year before nesting the male (bright red) brings food to the female and feeds her beak to beak. She is completely devoted to him. As he patrols his territory she never seems to be more than fifty feet away. If he leaves her sight she chirps sharply and he answers. The males have a distinct song. The song is a combination of loud high pitched tweets followed by several low pitched ones. The males fiercely defend their territory. They are small birds but what they lack in size they make up for in tenacity and vigilance. They’re known to orchestrate Blind Side surprise attacks on cats, dogs and people. I’ve watched the male pictured here simultaneously attack and chase away two crows that ventured too close to his nesting spouse. (Hey, it’s a guy thing. We’re not fulfilled unless we’re being protectors) Even though they seem to be antisocial jerks at times I have been able to pet one. He had defended his territory against his own reflection in a window and was lying on the ground unconscious. I thought it was dead but when I knelt down to check it out he sprung up and pecked my finger. After a few minutes he decided that I wasn’t such a bad guy after all and allowed me check him for injuries. Don’t worry about his mate rejecting him. That’s an old wives tale. They were still together for years afterwards.

I recently commented on another blog that marriage was about commitment and that true love grows out of that commitment. I can think of no better example than the Northern Cardinal.

Lifecycle

Color Photography, encouragement, travel, West Virginia

From the first warm Spring rain you awoke to the life giving glow of solar affection.

For a season you bathed in radiance and grew strong enough to withstand the violence of the summer storms.

Strength has now faded and your tasks are complete. All that is left is to carry your golden glow to the forest floor and sleep until the time of rebirth when the sparrow sings and glory awakens you once more.

– Lloyd A Dempsey II

I have always observed that God’s Word is written first on nature. The life cycle of the deciduous trees of Appalachia teaches me that a Christian is conceived in Grace. The leaves don’t go and pull down the light from the sun. It is freely available for them to receive. We as humans don’t call down grace. It’s already here and freely available to anyone. In order to receive the life giving light of the sun the leaves must both awaken and open to receive the light. The Christian must also be awakened and open to receiving the grace of God. It’s the light that makes leaves strong enough to withstand the storms. Our strength is in Christ. At the end of the season the energy collected by the leaves stays in the leaf and is added to the fertility of the forest floor which is taken up by the roots of the tree and used to produce a new leaf. The Grace of God is carried into death by the believer until the day that Christ returns and wakes us from mortal slumber and we are made new.

A Dinosaur Hunt (Well, Sort of…)

Color Photography

Pictured above is the fossil of Lepidodendron. Theses are common find on West Virginia. I found this one as part of the wall of the gift shop at Babcock State Park. 😉 At one point I had the beginnings of a decent collection but donated them to an education effort. The surprising thing is when we find fossils of sea creatures on our mountain tops. ( Well, not so surprising to those of us who believe in a global flood 😁) I have found clusters of seashells in the Greenbriar River. Several years ago I was filling potholes in a private road and broke open some sandstone to find the fossils of reeds.

There’s a trick to finding fossils. First, you have to have an idea of where to look. I have had the best luck by studying the lay of the land and if I spot a place that has a depression where water gathers that’s a good place. Next, I look for sandstone. Fossils form when silica fills the organic matter and sandstone is silica. If the stone has layers then that’s a good sign too. I carefully place a chisel into the seam and gently tap. The layer should simply separate. More often than not there’s no fossil but it does give one an excuse to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. As always I implore you to respect private and public property which means that you need permission from the landowner. But it’s a relatively relaxing activity that’s cheap and easy. Even if you don’t find a fossil you might find a stone with neat patterns that could used as part of an art project. Give it try.

Quite Time

Church, Color Photography

I have come to the conclusion that being healthy and happy requires that we take a few moments every day to just release all of the daily demands and experience peace and quiet. For me that means wandering down a quiet path and leaving the world behind. If you don’t do some mental and emotional housecleaning the concerned spirit soon becomes cluttered and disorganized. One of my church elders once told me that “if we don’t come apart then we’ll fall apart. ” He was referring to times when Jesus would take the apostles aside and rest. It was in these times He would reveal things to them because they were in a mental and emotional place where they could focus on the revelation and fully absorb what was being taught.

Our modern world is a place of wonder. But all of the distraction can be overwhelming. Take proper care of yourself and find a place where you can just get some peace and be recharged.