Peaceful places – Page 40 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Orange Sulphur Butterfly On The Spillway

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Orange Sulphur Butterfly 92520a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The bright Fall sun washes through the spillway at the Battle Run area of Summersville Lake. When I just a little fellow this was a motocross track and I remember my dad racing in the event at least once. For whatever reason they shut the races down and allowed nature to reclaim the landscape. And what a beautiful job she’s doing. The purpose of the spillway of course was never to have a motocross track but to be a place where the water from the lake can go before it endangers the dam. Here in the middle of a hardwood forest is a Coniferous forest of Virginia pine. The creation of the spillway stripped away the biological soil and left the ground with nothing but bare mineral earth. As a pioneer species the pine able to grow in the poor conditions and rebuild the soil in the process. If the worst would happen and the water would flow into the spillway the trees are able to slow down the flow so that the flood is less damaging. The road going down to the old track is still serviceable and so I decided to ease the big blue truck down to the forest edge. I hadn’t actually been as far as the old track in over 30 years and so not knowing what condition the road is in I only drift at idle speed. This is also a place where people can put up a primitive camp and it’s not uncommon for there to be broken glass and other tire hazards. But that also means that there’s time to watch along side the road for Tortoises, chipmunks and whatever small life might call this home. And sure enough a leaf sprung to life and visited some late blooming daisies. Identified by Google as a Orange Sulphur Butterfly it completely ignored the big blue truck as I drifted forward to get a better look.

Image Titled “Orange Sulphur Butterfly 92520b

At one point she folded her wings tightly and gave me her impression of a sundial. The colors of Fall are yellows, oranges and browns. As I have seen fewer of blue butterflies and and more of the yellows and oranges are browns.

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

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Panther Mountain Journey 9.25.20

Color Photography, Landscapes

The big blue truck slowly climbs the county route up Panther Mountain. Lose gravel kicks out from under the tires as I gently feather the throttle up the steep curvy incline. In a few spots the overgrown branches sweep the fenders. But it’s not a problem. Instead I see it as the welcoming embrace of nature. The county has actually done a little work to the road over the summer. The new gravel filled in the ruts and open ditches that challenged even the big 4 wheel drive. I rounded the hairpin turn about 3/4 of the way to the top when a piece of road sprung to life and lifted itself vertically to the top of the embankment. It only took me a moment to realize that it was a grouse. The bird’s perfect camouflage quickly concealed its new position in a Rhododendron thicket. I hoped for a shot of the bird but dark underbrush against the highlight of sun was more than the sensor could deal with. My human eyes could see it as a shadow peaking out and bobbing it’s head from side to side in an effort to figure out what was moving inside the parked truck but it was a complete mystery to the lens of my camera. I decided to let him get away from me rather than attempting to track him to a point where I might force the shot and once more a few loose gravels are expelled as my ascent resumes. Finally I arrived at the gas well road. It’s wide enough to allow me park while being out of way of anyone making their way to the spot where the rafters and Kayakers go to launch in swollen Gauley River. I loaded up the bird song file in my tablet and sat still with the windows down hoping to draw in a curious forest resident such the big woodpecker I saw here a few days ago. The birds were a no show but I did manage to find a few interesting subjects to post at a later date. So I entered the main pass through the mountain again and made my way to a second wide spot above the valley. The view from the road is amazing.

Looking down to the Gauley River 92520 — The view from the cab of my truck on Panther Mountain. There’s only a few feet of road between the tire and the valley below.

With any luck I’ll be able to reach this spot when Fall Colors peak in a few weeks.

Stepping out of cab will my long lens I was able to spot a few Kayaks already on the river and playing with the rapids.

Kayakers on the Gauley River 92520 — Even with the 300 mm lens Kayakers look like little dots on the water

The Kayaks bob and dodge through the current for a while and then continue the trip downstream.

And I too need to continue my journey to the next phase in order to get a few more photos. Until tomorrow night I wish you all a blessed day.

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is

https://www.facebook.com/aviewfromthelens/

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/

Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?

Contentment On A Cool September Day

Color Photography, wildlife

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Pipevine Swallowtail 90420a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The cooling air sweeps through the old hay field gently rocking the tall purple ironweed. It’s little harder to pick up the sweet smell of the bloom on cooler, dryer days but it’s still there. The older pipevine Swallowtail has no difficulty at all in finding her favorite meal as as she softly floats in on the breeze. Her battered wings and loss of dark scales tells me that her journey is nearly over. She’s already deposited her eggs on the pipevine in faith that her multiple broods will emerge in Spring and fill the hills with vibrant colors and joyful airial dances. With profound contentment she feeds. The fluttering of wings reminds me of a puppy wagging it’s tail as I watch through the lens of my camera. The window of my big blue truck provides the perfect cover to enjoy her beautiful routine as she explores each floret in the cluster. She seems to have no fear of me. Even though I’m using the long lens I was able to get close enough that I had to physically back away in order to focus.
With grace she works her way around the bloom lifts herself into the air. Before she departed to her next goal she flew so close to the truck window that I thought she come inside. At the last second she pulled up and circled hood a few times as if saying goodbye before riding the breeze to the far side of the pasture. Perhaps in Spring her children will also pay me a visit.

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is

https://www.facebook.com/aviewfromthelens/

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/

Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?

Collecting Moments And Learning To Appreciate Mistakes

Color Photography, wildlife

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Suspended In September 91320” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Life is a collection of consecutive moments that we forge into reality as they are given. We began creating our today from bits and pieces of all the previous yesterdays. Each moment is a patchwork of successes and mistakes that form the thread we weave tomorrow with. It’s not really matter of if we fail but when. More importantly is how we use that failure in creating our future. We can build a wall of mistakes that imprison our own spirits in an impenetrable fortress of “I Can’t” or, we can use those same errant blocks to build a stairway that takes us beyond our previous limits. It all depends on how you arrange your mistakes. Today I was looking through my archive for some specific images to present to a client as potential book covers and the deeper into the past I got the more I cringed at what I had chosen to archive. A lot of images were over processed and there was virtually no control over lighting. Some of the images had such a poor flow that it was hard to tell what the subject was. And yet the overall pattern shows that I have built on my mistakes by learning from them. And I am more than certain that there will be more building blocks in the future.

When I look at tonight’s feature image of the Snowberry Clearwing Moth feeding on the chicory bloom I see life in motion. A moment of time suspended that carries all my previous moments that built up to the point when my eye and lens moved in sync with the moments of the moth’s life. It is as much a collection of lessons learned as it is a collection of successes.

I suppose that in conclusion of tonight’s post I simply wanted to encourage you to never allow a failure to hold you back on anything you try. Life is an expiriment in trial and error and the errors are not a stopping point. They’re just a way to find what does work.

The Shattered Sunset. An alternative mythos of the Monarch butterfly.

Color Photography, wildlife

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Monarch & Joe Pye Weed 90820a” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

From my youth I have always been fascinated with myth and legend. So much so that sometimes I write alternative mythos. My mythology isn’t intended to be anything but good entertainmen and any resemblance to the mythology of an actual culture is purely coincidence.

The marsh falls silent in the September sun as the Monarch explores the sweet blooms that dominate the edge of water. The orange butterfly gracefully navigates through through the bloom and checks each of the florets with delicate precision. My imagination began to concoct a mythos of the Monarch.

My minds eye conceives a sachem on the edge of a cliff looking out over the New River Gorge. As the sun sets below the canyon rim get beholds the sunset in all its glory. But in his vision a shooting star strikes that part of the sky and the sunset shatters into the night sky. The amber shards of the sky fall into canyon and litter the ground. Saddened by the loss of the beautiful sunset the sachem is moved to play a mournful tune on his flute. As his tears fall into canyon they rain onto the shards of amber sunset and they began to live. Through his tears the sachem sees the living sunset shards and his mournful tune changes to an expression of joy. He continues to pipe the more lively tune into the dawn when the transformation of the sky shards into butterflies is complete and the valley below is filled with life. And so the Monarch butterfly now begins it’s life feeding on the bitterness of the milkweed but soon transforms into little living sunset full of joy.

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

If you would like to Follow me on Facebook the web address is

https://www.facebook.com/aviewfromthelens/

If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/

Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?

I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simplymessage me on Facebookoruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.