Around The Bend

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “The Bend 113020bw” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The low rumble of a distant train echoes across the river as the unseen train makes its way upstream. After a lifetime of listening to the tracks you learn how to tell the difference between a train load of coal and an empty train. This one is empty. I suspect it’s on its way to be filled. The horn blares out a mournful tone at the crossing. I can’t help but let out a silent howl of my own as she passes on hidden by the wilderness around us.

We don’t always see what’s on the other side of the bend in the tracks but that doesn’t mean it’s completely alien to us. Last night I had some thoughts about peace and fear. Fear of the unknown is probably the most common. What’s waiting around the next bend? Forget the exact quote or who said it but the unknown is always expected to be more grandiose than it actually is. The monster in the closet typically turns out to be a mouse that’s trying to find its way out. The lottery ticket is most likely a worthless piece of paper. And the “New Normal” in reality is a temporary thing that’s not normal at all. It just fills the gap between changes. How can anything that changes so regularly be regarded as “normal”? I never really understood that. But I digress. The point of course is that it’s when we can’t see what’s on the other side that we stop focusing on our peace and start to concentrate on fear. Fear is a hungry beast and when we give it attention it consumes everything. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t have any concerns about the future but only that we shouldn’t dwell on the negative. If we acknowledge the truth it should also include the fact that we are overcomers! We have that peace of mind that allows us to plan effectively. And if we can see how to get beyond the bends of our lives we really have little to fear. God is a way maker. He’ll handle what we can’t.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

Announcement:

I am adding additional social media to my network. Eventually, I’ll be leaving Facebook behind for a multitude of reasons. Even though the Lloyd’s Lens Photography page is strictly non-political I have been restricted from interacting with followers with no explanation for why. But it’s not just that. For years now Facebook has throttled content providers in general. They encourage us to grow our audience and then want to sell us back the access to them. In addition, they collect and sell the data from our interaction. So Facebook has become an entanglement of thorns. In response I have created the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe. We can still interact directly on the blog but starting today I’ll be looking for more platforms that respect the privacy of my followers and don’t limit who gets to see the post.

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup

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’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! Simply use 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.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251

Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer

Thank you again for your support of my page!

The Forgotten Tomorrow

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “The Forgotten Tomorrow 122920bw” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

If I close my eyes and listen with my inner ear I can still hear the voices. The voices of people calling out orders, conversations at break time and the preshift prayer for safety. When your job is to dig deep or run the big machines on a highwall you tend to be a little more conscious of mortality. A few weeks ago I told you about my one and only day working on a strip mine and it happened just a little ways “down yonder” from where I took this photo. At the time I thought that there would never be an end to it. I helped as hired muscle but after that the real miners came behind me and pulled light from darkness. The coal that they harvested went to power plants and steel mills. It’s very possible that some of it would have made it from West Virginia to California. But that seems like a lifetime ago now. The voices are only echoes in the cosmetic moment we call time and the mountain has a way of reclaiming what’s her’s.

Image Titled “The Forgotten Tomorrow 122920a”. All photos found on my website are my original work and are available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The ground heaves and throws and the grass spreads across the landscape to bind steel. The trees come next to sure up those bindings with roots that bend, break and swallow iron and steel. Heavy beams are slowly pushed aside like children’s toys. In God’s creation that which is idle is cast aside to make room for renewal.

Image Titled “The Forgotten Tomorrow 122920b”.

It’s given to mankind to subdue the land but to land its own charge is to be wild. Without consistent effort all that is left is a mystery for some future archeological explorer to find the bands of steel and marvel for the world that was. And for Chandra, here are your trees growing in the railway that you asked to see. 🙂

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

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.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251

Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer

Thank you again for your support of my page!

Looking Forward 2020-2021

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Looking Forward 120220” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The new light lingers on freshly fallen snow as I stand on the tracks and gaze along the steel ribbons. The perspective brings to my mind the flow of time as humans perceive it. The cross ties represent the seconds, minutes,hours or whatever unit you wish to break it down to. What really matters is the steps we take in the right direction. Over the past day or so I’ve been engaged in a conversation that has me looking at my past history and trying to explain how I got to be the person I am today. Of course there was a lot of missteps that affected my destiny. Places were stumbled and fell. But I got here.

I’ve tried to avoid the whole 2020 thing on my blog because I want this to be a place where we can come to enjoy a moment of peace. But whatever 2020 is it’s undeniable. I’m reminded of the picture that hung in one of my college professor’s offices. It was of a battered knight in dented armor with a broken lance and a chipped sword that had the quote “Some days the dragon wins.” That’s been 2020 for certain. However it hasn’t been all bad. I’ve had a lot of pleasant experiences in 2020 and I think if you try you’ll be able to name a few yourself. I have a friend who has decided that along with with 2020 she was putting some closure on her own past. She posted a picture of her journals in a bonfire. Symbolically cleansing herself of the person she used to be. She’s resolved that 2021 is going to be her new start in life. I think that’s a great idea. I’m probably not… no, I am definitely not going to burn my past but I think I just might in a small way put some closure on a few things that have been holding me back. It’s almost as if my foot is stuck in a few of those cross ties. Until I resolve a few things I can’t move forward to wherever those rails will take me.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

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.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251

Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer

Thank you again for your support of my page!

Hidden Destinies & The Moment We Have.

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Hidden Destiny 113020bw” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

There are so many hidden places in these mountains. Many of them have the steel ribbon that carries the coal but the general public will never see where they go or known precisely where they end. But today I took a diversion from my normal path out to one of places that these tracks eventually lead. The connect with multiple places, but one of them leads to a place where I spent my one and only day working on a strip mine. I was 18 years old and was working under the table so I’ll not out the person who gave me that experience more than 30 years ago. The mine was opening new ground and needed a strong back to carry bags of explosives to the holes. I wasn’t alone and together with a few friends we unloaded and carried what I estimated to be a ton of bags to where the engineers were setting the charges. At the end of the day when they did the blast we watched from a couple of miles away. The shock wave hit us twice. Once when it arrived from the blast site and then when it bounced off the mountain behind us. It was an thrilling experience that I’ll never forget. But today when I drove to the blast site ( as close as I could get without trespassing) the tracks where rusted and overgrown. The mine shut down long ago and the trains have no need to go there anymore. But the tracks on the end where I took the pictures are shiny and well maintained. The coal is still running but it’s coming from a different source. So on one hand the tracks go to my past and on the other hand they go to a future I’m not connected to.

Looking down the tracks and knowing that they’re only a few switches away from prosperity or despair it would be easy to become overwhelmed by potential for a bad end. But today, today I live. Sure, we need to plan ahead and be active in creating the future but all we really have is moment we live in.

My final thought for tonight is to remind myself that I can’t be so intimidated the potential for disaster that I look back to find that I’ve lost all my moments to fear and trepidation. Today I live. Not yesterday or tomorrow but today. Prepare for the future but don’t wait until it’s here to act. Respect the past but learn to let it go. And take time to appreciate the moment that you have.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

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.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251

Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer

Thank you again for your support of my page!

A Misty Journey & Daydreaming Of The Ancient Past

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Misty Journey 113020a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

As the big blue truck rolls beyond what has become it’s normal boundaries the mist and rain fall gently on my world. This is time of shadows when forest sheds it’s colorful blanket of Fall hues and sleeps deeply. Through the bare boles along the highway I see the curved bridge stretching out across the mighty Kanawha River. This bridge has always inspired a bit of wanderlust for me. There are days when I just want to follow the tracks over the mountains and through the tunnel at the little community of Deepwater on the other side of the river. The land on the other side of the river was the home of the Adena. The mysterious Pre-Columbian people who built the mounds and circled the mountains with stone walls. It’s said that they were giants and had bronze age metallurgy. As I stare at the mist covered mountains in the distance I wonder if they would be impressed with the iron and concrete used by the current Appalachian people. I wonder if somewhere on those misty mountains is there lies a stone pipe or a piece of copper jewelry worked by the hands of a legend. It would be a hidden treasure indeed. As I’m lost in my daydream of giant natives and ancient stones I’m drawn suddenly back to reality when a cold raindrop finds its way to the back of my neck. It’s time to return to Big Blue and make my way back to my fireplace where I can process my photos and tell my tales.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

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.

Clicking on the photo takes you tohttps://www.zazzle.com/lloydslensphotos?rf=238248269630914251

Lastly, all of the photos and writings are my original work unless otherwise specified and are not to be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from the photographer

Thank you again for your support of my page!