Tag: rustic decor

The Workday Ends

Back and White Photography

The end of the day arrives at last. As the last rays of natural light floods the Kanawha valley the day shift workers climb into their vehicles and head home. Along the way dinner is being prepared and sometimes the aroma wafts onto road. Children and pets rush out to greet the homecommers. The ties and work boots are abandoned with exuberance and those comfortable pants with the elastic band are picked up along with old tee shirt that feels like a welcoming hug. The say that the clothes make the man. If that’s true then taking your work clothes off is like taking off the person who you have to be and becoming who you are again. As I look at the feature image and see the parked train and the cars headed home it’s a great metaphor for the end of the workday and a little time for real life.

Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. Please also consider following Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Paused” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6- $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10- $15.00

I am also available for portraits by appointment by using the Contact Form or Facebook Messenger.

The Peaceful Passage

Color Photography

Walking down a quiet country road during the peak color of Fall is one of the most peaceful experiences that life has to offer. The crisp breeze coming out of the West fortells the change of season and soon the gray skies will overtake the Appalachian Mountains. But for now, bright yellows, deep reds and cheerful oranges are on display to warm the spirit. Large squirrels dart and play in the branches occasionally shaking the leaves free. Down into the little gully below I can hear the local wild turkeys as they scratch back the leaf litter looking for a meal. Some of the trees are already bare as the forest prepares to rest for the winter. Some of the songbirds have already gone South and on the day I took the picture I spotted several flocks of Canadian Geese flying in their chevron formation. As I walk a little farther I spot something wiggly crawling on pavement. A woolly worm in search of just the right spot where it can spin it’s cocoon and snuggle in while it transforms into a tiger moth. The old timers said that you could predict the winter by the amount of black on a wooly worm. The more black it has the harsher winter will be. This one was average but it remains to be seen if he was right or wrong. The light continues to fade away and soon my denim jacket is feeling a bit thin. The big blue truck waits with a tumbler of hot coffee and I am ready to head home to share my my thoughts and the treasure in my lens.

Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. You can follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook or if you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s image is titled “peaceful passage” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6 – $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10 – $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes.

The Little Dragons

Color Photography, wildlife

I have to admit that I never met a lizard that I didn’t like. Of course that might all change if I ever run into a Gila monster or a Komodo Dragon. Here in the Appalachian Mountains they don’t get much larger than this little guy in tonight’s feature image. The Five Lined Skink. The largest one I’ve seen was one about six inches long but in the eyes of a little kid with a vivid imagination it was a living dinosaur! I was never able to catch one but I always wanted to make a pet out of one so I could teach him to play Godzilla with my toy soldiers. In those days home movies were still shot on film but I had visions of setting up the scene shooting my own monster movie. It was during this endeavor that I learned about the trick tail. I was hunting for a big one that I had seen out by the barn. I was cautiously lifting up old wood an pieces of bark with a stick in case of a snake when I found him. My hands moved like lightning and I caught him! However the lizard had a surprise in store for me and the blue tail broke off in my hand. I looked down and saw the empty tail wiggling in my hand and started crying because I had broken my lizard. My kind and loving grandfather explained that it lets go of its tail on purpose and that the tail grows back. (Of course as a child I thought it grow back instantly like magic). At one point there was one with a forked tail living close to the house. It’s tail had not completely detached and the new one grew in next to the old one.

As an adult I smile and even speak to the little lizards on my property. I try to save some space for them on and around my property and in return they help keep the insect population in check. It seems that I got my pet lizards by simply leaving them alone and letting them do their thing.

Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. You’re also invited to follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Guardian On The Bridge” because he lived on the wooden foot bridge of my former home. Prints are available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6- $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10 – $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes. I am available for portrait sessions by appointment. Just use Facebook or Contact Form to inquire about the rates.

I Dare You ( part 4 )

Uncategorized

Tonight’s post is the final part of I Dare You. You can avoid any spoilers by starting with I Dare You part 1. If already have part 1 in your Trick-or-treat bag but missed the middle here is Part 2 and Part 3.

We stand there staring at the old mansion in the foggy moonlight. We’re sitting ducks out here in the open I whisper. You look at a run down abandoned building with its sagging beams, broken windows and holes in the roofing. I can tell by the look on your face that you’re not happy about trying to hide in a place that looks like it’s straight out of a horror movie. You don’t want to get stomped into a little puddle of goo by a tree monster do you? I continue as I nudge you forward. Reluctantly, we move up onto the porch and try to peak inside. There are broken floorboards, fallen plaster and debris everywhere inside. Cautiously we jiggle the doorknob. The old lock fails due to the extreme rust and the door freaks open. When I try to step inside the floor just inside the threshold gives away and you jerk me back just in time to prevent me from falling through. What’s plan B you whisper as we gaze down at the fresh hole. As we look around we spot a detached root cellar with the door ajar. Simultaneously we look at each other and say “Plan B!” We head for the cellar door. As we get close we can smell the musty air coming out of the darkness. There’s a sound coming from the inside. Someone or something inside begins to groan loudly. The door bursts open so hard that it knocks us both down and we look up at the tall moss covered figure towering over us. We began crawling backwards to get away as the creeper groans and stomps the ground. We think that we’re gonners for sure. Then the thing starts laughing hysterically. But it’s a human laugh. The creeper reaches up with its gnarly hand and pulls back the hood of a ghillie suit. It’s Derrick. The captain of the football team. Happy Halloween he yells as he continues to cackle. Derrick is a jerk but we both had to admit that he got us pretty good. That was you the whole time! You exclaim. Derrick confesses that he overhead the dare and since he lives close by he ran and put on the ghillie suit. It was his cat that met us on the trail. After a few more laughs and some reconciliation the three of us decide to have one more peek inside the old mansion. As we stroll comfortably back across the lawn there’s a terrible commotion out on the edge of the foggy forest. We can’t believe our eyes as one of trees pulls it’s roots from the ground and begins walking towards us. As we turn to run we see that Derrick is far ahead of us with no plans of looking back. You and I run for lives vowing never to set foot on an abandoned property again.

Addendum..

Old Man Redburn chuckles as he watches the young teenagers run away. As he walks to the pickup truck parked at edge of driveway he thinks about how every year kids come looking for the creeper. He sits on the tailgate of his truck and removes the stilts and the coveralls that he glued tree bark and Spanish moss on all those years ago when he started the rumors of something in the woods.

Hello Friends! Thank you for your support of my page and I hope you enjoyed my four part Halloween story. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. Please also consider following Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Echoes In The Mists 2” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

I’m also available for portraits by appointment. Just use Facebook messenger or the contact form for details.

Changing The Pattern

Color Photography, Thoughts and Musing

The cool air blows through mountains. Changing leaves are shaken loose carried to river. They float like tiny rafts racing to the sea. Soon the last leaf will fall and the forest will sleep through the winter. As I look at the single leaf caught in the eddy of the mighty Kanawha River I have to contemplate how it’s all connected. Not a single leaf drops from the forest without God’s knowledge. No life is insignificant. As I continue to watch the circling leaf I see that the pattern repeats and the leaf returns to same spot where it almost breaks free and the current draws it back upstream. What is needed to free the leaf is a disruption. As a child playing near water I learned that if I could make a big enough splash by tossing a rock into the eddy I could disrupt the pattern and free the leaf to continue it’s journey.

As humans, we are creatures of habit. We are trying to get just a little further in our journey down the river of time but we get caught up in life’s eddies. We get to point where we almost break free and the current draws us back towards the past. We need a disruption to break us free. There have been times in my life when I felt like God was tossing rocks into my nice smooth eddy. I was content to ride that eddy until it eventually pulled me under. The loss of a job, a wrecked vehicle or some other personal disaster abruptly changed the pattern. As I look back on my life I realize that these events were not attacks but instead they were opportunities to advance. Sure it’s unsettling to have your nice comfortable pattern shattered and you have to struggle to get above water again but you have to trust that God knows what he’s doing and look for new current that will take you to the next leg of life’s journey.

As we began to enter into the dark days of winter I know that there will be people who struggle emotionally. Life doesn’t seem to be vibrant and joyful. Let me suggest that you might just be craving a change in the pattern. Try something new. Take an alternate route to work. Or, in some cases find a new job altogether. (Be responsible and make sure that it’s not negative impact overall). Go visit an old friend or make a new one. Whatever you choose do something that breaks the routine. Remember that no life is insignificant and even though you may not understand what’s happening that you matter to God.

Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my page. If you have enjoyed the photos or the writings please let me know by commenting and sharing my work on your social media. If you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of my Welcome Page. I would also like to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled ” Sycamore Leaf On A Small Journey ” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website.

4X6- $5.00

5X7- $10.00

8X10 – $15.00