story telling – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

The Power Of Flight

The power of flight has been part of mankind’s fascination throughout all of human history. I remember when I was very young that I would spend hours seated in the floor leafing through books about airplanes and flight in general. I was always especially drawn to the more exotic aircraft. DaVinci’s ornithopter was a particular favorite. I would study his drawings and try to memorize every line and curve of the craft. I tried to imagine how the pivot points would fit together and how the steering would function. I studied the works of those who came later and added hot air balloons and Zeppelin technology to the basic designs. Later I would Chuck Yeager’s biography about breaking the sound barrier for the first time. And there’s also the interview with a man who built an ultralight flyer that fit in a suitcase and escaped from East Berlin in it.

Today there’s the real possibility of the car in my driveway being replaced by a drone powerful enough to take me almost anywhere. (Nevermind that the Hiller Flying Platform and the Williams Wasp differed a similar technology decades ago) I’ve often commented to my wife that is such a shame that the best angles for certain photos were a hundred feet in air over the river. But the possibility of climbing aboard a quad-copter and shooting from the window is only a few steps away!

No matter what the future of flight holds in technology it will always bring romantic notions going where you want to when you want to. There will also be a crazy idea that with just a little tweaking will inspire the next generation of would be pilots who dream of having their very own wings.

Antique Service Desk Bell — Ring this bell for Facebook

Recently, I’ve been made aware that many of my posts on Facebook are being buried in the feed. So, if you don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website at the bottom of theWelcome Page

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “The Magic Feather” and is available for purchase by using the Contact Form on my website.

(Note, I do not share or sell contact information. EVER)

4X6 is $5.00

5X7 is $10.00

8X10 is $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes.

Antique Service Desk Bell in Black and White — Ring this bell to order prints or schedule portraits

I’m also available for portraits by appointment. Use the Contact Form or message me on Facebook for details.

The Old Barn On Muddlety Creek, November 2018

Color Photography

I had a few minutes to spare on my last trip to town a few days ago and decided to pay a visit to one of my favorite subjects. Namely, the old barn on Muddelty Creek. The past few years has not been kind to this majestic old barn. More of the roof has been stripped away by the wind. The framework is sagging more than the last time I was there as well. I have learned a little more about the history of the barn and how it came to be left derelict and neglected. It was and still is tied up in legal issues. As I stand on the quiet country road doing my work with the lens the damp air grows more chilled and a light snow starts to fall. I can’t help but to imagine the old barn in happier times. Children would have been playing games in and around the barn as livestock grazes in the background. A young boy and his sister poke their heads out from the loft door and look for shapes in the clouds. A young mother watches with safety concerns from a kitchen window as her husband reassures her that the kids will be just fine. He pauses for moment and suggests that perhaps he should go and look for the farriers rasp that he lost in the barn last week. She knows that she saw that rasp hanging next to the horse’s stall. Right where it’s always been since the day they were married. Soon after he enters the barn the children exit and go off to play a different game.

I’m roused from my daydreaming by a large snowflake that lands right in my ear. I’ll take a few more shots from a couple of different angles and wish the old barn well as I climb in the big blue truck and run my errands. What the future holds for the old barn is unclear but for as long as it offers it’s beauty and inspiration I’ll continue to come to this spot for a daydream and photos.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Forgotten Harvest” and is available for purchase by using the Contact Form on my website. (Note, I do not share or sale contact information. EVER)

4X6 is $5.00

5X7 is $10.00

8X10 is $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes.

I’m also available for portraits by appointment. Use the Contact Form or message me on Facebook for details.

Blackwater Falls Through Old And New Eyes

Color Photography, travel, West Virginia

The cold weather if late Fall and early Winter always draws my imagination to the Pleistocene era. I can imagine how the lone hunter must have seen his pristine world. He walks through a land untamed by clocks and unnatural restrictions. As he steps out of a thicket his eyes behold the falls for the first time. He is at one with the rhythm of nature as he approaches the edge of the water. He sees the fluid movement of the shadows as they dart around beneath the falls. His feet are in tune with the earth as he raises his Atlatl spear and slowly gets into position. As he casts his stone tipped dart towards the target his eyes never lose focus. There’s no splash as the dart penetrates the fish below the water’s surface. His skills with the weapon are so deft that the rest of the fish are undisturbed until he wades into freezing water to retrieve his meal.

Today Blackwater Falls is a popular tourist attraction in West Virginia. A paved path leads to the wooden staircase and there are platforms for taking in the view. However, it’s still easy to imagine that you’re a wild human roaming the wilderness in the distant past as you look down into the Falls.

Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Blackwater Falls 1” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website. (Note, I do not share or sale contactinformation. EVER)

4X6 is $5.00

5X7 is $10.00

8X10 is $15.00

Some cropping may be necessary for certain sizes.

I’m also available for portraits by appointment. Use the Contact Form or message me on Facebook for details.

Autumn Love In The Dreamworld

Color Photography, Landscapes

He woke up at the foot of the mountain near the river. As the mists cleared from in front of his eyes he knew that he was once more drawn into the dreamworld. He could hear her name in the wind as it laid the leaves down across the bridge like breadcrumbs. Instinctively he follows the trail onto the wooden deck. Each leaf was imprinted with a symbol that represented a quality of his true love. Beauty, loyalty, passion, intelligence, creativity and joy and more. As walked further across the bridge collecting the leaves the symbols kept adding new traits to the list. As he reached the center he looked up from the last leaf. She looked back at him with her own basket of leaves in her arms. The mountain mists rolled between them as the real world pulled them from the bridge. Each awoke in their own bed with memory of the other’s perfect eyes looking into their own.
Later that same morning as he was driving to his new job he came to the crossing. His foggy memory of previous night’s dream was still fresh in his mind but he couldn’t recall the details. The fog obscured all but the bridge’s threshold as he stopped his truck in the middle of the quiet country road and stepped out. Just as he was beginning to recognize the structure a single leaf drops from the forest and disappears into the fog. Curious about what was happening he starts walking across. Before he takes his second step she emerges holding the single leaf. It was only when their eyes met that they recalled the dream.

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. I also want to invite you to Follow Lloyds Lens Photography on Facebook. Recently, I’ve been made aware that many of my posts on Facebook are being buried in the feed. So, 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 “A Dream At Fayette Station” and is available for purchase by contacting me on Facebook or by using the Contact Form on my website. (Note, I do not share or sale contact information. EVER.)

4X6 is $5.00

5X7 is $10.00

8X10 is $15.00

I’m also available for portraits by appointment. Use the Contact Form or message me on Facebook for details.

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.