Three Rivers – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

September Sky 2019

As I travel East on Route 60 just beyond the Glen Ferris Inn I’m struck by the sky above the Three Rivers. I have always been a Sky wathcher. As a little kid I’d run outside every time I heard an airplane and look for the contrails. Today I still look up and count the contrails. But eighteen years ago my world changed.

I was working as a framer in a prefab home plant. The housing bubble was just in the early stage of collapse but the company managed to give us enough work to keep the machines running. We kept a radio up at full volume but you couldn’t really hear the music well over all saws and nail guns. We were working steadily but not hard because we wanted to try and get in a full shift. Suddenly all the machinery stopped. A slight feeling of panic washed over me because the last time this happened there had been a life threatening injury on the floor. I looked up to see who had pushed the emergency stop button and why. There was no blood on the floor and that was a slight relief. Then the voice on the radio announced that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. We switched over to NPR to hear more news just in time to hear that news announcer say “Write this date down.”. One of my coworkers knelt down and wrote in the sawdust. 911, Emergency. At this point we thought about the Hindenburg going down in flames. Then the second plane hit. I was in denial and having been allowed to shadow a radar operator as a kid I said that this was some kind of routing error. Then, the Pentagon was hit. The plant manager called for an extended break so everyone could gather their thoughts and deal with the fact that we were suddenly at war on our own land. The crew moved out of the plant and into the lumber yard. I looked up to see the deepest blue sky in my entire life. The crystal blue was completely unbroken by clouds and contrails. The old gospel song Uncloudy Day began to play in the back of my mind and I felt the peace of God replace those unsteady feelings. I wasn’t really sure what the future would hold but I knew that it would be okay.

It wasn’t long after that when they closed the plant but every year on September Eleventh when the T.V. shows those images again and those who were closer to Ground Zero tell their stories I can smell the sawdust and see that deep blue sky. And I can hear Uncloudy Day in my mind and spirit.

The sky is full of contrails once again. Even though I look forward to the Uncloudy Day spoken of in the song I’m comforted by the sight of passenger jets roaring through the sky.

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The Water Falcon

Color Photography, wildlife

The early morning sun breaks over Gauley Mountain to wake up the three rivers area. As my big blue truck rolls by I noticed something odd perched on a piece of driftwood out in the middle of the Kanawha River. I had to rub my eyes and blink a few times. We had always joked and called that partially submerged log “The Gauley River Monster” because of it’s resemblance to the famous Scottish cryptid. But this morning it actually seemed to move it’s head. I pulled into the parking lot of the Glen Ferris Inn and in typical redneck fashion wheeled into a 180 back up the road. I keep a small set of binoculars in the console. I knew that there was no way possible that the log had grown a living head overnight and just needed to see what it was. It’s neck was long like a goose but it’s beak was pointed like a heron. Except that it seemed to have a hook on the end like a bird of prey. The legs were short like a duck and it even had webbed toes. Skin around the face seemed to have bumps and scales like a buzzard. I found myself asking God if he had parts left over from other birds when he built this one. Then it spread out it’s wings began to dry them in the sun. This day I only had my cellphone as a camera and the digital zoom just didn’t bring the bird in with enough clarity to make me happy. But it did access Google and I found a match. It’s a cormorant! I have been around lakes and rivers my whole life but had never seen this odd dinosaur looking critter before.

The bird is considered to be pest by modern day fisherman. However, in Asia they use the cormorant as an aquatic falcon. The bird is given a collar to prevent large fish from being swallowed and then it’s released into the water to dive down. It’s been found that a cormorant can dive as deep as one hundred and fifty feet! The birds return to the raft and wait for the fishermen to remove the stuck fish. They don’t seem to be harmed by this and it actually looks like they bond with the owner.

The ones here are pretty standoffish though. Even my 400 mm lens can barely bring them in for a photo.

A local cormorant standing on the “Gauley River Monster” which is fully submerged in this photo.

I have stopping in these spots on a fairly regular basis and trying to catch them doing something other than standard out on that log. Then finally one morning I caught the feature image. The cormorant took off from its perch and flew in circles slapping the water with his wings. I’m not sure if it was trying to flush out prey or just playing and enjoying being a bird but it was a spectacular show. I have watched a few days and this seems to be something that they do often.

I also thought that because of its reputation as a pest in North America that it was a non native species but they are found all over the world.

The literature on these birds is quite extensive, especially in the cultural references. I could write pages and pages just covering all the little threads on Wikipedia alone but as life would have it time is the limiting factor in everything. And it’s time to metaphorically turn my big blue truck back onto the highway and look for the next subject to photograph.

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Thinking In The Fourth Dimension

Color Photography

Hello Friends!Tonight’s feature image is titled “Morning Reflection On Three Rivers ” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The early morning sun casts a golden hue across the three rivers. The calm water echoes the sky’s dance and God paints another masterpiece. I have only a few minutes of peaceful contemplation on the river’s edge as I prepare for the daily rituals common to my day job. It’s a small window of opportunity to be the real me on my own terms. As I form the picture in my head and plan out what I hope will be the final edit I carefully consider the elements contained within the margins. Light, shadow, color and texture come together in the form of points rays and curves. The goal isn’t as much to capture the shapes formed or the color perceived by the eye as much as it is to preserve the moment imprinted on my soul. I have set a goal for myself to use my lens as tool for expressing life in four dimensions. To do that I have to learn to think in the fourth dimension of time. By the time we graduated from elementary school the three dimensional concept is pretty well drilled into us. That of course being height, width and depth. But outside of the advanced sciences very little effort is commonly spent on time as a coordinate. I can’t really blame the education system. Even the advanced sciences tend to debate about the nature of time. To some of the experts it’s a scale and to others it’s a vector. But neither side of that debate has been able to actually hold time, dissect it and find it’s limits. It’s a feat that is beyond the reach of the laboratory. Oh they can observe it’s effects on the known universe and make mathematical models and predictions but that’s not the same as actually holding onto the substance of time. No, for that task you need an artist. Capturing time is a function of the spirit. It’s only possible to contain small amounts. The tools vary depending on the art form. Canvas and paint, molten metals, earthworks and cement as well as the poet’s pen and the musician’s notes are all tools for dipping into the river of time and bottling up the moment. I have chosen the lens to cage small pieces of this universal force of nature. I have poured into it bits and pieces of myself in an effort to preserve those moments indefinitely and share them with you. Perhaps one day science succeed in bottling up time. If so they will sell it to industry and industry will certainly put it a shelf and for the right price you’ll be able to add hours to your day. But if it were possible to add time to your life would it be satisfying? Or is it better to simply sit by the water and life to your time. I have chosen the latter option. A lifetime is more than the number of days on planet earth. It’s the fulfillment of the soul in those moments.

In closing, let me encourage you to set aside a few minutes of peace to experience a connection with God in His creation. I promise that it will add life to your time.

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Daydreaming In Color

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “The Dancing Depths” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the page.

When I was a kid my favorite color was aquamarine. I’m not really sure why but it wad probably because I wanted to be unique. As I got older my tastes shifted more towards the green tones. As I gaze into the greens and blues and the in between tones of the river I become lost in the depths of water. The variations in the light as it transitions reminds me of a gemstone. Is it any wonder why ancient people imagined that there was another world full of mythic civilizations just beyond that translucent vale? Even in modern times it wouldn’t hard to imagine the merfolk swimming by and looking up with the same wonderment of our world. Would their eyes get lost in marbled blue sky? As I watch the light shimmer on the surface and dance beneath the ripples I lose track of the schedule that demands so much of our life’s energy. For a little while I’m a child again looking for the signs of an underwater castle deep behind the blues and greens of the river.

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In A Breath’s Space

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Downtime At Three Rivers” and is available as prints by following the instructions at the bottom of the page.

The big blue truck rolls to the foot of Gauley Mountain and coasts to stop at the wide spot near the three rivers. It’s cool day but not as cold as it has been. The Spring of 2018 was well under way and the redbud was in bloom. I sat for a while with the windows down just absorbing the fresh air after a long winter of being stuck in the house. It was one of those rare “no agendas” days when I can get out for a little while and enjoy the sunshine. Best of all, I get to take a breath. Most people over the age of 6 minutes probably consider themselves expert breathers. Most healthy people don’t even have to consciously think about filling their lungs with atmosphere and then letting it out again. But that’s just breathing. Taking a breath is something more. It’s less mechanical and more spiritual. It’s the difference between maintaining life and truly living. Our lives have purpose beyond our responsibilities of maintaining a daily existence. Ecclesiastes 12:13 tells us that the duty man is to keep God’s commandments but duty and purpose are two different things. Duty is the pathway to purpose. I believe that God has an individual purpose for each one of us but in general I believe that the purpose of mankind as a whole is to simply spend time with God. Before the fall of Adam God would come to him every day just to visit. The bible doesn’t really mention an agenda. There is no talk of thunder and lightning or thick clouds of smoke. Just a walk through the garden and the conversation between friends. No thou shalt or thou shalt nots. (Which are actually intended to get us back to the point where we can enjoy that friendship again. ) It was just friends hanging out.

To slow down and take a breath is to push back all the distractions of modern life and give space for that simple conversation between friends. The one without a wish list or complaining about all the bad times. You see, our friend desires that simple conversation as much as we do. But he’s not rude. He won’t barge in and demand your attention while you’re too busy. He won’t change the subject when you need to talk about the issues that he’s already been working to resolve. He simply waits for us to settle down and be ready in that “breath’s space”.

After a few minutes of peace and quiet at the three rivers area and a good conversation while snapping photos I’m ready to head towards the house. My friend assures me that He’s going to be close by even though the conversation is over for now and that we can pick up the conversation again anytime I’m ready. I fasten the seatbelt and the big blue truck starts to roll again towards home.

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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 message me on Facebook or use the contact form on my website and 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 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! 😊