Mayberry Mill - Blue Ridge Parkway

Mayberry Mill - Blue Ridge Parkway


























As you can see by the amounts of updates and images this past week, I have been a very busy bee snapping away at everything in sight. All of the images - with the exception of the jeans - are a result of a full 10 hour day long trip last weekend with my good friend and associate through work, Larry Watson.


Larry's brand new blog: Larry's Blog

Left: Larry gets in close to capture some of the weathering on the painted brick wall.


Larry recently purchased a new Nikon D50 D-SLR and had all sorts of questions for me regarding camera operation and photography in general. It wasn't too long ago that I was bugging a co-worker of mine that just so happened to be a pro-shooter with many of the same questions Larry had for me. I am no expert by any means, having only started a little over a year ago, but I could quickly see that Larry appreciated what knowledge I had to share. I told Larry that the best way to start learning - a piece of advice Matt May offered me when I first started out - is to get out and shoot. So, shoot is what we did.

Our day trip consisted of an early 7am start - which we later regretted not starting sooner - with breakfast at the local Biscuitville followed by an hour and fifteen minute drive through Mt. Airy and to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Along the Parkway we stopped at an abandoned bed and breakfast. (See image above.) Larry and I spent well over an hour scavenging for great shots. The bed and breakfast had its own water wheel in the front. Just behind the main office and rooms were some cabins on the mountainside that had been invaded by the elements and creeping vines.


The mid-day sun left many of my daytime shots unusable due to the high contrasty light coming straight down on everything. Larry and I left the mill later in the mid-day and headed back out off of the Parkway and back towards Mt. Airy. Before exiting, we stopped at a great lookout of Pilot Mountain. I stacked my ND Grad. and .6 ND filters to cut out a lot of the daylight glare. The yellow wildflowers in the foreground made for a great experiment in macro photography. There were all sorts of bees, wasps, and other little bugs crawling along and hanging on for dear life as the wind batted them around.


We finished our day in Mt. Airy with some great pizza at a local Italian restaurant and discussed the day's events. We were both fairly tired from being in the sun and having a camera tug at the neck all day. Overall we both had an enjoyable time. Larry learned a lot as did I. I'm looking forward to another outing where we can do nothing but take in the day's great weather and capture more great imagery.

Stay tuned as I am on a photo blitz. Today (later this morning) I will be joining my brother, his wife, and a group of our friends for a day of winery hopping and a chicken stew benefit dinner in the evening.

Thanks for stopping by! - emc