Cades Cove, Part 3

I know, I know, it's been months since I said I would finish this series.  But I procrastinated. Why?  Because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like any of the bear photos.  And sure enough, I am not overly pleased with any of the photos below.  They are ok, but I none are as in focus as I would like.  Oh well, I am slowly but surely getting better with the camera, and this can be a record of improvement hopefully.

But onto the photos....

Out of about 10 or so photos, this was the only one of any decency.  Most of the time, the bear was digging about.

This photo and the one below are of the same butterfly, taken not long apart.  But I like the composition of both photos so they are both here.

So there they are. I hope to get to Cades Cove more this year, now 2011, as I really did enjoy the trip. Plus I'd like to get better at wildlife photos, and it seems to be a good place for it.

I have a camera full of photos to process taken between September and December.  I will try to be more regular about posting, but who knows.

Art

So I was in the mood for a blog post today, but not up for processing the remaining photos from my Cades Cove trip last weekend. So I started with pulling together these actual art pieces made at the office last year. And yes, my job paid to bring someone in for us to make this art in early 2009. It was fun. And happy workers do better work, right? So why not.

This first piece is actually my least favorite of the three I made, but for whatever this is the one that the art guy chose to frame and that still hangs in the Nashville office.

This piece is one I really and would have been the one that I would have chosen to frame and post in the office if it was my choice.

And this piece is actually my favorite, but I can see where it can be viewed as not right for the office.

So after pulling those together, I wanted something new and original for this post, so I decided to make a digital art piece.  I used three Apophysis randomly generated fractals and then played with them in Photoshop.

Here it is on a mousepad on Zazzle.

Heart Vortex by DigitialCreations
Make a custom mouse pad at zazzle.

I think it works particularly well on the mousepad.

I hope you all have a good Sunday.  I'm off to take the mom to satisfy a Kingdom Heirs craving.  Unlike church, Dollywood has a wheelchair rental available so she won't have to walk.  Just as a reminder, any and all prayers appreciated for her this Wednesday when we go to the hospital so they can figure out what to do about her blocked artery.

Cades Cove Part 2: A Deer

So it's taken me a few days to get the photos ready in a way that I liked and wanted to present them.  But I am really happy with the final results.  All of these photos are of the same deer.  She was happily eating her late lunch the whole time I and many others watched and took pictures.

Click on image to view full size

Click on image to view full size.

 If you look at the full size image of the collage above, you will notice something on her eye.  It seems to be some kind of strings that are stuck on her eyelashes.  That's actually the reason I went with the collage instead of just the bottom left photo.  The strings look like something wrong with the photo, but it was just something on the deer.  But I ended up really liking the collage of three photos.

Click on image to view full size.

So the last part of this Cades Coves series post will have a bear (assuming I can get one of the photos to a satisfactory state) and butterflies.

Cades Cove Part 1

So I decided to break my visit to Cades Cove on Sunday up into multiple posts. Since it took me a few hours to fix up just two of the photos, I realized if I waited until I had them all ready then it would be next Sunday before I posted any.

One of the fun things about the drive to and in Cades Cove was that the butterflies were out in force. I saw a bunch of Swallowtail butterflies while driving. Unfortunately while stopped with my camera, there never seemed to be any around. So the first two pictures were actually when I stopped after a black bear had run across the road in front of me. I was hoping he would still be sight-able in the woods, but, all I saw were some deer. And the photos of them did not turn out well enough to do anything with.

However on the way back to the car, I saw these flowers.

Remember to click on images to view full size.

I then took a second picture of part of the same bunch of flowers from a different angle. When I looked at it on the view finder, I didn't really think it turned out. But I usually don't delete anything until I get onto the computer and look at it full size. When I zoomed in one this one, I was quite pleased with what I found.

Remember to click on images to view full size

 I truly was surprised when I viewed the photo at 100% and saw the butterfly. I was hoping to get a nice crop with just one flower, but was more than pleased with the final view I found.

Well there will be more to come...up next some nice deer photos...

Happy Birthday Dad!

A Short Vacation

So I was able to take a couple of days of vacation. On Wednesday evening we went into the Smokies with my cousin and her family. It was drizzling as we were driving up. When we got to the first overlook of the Gatlinburg bypass we were greeted by the sight of this beautiful rainbow.

It faded rather quickly and this was my last shot where it is at all visible. It was a beautiful view even though it was short.

We also went on a short hike on one of the trails. I have no idea who this couple is, but I loved the shot of them sitting on the rocks just enjoying the river on a summer day.


On Friday, I went to Dollywod to enjoy the free refills of popcorn and soda with my 25th anniversary mugs. I also wanted to play with taking some photographs of the planter people they have scattered throughout the park for Kid's Fest. This was also my first attempt at making a collage of multiple photos. It took me all Saturday night, but I was happy with the end result.


I also took pictures of a number of flowers while wandering about the park between shows.

It was a hot couple of days. But I enjoyed them nonetheless, and I hope you enjoy the photos. It was a short staycation, but I think one of the most refreshing vacations I've had.

Dolly Homecoming Parade 2010

One of the many things I like about living in Sevier County is that it's like a small town and yet still is very obviously a tourist. Also it's close enough to Knoxville for any of the larger city things one might want, but that is off point.

The parade showed some examples of the odd mix between tourist town and small town.

First example of small town... the local boy scouts carried the parade banner at the beginning of the parade.


First example of tourist town...this was followed by Dolly Parton's elaborate float. See the previous post for the video of Dolly on her float.

The short video shows a couple more examples...


I just thought these tractors driving in the parade were just funny. I just really felt like this was one of the proofs that they would let ANYTHING into this parade. (I actually lost count of how many cheer/baton squads we saw.)



And yes, this was in May... with Santa in the parade. I mean what else would a year-round Christmas store put in a parade, even if it 93 degrees outside this day.

I just liked how this horse and carriage looked. It was actually there for the Wells Fargo Bank.

And yes, if you look closely at the right hand side of the image, those are pooper scooper men following the carriage. What I thought was a trip... there was actually little tractors following which had seats attached so they sit. And the seats were actually labeled "Pooper Scoopers".

Anyway so that is all the pictures that I took. I did enjoy the parade, although I don't feel I really need to see it for another 5 years or so. It was just really on the long side.