Crab Spider and Black Swallowtail, the food chain in miniture!

 

Again, I don’t do very much close-up work with the camera but this was just awesome! Well, kind of freakish to me actually, for I’m not a fan of spiders! As I was photographing the beautiful flowers I noticed these swallowtails that were not moving like the others. With closer inspection I notice why, they were lunch for a wonderful little crab spider!

BTW, the TS-E 90mm makes a wonderful macro lens! It will focus to 1′ without extensions tubes and it stops down to f/32. I set this up with my 1.4x extender and extension tubes.

EOS 5D, TS-E 90mm w/ EF1.4x + extension tubes, f/9 @ 1/5 sec

Spring Fern #1, Shelton Laurel Backcountry Area, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina

It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed close-ups. I’ve never really been one to even think about it but over the past few days I’ve had a great time looking at the natural world in miniature. This was one of my favorites of today’s shoot! Shay, my Border Collie, and I went out for a few hours this morning and it was perfect! I’ll post more over the next few days.

EOS 5D, TS-E 90mm w/ EF1.4x extender, extension tubes, f/10, 1/4 sec

Edward Schell: An understated visionary in Nature Photography

 

On Monday, April 21, 2008, I attended a special presentation by the State of Franklin Chapter of the Sierra Club in Johnson City. The Center for Appalachian Studies of East Tennessee State University is in the final stages of a DVD production of photographs from photographer Edward Schell and music from Johnson City native composer, Kenton Coe.

 

This is a well-deserved production for my friend Ed Schell, as I feel that he is truly an understated visionary in nature photography. It was refreshing to see his early works; he is now 85-years young and still, as health allows, gets out to photograph in the forest. Ed’s photography is the quintessence of the late Eliot Porter. I feel that in his era of photography, things were pure- cleaner feeling. No implications of dishonesty, as a few have caused in our present day photographic digital age. But I wouldn’t want to go back to film, that’s for sure! The music was refreshing and, for the most part, felt in harmony with the photographs. Other than a few “off cord” refrains, it was beautiful. Ed has only one book- “Tennessee”- to offer his photographs to the public. You can get it at Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com). It’s a wonderful hardcover with text by the late Wilma Dykeman. Ed is the 1990 recipient of the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography.

 

I will announce the release of Ed’s DVD as soon as it is available.

 

I posted this photo in the spirit of Ed’s show. His presentation of new spring growth in film was wonderful. As I walked in the spring forest I felt his presence and I too decided to capture spring at its earliest stages. 

 

EOS 5D, TS-E 90mm w/ EF1.4xL extender and extension tubes. 

 

 

 

 

Spring apple trees, Madison County, NC

As I travel to photograph the final photos in my new book “Blue Ridge”, I look for special images. This is the fun part! Although I’ve already chosen most of the photos for the project,  I’m still looking for those special “have to be in there” photos. This is one of them! As I was driving along, I noticed the beautiful blossoms of the apple trees on an old Appalachian farm. This scene really moved me.  These farms are disappearing at an alarming rate. The farmers are getting old and passing from this earth, and their families don’t seem to see the beauty in the land they’d owned for the past 100+ years. They sell the properties to developers and next thing you know, million-dollar vacation homes are built along the mountainside. This is a problem in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Northeast Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. I’m not sure that we can do anything about it and I’m worried about our beautiful Southern Appalachian Mountains!

 

EOS 5D, EF70-200f/4L @ 84mm, f/11 @ 1/6sec

Forest Floor, Spring, Shelton Laurel Backcountry Area, Pisgah National Forest, NC

What a great place! The wildflowers are just getting started here but the colors of the forest floor are amazing! The understory is coming alive, it’s a wonderful time to be in the mountains and to be a nature photographer!

 

As you may notice, I used a TS-E lens. The abilities of the TS-E line of lenses is amazing! They’re not as convenient as zooms but the movements and the sharpness are worth the extra effort.  

 EOS 5D, TS-E 45mm, polarizer, f/16 @ .5 sec

Dogwood blooms at sunset, Shelton Laurel Backcountry Area, Pisgah National Forest, NC

This is a little out of sequence with my theme of Joyce Kilmer, but I fell in love with this image. I shot this in a very awkward way using my G9 handheld. The more I play with this camera the more I love it for photos like this. I would not have had the ability to get this photo with my 5D. Also, the G9 does pretty good shooting into the sun!

Last light in the virgin forest! Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, NC

The next few posts from Joyce Kilmer are not in any kind of order. I’ll post them as I process the images.

This photo was taken in the last few moments of light. Darkness was coming fast and the blue sky was lending its artistic hand in painting the scene with a beautiful cool blue tone. This was a great finality to a wonderful day in a virgin forest.

EOS 5D, EF70-200 f/4L, no filters 

 

Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Nantahala National Forest, NC

Trees

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of Robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.”
Joyce Kilmer.
December 6, 1886-July 30, 1918.

If you’re not familiar with Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest or Joyce Kilmer / Slickrock Wilderness, check out this link, where you’ll find  more in-depth info on its history and links to other websites about the area:

  

 http://www.wilderness.org/WhereWeWork/NorthCarolina/JoyceKilmerWilderness.cfm 

 As a photographer, this has got to be the hardest place in the southern Appalachians to photograph! It’s very difficult to show the size of the virgin poplars without a human element. As you may know, I don’t often add any human elements to my landscapes. So, spring helps, somewhat, by giving us the addition of beautiful wildflowers that grow in profusion in and around the old-growth forest. Even then its hard to show the size of these monsters! Many of the giant trees in the forest reach more than 100 feet in height and measure 20 feet around at the base. Now, for you westerners, this is no big thing. But in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s, we lost virtually all of our virgin forests to the industrial revolution in the north. It’s really amazing to look at my old family photos and see the mountains of this area stripped of trees. Clear-cut as far as the eye could see! Joyce Kilmer is one of the last places that, presently, we can visit and stand in a true virgin Appalachian forest. I always spend my first few minutes in this forest, speechless and holding back the tears!

The next few posts will be from my trip to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. I hope that you enjoy them!

 Morning light washes the virgin forest in its wonderful warmth.

 EOS 5D, TS-E 24mm w/ rise & very little tilt, polarizer 

White fringed phacelia and seasonal cascade, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN/NC

This is another version, which includes a small seasonal cascade, along the Cove Hardwoods Nature Trail. I love this scene, it has some very nice elements. But the overall image lacks the depth of the earlier post from this location. Again, the phacelia display was amazing!

EOS 5D, TS-E 24mm, tilt with fall

White fringed phacelia blankets the spring landscape, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN/NC

What a display of white fringed phacelia! It was incredible this year. I don’t recall the bloom every being this prolific over the the past 10-years. I have about 30 different versions of this scene but I chose this one due to the dappling of light throughout the scene. Especially the upper left quarter! I love how the image seems to go on and on. This was a great find!