Nikkor Fast Primes for Sale! 28, 50 & 85mm

Jerry Greer — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:00:51 +0000

I purchased a set of beautiful Nikkor AI-S fast prime lenses to convert to cinema and I would like to sell these 3 (I have these focal lengths covered). They are in excellent condition and will work on all Nikon cameras. They also work incredibly well on Canon (and others) cameras with an adapter. I use them on my 5D mark II and 7D. Manual Nikkor lenses are perfect for cinema work with their very wide apertures and gorgeous ”bokeh”. You also have manual aperture control which is one thing I’ve miss so much with Canon EOS. Modern auto-focus lenses have beautiful glass but are not designed for manual focusing and nearly impossible to rack focus, even with a nice follow focus device. Most of all, they are EXPENSIVE! This is why full manual Nikkor prime lenses are back in demand. I’ve listed my prices below and also noted the prices that are being asked by one of the best used lens dealers in the USA, KEH in Atlanta, GA.

28mm f/2 AI-S $320 (KEH used price $449)
50mm f/1.8 AI-S $75 (KEH used price $100)
85mm f/2 AI-S $295 (KEH used price $365)

Buy all 3 to get the best deal $625

My email address is greerphotoATgmailDOTcom you can also contact me at http://www.jerrygreerphotography.com

Filed under: General Photography

Great Smoky Mountains National Park “Spring Flowers and Landscapes”

Jerry Greer — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:57:24 +0000

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

—Robert Frost

Richard Foster posted this poem (thanks Richard!) on an image that I shared on my Facebook page. For me, it best describes the fleeting color of our spring season. The reds, golds and bright greens of the mountain valleys and ridges are so amazing as the forest awakens from her winter slumber. I see it as the grandest time of year! A time of new birth, a renewal, before the summer returns and paints them with the rich hue of dark green—as far as the eye can see. If only for a short moment in time, I can chase them from the valleys to the highest peaks. The Blue Ridge and southern Appalachian Mountains are rivaled by no other in North America. No other area in a temperate climate can match the amazing diversity of plants, animals, and invertebrates. Over 17,000 species have been documented in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park alone. Scientists believe an additional 30,000-80,000 species may live in the Park.

I have been working photographically in the Blue Ridge and southern Appalachians for nearly 20 years. I was born in these mountains and they had their hand in raising me. My get-away from the chaotic life, known as boyhood, was spending countless hours traipsing through the fields and forests of southwest Virginia. For all but 7 years, I have lived in these ancient mountains and I still, to this day, continue to be driven creatively by them.

With this, I invite you to join me in my first and most exciting workshop and tour of 2013, Great Smoky Mountains National Park “Spring Wildflowers and Landscapes”. Follow this link for more information and to sign up for the event.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park “Spring Flowers and Landscapes

Filed under: General Photography, News, Photographers Tagged: 2013, Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge Photographs, Calendar, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Jerry D Greer, Jerry Greer Photography, Spring, Workshop

Image Use Without Permission. It’s not always a bad thing if they just ask…!

Jerry Greer — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:58:58 +0000

First I wanted to note how much I enjoy reading the great info posted on the Documentary Tech blog. As most may know, I have been adding more motion and documentary work over the past 2 years and I am finding great info on this site. However, last night I was spending some time exploring the site and I choose to check out a post on equipment. As I scrolled down the page an image caught my eye, the camera in the photo looked so much like my own, not many filmmakers use a Canon TS-E lens for shooting motion. It was a strange feeling because I surely didn’t expect to see an image of my camera, it was from an earlier blog post in 2011. It actually took a moment for me to make the connection and realize that the camera in the photo was mine! That being said, I just sent them an email, not because I am upset that they used my image without my knowledge but to make a suggestion. The suggestion is actually a requirement that I have for bloggers requesting the use of my images. I require that they link to my site and credit me for the image. I also suggested that they consider making my suggestion common practice. I’ve added a screen capture of the image posted in 2011 here on this blog and also a screen capture from my image on the DT blog. I hope that bloggers will do a better job at abiding by the copyright laws that are there to protect us all.

Screen Capture from my blog posted in 2011.

Screen capture from the Documentary Tech Blog

Filed under: General Photography

SPECIAL HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT!

Jerry Greer — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:10:20 +0000

www.jerrygreerphotography.com

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I have my “2013 Blue Ridge Mountains Calendar” on sale for the holiday season for $10.95! Also my new book “Blue Ridge Parkway – An Extraordinary Journey Along the World’s Oldest Mountains” is ready to ship. Visit the link to purchase your signed copies today!

Filed under: General Photography, News Tagged: 2013, Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge Mountains, Calendar, Jerry D Greer, Jerry Greer Photography

One-Day Roan Highlands Workshop sponsored by Tennessee Wild!

Jerry Greer — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:17:33 +0000

One-Day Roan Highlands Workshop sponsored by Tennessee Wild!

I have a few openings for this weekends one day workshop in the Roan Highlands sponsored by Tennessee Wild. If you have the day free join us for awesome day in the highcountry!

Filed under: General Photography

Jerry Greer Photography featured on the cover and inside – June 2012 Issue of WNC Magazine

Jerry Greer — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 03:14:35 +0000

I just received my advance copies of the June issue of WNC Magazine and I had a wonderful surprise! I was aware that they had chosen to use 5 of my photographs for a photo essay titled Calm of the Wild but I had no idea that they were going to use an image on the cover as well! It’s great to be back on the cover and on the inside pages of such a beautiful Magazine (and they did a great job with the images). Here’s the cover and the full bleed spreads. All of the inside images were printed as ”full-bleed double-truck”, or two page, full-bleed spreads. If you get a chance stop by any book retailer and pick up a copy!

Filed under: General Photography, News Tagged: Blue Ridge Photographs, Jerry Greer Photography, WNC Magazine

2012 Jerry Greer Photography Workshops and Tours – Check them out!!

Jerry Greer — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:54:36 +0000

Hey everyone, I want to remind all that I have listed my 2012 Workshops on my site. Check them out and if you have any questions or would like to join us on a trip please feel free to contact me at anytime. Here’s a link to review the schedule. 2012 Jerry Greer Photography workshops and Tours.

My first of the year is coming up very soon. For more info and to sign up follow this link: Great Smoky Mountains National Park “Spring Wildflowers & Landscapes” • Gatlinburg, Tennessee • April 19-22, 2012

"Spring Wonder", Tremont, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN & NC

Filed under: General Photography

Wetlands Destruction at Laurel Run Park

Jerry Greer — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:59:25 +0000

On Thursday morning I received an email from a concerned citizen from Kingsport, Tennessee, informing me of an article the Kingsport Times News had ran that day. Its headline, Hawkins County intends to fill in a swampy section of Laurel Run Park near the entrance gate at the far west end of the park (written by Jeff Bobo), got my attention and I wanted to know what exactly was going down in Hawkins County. I immediately called the news room and asked if someone could email me the article so that I could better assess the situation. Within an hour I received the message with the attached article.

In the article, Alderman Joe McLain, a member of the Hawkins County Commission who serves on the Parks Committee, explained to the Board of Mayor and Alderman Monday that the county intends to fill in a swampy section of Laurel Run Park near the entrance gate at the far west end of the park. Laurel Run Park is located along the south bank of the Holston River just outside the Church Hill city limits. “It gets worse every year, and if it gets too bad they will eventually declare it a (protected) wetland and you can’t ever do anything with it,” McLain said. “Right now the state has said we can fill it in with dirt. We have to leave the drains in it, but we can fill it in with dirt and reclaim that property basically because right now you can’t even mow it.” After reading the entire piece I felt that I needed to make a call to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). While waiting on a call back I did a little research. Here’s Tennessee’s definition and delineation of wetlands.

Wetlands definitions and delineation

The Tennessee Water Quality Control Act of 1977 defines “waters of the state” as: any and all water, public or private, on or beneath the surface of the ground, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon Tennessee or any portion thereof except those bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private property in single ownership which do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters. Wetlands are defined in the TDEC rules as “those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.”Tennessee relies on the delineation criteria in the Corps’ 1987 Wetland Delineation Manual.

Wetland related statutes and regulations

The Tennessee Water Quality Control Act of 1977 and the corresponding Aquatic Resources Alteration Rule establish the state’s Aquatic Resources Alteration Permit (ARAP) program that regulates wetlands and wetland activities apart from those covered by individual §404 permits. Physical alterations to waters of the state that require either an ARAP or a §401 water quality certification include: dredging, excavation, channel widening, or straightening; bank sloping; stabilization; channel relocation; water diversions or withdrawals; dams, weirs, dykes, levees or other similar structures; flooding, excavating, draining and/or filling a wetland; road and utility crossings; and structural fill.

§401 certification program

Tennessee uses §401 certification to protect wetlands by approving, conditioning, or denying federal §404 permits. In 2000, rules for implementation of the state’s §401 certification and the ARAP programs were formally adopted. The rules specifically define wetlands as a category of waters of the state and establish a “no net loss of water resource value” standard for permitting. Section 401 certification is required for any §404 permit approved by the Corps. However, if the Corps issues a Nationwide Permit (NWP) for a project, or doesn’t have jurisdiction over the impacted wetland, then the applicant must obtain a state ARAP permit. TDEC issues approximately 400 to 500 wetland permits per year, split about equally between ARAPs and §401 certification. These qualitative factors are described in TDEC’s Aquatic Resource Alteration Rules in relation to assessing water resource values and in the Tennessee Antidegradation Standard.

TDEC’s wetland assessment methodology is still evolving. The division is incorporating Tennessee’s antidegredation rules and tier evaluations into the permit assessment process. TDEC reviews all applications to assess the proposed impacts and determine if a tier assessment must be conducted. The antidegradation guidelines, which apply to all waters of the state, are more stringent for impacts to Tier 2 and 3 wetlands than those for Tier 1 wetlands. A field review is conducted for projects impacting all three tiers of wetlands; these are coordinated with TWRA, the Corps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and occasionally the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The department also has an EPA grant to develop a new assessment methodology for permitting purposes. TWRA reviews public notices for §401 certification and ARAP permits to ensure that the proposed impacts and mitigation comply with the Basic Minimum Compensatory Mitigation Requirements developed by TDEC, TWRA, EPA, Corps, and FWS. TWRA also ensures that permits follow the mitigation ratios laid out in the TDEC mitigation rules.

Around 5:30 pm, the call came in from the TDEC field officer. I explained the situation and reviewed the article, and then emailed the entire article to the office so she could read it in its entirety. While on the call, she looked up Laurel Run Park in the TDEC database and found a 2009 permit issued for work on the east side of the Park, it was to help with water removal during flooding. It didn’t include any alteration to the documented wetlands. She also stated that they had not applied for any new permits for the wetland fill project that was mentioned in the article. Before we ended the call, I let the officer know that I would be visiting the Park the next morning to investigate and photograph the possible dredging of part of the protected wetlands.

Friday morning, I arrived at Laurel Run Park around 9am and found that someone had replaced the tile for the road that crossed the wetland and they had, in fact, started to dredge the west end of the wetland. I photographed the work that had been done, made a few notes, and decided that I had enough to make a report to the field officer. But before I could leave, the field officer pulled onto the road where I was parked. It was a great meeting, I was able to review the TDEC data and maps showing exactly where the documented wetlands are located, and we were able to confirm that the dredging was exactly where we suspected, right down the middle of the protected wetlands, on the west side of the property. At that moment, she confirmed that there were violations and that she was going to talk with the Park manager. I took a few more photos and made my way back to my office in Johnson City.

Late Friday evening, I received a followup email from the field officer detailing her meeting with the Park officials and how the violation would be handled. She explained that the individual who had dredged the wetland and replaced the tile now understands that no one can place any fill material in the protected wetlands and how he would be restoring the wetlands with the material that had been removed while dredging.

I’m very happy to announce that currently, all is well and the Laurel Run Park wetlands are safe. We will be monitoring the situation by continued visits and also checking with TDEC to make certain that no new permits have been applied for. I am certain that this is not the end of the threat and at some point the county will apply for the ARAP permits. At that point we will do whatever it takes to insure that any permits to fill the wetlands be denied. So stay tuned!

Filed under: Environmental & Conservation Photography, Environmental Issues, News, Political Issues

The Blue Ridge Ancient and Majestic – Awarded the 2011 Reed Environmental Writing Award

Jerry Greer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:07:30 +0000

On March 19, 2011, I traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia were Charles Maynard, the essayist for The Blue Ridge – Ancient and Majestic, was awarded the prestigious Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment . It was an honor to be a part of this ceremony and to support Charles in this wondrous event for him and our book. Take a moment and read about the Reed Environmental Writers Award and watch the video that I produced of his presentation. Also, I would like to thank the Southern Environmental Law Center for all that they do to ensure the protection of the region that Charles and I both call “home”.

Information from the Southern Environmental Law Center:

In the long, proud tradition of southern literature, writers have often drawn on the region’s unique natural heritage for inspiration and insight – from the haunting cypress swamps of Georgia, to the tall mountains of western North Carolina, to the rolling fields of the Virginia piedmont. As the South grows and changes, southern writers are increasingly exploring the relationship between nature and man. SELC’s Reed Writing Award honors these story tellers who capture in words our landscapes and traditions in transition.

In the Book category, Charles W. Maynard won for The Blue Ridge Ancient and Majestic: A Celebration of the World’s Oldest Mountains, published by Mountain Trail Press. An ordained United Methodist minister, native Tennessean, storyteller, outdoorsman and activist, Maynard chronicles the life of the Blue Ridge Mountains, from geologic time up to present-day culture, literature and music with a knowing and loving touch.

About the Reed Award

SELC’s annual Reed Writing Award has two categories: Book, for non-fiction books (not self-published), and Journalism, for newspaper, magazine and online articles. Entries must be at least 3,000 words, published in the previous calendar year, and pertain to the environment in at least one of the six states in SELC’s region (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia). Prizes of $1,000 are awarded to the winner in each category. Our panel of judges include some of the top environmental writers, journalists and activists of our time, including Lee Smith, Bill McKibben, Nikki Giovanni, Janisse Ray, Jim Detjen and Don Webster.

Mission of the Award

SELC created the Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment in 1994. Its purpose is to enhance public awareness of the value, and the vulnerability, of the South’s natural heritage. The award serves to recognize and encourage writers who most effectively tell the stories about the South’s environment. The award is named for SELC founding trustee Phil Reed, a talented attorney and committed environmental advocate who deeply believed in the power of writing to change hearts and minds.

Filed under: Environmental & Conservation Photography, News, Photographers

Back on the Cover!

Jerry Greer — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:18:03 +0000

It’s been a few years since one of my photographs have been printed on the pages of WNC Magazine. For the first two years of their existence, as a new magazine release, my photographs were a regular fixture. Then the economy took a dive and the funding to pay for beautiful images from working photographers dried up. I still have the email sent to me explaining the reduction in funding and the elimination of the “Vistas” series. It was just another hit on a long list of photo budgets for working photographers trying to pay the bills and feed the family. Later that year I received an email that requested an image but they could only offer a credit due to the, still in effect, photo budget freeze. And as I always do, I refuse to allow the use of my images without proper payment. Credits just do not pay the bills and I’ve yet to find a bank that would accept those photo credits.

I commend the good people at WNC Magazine for deciding that it is important to offer payment to working photographers for the use of their images, it shows that they truly care about those full-time photographers that strive to offer beautiful photographs. I’m so glad and encouraged to be working with WNC Magazine again. So, for all that are subscribers and for those in the region that buy off the shelf, check out the July 2011 issue, you’ll see my ”Roan Highlands” photograph on the cover. Here’s a quick shot of my issue that I received in the mail today.

WNC Magazine_July 2011_Cover

Filed under: General Photography, My Ramblings, News, Photographers