A major event has taken over the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year in Fort Mill, SC. It is an event that grows each year. This event is the Winter Wonderland Craft Fair at the Dairy Barn.
This event has been taking place for years at the Dairy Barn. I went to the event for the first time about five years ago. At that time, I went with my mother and our relatives who were in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. There were craft vendors inside the dairy barn and set up in tents just outside of the dairy barn.
One of my favorite places to visit for a day trip when I have company is Grandfather Mountain. Grandfather Mountain is located in Linville, NC. If you plan to stay overnight, you can choose from places in Linville, Pineola, Boone, and Blowing Rock. Each of these locations are within a half hour drive to Grandfather Mountain.
I am so fortunate that Grandfather Mountain is a two hour drive from my home. This makes the trip one that can be made
My holiday season began Wednesday morning at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. My mother first introduced me to this wonderful garden years ago. Thanks to her, I have been a member ever since.
I have spent hours upon hours at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. I took my first photography courses there from my wonderful first teacher, Dave Kelly. There is something to see and to photograph in every season at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.
Wednesday was my first day off of work for the Thanksgiving break. I made my way, first thing,
For the past ten years, my husband’s best friend, Diane, has invited us to a pre Thanksgiving celebration at her house. We have come to affectionately refer to it as Fake Thanksgiving. Fake Thanksgiving is exactly like real Thanksgiving except
Saturday was an exciting day to visit Sugar Mountain Resort. My husband and I spent the weekend with our friends, Lorraine and Jack, in the Sugar Mountain area.
Saturday morning, Sugar Mountain Resort had the Summit Express’ Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. The Summit Express is a new, six passenger chair lift at Sugar Mountain. The ceremony began at 10:00 a.m.
A crowd gathered before 10:00 to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony. The events started inside the lodge. The actual ribbon cutting took place ourside by the new lift.
North Carolina’s Governor, Pat McCrory, cut the ribbon. After cutting the ribbon, he
This weekend, I revisited Elk River Falls with my husband and some friends. The waterfall is impressive and a short walk from the car. We had finished a day filled with hiking and decided to take the short walk to show our friends this waterfall to conclude our day.
As primarily a nature photographer, I enjoy being outdoors photographing. Often the things I want to photograph require me to travel at odd hours of the day or night, hike to get to my subject matter, and be in isolated locations.
While this may seem ideal to many, for a female photographer, it can be less than optimal.
I would like to start by sharing a story. One day, I saw an area of gorgeous wildflowers that were blooming along an off ramp on a busy stretch of highway. The flowers stretched the entire way up this off ramp. I had just gotten into “the zone” (happy place of creating with my camera) when another car pulled off not far from my vehicle. At first, I didn’t think much of it. A man got out of the vehicle and started making his way towards
I always enjoy shooting at Cline’s Antiques, which is located in Mt. Pleasant, NC.
Saturday, Mr. Cline, graciously allowed the Charlotte Camera Club, which I am a member, to spend time photographing at Cline’s Antiques. This is a photographer’s paradise. There is something creative to photograph at every turn. There are items to photograph both outside and inside at Cline’s Antiques. Many of these items are organized into groups.
For example, the photograph above shows some of the hands that can be found at Cline’s Antiques. I noticed the leaves hanging above the hands. I thought it would be a nice composition to have the hands reaching for the leaves above.
Another image I created using horses made of metal. They were aligned in a neat row. I created the image below by first changing the arrangement of the horses a bit. Once I captured the image, I processed it first in Lightroom. In Lightroom, I made basic adjustments and added a vignette to darken the corners of the image. I then took the image into NIK’s SilverEfex and applied a Sepia Tone.
Horses
I enjoyed using Topaz Impressions on a couple of the images I captured Saturday morning. Here are the results of using images created and applying Topaz Impressions to get the effect I desired.
Pastel Parasol
For the birdhouse image, I applied the filter to the entire image. The umbrella image is made with two images. I blended a straight image of the umbrella with one with the filter applied. I wanted to wood of the umbrella to show without the filter applied. After layering both images in Photoshop, I used the eraser tool to remove the parts I wanted to remove which allowed the parts I wanted to show to come through.
When you are given a wonderful opportunity to explore a wonderful place such as Cline’s Antiques, capture images which you can then give new life to using your processing programs and plugins.
