Monthly Archives: September 2015

Lake Toho

INSIDE FLORIDA, Kissimmee, , , , ,

Kevin McKinney wanted to go by Shingle Creek for a sunrise photo and I’ve wanted to do that too.  We went last Saturday – and found out that park doesn’t open until 8am.  A little late for sunrise.  🙁

Fortunately we got there early enough for our backup plan to work and we ended up in Kissimmee along the Lake Tohopekaliga shoreline.  They have a park there too – and it was open.  🙂

Lake Toho light at dawnLake Toho light at dawn

There’s a little lighthouse at the end of the jetty and the protected water makes for some nice reflections.

We saw a few birds hunting the shoreline close by that turned out to be Snail Kites.  I’ve only ever seen these before at Viera Wetlands and didn’t get a very good photo.  This one perched nicely for a minute or so before flying off.

Snail KiteSnail Kite

And this Osprey flew by with its morning meal.  I like sushi too, so I went ahead and make a photo of it.

Osprey in flight with fishAnother Osprey with a “take-out” breakfast

A pleasant morning after all and I’m glad the backup plan worked.

Reminder – it’s that time of year again:  The Lake Jesup flowers are getting ready to bloom.  I got an email last week from my on-line friend Jeff Stammer.  He’s already been out to Marlbed Flats to check on the flowers.  He says that while it isn’t as wet as last year, it is quite grown up with tall plants and there aren’t as many cow or horse paths as there have been in the past.  So the hiking may be tougher than usual.  I skipped going last year and regretted it.  I’m going to try hard to get out there this year.  When we drove by Friday evening we could already see some yellow color.  I think they’ll start to really peak in a week or two.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

 

Vacation, part 2: Shenandoah National Park

Must do list, OUTSIDE FLORIDA, Virginia, , , , , , , ,

On July 4th, 1936, in the Virginia Blue Ridge mountains along Skyline Drive at Big Meadows, President Roosevelt dedicated Shenandoah National Park.  Since that time, people have greatly enjoyed wonderful vistas, beautiful waterfalls, quiet wooded hollows, hiking, wildlife and the night sky.

Shenandoah sunrise at Spitler KnollSunrise at Spitler Knoll

I’ve been to Shenandoah many times.  It’s the first national park I ever visited – too long  ago to admit.  I hiked there with our Boy Scout troop from Bowie, Maryland when I was a very young man .  Hiking’s a major activity at the park – the Appalachian Trail runs along and crosses Skyline Drive in many places.

Appalachian trail viewAppalachian trail view

Lynn and I also took Mike and Mary there when they were younger and we have fond (and scary!) memories of hikes with those two scrambling over rocks and along ridges to be first to see a view.  On one of our visits, we also picnicked with our good friends the Sullivans, and hiked with the kids down to Dark Hollow Falls.

Dark Hollow FallsDark Hollow Falls – A gorgeous waterfall, although crowded at times since it’s one of the closest ones to Skyline Drive.  (Photo from 1996).

To get the most out of your visit, you need an up to date guide-book.  We had one from our previous visits (printed in 1988!), but unfortunately we didn’t realize how out of date it was.  Fires and other events have changed places in the park, sometimes quite dramatically.  Fortunately, we found updated books at the park.  One example of the changes:

Dead eastern hemlock treesDead eastern hemlock trees – Hemlock Springs, Shenandoah National Park. We really enjoyed hiking through large stands of hemlock trees the last time we were there, 20+ years ago.  Now, 95% of the Hemlock trees in Shenandoah have been killed by the hemlock woolly adeligid, an invasive species introduced by humans. 

Weather can vary in the park.  All of our visit was beautiful, but we spent one day completely socked in with heavy rain and visibility of 50 to 100 feet.  I had fun walking around in the fog looking for photos, while Lynn wove a White Oak basket from scratch.

Rain drops in the mistRain drops in the mist

We saw lots of wildlife while we were there.  The deer are all over and not very skittish, since animals are protected in the park.  We also saw 2 black bears – exciting!  I didn’t look too hard for birds, but managed to spot at least one life bird (Dark-eyed Junco).

If you search the web you’ll see things to do in the surrounding area too.   We’ve been to Luray Caverns in the past, although we didn’t have time to explore outside the park this time.

In summary, Shenandoah National Park deserves to be on your bucket list.  If you haven’t been there yet, just go.  If you have been there, you know what I mean.

You can see larger versions of the photos above by clicking on them and some other photos from our trip in this album on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

 

Vacation!

New Jersey, OUTSIDE FLORIDA, VARIOUS, , ,

Lynn and I returned yesterday from our longest vacation in a while, to New Jersey and Virginia. We enjoyed riding the Amtrak Autotrain from Sanford, Florida to Lorton, Virginia and back –  something we last did about 25 years ago.  We highly recommend it for travel up and down the south-east coast.

Sanford Auto TrainSanford Auto Train

In Newton, NJ, we attended the International Congress of Iron Collectors, and the Pressing Iron and Trivet Collectors convention.  After that we drove to  Shenandoah National Park in VA and stayed for 5 wonderful days.

I was the “semi-official” photographer, so I spent a lot of time there photographing all the activities, displays and people.  And Lynn photographed too, especially when I wasn’t around.

Something that you might not know:  Lynn is the author of two books on trivet collecting:  The A-Z Guide to Collecting Trivets, Identification and Value Guide and The Expanded A to Z Guide to Collecting Trivets – Identification and Values (read more about them on her blog), and I made the photographs for her books.  Which, by the way, is an excellent justification for camera and lens purchases.  😉

Pressing Iron and Trivet Collectors business meeting
Pressing Iron and Trivet Collectors business meeting

Lynn and I have a lot of work left to finish going through the photos from the conventions and distributing them to people. I also have a lot of work to finish going through photos from Shenandoah, so I’ll try to write about that next time.

I didn’t do a lot of photography outside of the conventions in New Jersey, but there was a nice red barn next to the fair grounds where the meetings took place and I made this photo one day when I had a few minutes off.

Barn WindowNew Jersey Barn Window

I like the peeling paint texture and the reflections in the surviving window panes.

More to follow…

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Group photography and sunrise follow up

Cocoa, INSIDE FLORIDA, , , , ,

I’ve written before about photography as a solo or group activity.  You can read that post and comments at this link).

On our trip last week, if I hadn’t noticed Kevin M. photographing this pool of water in the parking area, I doubt I’d have seen or photographed it.

Puddles at dawnPuddles at dawn

Kevin not only pointed out this scene, he also organized the trip.  If he hadn’t, I might have been too lazy to get up – and I’d have missed a very lovely dawn.  This was one time when photographing with a group was very helpful.  I think going out by yourself is great, but going out with others is wonderful too.

Here’s one more image from that morning.

Stormy horizonStormy horizon

As you can see, I did enjoy that sunrise – thanks, Kevin!

And thanks to everyone for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos – with your friends!

©2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.