“Morning’s Here
The Morning is Here
Sunshine is Here
The Sky is Clear
The Morning’s here (hey you’re back!)
(Hey!) Get into Gear
Breakfast is near
The Dark of Night Has Disappeared”– Joey & his neighbor (Friends)
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Yep, that’s what they’re calling it.
It’s been a while since I actually shot something other than aerial. It felt creative.
Anybody have an issue saying the word “foliage?” I worked with someone once who did. Anybody have a guess as to who it was? I wonder if she’s reading now. Anyway, the fo·li·age [ˈfōl(ē)ij] is about to peak here in Winchester. Hope the weather holds for some great images.
The foliage on SU campus in Winchester around Wilkins Lake.
There was going to be a great sunset at the school this evening, but I had my first complaint about the aerial camera that cut me short. A lady was going to go walk somewhere else this evening (as opposed to her usual walk at the school) because she was “uncomfortable” with the drone. I was just hovering taking a shot every couple of minutes – just waiting for the money shot. This is the last shot I was able to get. I never did get a clear answer as to what made her uncomfortable. Oh well.
Another great sunset over Handley High School. | Order a print of this image.
Who would’ve thought that, amongst all the high-tech engineering and impressive architecture, the rockers on the “front porch” would be good old Cracker Barrel brand.
Get that down-home “front porch” feel at the newest SU Building in Winchester.
I was near downtown today when the sun began setting. It pays sometimes to keep the gear in the car.
The new Discovery Museum in Old Town Winchester
I was out doing some mapping photography today and got a preview of the coming Fall colors. I think I’m heading to the national forest next week to shoot some photographs with my UAV. I might even fly at 401 feet. I’m such a rebel!
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I spent the day at the local city park shooting cyclocross. I don’t race cyclocross and never will. My license plate even indicates that I’m a road cyclist. Anyway, I don’t know what the cyclists were complaining about all day – that Belgian wall looks pretty flat to me. Easily rideable.
The Belgian Wall at the Applecross cyclocross race in Winchester is approximately a 45° angle, which is eliminated with this top-down, mapping view.
What a great opportunity for aerial photography. I’m finding more and more ways where getting above the mess on the ground creates these unique opportunities for photography. I had my aerial cam in the car, but I didn’t have an SD card for it so I had to be quick about getting home this morning and going through the pre-flight stuff to get up and get this shot. It was worth the rush.
I got up in time to get some pretty cool images before the sun burned off all the fog. | Order a print of this image.
So we took a tour of Handley High School today. We, who have a child who is a current senior. We, who have a child who is a recent graduate. We took a tour of Handley today. It was sort of cool. A little weird, but cool.
We’re trying to get our daughter to start referring to the English hallway as the English Channel. We want to see if we can start something. A tradition of sorts. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
One of the really cool “new” hallways on the tour of the school today.
So this is it. The last homecoming. This year marks the 25th (2 and half decades!) since my wife and graduated high school (separate high schools). And tomorrow marks the last high school homecoming for our family. What the heck – where has the time gone! Although…look out empty nest, here we come!
Happy 25th to all the 1989’ers!
Handley High School (a favorite photo spot for me) celebrates their homecoming tomorrow.
You’re not supposed to walk along the train tracks. I get that but I was scouting out a location for an aerial shoot and a train needed the tracks. I actually heard the gates closing before I heard the train. It was a total Back to the Future moment (you know, at the end of the third one – anyway…). I jumped off the track and launched really quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I thought for a second I was going to hit the train on the way up. It really wasn’t as dangerous as I’m making it out to seem. The train was moving fairly slowly, I wasn’t anywhere near the tracks when the train passed, the aerial cam was well clear by the time the train passed…
…just enjoy the image.
The train tracks that run through the Abram’s Creek Wetlands Preserve.
Originally opened in 1948 and involved in a recent overhaul and restoration since very early 2009, the Triangle Diner is just sitting there. For the longest time it was an eyesore of a construction zone, which surprises me because it’s extremely visible to the hundreds of thousands of visitors at the annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. It’d be cool if it were to open like their Facebook page has been saying since very early 2010. Can’t wait until it’s back – it’ll make for some great images. And I suppose it’d be a neat place to eat.
The Triangle Diner near Handley High School in Winchester, VA. | Order a print of this image.
Anybody else see the moonrise tonight? I’ve always tried to photograph the moon when it’s just over the horizon and have always missed it by the time I find the right place to set up. I almost missed it again tonight. I got some really decent images of the moon as it was rising in front of Handley High School. I had some fun with this one.
Handley High School’s iconic cupola at night.
The big downside to landscape photography is the incredibly early start times for the day, especially for shooting the sunrise. On a good day I could be up as early as 3 and as late as 9 that same evening just to shoot the sun. Am I dedicated or crazy?
I’m pretty excited to be heading into that time of year when the sunrise isn’t at some ridiculously early hour of the morning! | Order a print of this image.
When you can get above all the mess on the ground level, that golden hour is more like a golden hour and 15 minutes. My class ended at 6:30, but I was determined to get the sunset today because I just had a feeling that it was going to be a good one. I think I made a good call.
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How is Handley Different? by Dr. V. Doug Joyner
From letter jackets to lunch lines, Handley isn’t outwardly intriguing, nothing differentiates us from any other high school across the nation-but step inside the checkered hallway; have a seat in the auditorium; cheer for the football players at a game and you will find there’s something else that lingers in the hallways. It’s an unfettered force that the community refers to as “Handley Pride”. It’s the one thing that sets us apart from the rest.
It’s embedded into the glistening marble hall, woven into the upholstery of the auditorium, and saturates the Handley Bowl on a sparkling autumn afternoon. The fundamentals associate us with every other school, but pride fractures the concord, and keeps the student reputation from being slandered into uniformity.
As a profile is examined and its features begin to tell a story, the inner thoughts come to the surface. Even though the picture hasn’t told its story with words the wrinkle of a brow and a shy smile tell more eloquently than words the sorrows of the character.
Most important to the piecing together of a person are the eyes. Are they quick and alert? Do they search for something beyond the four walls of the picture?
When a teacher watches many profiles agonize over a test or listens to one lone profile struggling over an oral presentation, they see focus in their student’s eyes. Focus and motive to achieve, to be known, to excel outside of the four walls of a classroom.
As we live our daily lives, our personalities become exposed, and we expose those of others. Each situation, whether within the walls of Handley high or experienced elsewhere, defines us. Our surroundings mold us emotionally- no two of us are the same. We are who we are; our appearance is unique, our mindsets are one of a kind, our experiences differ.
Through our activities, we have revealed ourselves to the school. As the school year has progressed, the definition of our individual profiles has become sharp, and we have placed our profiles along the halls among all other Handley attendees-past, present, and future. Our profiles, representing our lives – stay – waiting to expose our experiences for those who follow.
I disagree on that part about Handley not being outwardly intriguing.
So today I had somebody actually follow the camera to where it landed just to find out more about it. I was just flying over Shenandoah University and demonstrating it for a couple of friends and a guy drives into the lot, runs over and said that he followed it from the main campus because he wanted to know more about it. I gave him my card. Cool.
The almost-complete Health and Life Sciences building on Shenandoah University’s campus in Winchester, VA
An entirely different ballgame flying this thing at night. But still as much fun. I was in such a hurry to get up and start shooting that I forgot to change the settings for a better night-time image. Not too shabby for being shot at ISO 100. The fact that the flag is lit up doesn’t hurt. And, no, the camera isn’t that close to the flag. It’s probably about 30 feet away.
That’s one BIG flag. I’ve been living in my house now for 10+ years and it’s still a little eerie to hear this flag flapping in the wind at night.
Cedarmeade Studios 