This is mostly for those who aren’t local; a couple pictures of the snowstorm we had recently, which I forgot to post earlier.

Also, I’ll be out of town this weekend and part of next week. I’ll try to queue up some posts so I don’t skip any, but don’t kill me if I miss a day

While on vacation in Myrtle Beach, I felt rather inspired by the unique scenery, and spent much of the trip taking pictures.  Our hotel happened to have an 8-story parking garage across the street from it, which was something new for my trips, so I headed up there to see how the view was.  As luck would have it, I was able to access the top of the elevator tower, thanks to some unsecured maintenance stairs.

The humidity at the beach is always rather intense, especially at night, so I had to wait quite some time for my camera lens to de-fog.  When it did, and I started picking out shots, I realized that there wasn’t a single moving car or pedestrian as far as I could see.  I guess that’s what happens in the middle of the week, but it still seemed highly unusual.  These are probably the only images like this that I’ll capture; urban night scene with no sign of human activity whatsoever.

View the main article for these images here, in the Photography section.
View more images of Myrtle Beach here, in the gallery.

This past Tuesday (Oct. 28), Barack Obama held a campaign rally in my hometown of Harrisonburg, VA! And I managed to go! It was, in a word, intense. It was also the first time in almost 150 years that this town hosted a presidential campaign rally.

The day started for me at about noon. I grabbed a quick lunch, then headed over to the JMU Convocation Center, where the event was to be held. Traffic was completely gridlocked, so I didn’t even bother trying to park near the venue. Instead, I parked at a nearby movie theater (one of the designated overflow areas), and walked the half-mile to the convocation center.

On arrival, I saw the huge lines of people waiting to get in. There were two lines, one for each entrance - one line appeared to be made up of people who had camped out overnight, complete with tents, and the other line looked like new arrivals. After some wandering, I met up with a local friend who generously let me join his group, all of whom had been there since before I even woke up that morning.

After a few hours of standing and waiting (and watching FBI agents drive on the sidewalk), the line began moving. It started slow, but gradually picked up speed as we moved closer to the door. It also became more cramped, and by the time we could see the entrance, the line had transformed into a tightly-huddled mass of people (I’m surprised no one was trampled).

We went through the metal detectors (Secret Service uniforms are lame, by the way, I’ve seen mall security with more impressive uniforms), and started looking for seats. Our initial seating wasn’t too bad, we were in the upper bleachers, and I didn’t think we’d be able to do much better. But, one of the people in our group, a mother who seems to get a thrill from pushing the rules, decided she was going to find us some better seats. Twenty minutes later, she managed to sneak us into the reserved section, right next to the ramp Obama would be walking down to get to the stage! Awesome! I couldn’t have hoped for better seats, it was great!

The rest of the evening was a complete blur. There were a few opening speakers (including the current governor, and his predecessor), followed by Obama himself. And, I knew it would be a riveting speech, but this just completely blew me away. Mr. Obama is one of the most powerful and inspirational speakers I’ve ever seen, and I would be damn proud to have him as a president.

He shook hands with various people on the way out, and while I didn’t get to shake his hand, my friend (the one who invited me to come along in the first place) did, as well as some of the kids in our group.

Click the image below for the full gallery of photos I took at this event. They’re not great, but I’m quite proud of them. Good luck on Tuesday, Mr. Obama!

This image was part of a series I took around Christmas time, I wanted to try some night shots of decorated houses in the area.  Unfortunately, most of them didn’t come out particularly well, but this one had some potential.  So, after some digital manipulation to improve the composure (the moon wasn’t in the right place in the first one), this was the result.

View the main article for this image here, in the Photography section.
View more pictures of Christmas lights in Harrisonburg here, in the gallery.

In the area I live in, the weather this time of year is best described as “oppressive”. Temperatures in the 90s (fahrenheit), humidity 90% or higher, and lots of direct sunlight, a combination that makes it impossible to do anything outside and enjoy it (for me, anyway). So, when we get a day with temperatures in the 70s and unusually low humidity, I try to take the opportunity to get out and enjoy the nearby wilderness I love so dearly. And today was just such a day, and a complete surprise to me.

My original plan was to go swimming at a lake I like, since I figured it would be nearly deserted on a Thursday morning (I don’t like swimming around people, especially when I go alone). Unfortunately, the place was as crowded as any urban oceanfront, so that idea was out. I started driving aimlessly for awhile, when I realized I was halfway to one of my favourite spots in West Virginia, Seneca Rocks. So, my plans for the day turned into impromptu hiking.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Seneca Rocks features a very intense hiking trail leading to an observation platform. The trail rises almost 900 feet in less than two miles (I can’t find exact numbers on the length of the trail). So, for someone like me who works from home and doesn’t get out much, ascending the full length of the trail is a major accomplishment. But, I did it, and got some great photos along the way. I even got to take a picture of an elderly couple posing in front of the rocks, and I lined it up very nicely. Hope they approve!

On the way out there, I also found a beautiful scenic overlook that I never really knew existed. I need to drive out there more often.

Here are the photos I took on this trip (click the thumbnails for full albums):

The existance of these photos was a complete accident; I’ve been cooped up at home for over a week due to car problems, and I finally made it out to run some errands. I decided to have a leisurely lunch/dinner at a nearby park, and as I was leaving the house, I decided on a whim to grab my camera. As luck would have it, one of the largest fires the area has seen for a long time started two blocks away as I was finishing my meal. So, I was able to capture the heroic work of the Harrisonburg Fire Department as the event unfolded.

The full set of images is available in this article, complete with narrative, and there’s a lot of them, so I won’t put them all in this post. However, there’s one image in particular that I want to embed in this post, my favourite of the set:

Something about that image struck me as particularly inspiring, and I’m quite proud that I captured it.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go get some autumn shots of the area where I live. This particular one struck me as a very unique shot, since most people focus on the leaves that are still on the tree. The colours have been digitally enhanced a bit, but not much. This is pretty much how it looked at the time, an entire field of red fallen leaves.

http://www.lupinia.net/photo/pgh-night.php

This was an impromptu shot from the roof of fox_cub’s new house in the Troy Hill neighbourhood of Pittsburgh. I happened to look out a south-facing window, and saw this view of the downtown triangle that begged to be photographed. I started exploring his house in search of a clearer, less restricted view, and ended up finding the vantage point I had in mind on the roof of his 3-story house. Probably the most work I’ve ever done for a picture, and scariest spot I’ve taken one from, but it was worth it!

Unfortunately, the humidity haze makes the display-sized versions of these seem a bit washed-out, so I recommend viewing the full-size version to get the proper appearance.

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I decided to save these for last, since they’re my favourites.

These were taken at the first meeting of a group of fire spinners at Highland Farm, and will hopefully become a recurring tradition. Fire spinning is what it sounds like, the artistic/dance spinning of a flaming object. Common fire toys include staffs (wicks at each end, spun like a martial arts bow) and poi (flaming balls on chains). More images from the event are available here.

The first image is of my close friend efwolfcub, spinning a double-wicked staff. He also was kind enough to let me use his camera when I forgot mine, thanks Wolf! The second image is someone I don’t really know, I’d never met him before and I forgot to get names.

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Since these are both flowers, I’ll post them both in one entry.

Macro shot of the flower of some sort of wild bunch-berry (I have no idea exactly what species it is). This particular one was all by itself next to the trail, completely isolated from the others of its kind. Obviously, it wanted its picture taken.

This shot completely lined itself up for me. While taking the pictures that Blue Mountains came from, I looked down, and saw this little yellow flower all by itself in a rather large bush of those purple flowers. It was literally the only one on the peak. I figured, it must be a friend of the purple flowers, and it’s just visiting for the weekend. Or, maybe it fought its way into the territory dominated by the purple flowers. Either way, it made me feel a bit inspired to look at it. Maybe it’ll have the same effect on you.