Fallen Ends

Dead fall in Pond - Northern Neck of Virginia - 1999. Doesn't really do this scene justice, but I tried.

Maples Doing What They Do Best - Near Hyndeman, PA - 1999.

The last of my three shots from "Another Planet, WV." This one is "Another Planet's Dead Trees - 1997."

Trying to combine railfan photography with that of Fall colors is tricky. This opportunity at Horseshoe Curve, near Altoona, PA in 1995 is 99% perfect. Add a little sunlight to the hill in the background and we would have been golden - literally! So close.

Most of the color is gone in this 1997 shot of a creek near Spruce Knob, WV, but I still like it. There's a softness to the trees here that perfectly conveys the 70-degree bliss of Indian Summer. This was our second visit to West Virginia's highest point, and this time there would be no getting lost for hours in the dark in a car running on fumes.

Again - not your typical shot of blazing Autumn oranges and reds. This bit of post-peak mellow yellows was taken on the west side of Spruce Knob, WV - also in 1997.

Okay, boys and girls. I think that will just about wrap up Fall for this year. Coming soon, churches and a trip through New England...

Falling For Cass

Fall, despite its tendency to become Winter, has its moments. In our 1997 Autumn of Pure Wanderlust, my soul mate and I found our way to Cass, WV. Cass was at one time a busy little logging town, but by the time I first visited there with my father in the late 70s, its Shay-locomotive-powered mountain railroad had begun to carry only tourists. Fall is obviously the best time to make this trip, as evidenced by the panorama above, shot from the train about halfway up Bald Knob from Cass.

On our way from the hotel at Snow Shoe to Cass, this fog-filled valley caught our attention and insisted that we photograph it. I especially like the lone tree silhouetted against the fog in the second shot (center, near the bottom of the frame).

Two shots of Cass Scenic RR Shay #2. The detail shot shows the builder's plate: Lima Locomotive Works, 1928. If only my Chevy would last as long.

Okay, the two shots above were mistakes (I forgot to adjust my shutter speed for the wooded portion of the climb up the mountain), but I really like the resulting images. I'm not sure I could depict the motion of the train ride any better, and if I ever return to Cass, I'm going to be trying a whole bunch more shots like these.

Back out into the sunshine, we were treated to colors like this everywhere we looked.

Shay #4, which had helped #2 get us up the hill, cut off the train on the fly as we reached the summit. Smooth as silk.

Red cabooses stored at Cass, WV. Gotta love a good caboose!

Okay, friends. That'll do for now. That'll do...

A Day On The OBX

We managed to escape to Kill Devil Hills, NC for a quick 3-day recharging of our sadly depleted solar batteries, a couple of weekends ago. The photos were simply fun targets of opportunity gathered during a long beach walk. It was therapeutic to just shoot birds, waves and sky, as I started doing back in 1985. The banner above is a flock of southbound pelicans. Stay tuned for a future post or two devoted entirely to these magnificent birds.

(No, that is not an east side gang sign [Maris] is flashing; just a harmless little shadow puppet.)

Rough surf-fishing, today. All the fish that were caught had bruises.

Two more pelicans, floating on a strong southerly breeze of at least 20-25 knots.

These guys were very excited to show each other their necks. Sparring? I dunno.

My kind of seagull!

We could have watched waves like this all day. Oh wait - we did watch waves like this all day.

Sooooooooo hard to leave...

But, real life and Fall awaited us back in Maryland. Plenty more to come, but please bear with me - we are experiencing some major technical difficulties.

Steel At Magnolia

Yesterday, I found my way to Magnolia, WV to scout potential locations for shooting trains in fall color. The trees are not quite ready and the sky wasn't the best for most of the day, but here are some relatively unedited samples. The bit of color above is actually the ridge just north of Great Cacapon, WV - about 20 miles from Magnolia.

West Portal, Stuart Tunnel, Magnolia.

Westbound Q400 clears the signals at Magnolia.

Caboose! These things are exceedingly rare on a train like this. Weird.

Venturing onto the trestle over the Potomac at Magnolia, looking west through Graham Tunnel.

Q373 rolls west toward Paw Paw and points beyond.

Q415 crossing the Potomac at Magnolia. Where were you this morning, when the sun would have been right on your nose? Phooey.

Dead Tree! That's mainly for Mom. She loves dead tree pictures.

A little switching work at Hancock, MD on the way home.

That's all for now. Still scanning hundreds of negatives from 1997-2006. Ciao!

A Touch Of Fall

Fall. You would think that I, as a photographer, would love Fall. Well, the photo opportunities are fantastic, but no; I'm not a fan. I think it's the fact that Fall inevitably leads to Winter, which I truly loathe. That's just me, though. Here are a few highlights of the season. Above - Jack-O-Lumpkins - Rockville, MD - 1986.

Autumn Maple - near Snowshoe, WV - 1997.

Westbound CSX freight near Fairhope, PA - 1994.

Yellow! Gaithersburg, MD - 1998.

Red + Orange = Peach, No? Near Hyndeman, PA - 1999.

Eastbound "Pigs" at Glencoe, PA - 1999.

More Jack-O-Lumpkins - Germantown, MD - 1994.

'Til next time mes amis, adieu...