Mary Mills

I was ill (apparently with pneumonia) with we visited Mabry Mills early in the morning on our trek along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Given that, I was glad to be able to get some sort of image here, but I was quite pleased with the black and white conversion here. 2017

Booker T Washington Plantation

This is the Booker T. Washington Plantation in deepest Virginia. This place was a real treasure trove of photographic opportunities, and I had a lot of fun wandering around of my own at the bottom end of the site while my family contented themselves with the tour of the upper grounds. 2017.

Booker Washington

This is the bottom end of the Booker T. Washington plantation in Virginia. Again, I was experimenting with shallow depths of field and naturally framed images. Even with the f/4.5 aperture, the lodge remains a central part of the image. 2017.

Booker T Washington Plantation

There were lots of great photo opps in the grounds of the Booker T Washington plantation in Virginia. Don't know if the plantation would be as pristine as this back in the day, but it certainly was very picturesque. 2017.

Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains

This is a view from the Blue Ridge Parkway, looking out over an overcast Virginia, not too far from Roanoke. I found HDR didn't work to well with this shot, so I actually combined two exposures manually in photoshop. 2017

Peaks of Otter Lodge

This place was an adventure. I spent the previous night engrossed with a 6 hour report instead of relaxing with my family. When I did manage to get my camera out, this is what I got. This lodge is right on the Blue Ridge Parkway and there *was* a fair bit of wildlife about, including snakes and black bears. 2017.

James River - Harry Flood Byrd Bridge

This is the Harry Flood Byrd Bridge, along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Took this with a relatively shallow depth of field to try and add to impact to this image, on an otherwise gloomy day. 2017

Hidden in the James River

This is he Harry Flood Byrd Bridge over the impressive James River. During this phase, I was taken with image that had the appearance of peaking through the bushes, trees, or undergrowth, framing the shot with natural features. This is one such example. Virginia, 2017.

Framing the James River with Nature

Another image of the Blue Ridge Parkway crossing the James River, and another with an attempt to frame the image with nature. Virginia. 2017.

Natural Bridge

This is the seemingly unimaginatively named Natural Bridge (there are many nature features similarly named) in Virginia. An impressive rock feature, nonetheless. 2017.

Natural Bridge

This shot was taken looking vertically up at the amazing rock feature carved out of the Virginia countryside. There's apparently a highway that crosses "Natural Bridge" here. 2017.

University of Virginia

University of Virginia; this is a much more serene view of the Jefferson Rotunda in Charlottesville. Amazing to think that the very next day this idyllic place would be turned upside down with violent protests. 2017.

Upper East Oval Room

I love this old cabinet style room in the Jefferson Rotunda in the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. I felt that the regal atmosphere in this room made it an obvious candidate for conversion to black and white. 2017.

University of Virginia Rotunda

The Jefferson Rotunda at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Such a peaceful and quiet scene. What happened here, only two days later was unthinkable on this particular day in August 2017.

Jefferson's Monticello

Lying flat on my stomach taking this image, I was able to get a low perspective, softening the foreground grass. I also added a matte finish to the digital image. Note how lucky I was to get a shot of Jefferson's Monticello absent of any other people. Charlottesville, 2017.

Monroe's Estate

This is President Monroe's estate near Charlottesville in Virginia. It was amazing to find out that Monroe, Jefferson, and Madison all lived within reasonably close proximity to each other, but then perhaps not all that much when you consider the era. 2017.

James Monroe

A perspective of James Monroe's statue on his estate in Virginia. I went for a very shallow depth of field and matte finish to try and convey the sense of looking through this tight maze of bushes. Virginia, 2017.

Montpelier Station

Montpelier Train Station, near Madison's estate in Virginia, was historically split between "blacks and whites", as was every establishment in the era. This was the "blacks only" waiting room. My first real experience of the relics of racial segregation in the USA. 2017.

Montpelier Morse Signaller

A coding device in Montpelier Train Station, a preserved relic of the racial segregation era in Virginia's long history. 2017.

Underwood Typewriter

This 19th Century typewriter was on display at an old train station near Madison's estate. This was in the "whites only" portion of this outlet - a fascinating little piece of history in Virginia. 2017.