Nuremberg, Germany

On our way to Prague we stopped over in Nuremberg for some lunch and a quick tour around. Old town Nuremberg is a walled city capped off with a castle which we didn't have time to see as this was a lunch stop. As soon as we got out of the parking garage we were greeted by St. Sebald rising above the trees.

We then set off to find some food thus heading for the market.

Our first stop was the Hauptmarkt. A square that was filled with vendors selling everything from produce, to flowers, to hard salami (which is what we ended up having for lunch).

Upon walking into the square you are greeted by the monument below and the Männleinlaufen church.

After we ate we then headed out exploring for a bit. The river Pegnitz runs right through the middle of the city. As you can see from the very first picture, the city is often flows right over it and being summer the flowers were in full bloom.

I found it interesting that on a building here and there throughout Germany you would find sun dials.

Our final stop was St. Lawrence's Church.

As you can see, it was a work of art!
The truly amazing thing about Nuremberg is the fact that it was almost completely flattened during World War II. The entire city has been rebuilt with great attention to preserving its history and making it whole once again. This is definitely a city in which I wish we had had more time to explore!

Next up, Prague in the Czech Republic. Just to give you a taste:

Heidelberg Germany!

Hello! I realize it has been a looong time since I posted but in my defence I had over 3000 images from Europe to comb through. But I have finally made it through them and can start posting regularly now!!

So first and foremost let me refresh. My family and I went on a european trip for 2 weeks this summer. We started in Heidelberg, Germany. This is where my parents met and became engaged. We then moved on to Prague in the Czech Republic and then into Poland hitting Krakow and Czestochowa. Our final Stop was in Berlin, Germany. We also stopped on some smaller cities for lunches such as Nuremberg, Germany and Wroclaw, Poland as well as a castle on a mountain side in Poland called Pieskowa Skała. I will be posting pictures in order of the places we visited, so first up is Heidelberg, Germany.

This was one of my favorite cities. It is also one and the few cities in Germany that was never bombed in World War II. It holds a lot of charm and is nestled next to the Neckar River. We spent 3 days there and it was glorious.

The first thing we did when we got to Heidelberg is hop on a Neckar river cruise. This gave us a great flavor of Germany and Europe right off the bat. I feel like almost everywhere you look you see a castle or a cathedral or a walled city and the Neckar cruise was no different. The above mountain fortress is called Dilsberger. We also ran across a couple castles, some still inhabited and others just ruins.

The above castle was so precariously perched on the side of the mountain that it felt like it would fall into the river at any moment.

After the river cruise we spend the next couple days exploring the city. The it was the middle of the summer and as you can see below, the streets we colorful.

The second day we hiked up the Philosopher's Way which overlooks the city. The hike was wonderful and the views were awesome. The first picture at the top of the post is shot from there as well as those below:

As you can see in the above picture. The castle is a very prominent part of the city. It over looks it all and has views of the city that are breathtaking:

It lived up to all the stories my parents had told about it and more! Definitely my favorite city of the trip! Check back soon for the next stop on the trip Nuremburg, Germany!

Lake Macintosh

Cathy and I ran out to Lake Macintosh for a quick 3 mile hike a couple weekends ago. The trail is right along the lake for most of the hike with a great little Gazebo at the halfway point. The above picture was taken at that point. The light was right and the reflection in the water was great!

Along the trail we ran into this little box turtle crossing the trail.

Cathy took an interest in all the different types of mushrooms along the trail and ended up getting more shots on this hike than I did! They really turned out great! Check em out:

Overall a fun little hike!!

I will be heading to Europe (Germany and Poland) for 2 weeks so if all goes well, I will be back with a ton of pictures to share!

Scenes from Semora

So we took a trip up to Semora recently for our niece's first birthday party and as you can see while up there I got the opportunity to shoot a bit!
I walked outside to watch the above storm come in and while I was standing there marveling at the site I realized that I could be capturing this. I ran inside grabbed the camera and ran back out and was lucky enough not to have missed the whole thing!

The next day was beautiful and we decided to go and walk around the property. I had not seen much of it other than right around the house and was excited to take a tour. As we walked we began stumbling on blackberries! They were just ripening and it was great to pick and eat em!

Cathy and her mom went back a couple days later and picked a ton of em and we have had all kinds of blackberry goodness since!

We continued along hiking through the wood  and up some hills. At the top of one of these hills we suddenly crested the hill and broke out of the woods to this view:

The clouds were popping and the storm washed sky was a beautiful blue! It was breathtaking!
It was great to get to see even the small portion that I did of the beautiful Barker homestead. I cannot wait to get a chance to explore the rest of it!

Closer to home the chickens had been let out and I got some shots of them too!

The rooster was very protective and was eyeing me constantly.

Welp, thats it for today. I have a couple shots from our little hike at Lake Macintosh Park that I will post next week, so check back soon!

Eno River Anniversary Photography Excursion

For our first anniversary, my wife surprised me with a jaunt over to Eno River State Park to hike and take pictures. It was perfect and such an awesome trip! We went down to the Eastern trails and as you can see from the above shot we found some great places to shoot. Below is a close up of that same section.
Don't forget that you can click on all the shots to see larger versions!

As we began our hike one of the first things we came to was the ruins of the old Pump Station for Durham. You can see it on the left of the panorama below.

We also came along what seemed to be the leftovers of a dam complete with a spillway (below) that was enshrouded by the forest.

After we finished the Pump Station Loop we had a picnic lunch and then headed off to an adjoining trail that followed the river for 2.5 miles. Below is a great panorama that my wife took of one of the places we stopped.

Below is a close up of a small rapid in the same spot.

I will leave you with my favorite shot from the trip. It is a long panorama at the same spot as the very first shot in the post. I love when multiple long exposure shots come together like this. Please click on it to see the full size version!

It was an awesome excursion and I am so lucky that I have a wife that fully supports my photography and gives me opportunities like this one. I cannot wait to get back there and explore all the other trails in this great park!

Until next time!

Old Mill Dam at Cedarock Park

Last weekend my wonderful wife and I decided to head over to Cedarock Park to play some disc golf (they have a couple great disc golf courses there). When we pulled up we realized that there was a tournament going on and thus disc golf would not be possible. Fortunately for us Cedarock also has hiking with a cool little dam at the end so we just switched up our plans and decided to take the hike.

The hike is pretty nice and it crosses a nice meandering creek a good bit. Above you can see a fun shot of some roots we came across.

As you can see from the very first image as well as the ones below the dam (Old Mill Dam is its name) is an old man made structure. While it had rained a ton the day before the water wasn't overflowing a ton. This was nice because it really showed off all the mossy green and allowed me to get up close and personal with the dam.

I decided to shoot some panoramic close ups and I am very happy with how they came out.
The below shot is one of my favorites from the day:

While I was putting all the images together in Photoshop I realized that there were these little plants growing up off the rocks as well as the moss. I can't wait to get back there with the 300mm lens and capture some images of those!

 Overall a busted disc golf outing turning into a great time of hiking and shooting with my wife!

 P.S. Don't forget to click on the images to see a much larger version!

North East Park take 2

Went back to North East Park and shot some more images of the water with the nice blurred effect. Unfortunately I had one setting wrong on the camera (left image stabilization on) which left most of the shots blurry. Fortunately I was able to salvage the one above.

At the end of one of the trails there is a nice spot to sit and take in the peacefulness of the river. It also had some good opportunities to shoot really close to the water as seen below.

While hiking we go to share part of our hike with the Northern Water Snake (not venomous) who was taking in the sun's rays on the bank of the river.

Finally, last Saturday we were sitting outside holding a yard sale and I looked over to our thriving garden and noticed how nice the light was falling over the parsley that we have growing there. I decided to snap a few shots and has made me keep an eye out to see if the light will play well with the vegetables and other herbs we have growing there!

With the arrival of spring I am definitely finding more opportunities to get out and shoot!