In which post is burned wood? I don't see any burned wood.

Very nice, pics, btw.

Also:

I wanna know what goes on in this tiny little cave:

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Spider sex.

Elf sex

This is the one that has some burned wood. You can see the black on the trunk underneath the bark. And thanks!

Hobbits!

Keep the photos coming. I look out at this flat land and many times I wish I was at the Del. Water Gap fishing, hiking and biking. I don't miss the taxes. Actually it is not that flat here. Jim said there are no hills. I said start walking and you will notice some right away.haha.

I've gotta get the ones from two weeks ago marked for posting....maybe this week?

Thanks I appreciate all that you do.

Haw River State Park, NC


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Definitely some cool trees on this trail
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Another cool one
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I LOVE this tree.
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Another view of my favorite tree
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Random rocks. Some color coming in
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Sign
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Water - playing with pics
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Surface tension
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Colorful roots
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Baby turtle!!
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Turtle with goo
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I had trouble with my camera this trip. It needed to be recalibrated, so I had a hard time getting some of the pics I really wanted. Especially the turtles.

Enjoy!

It looks like the Shire.

So many of these hikes, I end up finding vegetation that looks like it can be in a fantasy movie. I love it.

Especially in winter when the greenery is gone and the structure is showing. The greenery kind of blurs the true forest. :yesnod:

Recalibratedwhutnow?

So, when you look through the view finder, there's these little black dots. If these are out of focus, you can't manually adjust the focus on the lenses.

It was especially annoying with the turtles. You have to move slow to get them or they jump in the water. The auto focus wouldn't always find the turtles, but would get random vegetation instead. I only got 2 photos of the turtles - the ones you see here.

So, when I got home, I recalibrated and made sure they were in focus. Now, I can take manual focus pics again.

Oh, I got ya. I've had a little trouble with those on this latest cam.

I found it easier to adjust when I'm looking at something lighter that doesn't move - like my coffee table.

Took me a minute to figure out I wasn't going blind :eek::right::blush:

If you are going blind I've got a pretty good idea why. :blush:

That's prolly me you're thinking about.:jagoff:

Goose Creek State Park
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Nice!

Cypress trees are weird.

I see a picture of a squirrel climbing a tree with the caption, FOOOD. :lol2:

Thanks!

Dude, that was the fattest squirrel I have ever seen!! Which one are the cyprus trees? I should probably know this...


I am still working on ones from this past weekend. I actually had someone tell me I should do a blog since I am trying to do all of the state parks in a year. I don't know. Seems kind of weird.

Our squrls would have that one pimped out and working the corner in fifteen minutes...:cool:

That squrl needs some cookies and peanuts. Maybe a li'l diebeetus...

Good pics, as always.

I believe the trees in the water with tall roots are Cypress, but I may be wrong, I was once back in '87. :lol2:

@Gravdigr - thanks! And he was fast for his size. Doubt your squirrels would have caught him :P

@xoxoxoBruce - Possible. I actually googled cyprus trees, too. I have a pic of some in the next batch that are DEFINITELY cyprus.

Nice photos as always.

@captainhook - thanks!

Cliffs of the Neuse

This is where I wondered what river this was....at the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park (Neuse is a well known river)
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Close up
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Far away
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Playing with focus
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Cyprus tree
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Lake *unnamed
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Poor dead snail
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The tree was downed, but still growing
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Looks like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors
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Reminded me of my other favorite tree
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Path
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Views from the top of the cliffs

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The wake left by a passing speedboat
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Oh Noes...

I've even heard of it.



I really enjoy this one.

@Bruce - exactly!

@glatt - It was not my proudest moment, for sure. For the focus one, I have one with the opposite focus, too. This one was better :)

Well, y'all takes purty gud pitchers fer a gurl. ;)

Careful. I can deadlift 240lbs. I do lots of things good for a person :flipbird: :haha:

240? Is that all, you wussy! :lol2:

Christ, I use to press 250, Dead weight 450 and clean & jerk 5 inches.

"Used to"

Absolutely, when you get over the hill it gets steep, but I can still clean and jerk 5 inches. :p:

:facepalm:

I think he means 'jerk & clean'...

So, my mom bought me a DVD and course book for Intro to Photography. It's done by a National Geographic photographer. I just started it last night. It may be really interesting. The first lesson is whether something is picture worthy. Also includes the direction that sometimes it's better to ignore the photos and just experience what is going on at the moment.

I still have to complete the assignment. It's kind of hard because I don't have a "favorite" room. And there is certainly no activity going on in whatever room I choose since I live alone with no animals. I may have to see if it's windy out. Maybe I should just take my camera to the gym - lol

You may pick up some tips and tricks but in photography nothing is gospel.

I suspect the assignment to take pictures in your favorite room is just to get you to practice taking different pictures within one area. Trying different point of view, up close, far away, different angle, down on your belly shooting up, standing on a chair shooting down. I suspect they are just training you to "see" a thing from different points of view so you can get a feel for what captures it best.

Lots of people walk up to a tourist location and just point the camera at what they see and click the shutter. The really good pictures are taken by people who spend a little time looking at the thing from different angles and at different times with different light.

Check out my picture of the Rosetta Stone. It's actually pretty bad, but I think it's way better than the pictures everyone else there got.

Hiking while camping at Umstead State Park
Pott's Branch Trail
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The oak rock on Oak Rock Trail
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That's worthy of it's own trail. I like it that nobody has vandalized the oak.

Sadly, I think it's because no one knows it is there. A couple ahead of us on the trail told us about it. It's not marked or anything. It was really cool, though

So...

Is Oak Rock Trail, the name of the trail, or is that your name for the trail?

It's the actual name of the trail. But the item that the trail is named after is off the main trail. It's mentioned in the description, but no signs or anything

https://www.ncparks.gov/william-b-um...te-park/trails

Suitable for framing... you're gonna need bigger walls. :thumb:

It's funny you say that! I was just thinking of something to do when I get all 41 parks done this year. Originally, I was thinking of a few pictures. Then, I was going to do a collage with 1 pic from each park, then I decided to make a book of photos. 1-2 from each park.

Also, thanks :)

Vandals like to work close to home. Luckily it is not called the Confederate Oak.

:thumb:

Took a photography class via REI today. Got some good tips. Here's the shots I saved

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A snake stopped by for some glamour shots
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