Going home again

This week I had an opportunity to visit home again. I grew up in a small town in NC. If you have time and a camera, there are some very picturesque spots. Downtown has that small town feel with some more "hip" businesses (coffee shop, wine bar, restaurants, etc.). It has changed a lot since I moved away almost 20 years ago.

I took some time during lunch the other day to take a brief stroll down main street and took a few pictures. Perhaps one of the most photographed and picturesque things from downtown Sylva is the Jackson County Court House.

Historic Jackson County Court House

The court house sits atop a hill on Main Street. From the top, you can get a very nice view of downtown Sylva. It has been a few years now and the old courthouse has been refurbished into the home for the public library.

Once the library moved, the Sylva Police renovated the old public library space and moved in. I would have to say the new space is certainly much larger than where they were located previously.

Looking down the main street, many things have changed since I lived here. Traffic patterns have been updated, sidewalks modified, light poles "updated" to reflect a modern historic look and feel, etc. A lot of changes.

Looking downtown.

Another courthouse view.

The updated Sylva Police Station. Formerly
Jackson County Public Library.

Coneflower and Butterfly

I am taking some time to revisit many of the pictures that I have already taken and perhaps just haven't given a lot of time or focus to. Looking back, I seem to have several pictures that are decent, but I never did anything with them. At the same time, I also have a lot of, well, just plain yucky shots, but that's what you get as you are trying to learn to take better pictures.

I stumbled across this one today and thought I would share it with anyone who stopped by my site. The park where I shot this had a section of wildflowers with all sorts of bees and butterflies flitting about. I managed to get one while it was still, but I had to be ready and fast!

Thanks for stopping by!

Working my way back

Life happens. Things happen. I have been away from my blog for a while and slowly working my way back into it. Hopefully I can begin doing more frequent postings as time goes on. I am not hitting my goal of posting at least once a week at this point, but perhaps I can get back into it. My 365 project has slipped by the wayside for now... I hope that next year (or sometime soon), I can pick that up and start anew.

In the meantime, here is a recent photo I took of a flower in my back yard. One of the things I like to play with is macro photography. I hope to work my way into a better lens that lends itself more to closer macro pictures. Some day... Until then, I'll practice with what I've got and hopefully get better at what I'm doing. Enjoy!

Night Moon

Blue sky, night moon

Cinemas

Carolina Theater in Durham, NC

Taking a walk in the park

It was a nice sunny day. It had rained a day or two before, and it wasn't too warm, so I decided to take my lunch in a nearby park. These are some of the pictures I captured when I was there. It's February and I wasn't expecting much in the way of flowers, but apparently the daffodils didn't realize spring wasn't here just yet. Some other parts of the park were not quite in bloom yet.

The second picture is of Lake Crabtree where it juts out into the lake a bit with a lone tree. I just missed a large crane when I took this shot. Maybe next time.

As you walk around the park, you will notice lots of trees and other vegetation  However, there is one section where you won't see many trees at all. That section has a petroleum pipeline running below it. No digging allowed here!

Photos that Didn't make my 365 project

So, as I said in my previous post, I'm working on my 365 project. Because of that, I'm taking more pictures than I have in a while. At the same time, however, I am actually trying to be conscious of NOT taking too many pictures. In other words, I am being more contemplative about what I photograph, often taking most of the day to decide what, when and where I will take some pictures. Sometimes, my work schedule doesn't allow me to go out where I want to go to get the general idea I'm thinking of for the day. In those instances, I have been making myself look more closely at everyday objects in my house and thinking about creative ways to photograph those items. The creative photographing part is what I still need much work on. I struggle quite a bit to find the photograph I want to get out of some of the objects. The idea in my head doesn't always get translated into the photograph I've just taken, so I take a bit to figure out what I need to change and then shoot again.

Anyway, here are a few pics that didn't make the cut (in other words, not my favorite picture of the day).