On a recent afternoon I went hiking on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, and I saw some interesting sights. I have been revisiting some trails that I used to hike when I was a teenager and honestly have not been on many, or any, times since. At this particular area, I don’t remember trails connecting together as much. I feel like they have added some trails to expand the system and finally create some opportunities for loops, which is a fantastic development. The previous lack of loop possibilities could be one reason that people do not hike there as often as they otherwise might. I remember always having to hike out and back on the same trail, which is not always as fun for me. Anyways, It was on one of these loops that I discovered some interesting sights, some rock walls that I thought would make great backgrounds for portraits. I also found them appealing enough to take photos of just as they were. I plan to create some HDR images of them, but I would like to do some sessions there, or at least do some promo shots in front of one of the larger rock walls. They would be great backdrops for different types of photographs besides just hiker pictures, and they are not hard to get to nor are they far from the trail’s beginning so even taking extra gear or props would not be difficult to do. I am really excited about revisiting these interesting sights to take some even more interesting portraits and hope to do so as soon as the current school year finishes up. If those first photographs turn out as well as I envision, I will really look forward to doing more there next fall when there will be a larger variety of colors.

One of the first photography subjects I began to enjoy beyond nature was food, especially cookies and other desserts. I was so interested in food photography because I truly loved baking and it gave me an opportunity to combine two of my passions. It also appealed to me because food photography, like all still lives, requires a lot more preparation and planning. It even sometimes becomes a challenge to figure out the best way to style and light the set. I still consider food and beverage photography to be one of my primary interests, although it has been a long time since I have officially done a shoot of any kind of food. I hope that changes soon, and I will definitely begin with a classic category for me: cookies!!

For the past year we have had a new cookie shop in town, Crumbl Cookies, and it has become my favorite place to get a sweet treat. If you are unaware, they have 2 classic cookies every week, chilled sugar and warm chocolate chip. They also have 4 other flavors that change from one week to the next. They are large, thick, fluffy cookies. Everyone that I think I will like, I have loved!! I have discovered, though, that I enjoy them more when they are plain or slightly decorated (I guess I’m a cookie purist) instead of covered in frosting. Even when the frosting tastes fantastic, I still always find it is too much and takes away from the cookie instead of enhancing it.

Lately, I have gotten the urge to try out several recipes trying to create cookies that are as thick and tall as theirs while also still being moist. I just have to find more time when I have nothing else that needs attention because that will be an undertaking. Stay tuned for when I do have my first post of desserts and cookies that I bake myself and do a proper photo shoot of (not the simple pictures of holiday baking I have done so far). In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of the latest cookie I have tried from Crumbl Cookies. It was a peanut butter snicker cookie, and unfortunately the frosting was too much for me (but I left it on for the pictures of course).

We are generally having another primarily wet and rainy winter here in north Georgia as has been the trend in recent years. However, we did recently get a glimpse of snow. Last week it snowed in the higher elevations and sleeted down low. Temperatures were colder and caused some delays to school opening a couple of days, and then it was a little warmer (at least in the afternoon). I got an update on my wrist and it will still be several more weeks before I can ride trails on my mountain bike, so I have been taking opportunities to do trail runs and hikes when it is dry enough. It was pleasant to do each over the weekend and still see a glimpse of snow that had yet to melt in the mountain trails where it stays colder and the sun doesn’t shine everywhere. The first day I went for a trail run and there wasn’t a lot of snow, just patches on certain sides of trees and rocks where it didn’t get any sunlight. The very next day I just went for a hike, knowing that all the rain lately would cause more flow in the cascades and falls surround Glen Falls. I don’t know if it is a higher elevation or just has more large rocks, but it had more areas with snow still. There was even frozen water on a log reaching out right in front of the main falls. The weather was pretty much perfect that day just warm enough with blue skies but the water was still cold. I have been to Glen Falls several times before and have explored above it, but this was the first time I scrambled down below it to take pictures. I think I got some very good shots with my camera, but below is just a taste of what I shot with my phone. Obviously, when it comes to photographing falling water you get your best pictures with a true camera and tripod so you can control shutter speed enough to make the falls look their best. I hope you enjoy this little glimpse of snow we had here. I know I did, because there is not much chance we will get anymore this year.

Just over a month ago, I hurt my wrists (one minor, one bad enough to need a cast) while doing one of my favorite outdoors activities, mountain biking. I just got the cast replaced by a brace this past week so I’m still not able to ride. However, during the time I had a cast on I was not allowed to be active at all. Therefore, I was very anxious to do any sort of outdoors activity as soon as I possibly could. Yesterday provided a great opportunity for me to go hiking. The weather was nice, and it wasn’t too cool in the afternoon. That is a benefit to living in north Georgia, that even in the winter we are able to get random days here and there that are not too cold or wet to be outside for extended periods of time. The downside to hiking in the winter, of course, is that this scenery and views are not going to be as nice as other times of year. I do enjoy hiking just for its own sake, as it is one of my other favorite outdoors activities, but I also love taking pictures when I am out exploring different trails. What that means for me as a photographer is that this time of year challenges me to look for different things to photograph, or different ways of looking at the usual things. I always feel that even if it doesn’t turn out the way you intended or hoped, pushing yourself to try different techniques or look at familiar things in new ways to take a different kind of picture still makes you a better photography later on. Lately, I have been hiking and riding my bike at a particular place a lot more than I ever had before. In fact, before recently I had not been to the area I’m speaking of since before I went to photography school and moved to NYC. I took the following pictures during my several hours of hiking yesterday and I think they do represent a less often photographed side of nature. Since it was a beautiful day with a fantastic clear blue sky and there were no leaves on the trees, I like what I captured. However, I’m interested to see what I can create from one of these pictures in particular through some editing.

In some ways, this has been the challenge of the circumstances of COVID-19, for me…to continually be able to make things feel new and remain fun even though they could easily have become mundane. However, I have also made every effort to provide new experiences as much as possible, if that could be done safely. Fortunately, if you already know me or have found my website and begun following me you know that I am fond of the outdoors and outdoor activities, so there was always the opportunity to get outside and enjoy all that it has to offer. During this year, I began doing things I had not done in a long time and introduced my daughter to many new things. Mountain biking, camping, and hiking became more important to me than they had been. My daughter began hiking with me much more, went camping for the first times, learned to ride her bike, and even recently had her first ice skating experience. This past weekend we traveled to Nashville to enjoy Christmas sights and sounds. We went through a drive through Dancing Lights Christmas Show, we visited the Opryland Hotel which she loves, and we ice skated and snow tubed while there. I want to show some of those experiences with you here through some pictures of course. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and plenty of hope for the future. I have never been one to make resolutions and it is no different this year. I am willing to bet more people are simply hoping for a better, easier, more enjoyable year in 2021. I know I am. Along with that, I plan to continue enjoying all the little things as much as possible, and not letting the difficulties hinder my ability to create experiences and have fun. Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

For most, the holiday season is a time of happiness and joy, a time to make a preserve memories, a time to honor traditions, and a time for increased hopefulness. For me, that involves spending precious time with the people I am close to, and especially doing new and traditional things with my daughter. In order to have happy holidays, she and I always have to decorate a gingerbread house together. This year I thought she would be able to help a little bit more so I got a set of four miniature houses instead of just one house. It was more difficult because of the size, but she did get to help more and wanted us to do them each differently.

Like most, another tradition we have is visiting Santa Claus so my daughter can tell him one thing she wants for Christmas and to get a picture. This year, she simply said she wanted a Barbie Christmas set and she was a little shy. She wanted me to sit with her for the picture instead of doing it by herself as she has all previous years.

Last year, we went to our local pottery painting studio in Chattanooga where you spend hours designing and painting your piece just right and then leave it for them to bake in the kiln. If you have ever done that before, you know that it works best if you paint at least three coats of each color on everything so it truly covers well. My daughter loves to paint, but she doesn’t do well with the time commitment involved for those to turn out their best, so this year we got two small ornaments that you can paint (and don’t require baking), so this past week she and I did those together. She did the Christmas Tree and I did the Santa Claus!!

Of course other things we do throughout the holiday season are drive to look at pretty lights and baking goodies. So far we have only taken the time to drive around once and did see some nicely decorated houses, but it is a little early still for some people to get their decorations up. We will go again several other times around our house, and we will probably make one special trip to see some large light displays. We haven’t begun baking any cookies or treats yet, but we will. We always leave some for Santa Claus. I know this year has been a much tougher one for most people than we are used to, but I hope you are able to find some reasons to celebrate and be joyful with family and friends…and I hope you have a happy holidays.

As I indicated in my previous post, I had a lot of things planned for the week of Fall Break. I took my daughter to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg for two nights on the first weekend. We had a lot of fun doing things we have done before and having new experiences. During the weekdays I was off of work I alternated between doing almost nothing at home and spending time hiking and mountain biking. One of the days I spent out I went to an Alabama state park I had never been to before. On this day I took things easy, hiking some in the morning and riding my bike just a short distance in the afternoon. In between, I even set up my hammock right in front of a small waterfall and had lunch. After all of that, I explored a wilderness area with some decent waterfalls that I took some pictures of to add to my galleries. The other day I spent outdoors I rode my mountain bike all day. I explored some new trails I had not ridden yet here in the Chattanooga area, including the relatively new gravity/flow trail that is the first in the area.

However, the other thing I did was check something off of my bucket list. I finally took the time to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail that goes from Abingdon to Damascus to White Top. This is something I have wanted to do for years and the opportunity was there so I decided not to postpone it anymore. If you are not aware, the Virginia Creeper Trail is an old railroad line that has been repurposed into a multiuse trail for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. It is 34 miles long from end to end, but many people only explore the half from White Top to Damascus because it has just enough descent that you almost never have to pedal and definitely don’t have to exert yourself, even if you are not a seasoned rider. The trail is wide, unpaved yet packed down most of the time, and beautiful. It follows a mountain stream throughout the first 17 miles, and then the second 17 miles it alternates between following a river and cutting through farmland. At some points you even have to make sure the gate closes back behind you so that cows don’t wander off the private property you are being allowed to traverse across. There are several scenic vista views, and you ride over dozens of railroad trestles. I thought and had hoped that a weekend right in the middle of October would be the perfect time to go, and while the weather was almost perfect (it was quite cold starting at the top of the mountain in the morning), the color of the trees had not reached its peak yet. It was still absolutely amazing, and an experience I would like to repeat again and again. In fact, already want to go back, but I may consider not riding the entire distance each time I go, or at least not all in one day. It wasn’t difficult, but you really don’t pay attention to the time and I actually didn’t rest as much as I could have and finished too quickly.

The town of Damascus in the middle is pretty, and very small. It does have several bike shops (more than Abingdon actually because most people only do half of the trail), and little restaurants to stop at if you want to take a longer break right in the middle. Abingdon, on the other hand, is almost like a big small town. It has a revitalized downtown area, plenty of nice restaurants, and a lot of beauty. One of the restaurants I had already decided I wanted to eat at was not open for dine in unfortunately, but we did find another place close that turned out to be really good. I had an incredible buffalo fried chicken sandwich, that was probably even more delicious because I rode 34 miles that day and didn’t eat an actual lunch. We also ate at Luke’s Cafe where I had a bacon-wrapped hot dog. This is another restaurant I knew I wanted to go to before planning the trip. When I lived in NYC, there was a place that would do bacon-wrapped deep-fried hot dogs and they are still the absolute best hot dogs I have ever had. Luke’s grilled their hot dogs but they are still very good. Hopefully next time I make the trip to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail more restaurants will be back to normal operation so I can experience different places. On this particular trip, I stopped at two different Tennessee state parks in order to break up the drive even though it isn’t super long. I just did a small amount of hiking and taking photographs to stretch my legs. Enjoy some of the sights from my trip below, and if you have any interest in the outdoors or riding bikes…plan your trip to do the Virginia Creeper Trail!! It will be worth it.

It is now, finally….maybe…fall time. Here in north Georgia and Chattanooga some people refer to the current conditions as false fall. It serves as a preview of what is to come, but more than likely it is not quite fall time. We will inevitably have some warmer days again before it cools off for good on its way to winter. Sometimes that means we don’t get as beautiful of fall time color as we do other times, but for me I will still always love fall time because of the cooler temperatures. Of course it is always nicer to spend time in the outdoors when the leaves are changing and their are a lot of bright colors, but cooler temperatures make it more comfortable to get outside for longer hikes and bike rides, and more time exploring and taking pictures. I have Fall Break approaching which this year gives me an entire week off of work right in the middle of October. I have two great mini-trips planned and will probably make a couple of day trips as well. Almost all of the places I will be visiting I have never been to before.

I am so excited about these adventures and the opportunity to rest, relax, and take lots of pictures. Even though I won’t be going to somewhere that really gets a lot of fall color like the Rocky Mountains or New England, I think I will capture a lot of great landscape photographs. In fact, I am reminded of a similar trip I took when I still lived in New York City, where I traveled to upstate New York (which I have only been to the single time and truly feel it is under appreciated) as well as Vermont which I traveled to several times while I studied photography in central Massachusetts. I remember telling myself after this particular trip that I wanted to visit the Adirondacks and small towns in upstate New York again, particularly at winter time, and I have got to go to Watkins Glen State Park some time in my life. Plus, since I have begun to get to bike ride a lot more this year than in the past several, I have realized that I want to go to Burlington, VT to ride some mountain bike trails and an amazing looking rail trail. I often feel now that any and every trip I go on makes me want to go on more, but that is what makes it so enjoyable.

A future post will probably include details of my upcoming Fall Break trips, but for now I wanted to reminisce on that fall time trip that was over 10 years ago and show off some of those pictures as I anticipate the upcoming season and all that it entails: farmer’s markets, apple cider, colorful foliage, and cooler temperatures. Since I have several photos I want to include in this post I will put them in a gallery with small captions. I hope you enjoy them, I hope it causes you to get excited about fall, and maybe even makes you want to travel (whether to these locations or other places you have always wanted to go).

Seniors who graduated last year had an unusual year, but I think this year’s seniors will have the more difficult year. They are burdened with uncertainty, anxiety, and abnormality. Many of them play sports and may not get to do that this year. Those of them especially that are planning to go to college have to focus more on their academics so the distractions don’t cause them to lose vital GPA points. All of them deserve a happy and safe senior year. The school system that I work in returned from the closure and summer break on time without delaying and after one full week and couple of days our school has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 and to their credit students are doing a good job of social distancing. We did have several hundred students opt to remain home and attend school virtually. However, there is still just a feeling in the building of things are not back to normal. Many I have talked to are anticipating a spike at some point somewhere near us that causes us to go all digital again. Regardless of what happens we will navigate this unprecedented time by doing everything we can to keep all students safe and make sure our 12th graders have a happy and safe senior year. I have now begun to offer photography sessions and I had the pleasure of taking Senior Pictures for my nephew who is a basketball player at Heritage High School. We did a variety of typical photos that I have updated my featured photos section with some of, and we did some more fun basketball themed pictures. Of course it was special to take his Senior Pictures because he is my nephew, but it also felt really good to be making memories again. I look forward to creating images for others very soon.

Like I have said before, I live in northwest Georgia just barely inside Georgia near Chattanooga, TN. Chattanooga is a great city…a beautiful city…and it is just the right size and offers a great mix of all things. It has great restaurants, several microbreweries, great museums, and amazing outdoor activities and scenery. After all that has been said, I still find myself often needing to remind myself how great this area is and that Chattanooga is beautiful. I wonder if that is the same for a lot of people, always thinking somewhere else would be a better or prettier place to live. I have lived other places, including New York City (and I love NYC)…and I could imagine other places that are similar to here in what they offer. I know we don’t have the largest mountains and places out west certainly have better scenery. I know that it gets unbearably hot here in the summer and the winters don’t usually include much snow, but I still also love it here. I have had a lot of time this summer to get outdoors, mostly mountain bike riding, and I have been reminded again that Chattanooga is beautiful. Of course, the downtown area and the bridges over the Tennessee river are most iconic, but there are cute neighborhoods surrounding downtown as well. Not too long ago (just a few months) I spent the day photographing the river bridges, and I need to go take pictures of some other landmarks and cute buildings and neighborhoods. I haven’t had the courage to go downtown since businesses and restaurants started reopening, but I really look forward to the point in time when things get further back to normal and I can go downtown again. There are so many places to visit and restaurants to try that I have never been to because they opened while I lived in New York City or after I moved back and I just haven’t been yet. The city has started to grow so much faster and new places open up far quicker than anyone can try them. I also look forward to taking pictures more and beginning to do sessions. I am going to do senior pictures for my nephew soon as a start to getting back into it.