The Desoto Falls campground and trail has become one of my favorite spots lately. Frogtown creek at the campground level is a rock filled creek with plenty of composition opportunities. The 3/4 mile hike to Upper Desoto Falls is relatively easy and has a good viewing platform. The sound of the rushing water is very […]

Shortly after I made the Frogtown Creek II image I wandered downstream to where I had previously shot Frogtown Creek I. But I was on the other side of the creek and had to work my way down the bank, over a fallen tree and under a rather gnarly vine to perch on a narrow […]

After my toning experiments I decided to split tone the Frogtown Creek II image. I think I went a little too far with bleaching so turned the whole image brownish rather than just warming the faintest highlights. But I do like the results and it is different than the untoned version. The print was a […]

In the last week of November I decided to drive up to the Desoto Falls camping area and try to take another image of the upper falls. The trail was closed due to storm damage over the summer. So I walked along the creek on the campground side and found this composition. Frogtown creek is […]

Over the last few weeks I have been trying my hand at Toning with Thiourea (Sepia) and Selenium on different papers. This thanksgiving day weekend gave me some extra time to try Split Toning with both. And as luck would have it my mentor Steve Sherman put out a video on his toning technique along […]

I found a couple of negatives I shot 2 years ago stashed in a box of rejects. I may have initially thought these negatives too contrasty or improperly processed. However in the darkroom I was able to pull out the details using split grade printing and a bit more skill than I had in the […]

9/1/2017 – I took a day off work and was in the mood to go reshoot the tunnel at AT- Byron Reece Trail. It was raining for the past few days due to hurricane Harvey in Texas. I also had a new-to-me 90mm to try out. When I arrived it was pouring rain. I waited […]

Details of the Appalachian Trail – Rocks and Roots. The ability for roots of trees to take hold in rock crevices has always amazed me. This particular pair of trees did so with tremendous style, creating a nearly abstract artwork within the rock cliff. The colors of the tree roots is almost the same as […]

Details of the Appalachian Trail – Staircase on Blood Mountain. I should call this the Devil’s staircase because it took the wind out of me and several other hikers to get up it. It is only about a 50 foot rise in elevation but is merely the first in a series of steep inclines and […]

I re-visited the Byron Reese trail again today with the intent to re-shoot the tunnel and creek near the parking lot. We have had several days of rain so I knew the creek would be flowing well. It was flowing so well that I had to work my way around the far side over the […]