The Painted West

The amazing American West holds special memories for us from our travels to those incredible places from our beginnings as we toured the United States to capture its beauty from East to West, North to South.  Our first adventure was prior to “digital days” wherein we captured the sights in film like the hero of landscape photography Ansel Adams.  As we return again for a bit of nostalgia to our film and infrared photography days again, we are using some of the excellent programs available to produce prints of our work including HDR-DRI.  This film slide image is a favorite and a part of our Art on Canvas “The Painted West” Collection.

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“DUSK its ash-grey blossoms sheds on violet skies,
Over twilight mountains where the heart songs rise,
Rise and fall and fade away from earth to air.
Earth renews the music sweeter. Oh, come there.
Come, acushla, come, as in ancient times
Rings aloud the underland with faery chimes.
Down the unseen ways as strays each tinkling fleece
Winding ever onward to a fold of peace,
So my dreams go straying in a land more fair;
Half I tread the dew-wet grasses, half wander there.
Fade your glimmering eyes in a world grown cold;
Come, acushla, with me to the mountains old.
There the bright ones call us waving to and fro—
Come, my children, with me to the ancient go.”
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“A Call” George William Russell (1867-1935)

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Photography: Copyright, JayJacy Photography for @HDRCHIC ©2016 All Rights Reserved- No Reblogs Please. Thank you.

Glorious Autumn in Sherando

Glorious Autumn in Sherando – Hearken the Sun!

The beauty of this park never fails in foliage season!  Leaf color of every hue imaginable, fountains shimmering in the sun, forests and trees dressed in an array of delightful color and shape.  How we love to photograph it, hike in it and take in its restful beauty!

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HDR Notes: Canon EOS5dMarkII, EF 16-35 mm, [3@-2+0-+2], PS-CS4, Photomatix Pro4

“Soft As A Cloud Is Yon Blue Ridge”

A View, A Place of Rest and Solitude

Oh the mountains and beauty of our mountain ranges…it beacons us to come and sit for a while and enjoy the beauty of creation and bask in its glory.   The colors of earth and sky, forests and sunrise-sunsets bring us to a place of rest and solitude in our hustle-bustle world.  Find a place of solitude and then “sit for a spell” and take in its beauty.

“SOFT AS A CLOUD IS YON BLUE RIDGE”
          SOFT as a cloud is yon blue Ridge–the Mere
          Seems firm as solid crystal, breathless, clear,
          And motionless; and, to the gazer’s eye,
          Deeper than ocean, in the immensity
          Of its vague mountains and unreal sky!
          But, from the process in that still retreat,
          Turn to minuter changes at our feet;
          Observe how dewy Twilight has withdrawn
          The crowd of daisies from the shaven lawn,
          And has restored to view its tender green,
          That, while the sun rode high, was lost beneath their
              dazzling sheen.
          –An emblem this of what the sober Hour
          Can do for minds disposed to feel its power!
          Thus oft, when we in vain have wished away
          The petty pleasures of the garish day,
          Meek eve shuts up the whole usurping host
          (Unbashful dwarfs each glittering at his post)
          And leaves the disencumbered spirit free
          To reassume a staid simplicity.
            ‘Tis well–but what are helps of time and place,
          When wisdom stands in need of nature’s grace;
          Why do good thoughts, invoked or not, descend,
          Like Angels from their bowers, our virtues to befriend;
          If yet To-morrow, unbelied, may say,
          “I come to open out, for fresh display,
          The elastic vanities of yesterday”?
__William Wordsworth

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North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains are a beautiful place filled with small mountain towns, national forests, raging rivers and the world’s most creative artists and crafters. Winding through these mountains is “America’s Favorite Drive”, the Blue Ridge Parkway. Celebrating its 75th birthday in 2009-10, the Blue Ridge Parkway has become the National Park Service’s biggest attraction. Around 20 million people visit each year to drive, ride, hike, picnic and camp – or just sit and enjoy the views.

HDR Notes:  A single digital image shot from my very relaxing seated position on the hillside taking in the beauty before me; processed in Photomatix, PS-CS4 and texture overlay.