SOLITARY TRAVELER PHOTOGRAPHY

The "Spring-in-Charleston-by-way-of-Winter-in-Saluda" trip was truly a successful, satisfying escape (see Part 1 for more) - with winter and spring images all squeezed into what amounted to a single day of productive shooting. The only thing that stunk about my brief but bountiful venture was that some goob ate the rest of the chocolate chip cookies in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express when I went back for seconds. Seriously. The desk clerk told me some guy came in and too

My original intent with this particular blog was to write at length about my two week foray into the state of Virginia. Now don't get me wrong, it was a refreshing, enjoyable experience. I had great fun exploring, spending some time in a somewhat unfamiliar locale; an area I hadn't visited since 2013, when I shot images for Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. In fact, my image of Mountain Laurel taken on Sharp Top still graces the top of their web page (www.visitro

For the better part of the latter months of 2015 and even into the new year, it seemed as though the expected cold weather in the Smokies and High Country - heck, the entire southeastern United States in general - joined the bears in hibernation. There I was on Christmas Day, sporting a t-shirt and shorts, walking along Dauphin Island, Alabama for a sunset shoot - the outside temperature a toasty 78 degrees. I was half-seriously debating whether or not to bring the sunscreen.

Last Wednesday was, to put it mildly, a very slow day at work. And since I'm the highest paid driver in the P&Z Carolina franchise, I was the one who got off four hours early to save labor cost (I volunteered, but I knew I'd have to make up for the lost wages somehow - money, shall I say, is rather tight). I was free, mostly broke, but it was only 3 PM and I didn't want to languish at home, so I decided to explore on the tightest of budgets. I had plenty of gas in the tank, p