Monthly Archives: August 2007

Early morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County.

Fog on the Blue Ridge Parkway near The Saddle overlook.

For the last couple of years I have used a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II digital SLR, a 16.7 megapixel camera that produces stunning high resolution images.  Several local photographers admit a certain amount of megapixel envy.

Now Canon has upped the ante, announcing the EOS-1Ds Mark III, a 21.03 megapixel monster. When it starts shipping later this year, I’m faced with the choice of parting with another $7500 for a camera body or living with "last year’s" technology.

I’ve always been a sucker for the latest and greatest in camera gear. Before I made the switch from Nikon to Canon in 2004 I owned every Nikon SLR from the original "F" to the F5 and then the D1, D1H, D1X and D2H.  I replaced the Nikon gear in December 2004 with three Canon digital SLR bodies and a number of lenses.

But this time I may wait. At 16.7 megapixels, the 1Ds Mark II already has higher resolution and better color depth than 35mm film and one has to wonder if the additional 4.3 megapixels will deliver that much more.  Plus the new camera is based in part on a new autofocusing system that has caused problems with some photographers.

This time around the latest and greatest may have to wait. I’m comfortable with what I have.

Writer/blogger/photographer Fred First and artist Ron Campbell showed off their handiword Saturday afternoon at Sweet Providence Farm on U.S. 221 north of Floyd while one of Houston clan provided music.

Yes, tractors. The scene along U.S. 221 north of Floyd certainly caught your eye and, most likely, the ire of some of the drivers caught up in the long line of cars trapped behind the long procession of tractors on parade.

But what the heck. This is summer in the hills and tractors on roads are an everyday occurence even if a parade of the farm machinery — new and old — is not.

The parade caught the attention of people along the way as it snaked along the highway en route to Floyd. The tractor "fun ride" started on Rte. 615 and wound through the countryside on Saturday morning and afternoon.

The sun peeks through the clouds after a morning thunderstorm dumped some much-needed rain on Floyd County.

Sun tries to break through the morning fog on a farm near Burk’s Fork Creek in the southern end of Floyd County.  The colors are saturated by manipulating the color temperature of the digital exposure and then overexposing the image.

A solitary bicyclist has the Blue Ridge Parkway pretty much to himself as he approaches the Rocky Knob Campground in Floyd County.

Traffic on the 71-year-old scene route that winds through the Blue Ridge from Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smokey Mountains continues to decline — down again for the fifth straight year.

Some blame gas prices. Others say that as development closes in on the once open scenery, the Parkway has lost its appeal.

"The parkway may not appeal to the younger folks," Wayne Strickland, executive director of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, told The Associated Press in 2006. "The baby boomers enjoyed it. The younger generation, they like to be entertained."

Budget cutbacks have left parts of the Parkway in need of repair and overzealous traffic tactics by Parkway Rangers leave some potential travelers seeking alternative routes.

Whatever the reasons, they all raise questions about the future of the Park.

Missed Camp Jeep this year. So busy we forgot about it. As it turned out, the annual gathering of Jeep owners in Nelson County came the same weekend as FloydFest so I couldn’t have made it anyway.

Maybe next year. I’m sure the folks at FloydFest won’t miss me.

(Photo from 2004 Camp Jeep at Oak Ridge Plantation in Nelson County, VA)

The assignment: Cover the annual Marine Corps Marathon which starts at the Marine Corps Memorial in Roslyn, Virginia, winds through Washington, and ends back at the Memorial.

I had covered an even dozen Marathons before but this one was in 2001, a month after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Some wanted to cancel the event, fearing it would draw an attack. But organizers refused.

Annual events that are big media happenings present a number of challenges. Finding a new angle is difficult. Getting away from the hoard of other photogs is also difficult. I tend to look for locations that are away from the usual gatherings of shooters.

I had decided ahead of time that my focus on this event were the handicapped marathoners, particularly the ones who competed in wheelchairs.  Many are veterans who lost a limb in service to their country. Most run their own race on a shortened course but others, Marines to the core, choose to compete on the full course.

The pride shown by these marathoners is evident and inspring. Like the competitor below who competed every year that I covered the Marathon and always finished. His face said it all:

Determination.