The storms that moved into the area Tuesday evening provided a spectacular light show in the sky and were — thankfully — devoid of the tornadoes that have ravaged the region in recent weeks.

The rain is expected to clear out Wednesday afternoon and temperatures will plummet to freezing levels in the mountains on Wednesday night.

This is Spring?

A stunning Spring moon hung over Southwestern Virginia the last two nights, providing incredible illumination from the sky.

Shot with a Canon 5D, MKII with a 80-200 zoom and a 2x tele-extender. ISO 800, f:5.6, 1/1200 sec. exposure.

Scenes from a recent girls’ tennis match at Floyd County High School.  More photos in The Floyd Press.

Saturday night’s Supermoon, as viewed through hazy mid-western skies.

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This was last night’s full moon as viewed from the flatlands of the Midwest, where I’m currently traveling.  Scientists say tonight’s moon will appear at its closest position to earth in 18 years, creating a “Supermoon.”

The moon was close enough so that I was able to capture this image using a Canon 70-200mm zoom lens with a 2x tele-extender, giving me a 400mm lens. The light was so bright that I was able to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/1200th of a second at f: 5.6.

(Photo updated March 20 because wrong photo was used in this post.  A man my age should not use his laptop without his reading glasses while traveling.)

Brooks Bradbury of Meadows of Dan shot this sunrise from the top of Squirrel Spur recently. It’s one of those photos that a photographer like me looks at at says: “Wow! Sure with I had shot this.”

Shots taken around Southwestern Virginia over the last couple of weeks.

A couple of fall color shots for the season.

A short video compilation of last Friday’s homecoming game at Floyd County High School. Shot for the Floyd Press this embedded video is from the Press web site.

Shot with two Canon DSLRs with video capabilities: The 5DMKII and 7D. Both cameras were also used to shoot stills of the game for the paper.

Enjoy.

Motorcycle riders know the “Tail of the Dragon,” an 11-mile stretch of mountain road in Tennessee that boasts 318 turns.  Riders from around here know that the Dragon, for all its notoriety, is a relatively tame stretch of asphalt when compared to some of the twisting mountain roads of Southwestern Virginia.

Squirrel Spur Road in Patrick County runs from Meadows of Dan down the mountain to Ararat. It’s not as long as the Dragon but some of the turns on the flat road are just as challenging and the ride is a lot of fun. Some have suggested we name the stretch the “Tail of the Squirrel” and sell t-shirts showing a squirrel feasting on a Dragon’s Tail.

Good idea.

The video above was shot on part of Squirrel Spur with a GoPro Hero HD video-cam attached to the handlebars of my Harley Super Glide. The sound is muffled because of the protective housing on the camera.