I usually plan a photography trip every year to take in late October. The last two years have been challenging, having to cancel travel plans for one reason or another and this year was no different. I had an opportunity to spend one whole day photographing fall colors so naturally, I took it.
Since I was visiting my son in Richmond, I went for drive down a little country road exploring the scenery in Aylett, Virginia. I found this cute little building that looks like an old schoolhouse or little church. I was so impressed with this place I decided to take a few shots. The sky was overcast, blanketed with clouds which had no detail and I wasn’t happy with the images captured on my camera. I decided to put up the drone to about 40 feet so I could capture the whole building within its colorful landscape.
Blue Ridge Parkway
After we left Richmond, we went to Blue Ridge Parkway in southern Virginia. My goal was to photograph the mill that many photographers had talked about, Mabry Mill. This cute little mill sits on Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker 176 near the little town of Meadows of Dan. As you can tell by the image, autumn had left a long time ago. A mental note to myself; if I ever come back here again it should be in the second week of October. Though I do think that the gristmill looks good in black and white!
Supplying the gristmill with water is a flume that runs through the woods. This is located behind the mill and standing on the trail that crosses the flume is this image.
Behind Mabry’s gristmill is Matthew’s Cabin. The cabin was donated to the National Park Service in 1956 and was relocated to the site where it is today. The image below is of a small autumn tree next to the front door of the cabin.
I wasn’t sure which one I liked best, the image in color or the one converted to black and white.
There was this old horse drawn wagon that also caught my eye.
We drove south on the parkway towards North Carolina and at mile marker 189.9 we found Puckett Cabin. There was heavy fog when we arrived and I wasn’t hopeful of coming out with a decent picture. In this shot, I was attracted to colorful vine climbing the tree and the red leaves that hadn’t yet fallen. I concentrated on framing the old cabin with this tree. This image is my favorite of all that I had taken on this trip.
This cabin was the home of Orlean Hawks Puckett, born in 1837. Orlean was revered as a midwife who successfully delivered more than 1,000 babies. She had 24 children of her own, however none lived past infancy. She died in 1939 at the age of 102.
After crossing the North Carolina state line we came to an overlook with colorful trees and the mountains beyond.
Our last stop was at Brinegar Cabin at milepost 238.5 near Whitehead, North Carolina. There wasn’t much color so this is another one converted to black and white.
For such a short trip, I did come out with some fairly good shots. I just wish I could have spent more time in the area. Maybe next year.
All images were taken on the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.
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