It has been a busy few weeks for my family and I and I’ve been needing some down time in nature. The weather was about perfect, so after work I packed up a camera bag and my mountain bike and off I went to Cooper’s Rock State Park in West Virginia. Once I arrived I started off with some light mountain biking since the light was much to harsh. I rode some miles and then put the bike away so I could just trek around. Once the sun started to go down, the light changed and everything looked so much better.
The evening was fantastic and just what I needed to clear my head. The biking was fun, using my new Peak Design Everyday Messenger 13 bag was fantastic and the sunset over the gorge was splendid.
My family and I spent a great weekend at Laurelville for the bi-annual Association Weekend in our camper. It was a wonderful few days of time to spend with together in fellowship and volunteer for the camp.
A few days ago I did some portraits for friends. The skies were overcast and the light was even, which made things rather easy. I brought a big softbox, radio trigger and a manual speedlight, but all I ended up using was a reflector with a warming cover.
The only lens I used was the Fuji 56mm f/1.2 on my X-T1.
The weather was cloudy with chances of rain, but that didn’t dissuade me from loading up my mountain bike and a backpack full of camera kit and heading out into the woods. Wanting to spend as much time pedaling as photographing, I opted to drive to the Jonathan Run trailhead in Ohiopyle. This trail is about a mile and a half long and runs to the main biking trail. Almost to the main trail, another trail branches off called Sugar Run. Both of these trails are mostly nice singletrack with some sprinkling of technical rocky sections, some nice flowy up and downs along with a few climbing sections. The scenery is top notch and there was no one around. I saw a single group of hikers all 3 hours I was on the trail.
Ohiopyle main falls
Cucumber Falls
Sugar Run Trail
Sugar Run Trail
Fechter Run Falls
Upper Jonathan Run Falls
Upper Jonathan Run Falls
Lower Jonathan Run Falls
Sugar Run Falls
Since we’ve had some rain the past few days and I was in the woods, the camera and tripod came along for the ride. I brought only a prime lens kit which consisted of a 12mm, 23mm, 35mm and my 56mm. The most used was my 12mm and 56mm. Having only primes was a nice change of pace and made me think more about the shots I wanted and the angles. I brought a variable neutral density filter and a circular polarizer as well to help with the colors and exposure times. All in all, it was a great morning of riding and picture taking.
