Appalachian Sunrise
For the last several years, my kids and I have flown out to Loudoun County Virginia to spend some time with some very good friends who live on 11 acres of some of the most gorgeous real estate in the Western Hemisphere. While I was out visiting my friends last year, I had the good fortune of being able to meet up with Mike Besant who took me up to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest for a day of shooting. This year, we were joined by George Fletcher, who is another amazing photographer from the area. George lives right down the road from where I was staying (insanely jealous!) and we set off together at 3:30 AM to try to make it up to Skyline Drive before the sunrise.
On our way there, I was pulled over by Virginia's finest, but they let me off with a warning after doing 38 in a 25. (These people are serious about their speed limits in Virginia!) This put us behind just a bit, and the sky was already getting light as we made our way into the park. Mike told us he would meet us at the first Eastern Overlook, but we missed that spot in the early morning light and kept driving to the next overlook, which was Indian Run. At that moment, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over. Before we had really said two words to each other, both of us were out of the car grabbing our tripods and running to find a spot to shoot as we looked down over an ocean of clouds below us. Our shots kept changing every few seconds as the clouds were billowing around the hilltops below under a steady breeze. We spent the next 30 minutes or so shooting furiously before remembering that we still had not found Mike yet. After we traded a couple of texts, we found out that Mike was back at the other over look and drove back to meet him. We spent the rest of a very incredible day shooting around the park and didn't make it back to Loudoun County until nearly 11 PM. It was an exhausting day (going DOWN the 2.5 mile hike to White Oak Falls was cake, but the 2.5 miles coming back up nearly killed me.) Special thanks to both of them for allowing me to hang out with them for the day. I consider both of them to be amazing photographers and it was fun to pick their brains over the course of the day.
Appalachian Sunrise
For the last several years, my kids and I have flown out to Loudoun County Virginia to spend some time with some very good friends who live on 11 acres of some of the most gorgeous real estate in the Western Hemisphere. While I was out visiting my friends last year, I had the good fortune of being able to meet up with Mike Besant who took me up to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest for a day of shooting. This year, we were joined by George Fletcher, who is another amazing photographer from the area. George lives right down the road from where I was staying (insanely jealous!) and we set off together at 3:30 AM to try to make it up to Skyline Drive before the sunrise.
On our way there, I was pulled over by Virginia's finest, but they let me off with a warning after doing 38 in a 25. (These people are serious about their speed limits in Virginia!) This put us behind just a bit, and the sky was already getting light as we made our way into the park. Mike told us he would meet us at the first Eastern Overlook, but we missed that spot in the early morning light and kept driving to the next overlook, which was Indian Run. At that moment, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over. Before we had really said two words to each other, both of us were out of the car grabbing our tripods and running to find a spot to shoot as we looked down over an ocean of clouds below us. Our shots kept changing every few seconds as the clouds were billowing around the hilltops below under a steady breeze. We spent the next 30 minutes or so shooting furiously before remembering that we still had not found Mike yet. After we traded a couple of texts, we found out that Mike was back at the other over look and drove back to meet him. We spent the rest of a very incredible day shooting around the park and didn't make it back to Loudoun County until nearly 11 PM. It was an exhausting day (going DOWN the 2.5 mile hike to White Oak Falls was cake, but the 2.5 miles coming back up nearly killed me.) Special thanks to both of them for allowing me to hang out with them for the day. I consider both of them to be amazing photographers and it was fun to pick their brains over the course of the day.