Hey Everyone! This week I wanted to talk about the Fall Colors trip that my Photography Club GAPC (Goldsboro Area Photography Club) took a couple of months ago. We went to Waynesboro VA and stayed at the Wintergreen Ski Resort that is near there. The Air B&B was Spacious and well located in the mountains. Let me tell you that the colors were popping! I have been on Fall Colors trips for 8 years and the colors have not been as good as they were this year.  These week long trips are great for my photography soul.  I get a whole week where I don't have to think about work or anything else and just photography. I can spend time and talk to people who love photography as much as I do. Where ever we go its fun and gorgeous with colors .  We need lots of things to shoot so we go to different areas every day and it planned out months in advance taking into account driving direction food stops and where the nearest bathroom is. We have great planners! This year wasn't as target rich as some of our other trips. We had never been here before and it took a lot of google searches to find stuff to fill our days. These are truly Raven's Roost Va. workshops we leave early and come back to the house late. It is not a vacation but it is fun. I like to say its summer camp for old folks.  We eat at local restaurants and usually really good food.  We visit quaint towns with great character and great shops. As you can tell I am very into this yearly trip.

We have a week to really do nothing but photography and fellowship with the other like minded folks in our workshop.  We learn a lot about each other which makes us very comfortable around each other. This year in Virginia where we had never been before. We mainly split days up into days like Blue Ridge day, Shenandoah Spring Fall Falls day, Richmond Day. Each day was in a different direction and we tried to hit places that were grouped together.  We don't know each specific place we will shoot but have a good idea of the area and sometimes we just ride up on a place that is fantastic that we had no Idea about. I think the furtherest day we had driving was West Virginia day but it was well worth the ride. We had some folks that had not been to the places in West Virginia and it was nice to see their reaction to the sites and how beautiful it was. We had one member that had not done Landscape before and it was nice to see her get all excited and working the scene like she would a Portrait Photo shoot.  These trips really make you want to shoot all of the time .  The first day is Glades Creek Mill WV usually my worst day because I haven't gotten into the grove yet but by the second day and we pull into a location I go on Auto Pilot and start shooting like a pro (or at least I think I do).  After the long day and a relaxing supper we are back to the Air B&B to download  photo's and look at what everyone else got. Sometimes theirs are a lot better than what I got but sometimes not. It it really nice to see 5 or 6 people shooting from the same place and see all of the different shots they get and may not be anything like you got. Its a real learning experience. If we really have some new photographers with us we may even give a class on photo editing using Lightroom. 

Sandstone Falls New River Gorge NP On these trips it really is the journey not the destination. Or at least it is to me. I enjoy the seeing new or old places and making the shots. The act of taking the photo is just as important or maybe even more important to me than the final product. As you can tell I really enjoy these trips and can't wait until next year when we go back to the North Carolina mountains.  Hopefully we can get some new folks to go with us and show them the wonders that we have seen in the past. So until next week Get out and Shoot!