Hey Ya'll! Hope you're having a great week. Me? Well last week I was in West Virginia on a Fall Colors workshop with my Photography Club. We spent 5 days going around taking photo's of the stunning landscapes and cute little towns. We were based in Fayetteville West Virginia in an Air B&B and traveled mostly in the New River Gorge National Park area but did veer away from the park many times. We had good food and fellowship and did editing and helped each other in areas we are weak in. I love these workshops it's like being with my photography family and I'm the crazy uncle. We had some members that had never been to West Virginia before and it was fun showing them around and seeing what photo's they got out of the new environment. They really got some good ones I think from what I saw when we were editing. When we go on workshops they are really workshops not vacations. Although we have fun and kid around we start before the sun comes up and often finish after it sets. We eat a local restaurants to support the communities we visit and the food is usually excellent. We may eat in one night making spaghetti or Pizza. I like to explain it as summer camp for old folds. There is a lot of kidding and joking. We even give nicknames like in summer camp. Fun is guaranteed .  For this trip I tried to keep my equipment simple. Usually I bring lots of lenses and equipment. This time I brought 2 lenses. The 20-70 F4 and a 100-400 , both Sony to go with my Sony A7C body. I was the only Sony of the group. I was very happy with my choices.  I did bring filters and tripod and that was it for digital photography . I did bring my Canon Demi EE17 half frame Film Camera but didn't get through a roll of film. I was too busy with my digital and I was Volunteered to take and make the trip video. You can see it here at this link. 2024 Fall Trip West Virginia It is very hard to shoot photo's and video at the same time. I think they both suffer when you try to do both. It's much easier to pick one or the other and just shoot it.  But I was doing both plus trying to get some film in and of course an iPhone shot or two to post quickly into social media. So I was working 4 Cameras. For photo editing and backups I used an iPad pro with the M1 chip in it. I would back up photo's to an external SSD hard drive then pick a few photo's to edit in Lightroom (mobile) the same with iPhone shots I would bring them into the SSD and choose which ones to edit and post to social media like Instagram and Facebook. I was the only one using a iPad everyone else was using a laptop and to tell you the truth I will probably go back to a laptop when the iPad becomes too slow to work on but now it works fine for mobile editing. The house we were staying in was very nice with a great view of Hawks Nest State Park. I even got my own room this time which was a first and I quite like it . Usually I'm sharing a room or bunk house with the other guys on the workshop. Usually we spend a full week but shortened it this year to 5 days because we had Spring Workshop in the Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina and there were some people that didn't have the vacation or PTO days to go on this trip. We only had 6 attend. But the cost was still low. 350 for 5 days and share gas and house food. You can't beat that for being economical for all the stuff that we did and our accommodations .  Here is a quick rundown of what we did on our trip.

Day 1- Travel day- On the way to Fayetteville WV from North Carolina is about a 6 hour trip. We stopped at  Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was very windy and cold when we got out of the warm truck I was riding in.  After that we went and found a local Restaurant and had a great lunch. We then headed to Brush's Falls just off the road on the way. We have never been to this waterfall before and it was fantastic. We left there and headed towards our house and stopped for Mexican food before getting to the house after dark unpacking and going to bed.

Day 2- Grandview and Sandstone Falls in the New River Gorge National Park. First it was to Grandview which looks over the New River and it makes a big "U" turn in front of you. It was cloudy so the sunrise wasn't great then we went to Turkey Spur Overlook which looks over the same spot in the river but much higher (stairs) After that we headed to Sandstone Falls near Hinton WV. After shooting the falls we ate lunch in Hinton at a cool restaurant that we've ate at before. We then headed to Thurmond WV an abandoned town on the way there we stopped at a waterfall Dunlop Creek Falls a very nice waterfall on the road to Thurmond. After shooting the Town we were pretty tired and decided to head to the house and cook some spaghetti . It was delicious. Thanks Caitlin .

Day 3- Babcock State park Day. First we to breakfast at Cathedral Cafe a restaurant that was made out of a church with stained glass windows . The meal was good and the people watching was good too. Then we headed to Babcock State park. If you look up West Virginia and look at photo's you will see the Grist Mill at Babcock. It is a photographers eye candy and the colors always seem to be pretty good. This year was no different. Perfect shooting. Cool weather, leaves falling and colors popping. What's not to like. We then headed to New River Gorge and the Bridge there. The place was packed the most people I've ever seen there. We went to the Bridge over look and then took the road to the older bridge going under the Big bridge. The next day would be Bridge day a festival where there are Base Jumpers, Bungee jumpers, People Rapelling off of the bridge. We decided not to attend the festival . One there would be lots of people and you would have to have clear bags to carry your gear. After the Bridge area we went into town and to eat and the little town had doubled in population and eateries were packed. We picked one and waited 45 min to be seated and had lunch. We then walked around town a little then headed to Nuttalburg WV an abandoned coal mine once owned by Henry Ford. It was kind of cool. After that we headed home and stopped at Walmart to get something to eat for Supper. 

Day 4- Hawks Nest State Park. We stayed away from the Bridge because of Bridge Day. They close down the bridge so the traffic is diverted around so all the roads get busy with traffic. Hawks nest was just 3 min away so we did a sunrise there at the overlook. It was a good sunrise. We then went and explored the rest of the park. It was very chilly and pretty. After spending the morning there we headed to Gauley Bridge. A small little town and explored a little then had lunch at a local BBQ place. Everyone was pretty tired so we headed to the house to do some editing and rest a little.

Day 5- Travel day Home. This day we got the house all settled and packed up our vehicles for the trip home. We left and on the way home we stopped at Camp Creek State Park. We stopped at Campbell Creek Falls which was a lovely fall with lots of color all around. The next fall was Mash fork falls. This was not much of a fall. We headed out and stopped on the way home at a local establishment to eat lunch then headed home. This was a great trip and I had a great time. Just wish it was longer. LOL

Until Next week Get out and Shoot!