A day late, but this guy has made two trips around the sun. As far as I can tell he’s hated most of that time, but he’s starting to warm up a little bit.

Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Charleston, SC for a wedding. On the way home we took a little detour to Roan Mountain, TN for a day in the mountains. We love Smoky Mountains National Park, but I figured that during this time of the year the area would be packed with people trying to make up for lost vacation time. Roan Mountain is about one and a half hours to the north and a bit more remote.

I took a bunch of photos with my Pentax K1000 but that film hasn’t come back from the lab yet. Since it’s been such a long time since I’ve shared anything I figured I would post a few photos I captured with my Ricoh GRiii.

Round Bald looking north towards Jane Bald.

Sarah and I made our way up to Carvers Gap, a mountain pass at around 5500 ft above sea level. It’s also the location of a parking lot with short hikes to Roan High Knob (to the south) and Round Bald, Jane Bald and Grassy Ridge Bald (to the north). We set off for Round Bald in hopes of making it to Grassy Ridge Bald, a relatively short 2.6 mile hike one way. But my wife is not much of a hiker and is also not very tolerant of heat. There is a nice breeze across the open mountain tops but there is not a lot of shade. We managed to get to Jane Bald but she was starting to feel pretty worn out because of the sun. So we sat for a bit, ate a snack, and marveled at the surrounding area before heading back to the car. At one point during our hike I mentioned that it would take me forever to hike this section. My wife got a little upset thinking that she was slowing me down. Of course, that wasn’t the case (I don’t have any problem hiking slower) but I was simply in awe of the views.

Flowers along the AT.

Once we got back to our bed and breakfast we found out that the food truck would be open for dinner that evening so that eliminated any traveling for dinner. My wife opted for a shower and rest while I opted for more hiking. Our B&B was about a quarter mile from the AT and even though there were some ominous clouds I decided to check out the nearest scenic view. It was about 2.5 miles one way and 900 feet up. It took a little over an hour for me to climb up to what was yet another stunning view. This time it was enhanced because of the ominous clouds and light to moderate rain with occasional thunder and a bad ass looking dead tree.

The coolest tree I’ve seen on the AT, with storm clouds for dramatic effect.

The area surrounding Roan Mountain is part of the Cherokee National Forest and also home to Roan Mountain State Park. It is an area that is considered to be among the most scenic along the entire Appalachian Trail (according to our host at the B&B). I haven’t seen all of the AT but I’m working on it and I can’t wait to get back to Roan Mountain.

I’ve been slacking on my micro.blogging. I still need to post some more thoughts on Storm of Steel I just haven’t been able to force myself to write lately. I have been doing a fair amount of photography.

I’ve finally run through what I think is the first roll of film that I’ve ever taken with a 35mm SLR. Sure, I’ve used the disposable film cameras but never a legit analog SLR. So, I picked up a Pentax K1000 and 50mm lens about two months ago and have patiently worked my way through 36 frames of Ilford Delta 400 film. I went with a black and white film for my first because it seems to suit the dreary days we have during the winter and early spring.

It took me so long because I was worried about how they would turn out, would they be in focus, what if the framing is wrong, etc. Well, most of the roll turned out pretty well, I think. I got a few good shots of the animal friends, some nature shots, and some more urban shots.

Shelter along the Rachel Carson Trail in North Park

Old water tower at the site of the US Steel mill in Homestead, PA

Waffles taking a quick break from birdwatching to pose for a photo

Pseudo-selfie taken along the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail

This is photograph 136 of my 365 Project.

I’ve been trying to post a photo a day since some time last November. If you’re interested, the full album is on flickr… here. But that’s not why I’m posting this photo.

I’m exposed to a dazzling array of graffiti almost every day. Most of the time I’m told who was there, who to call for a good time, who sucks, who rules, who is in love… in other words, the graffiti is terrible and nothing more than an eyesore. There’s little effort, no creativity, and - in most cases - no one is ever going to see it. Best case, very few people see it. The locations are generally easy to access culverts and bridge abutments in populated areas. But most people have the good sense to not go wandering into culverts. I like to and I get paid to do it.

I’m posting this graffiti because it is uncommon in that it appears to have taken some effort on the part of the artist. It’s not the most profound thought, but in a sea of garbage graffiti it stands out. The arrows around the words point to the standard graffiti and to one of the most graphic graffiti depictions of sex that I’ve ever encoutered. It was no masterpiece, it still looked like is was painted by someone with the sense of humor of a 15 year old and the art skills of a 5 year old. So the bar was set low, but this graphic cleared it with ease.

Work selfie… sort of. :-D

Happy 10th birthday to this guy!

It’s been a little while since I posted a photo. Here’s an old abandoned building with an interesting front. I found out that as of 2018 this building is supposed to be renovated and host a distillery. That would make for another great stop during my bike rides.

Pittsburgh at sunset.

I got out hiking for the first time this year. It was just a casual 3 mile out-and-back along the Rachel Carson Trail, but it was nice. It was cold and muddy, but still nice.

I’m glad I took today off. This morning was the nicest weather we’ve had in weeks.

Of course, it’s raining now.

Earth, wind (ok it’s sky), and water from my walk yesterday.

📷 Photographers, I’m primarily using Luminar 4 for editing, occasionally Affinity (for HDR). I’ve also tried out DarkTable and CaptureOne for Sony (since I have an a6000).

Am I really missing out on anything big by not going with a Photoshop/Lightroom subscription?

Today I tried something a little bit different with my 365 photo project. I made a “photo” of a Rifter (a spaceship in the game EVE Online) by just scanning the model as a jpeg and editing it in Luminar. I got the idea from a book I recently bought: 52 Assignments: Experimental Photography by Chris Gatcum. It was nice to do something a little bit different on a day that I didn’t really feel like heading out to take any photos but didn’t want to just take a snapshot of my keyboard - I’m looking at you day 22.

That being said, I’m going to be suspending the posting of my 365 days of photos here on micro.blog. I will continue to post a daily photo on a flickr album. The point of this is for me to practice and try to experiment with different techniques and subjects. While I am learning through this process, I’m not posting any context for an outside viewer. So I would rather just file them in a flickr album and post more meaningful groups or individual images with more context.

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Closing the book on 2020 and wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!

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I started this 2020 review project to try to capture the highlights and significant events of 2020 as I experienced them. As I sit down to write about December, I’m not sure if this should be a recap of the month or a summary of my hopes for the new year. December was like April… and May… and June… The only exception being that we celebrated Christmas instead of Easter… or Memorial Day… or my birthday.

I saw another post on micro.blog that referred to today as March 306, 2020. In many ways it feels like not much has changed since March. There was a period in the summer where life felt a little bit different. Better even. Perhaps it was a dream. Tomorrow, we’ll wake up and the program will indicate that it is “January 1, 2021” but will it not feel like March 307, 2020?

If you’ve made it to the end of this year, I hope you have a great new year. I wish you nothing but happiness, good health, love, and prosperity in 2021.

The marquee at Byham Theater, Pittsburgh, PA. March 305, 2020.

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October is when the weather starts to get cooler in my area. So if I have any hiking I really want to do before the end of the year, October is usually my last chance. I took advantage of an unseasonably warm weather forecast for the weekend of October 10th. I headed out to central Pennsylvania and knocked out a little more than 16 miles on the Appalachian Trail between the town of Boiling Springs, PA and state route 850.

I hit the trail at route 850 around 7:30 am and started walking south. After an initial short climb, the trail meandered down to a mostly flat stretch along Conodoguinet Creek. After a little over 8 miles, I hit US route 11 where I detoured to the local diner for lunch. At this time, many restaurants were offering dine-in service at a reduced capacity. So I took advantage of a nice sit-down meal and had an hour long break from hiking. After lunch, I made my way back to the trail and completed the remaining 8ish miles to Boiling Springs in about 3 hours. I have now section hiked all of the Appalachian Trail from Harpers Ferry, WV to PA route 225 – about 200 miles. Combined with the other hikes I’ve done on the AT, I’m about 10% done.

Towards the end of the month, my wife and I joined my parents for a getaway weekend at Lake Chautauqua in western NY. We enjoyed getting away together for the first time since our trip to California in January, but it wasn’t the same. The hotel was nice and had reasonable precautions in place for the pandemic but it was different. I’m not sure if it was the chilly, overcast weather or our lack of interest in wineries (which seem to be the popular attraction in the area), but it was kind of a boring getaway. On our way home we drove out of the way a little to visit Kinzua Bridge State Park. The park is home to the – now collapsed – Kinzua Bridge. It’s a clever name. Even with heavy fog, it was amazing to see this massive structure in a mangled mess at the bottom of the valley.

Soon enough, October came to an end. Halloween night brought a few local kids out for trick or treating, but it certainly wasn’t the same as the last 10 years we’ve lived in this neighborhood.

Kinzua Bridge State Park. Mt. Jewett, PA. October 26, 2020.

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