water

Moonlight Sonata

/ Michael Glover / 60 Comments

This past Saturday, I spent the day at one of my favorite local parks; Fort De Soto Park. Situated on an island in Tierra Verde, FL, this park features miles of beaches, nature trails, a boat ramp, and a large campground just to name a few of the amenities. The namesake of the park comes from the fort that was built in 1898 as a coastline defense during the Spanish American War.

After spending the better part of the day exploring the fort and walking the beach, I headed over to the other side of the island to get setup for the moonrise. For this shot I wanted the Sunshine Skyway bridge in the background. I had already scouted out the area earlier in the day, so I knew about where the moon should appear on the horizon. I patiently awaited for it to show itself, but due to atmospheric conditions, it wasn’t actually visible until it had been up for about 13 minutes. I really liked this shot with the light reflecting on top of the water and just a hint of clouds above the moon.

For more information about the park and it’s interesting history click here.

To enjoy a larger view, please click on the image below!

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and I encourage you to join the conversation by writing your thoughts below as I truly like to hear from all of my visitors! 🙂

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The Falls Behind The Trees

/ Michael Glover / 29 Comments

Today’s post brings a different kind of view of a waterfall. Let me just say that I am a huge fan of waterfalls. I have seen a lot of them, some more than once. And while nothing beats seeing one up close, sometimes it’s interesting to get another perspective. With that said, I present to you Toccoa Falls.

This beautiful waterfall is somewhat hidden in this picture. If you look behind the trees on the left you will see a waterfall that has a vertical drop of 186 feet. This view in particular is from the parking area. The sound of the rushing water leads to the excitement of actually taking in the visual. A short walk up a beautiful pathway is all that is required to get to the base of the falls. The water flowing over the rocks grabbed my attention as I noticed the falls in the background.

Toccoa Falls is located on the campus of Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa, Georgia. For some history behind this scenic location you can view this article on wikipedia.

Abrams Falls

/ Michael Glover / 17 Comments

Today’s post is of an image I took last year in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Smokies have to be my favorite place to visit. Everywhere you look there is something to photograph! 🙂 If you are a nature lover this is like Heaven. With so many trails to hike on it takes some time to really see it all. And speaking of hiking, to get to this waterfall takes a 5 mile round-trip. But it is so worth it. To get here you first have to enter Cade’s Cove, which is an exciting adventure all by itself. But once you get close to the start of the trail, you just don’t want to turn back. The trail is next to the river in some parts and surrounded by lush forest. The day I chose to go, the fog was really thick. Of course that just made it more enchanting to walk through the woods. When I arrived at the falls, I was awestruck at the beauty before me. While it’s certainly not one of the tallest waterfalls around, it definitely can hold it’s own. The pool at the bottom leads your eyes right to it with the rocky textures all around. This is a place where you can spend a lot of time just enjoying what’s around you. I actually found it a little difficult to concentrate on taking pictures because I didn’t want to miss out on seeing all the beauty in nature that was there. But I was able to divide my time to enjoy the whole experience. This day reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Info from the web: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/waterfalls.htm

Abrams Falls
Although Abrams Falls is only 20 feet high, the large volume of water rushing over falls more than makes up for its lack of height. The long, deep pool at its base is very picturesque. The waterfall and creek are named for Cherokee Chief Abram or Abraham whose village once stood several miles downstream.

The trail to the falls traverses pine-oak forest on the ridges and hemlock and rhododendron forest along the creek. The hike is 5 miles round-trip and considered moderate in difficulty.

Blue Skies and Butterflies

/ Michael Glover / 17 Comments

This is another photo from my recent trip to Disney’s 24 hour day where I shot the Dolphin Resort. Upon arriving at EPCOT, I setup my tripod in the perfect spot to capture my vision. I waited for the monorail to enter the scene so I could catch the reflection as it passed by. The clouds were plentiful and just added to the dynamic. Disney always goes all out with their flower displays which is evident by the colorful arrangements of butterflies and flower designs in the background. Always my favorite time to visit!

Small Falls

/ Michael Glover / 15 Comments

On Saturday I went to one of my favorite Florida State parks to take some pictures. Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon. Around this time of year the azaleas are in full bloom and this park is loaded with them. It is absolutely beautiful to see it in person. There are several pathways leading around the park to see these flowers as well as the springs where you can go swimming. Also they have three man-made waterfalls from the days when it was a tourist attraction before it became a park. The waterfalls are a bonus when you live in Florida! For this shot I decided to experiment a little bit. I used a specialty lens made by Lensbaby called the Composer. By tilting the lens at different angles it allows for a small area to be in focus and gives a nice blur around the rest of the image. In creating this shot it has the appearance of being a miniature waterfall.

To find out more information about this park please visit this link: http://www.floridastateparks.org/rainbowsprings/default.cfm