The Final Five - My Favorites From 2016

If you have been following my blog over the past few days you have seen several of my favorite photos from 2016. Today I finish up that series with the last of my favorites. Like the previous posts, there is a theme to these photos.

I'm sitting in the Charlotte North Carolina airport surrounded by acres of high technology controlling everything that happens here. My photos for today represent the complete opposite of technology. You will not find any electronics or other signs of technology in any of these photos. The closest is an electric light in one photo. These are all photos of

Old Stuff

Earlier this year I joined a bunch of photographer friends at the Rocky Mount Historic site to watch a vintage baseball game. The Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball promotes living history by bringing the 19th century to life through base ball (that's the original spelling) events.  They use the rules, equipment, costumes and culture of the 1860s in their games. This means long sleeves, long pants, homemade bats and balls, and no gloves!

Vintage Baseball

The photo above is one of my favorites because sports photography is not something I have done much of. I was able to get behind the backstop (bales of straw) and get a shot at the instant the bat made contact with the ball. That was a fun day.  

I've found I learn things when I stretch my photography outside my landscape comfort zone.   I will never be a good sports photographer, but I've learned a bit.

The photo below was taken in the Allandale Mansion in Kingsport.  We had a gathering of photographer friends from around the country here for a long weekend and spent some time in around Allandale.  I thought this was an interesting angle on the piano and the reflection of the lamp.

Piano

During the same long weekend, we went to Memory Lane in Rogersville to photograph the old buildings, cars, trucks, and associated vintage stuff.  There are acres of old things to photograph but this day I liked the old Texaco truck best.  I've tried to photograph this truck several times but the light was never quite right to get the shot. This day we got there early enough and the sun was in the right spot to light up the inside of the truck and phone booth. Who remembers the old Texaco commercials... "Trust your care to the man who wears the star - Texaco".

Trust Your Car...

You can't beat an old truck with two vintage steam locomotives.   I was at Cass Railroad State Park with my good friend Kent Ervin for this trip.  We spent our morning standing in the cold rain to get this shot.  If you look close you can see the rain falling down.

Waiting On The Train

My final favorite photo of 2016 is one I took just before Christmas. I was playing around with a candle, Christmas lights, and an off camera flash. I had to light the candle, put it out, and take one or two shots over and over again before I got a decent shot of the swirling smoke from the candle.  This kind of photography can test your patience!

Smoky

Well, that pretty much wraps it up.   I hope you have enjoyed my favorites from last year.  I'm heading west on another adventure today.  Perhaps I'll get a photo that will be one of my favorites from 2017.