Ok, maybe not exactly faking a sunny day. And when I took this series of photographs up at Hurricane Shoals park in Jackson county Georgia, was I really thinking about making them look like its sunny and pleasant outside. Because actually it was rainy, dreary, cold, damp and generally awful outside.

After being faced with another excruciatingly rainy and cold weekend here in North Georgia I decided I was going to take some photographs damn it, even if I had to dodge rain and try to keep my hands from freezing. Some of my photographer friends just hang up their hats when we are at the apex of nasty, cold, rainy and dreary Georgia weather. Which normally runs off and on from late November thru early March.

Myself, I go nuts. I need to take photographs, even if they all suck and I throw them all in my virtual trash can. I still think I learn from doing it. And I can sometimes pick up a few tricks that let me shoot in our nasty winter weather. Thats how I pulled off this trick.

Ok, here is the situation for this particular shoot. Now, I have to say I cheated a little here in regards to being to avoid people in the shot. This is a very popular county park, and if you see this post, you can see what I was dealing with in the past. Soooo….. first it was cold, no one is going to get in a cold river and two, the park was closed that day. So yeah, I’d say I kind of took advantage of no one being around. Accept maybe a few other crazy folks just like me with their cameras. But, we knew how to stay out of each others way.

Fading North Georgia Limited prints for sale thru March.

I started off just playing around with my kit lens, which is pretty good on the Pentax line. Not doing it for me today though. With the rain we’ve been having lately the river is really swollen and I’m not going to get close enough to really get the impact I want with a kit lens. So, I break down and attach my trusty old 200mm manual. Much better, now I can focus in on various aspects of the river and rock features for what I really want to show.

So, here are some before and after shots.

Before:	After:
Hurricane Shoals -04 Before
Before:	After:
Hurricane Shoals -03 Before
Before:	After:
Hurricane Shoals -02 Before

Maybe I took the colors a bit on the extreme side. I don’t know, I sorta like the look.

How did I achieve this effect? Here are the basics.

• I created an HDR (high dynamic range) of the image.
• Open the HDR in my image editing software and apply a custom filter that emulates Fuji Velvia 50 slide film stock. This warms up the image quite a bit.
• Create some custom layers to lighten and darken portions of the image. This is to fake a  hint of directional light.

Thats about it. So, what do you think? Like it? Let me know about any techniques you use on days like this.

I think you can agree that sometimes your mind and schedule, get so cluttered with projects and ideas, that you reach a point that you can’t be sure what it is your really trying to accomplish.

Well, why don’t we sit back and take a break. Lets review some of my favorite local spots to shoot in North Georgia.

	1. Hurricane Shoals Park This is actually a pretty large park in Jackson county. It sports an old historic town that includes shacks, a church and several homes. If your planning on shooting natural or landscape photography then head over to the rapids. The shoals features lots of large rocks and spillways for some nifty long-exposure stuff. I will say if you are planning on a trip here for the shoals it is going to be difficult to get something without people during the summer. Its a popular spot for bathers. As I figured out in this video >
	Parts the automobile sim… By Mark Hewatt Book Preview Check out my latest photobook, Parts at blurb.com
	2. Yellow River Park Yellow River Park, located in southern Gwinnett county is a rather simple park. Its only real feature is the river itself, which you can access from the parking area very quickly. Its strong point is proving a great location for water and landscape photography. You can get right down into the river and move around for some great stuff. It’s not a very busy park so you shouldn’t have any problem here. Here are some shots I’ve taken >
	3. Sells Mill Park Sells Mill Park is also located in Jackson County. Its a little quaint park with a mill, dam and pond. The mill itself isn’t really that impressive since they replaced the siding with some modern junk, so it lost its rustic feel. The real attraction is the dam itself. You can get right below the dam and on a day after a heavy rain, get some great water curtains. There is also a rock formation with water flowing down below the dam next to the mill. You might be able to find some interesting ways to use that in conjunction with the mill. Check this out >
	Fading North Georgia Limited prints for sale thru March.
	4. Mt. Arabia is a really great park for some mountainous landscape photography. It provides a small mountain region that provides a view of the surrounding area. There is an old quarry and some rock formations that supposedly were put there by local Native Americans. Two more things are an old quarry building and a frog pond. A few notes about going here. The layout is confusing depending on where you start. This is a sprawling park with lots of trails. One thing that confused me is that you will need to actually cross the road to climb the mountain. And do not attempt this in the middle of summer, I did and I almost died. Check it out >
	Other little spots I like. There is a great field at the corner of Flanagan Mill and Dee Kennedy in Winder. Show up early and point your camera east. If you time it right with some nice fog, a great sunrise and not too much traffic you can get something like this. Urbex. I can’t really give away these spots since most are kind of sketchy. I can say that if you look at just about any rural location in North Georgia you can find something that is a state of decay. Our economy has made sure to provide you plenty to work with. Here are some spots I’ve been to >
	Ok, great! If you’ve thought of some really neat places to shoot in North Georgia please comment on this post and share!

Hey everyone!

I’m going to keep this weeks post brief, and let the video do most of the talking. I’ve been really busy lately and have lacked the time I would normally have to post more frequent blogcasts.

Quick Edit 09.30.09. Ok, so a lot of you have enjoyed this rather creepy video this week. I’ll go ahead and admit I got some inspiration from Marble Hornets rather eerie stuff. And thats all I’m saying about that.

I’ve been reworking a lot of my work and, opened up a new print gallery over at QOOP.com. I’ve also started offering things like coffee mugs and totes with my photography on them over at Zazzle.com. I hope you check it out and buy something, your support is what helps me keep this place running.

Anyway, enough about that. This episode focuses on a few recent urbex trips to rural locations in North Georgia. And believe me, these places where pretty run down! In fact in the last urbex I call “stripped” I nearly get caught. Simply by not following one of my golden rules when performing this kind of operation, don’t linger too long.

I think the reason I hung out so long at this last spot is mainly because it was so boring, I kept trying to find something interesting to shoot… when what I should have done is just leave. So, a tip for you, if there is nothing interesting to shoot, don’t hang around these types of places.

I’ve got a few of the photos listed below you can go through as well. Plus, check out my Urban Exploration gallery too!

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