River Reflections - Augusta Georgia

The old Southern Railway bridge is still used by trains and leads from South Carolina (on the far shore) into downtown Augusta, Georgia. Usually the surface of the river is rippled by boat traffic or wind, but this day it seemed extra "smooth" and ready to be photographed. 

Why Post Process?

I've learned that I get the most enjoyment from photography by post-processing to make them "my own".  Taking a RAW file and tweaking it to come up with an image that "says" what I want it to. Sometimes it is easy, but sometimes it can be a long process. But the end results are worth it to me.

Dark Fog

The Wide World of Railroads is a series I began in early 2012 where I use a 1 to 3 (1:3) crop-ratio to create "faux"-pano style shots of railroad scenes.

This shot of the CSX in Folkston was one of the first times that I shared a photo in the ratio.  I like the way that the crop brings the train into the shot as the main actor.  In this case it seems to work so much better than the original image.

As I'm shooting railroad scenes, I use the grid in the viewfinder of my Canon DSLR to try and imagine how the shot will look when cropped.  It requires me to think differently.. because of needing to allow space at the top or bottom (or both) for cropping later on.

Another ratio which is gaining popularity is the 16:9 ratio which is the same that is used on a HDTV. With so many images being seen on HDTV's these days, it is a natural also.

What is your favorite ratio? Have you tried some shots in untraditional ratios?

I woke up much earlier than I expected this morning and not being able to get back to sleep, decided to get up and make coffee and have my morning bowl of joy, I mean my first pipe. It's a cold morning here in Georgia (well for us) and the smell of coffee quickly filled the room.

Looking through my jar rotation, I found myself drawn to the jar of Green Dragon from The Country Squire like it was calling out to me, sort of like a Ring. I remembered that the Green Dragon is part of the Middle Earth series named after locations in the Lord of the Rings series.

Opening the jar, I saw the combination of darker and lighter Virginias and was greeted by a sweet note similar to fresh cut grass or hay. The cut is ribbon and ready to pack.

My normal morning smokes (on work days) are usually aromatics but this had no topping and its own sweetness. I chose one of my favorite pipes, a Morgan Bones Timberwolf which is based off of the Canadian family. The tall bowl works great with Virginias and particularly with Ribbon cuts.

The smoke followed the same path as the jar note, sweet high notes with a little support in the mid tier. Flipping to the webpage, I was reminded that this is a combination of air-cured (light) and flue-cured (dark) Virginia's according to the blender. It compares quite favorably to Orlik Golden Sliced which is a summertime favorite of mine. The sweetness paired well with the bitterness of the coffee (black as the color of my soul, or something like that)

Finishing the bowl and my first cup of coffee, I was ready to tackle the world.

If you have never tried one of Jon David Cole's blends from The Country Squire you are missing a real treat. Blended in shop from choice tobaccos, you'll quickly understand why the Squire is still going strong in their 50th year.

Timberwolf 2019