Biltmore Estate

Welcome viewers to the Biltmore Estate here in Asheville, North Carolina. It once sat upon 125,000 acres of land, but from what I understand today, that has changed. It now sits on 80,000 acres. The mansion itself took six years to build, from 1889-1895, the owner George Vanderbilt inherited $12 million from his families fortune, however, there are only theories and ideas today as to how much it cost to build the house. George Vanderbilt refused to say how much, but it is speculated to be around 9 to 10 million, talk about costing a pretty penny.The house alone is huge, covering more than 4 acres of floor space and including 250 rooms, a swimming pool, multiple kitchens, and a bowling alley. There were even boasts of electric lighting, telephones, and even an elevator in this house around the 1890's. Construction again was six years, the workers, if you had experience, were paid $12.00 a week, if you were not very skilled in stone work than payment would some times be about half that, yet money went a long way back then.

Birds and Squirrels

Birds and squirrels folks. All of these pictures were taken in my yard believe it or not, the trick is some bread, seeds, and without a doubt a telephoto lens.

I have to be honest on this one. My lighting was terrible so that's why it is dark, however, I was more concerned with the action in this one.

The Blue Jay, without a doubt my favorite bird to have ever flown. This shot I got lucky on and here's why. Blue Jays, after they have landed, never leave their tail feathers open like this one nor does the crest pop up like his is in the very back of his head, I got lucky, he had just landed and I caught the shot right than and there. Perfect timing.

Crest Mountain

For this selection of photos its going to be a little odd. Each of these pictures were taken in or near my neighborhood, for example this is the Crest Mountain Center, near my neighborhood.

This one was taken in my neighborhood at a Methodist church.

All the photos from here were taken near my neighborhood. This is my first time photographing horses in a good LONG time. I photographed them many years ago, but my pictures weren't that great and I no longer have them, but hey, here's the new ones and they are ten times better. Alright, these photos were taken just off of Leicester Hwy, I forget the name of the street, but as you will see in a moment the view is very beautiful. .

Here we are again at the Crest Mountain area. I was very bitter this day because no one was allowed to go up near this building unless you were a resident, now folks if your like me than your very curious minded. I wanted to know what was back there so I could get the best angles and photograph both the building and the mountain view.

Down Town Asheville

All the photos you see in this part of the blog were taken at down town Asheville, NC. Some of these photos were taken at different parts of the town, for example. The first photo seen here was taken on the edge of town on top of what is known as "The Cut" which is right on the edge of Town Mountain Road. This is the only ridge that gives you a view such as what you see now.

This was near the heart of town.

I got lucky with this shot. Pigeons in Asheville will only let you come so close to them before they take off, but this particular one didn't care how close I got, so I took advantage of his bravery.

Like the shot above this one was taken at Pritchard Park also known as "The Drum circle." If you wish to have more information on The Drum Circle, just type in Asheville Pritchard Park.

This shot was taken at the Grove Arcade, which is said to be the most historic building. It has multiple shops and restaurants its a pretty cool place to visit and its a photographers paradise during Christmas. They do a great job decorating in side the building.  

This picture was taken at Pack Square, I was actually shooting this one right next to the Vance Monument, hence the reason for the bars. I don't particularly have any photos of the Vance Monument because of its design. It is a stone tower, for lack of better words, however, due to its location and size, I found it hard to use in my photographs.

This too was taken at the Vance Monument, now this is a little strange to me. Normally when you see a monument you'll see people, but here we see turkeys and pigs? I haven't been able to explain that, but they worked beautifully with my picture.

I also got this one at the Monumet. Now here is how you get this effect. Set your Aperture to F22, or higher if you can, than set your shutter for whatever maybe needed to make an image dark, some where between 1600-2400, I can't name the numbers exactly because each camera may react differently, also make certain you have a filter that takes out UV rays and anything else that may cause damage to your lens. Remember the lens eye as I call it is very much like your own eye. When you have taken the picture or pictures, take it back home and edit it, whether through Adobe Light Room, Gimp, or Adobe Photo-shop. You'll get the effect your looking for through the "brightness and contrast"

Without a doubt this is the most beautiful Pigeon I have ever had the pleasure photographing.

This is a self portrait, but in this case I am not the main focus, the photographer behind me is. That man is using a telephoto lens which some time in the near future I am going to get. Its gotta to be a 70-300mm lens or a 80-500mm lens, great for photographing birds, which I think he was doing.

Here is down town Asheville's court building.

This is one of the most beautiful Methodist churches around. This church is huge, my camera couldn't capture its full size unless I was on a building farther away. The man there, however, is a fellow photographer. We've spent some time photographing the town, later that day I promised him that I'd take him up to The Cut, which you will see in the photo below.

Here we are at The Cut, its a beautiful view as you will soon see farther down.

I couldn't pass this shot up. I had just gotten down from The Cut and the lighting was just beautiful.

Okay, so these are the photos on top of The Cut. This is the town of which I live near.

Okay, I have been told that this is like a National Geographic photo. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

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This picture was taken on top of The Cut. As you can see, I was aiming for a night time shot over looking the city, I didn't have my tripod on hand so this picture was a little tricky, I had to find a big rock sturdy enough to hold my camera.