I suppose I could say I am feeling better. The last piece of the puzzle to making me whole again is my voice. I am still just as hoarse and raspy as I was almost two weeks ago. Good news for anyone that thinks I am too loud (which is many more people than you may think) but bad news for me, as I cannot do some of my work yet. If you are an avid listener to my podcast, you would not be remiss to think that I may have just given it all up. Trust me, I haven't. I will be back to podcasting just as soon as my voice can handle it.

Since I was feeling ninety percent myself again, I was able to get out and take some photos. Because I haven't been shooting much, I decided to take some images of the Fayetteville Farmers Market. We got lucky and were able to get a great parking spot near the Fayetteville square (usually we have to walk four blocks) making it much more palatable for my weakened constitution. With just a few steps, we were smack dab in the crowd.

Typically, there isn't much more than the run of the mill Farmer's market stuff by the time we arrive (usually late because, you know, sleep). But to my pleasant surprise, we found ourselves face to face with a brass band. They were fair, not great, but good enough for a farmers market. I enjoyed the throwback tunes and the novelty of it all. Although I wasn't prepared to do so, I thought I would grab some video. After all, that is kinda what I do for a living.

After returning home and doing my thing with the photographs and the video footage. I mentioned to my friend that I was still trying to figure out precisely what kind of pictures people may want to purchase. He joined me in my office, and while contemplating his thoughts, we came across an interesting pic of a Golden Retriever. He sat up and exclaimed that it would be the perfect one to sell. I wasn't (and frankly, still not) convinced that anyone would want to purchase such a photo. It isn't their dog, so why would anyone want the face of a stranger adorning their walls, was my reply. He insisted and called in his girlfriend to confirm his epiphany. They were so adamant about it that I figured "why not."

What do you think? Is it something that would sell?

The next day, I still felt well and decided that it might be a great time to do a little more. I called up my friends and proposed that all four of us have a picnic somewhere, but we just weren't sure about the place where we would end up. It was suggested that we should visit a couple of swimming holes that my friend visited the weekend prior. Sounded interesting to me, Kelli didn't want to go (there was more TV to watch, after all) but we coaxed her into it.

We toured some very remote swimming holes just north of Devil's Den State Park. One of them was a little more "known" than we would have liked. It consists of some extremely tall bluff that the more adventurous like to jump from, A rope swing and lots of tadpoles. The sights were charming but I was more interested in watching the drama before me as group after group of novice cliff divers were coaxed by fiendish friends to jump into the cold river waters below. Personally, I agree with the ones unwilling to jump, but hey, life is short.

With the unknown perfect picnicking location looming above our heads, we decided to explore instead of having an old fashioned evening. Personally, I would have preferred a picnic. Things like that lend to serenity and peacefulness rather than rushing around trying to find something interesting to keep our minds occupied. That's one of the reasons I like landscape photography so much, you get to look upon views that the rest of the population generally are too busy to admire. Even more so when you are looking for that perfect landscape. To get it, you must take in all the beauty, not just what's directly in front of you.

Taking a landscape photo is more complicated than one might think. Yes, it is about photographing the thing in front of you, but there is a lot of preparations that go into it. The first and most obvious is the weather. To get that perfect sunset or sunrise, you need more than just a sun half nestled in the horizon. The beauty of the shot is rarely the sun. What makes that shot beautiful is the context.

The end of a day; the sun making its nightly exit known to all. Its colors are the last grasp with the exclamation that it will return. It's rays folding through the trees, over the fields and bringing the depth of what is real to a warm and loving close. Just like that sentence is dramatic and profound (although not my best poetic dissertation) a landscape must evoke feelings that rival, if not overshadow, any book that was ever written or poem that has ever been penned.

Well now, that was a little much, wasn't it? LOL,

To get that perfect landscape, though, you must look at the foreground of the picture as well as the sky. A bright day with a setting sun is nice, but a few clouds would most definitely be an addition that could keep it from being "ho-hum" and turn it into one of the most beloved sights anyone has ever seen.