When one is driving a rural highway at daybreak and the light does this, one must find a spot to pull over and take a snap ![]()
Cheers 🙂
During my recent >9,000 km road trip highway vistas like this one routinely had me in awe of the scenic beauty of this wonderful land.
Oh, how I enjoy the tranquillity of a sleepy river and the Australian bush. This is the De Grey River and rail bridge just off the Great Northern Highway near Port Headland, Western Australia. I didn’t camp here but I did enjoy the respite as I stretched my legs during the long drive.
Travelling is full of surprises…
The ubiquitous road train: some transport livestock, some transport supplies, and for others, like this one, it is iron ore.

Common colours of the Pilbara – red, green, gold. Autumn flowers on a red dune. © 2014 Andrew McInnes.
Thanks for swinging by and I hope you enjoyed these photo’s of my travels.
On the first day that the National Parks were reopened to the citizens who own them, I drove to the Smoky Mountains to have a few hours in Cades Cove – a truly remarkable location, and a visit I highly recommend.
All images are Copyright © Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All rights reserved.
If you wish to purchase prints please visit my website http://andrew-mcinnes.artistwebsites.com/ or send an Email to me.
I feel so very fortunate to see a family of American Black Bears up close and personal – sort of.
Peek-a-boo 🙂

American Black Bear_2AM-000210
Canon 7D with Canon 100-400MM f/4.5-5.6L lens. f5.6 for 1/400 second at ISO 800 (handheld).
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Mama bear ascends. Such amazing claws/claw strength!

American Black Bear_2AM-000214
Canon 7D with Canon 100-400MM f/4.5-5.6L lens. f5.6 for 1/400 second at ISO 800 (handheld).
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Unlike the assorted yahoo’s who observed the scene with me, I did not approach and stand under the tree!

American Black Bear_2AM-000371
Canon 7D with Canon 100-400MM f/4.5-5.6L lens. f5.6 for 1/125 second at ISO 1000 (handheld).
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
The fog was very thick when I first arrived. This scene/habitat is very similar to that where I observed the bears.

Cades Cove_2AM-000546
Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 24-105MM f/4L lens. f22 for 1/5 second at ISO 200.
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
Morning light flashes the prairie through the fog.

Cades Cove_2AM-000553
Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 24-105MM f/4L lens. f22 for 1/8 second at ISO 200.
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
This is not a monochrome/black-and-white treatment. Rather, the fog and rain and mist altered the light to what you see here.

Great Smoky Mountains_2AM-000528
Canon 7D with Canon 100-400MM f/4.5-5.6L lens. f22 for 1/13 second at ISO 500.
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
The lovely winding road that leads to Cades Cove follows a stream for a good portion, and this lone tunnel is always intriguing to me. I stopped to take this image on my way out – the fall leaves are beginning to turn on a show right now!

Great Smoky Mountains_2AM-000079
Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 24-105MM f/4L lens. f22 for 6 seconds at ISO 800.
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.
These images are a mere sampling of the wondrous place that is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For more of my images of the park, swing over to some of my earlier/archived posts:
https://2amphotography.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/a-bloody-cold-shoot-in-the-mountains/
https://2amphotography.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/serenity-in-the-great-smoky-mountains-national-park/
Cheers,
Andrew
I haven’t been able to get out and about as much as I would like to lately. However, here is a (rather eclectic) assortment of images taken during March, 2012.

Texas Bluebonnets heralding Spring.
Canon 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. f18 at 1/25 second - hand-held. ISO 400.

Ranch-road bridge after the storm, near Chappell Hill, Texas.
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f11 at 1/25 second. ISO 400.

Two Curves - near Chappell Hill, Texas.
Canon 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. f11 at 1/40 second. ISO 250.

Bradford Pear trees and barn. Great Smoky Mountains foothills - Tennessee.
Canon 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. f11 at 1/320 second. ISO 200.

More Bradford Pear trees. Great Smoky Mountains foothills - Tennessee.
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f11 at 1/100 second. ISO 640.

Barn signage. Great Smoky Mountains foothills - Tennessee.
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f11 at 1/160 second. ISO 640.

Barn. Great Smoky Mountains foothills - Tennessee.
Canon 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. f11 at 1/200 second. ISO 200.

Back in Texas - between Anahuac and High Island.
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f14 at 1/500 second - hand-held. ISO 250.

Red-winged Blackbird on papyrus plant in our yard (I am a bird lover after all).
Canon 7D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f5.6 at 1/250 second. ISO 400.

Red-winged Blackbird on golden dewdrop plant in our yard.
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f5.6 at 1/80 second. ISO 500.
Let’s finish with a series of “baby” images:

What's not to like about babies and their little feet and toes?
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f6.3 at 1/4000 second - don't ask me why ( I had just gone from indoors to outdoors and hadn't adjusted camera settings yet). ISO 800, hand-held. This image has had the background cloned to black for effect - extremely rare that I would alter an image other than standard image processing.

Daddy's big toe = baby's foot.
Canon 30D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f8 at 1/320 second - handheld, ISO 1000 .

Mother's hand and baby's foot.
Canon 7D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. f5 at 1/320 second - handheld. ISO 1600.
A reminder that my images are available for sale through my website:
http://andrew-mcinnes.artistwebsites.com/