Blue Blaze Brewing at the Christmas Market
The Charlotte Christmas Market is open through Christmas Eve. Pick up a Black Blaze from Blue Blaze Brewing and stroll through the village.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
The Charlotte Christmas Market is open through Christmas Eve. Pick up a Black Blaze from Blue Blaze Brewing and stroll through the village.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
I'm going to credit this abstract photograph to Bob Ross, who always said there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents. This is what happens when you take a photograph of a Christmas Pageant stage without first focusing.
Sony is quite proud of their rounded lens blade design that results in smooth, round bokeh — rather than the octagonal bokeh of most lenses — and this is a pretty good example of it. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, bokeh is simply the blur that you see in the background of photographs that are captured with a shallow depth of field. In general, the smoother the bokeh, the more visually appealing that extra level of depth seems. In this case, you can see that despite being completely out of focus, there's still a certain depth to it.
It's not going to win any "major awards" and finally put that leg lamp in our front window but it was a neat example of a happy little accident. I will post the in-focus photograph on Thursday so you can compare the difference.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300 and the Sony 18-105 "G" Series lens, which I wholeheartedly recommend.
This giant pile of rocks looms over a road in a half-completed neighborhood on Beech Mountain. I'd love to know the story behind them. They seem wholly-unnatural and quite precarious. I can't fathom this is an act of nature but it would have been a pretty risky proposition to stack these giant stones like this, too. And at the top of the neighborhood, they seem ready to break free and tumble down into the homes below at any time.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
Based on the weather forecast in Charlotte, today is a perfect day for some Sunday Funday action at Blue Blaze Brewing! If you haven't visited Charlotte's only West-End brewery, do yourself a favor and stop by for a tasting today!
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
The cold always seems a little more bearable to me when I think that somewhere in the world, there's a beach like this where a couple of people are out enjoying the warm weather on a little Hobie Cat out in the great, big ocean.
This particular beach is Playa Mujeres, just outside of Cancún. If you look carefully on the horizon, you can make out Isla Mujeres as well. So, if you've got the winter blues already, just think about these guys on this tiny little boat and then book a winter getaway to the islands.
This photograph was captured with a DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone.
Biltmore Estate is the largest privately-owned home in the USA. It was the Southern retreat for George Vanderbilt and his friends. It's one of the most ostentatious displays of wealth you have ever seen but it sure is amazing. It has 250 rooms, with 34 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms. It took 1,000 workers to built and took six years, from 1889-1895. It has an indoor swimming pool, bowling alley and it's own electrical grid, hot water and central heat.
This place puts Jay Gatsby to shame. At some point, the cost of maintaining the home was greater than the inheritance of George Vanderbilt's heirs. To their credit, rather than letting it fall into disrepair like so many European castles, the Vanderbilts put together a plan to turn it into the most beautiful estate destination in America, with two hotels, a village and a winery that sells 2 million bottles of wine a year. If you are ever in the Asheville area, it is definitely worth a visit.
This photograph was captured with a DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone.
We camped next to the team behind Anything Scout at Overland Expo East. They're a great group of people making tremendous vehicles. This beast was proudly on display by one of their happy customers. This perfectly-restored scout body sits atop a highly-upgraded current-generation Jeep JK Unlimited frame. Under the hood is a fire-breathing 500+ horsepower, supercharged Cadillac CTS-V engine! Madness! And it's perfect!
If your Icon FJ is starting to feel a bit pedestrian, it's time to give the guys at Anything Scout a call!
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
We went to the Charlotte Christmas Village this weekend. It was 40 degrees out and certainly had that Christmas vibe going on. One of the stalls has a mini doughnut maker that cranks out delicious tiny little doughnuts. I'm tempted to try to install one of those at the house!
It's not the largest Christmas market in the world (half of the park is blocked off for an NCAA event that never happened, thanks to Governor McCrory's HB2) but we still had a lot of fun! It's a great start for the very first year and I'm looking forward to watching it grow every year as it becomes a Charlotte Christmas tradition!
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
This deer was taking a nap just outside of our window. When I opened the window to take a photograph of her, she woke up and slowly got to her feet for a look around. I've never really seen a deer kneeling before... she sort of looked like a cat waking up from a nap.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
The Simpsons area of Universal Orlando might be a bit small but it's a ton of fun! We actually got to sit at the bar in Moe's Tavern and drink a Duff beer. If you're a fan, it doesn't get any better than that!
This photograph was captured with a Sony NEX-7.