Sunset Canoe on Badin Lake

(photograph copyright 2009 bt Dan Routh)

Thankfully I'm off on a job this morning, so today's photograph is pulled from my files. Image is from a commercial catalog shoot from Badin Lake in the Uwharrie Mountains in central North Carolina.

Charlotte Night Skyline

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

View of the Charlotte, North Carolina skyline shot just after dark for a client's trade show use. Sometimes half the battle is finding and getting into a position to do a shot.

Portrait of my Uncle

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Portrait study of my uncle (my Dad's brother), L.K. Routh, Jr. Photograph was shot while L.K. was manning a rest stop at the recent Tour de Lions bike ride in Grays Chapel.

Downtown Greensboro

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Patrons fill the outdoor patio at Natty Greene's Brewing Co,, a micro brewery, pub and restaurant located at Hamburger Square in old downtown Greensboro, a couple of blocks north of my studio on Elm Street. Greensboro has developed a vibrant downtown area in the past few years.

Afternoon Scenes

This time of year, when the weather stays dry for several days in a row, it means one thing. It's time for farmers to make hay, and last week most of my neighbors were during just that. These late afternoon scenes were indicative of our area of Randolph County, south of Greensboro.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Grazing Horses

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

A mare and her foal graze in a Spring pasture just south of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Thursday Portrait from Greensboro

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Portrait study from a recent website redo for a local Triad client.

Old Chevy Heavy Farm Truck

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

My community, Grays Chapel, was traditionally a farming community until just a few years ago. Development has spread into the area and it has become more and more a bedroom community for Greensboro and the Triad. There is still a lot of rural space left, however, and there are many old farms, and with these old operations, there is a world of old farm equipment and vehicles. Time has produced a patina on many of them and they take on the effect of historical sculpture. This old Chevrolet heavy farm truck sits sleeping in my neighbor's barnyard.

2009 Tour de Lions Photos

On Saturday morning, almost 400 bicycle riders from all over the state of North Carolina took part in the 10th annual Grays Chapel Lions Club's Tour de Lions bike ride. The ride is a 75 mile tour through Randolph and Chatham counties in central NC. Money raised through the ride helps support the local club's programs for the visually impaired. Weather for the event was gorgeous. Though it's not officially a race, the event attracts serious riders who put on quite a show with pelethons and breakaways, as well as those who are just out for a nice spring morning ride through beautiful countryside. I try to cover the tour each year because my late Father was a life-long member of the Grays Chapel club. For more info on the ride, go to http://www.tourdelions.org/. (There should be a gallery of more images posted soon on the Tour website.)







(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Old Farm Outbuildings

The most interesting things sometimes on old North Carolina farm homeplaces are the many outbuildings. At my Grandfather's homeplace in Grays Chapel (Randolph County,south of Greensboro) there are several; a smokehouse, a washhouse, a chicken coop, pack house and grainery, besides the regular barn. Each had it's specific use and each still has it's own personality.


(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Banned from Facebook

As of yesterday, I became part of an apparently growing number of people who have been banned by Facebook for no apparent reason with no prior warning. I have looked through their terms of service and can only figure that I connected with too many people using FB's own "people you may know" service. I have been using Facebook as an extension of this blog and used their own service of having my blog posts automatically show up as a link on my Facebook page. Will I get my FB page back? Who knows. I have contacted their customer service, but they have not bothered to email an answer back to me. Oh well. I did enjoy the social networking abilities that Facebook seemed to offer, but, I probably spent too much time there anyway. My time is probably better spent shooting and sharing those images here.

UPDATE: As of 5-19-09 and after numerous emails to Facebook, I have had absolutely no response.

UPDATE 5-20-09: No response from Facebook.

UPDATE 5-21-09: Ditto

UPDATE 5-22-09: No Response

UPDATE 5-24-09: Not a word.

UPDATE 5-26-09: Total silence.

UPDATE 5-27-09: Connected to a guy named Joseph (or an automated reply?) who said I couldn't talk to anyone at that email address and was directed back to the original address from which I have had no reply.

UPDATE 6-01-09: Still no response from Facebook.

UPDATE 6-10-09: Facebook who?

Organic Gardening

Gardener Lindsey works in my neighbor's organic garden near Grays Chapel, south of Greensboro. The area is becoming a center of local sustainable agriculture and locally grown food.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Strawberries

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Local fresh picked Randolph County strawberries sit in a bowl waiting to become a hot berry cobbler. It's that time of year.

Fashion Wednesday

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Casual fashion photograph of a model from a denim shoot.

Spring Grass Mowing

With the warm weather and Spring rains, the photograph above is indicative of the images I see around my community these days as my neighbors scramble to stay ahead of the growing grass. Odell Routh, owner of Routh Oil Company in Lineberry, North Carolina, south of Greensboro, takes a break Saturday morning from his business to mow the road banks near his station.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Purple Iris

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

I live in my great-grandfather's house on the family farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina, just south of Greensboro. My immediate family has lived on that farm for almost one hundred years. A lot of the plants and flowers around our house date back to or are part of the original root stock from those planted by my grandparents and great-grandparents. For instance, we have a huge English boxwood and a magnolia that have to be at least a hundred years old each. Outside of our bay window is a flower bed full of iris transplanted from my grandmother's garden. They are an old fashioned variety and are now at their annual full bloom.

Friday Portrait

(photograph 2009 by Dan Routh)

Portrait of my son's friend Maia.

Still Life Product Photography

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

For those of you who have followed this blog, you have probably noticed that I spend a lot of time hanging around the Goat Lady Dairy in Grays Chapel. There are a couple of reasons. I live about a half mile from their operation, so they are neighbors and friends. I also really like the product they make. Recently, I have been working on shooting photography around the dairy for a website redesign they are working on. The image above shows one of the many types of goat cheese they produce weekly. The dairy is located about 18 miles south of Greensboro.

North Carolina Farmer Portrait

Portrait of my neighbor and Randolph County farmer Jack Fagg. Jack is a semi-retired farmer who raises grain, hay and straw near Grays Chapel in central North Carolina. If you live near the area and need some straw, Jack is sitting on about 4000 bales of good clean wheat straw from last year's crop.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Thistles

It's the time of year when wild plants start to grow on our farm in Randolph County. We have an abundance of thistle. They are weeds, but the birds love them, so we let them grow for the most part. Here are a couple of images from behind my barn.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Tony Williamson

I was down in Chapel Hill on Friday to move my son out of his dorm at UNC and took the time to stop by the Carolina Inn to see old classmate and mandolin virtuoso Tony Williamson play with his son Rad Andy and the Tony Williamson Band. They play a sort of blluegrass-jazz-blues-fusion that is pretty cool, especially on a warm Spring Carolina afternoon. For info about Tony and his music, check out http://www.mandolincentral.com/.



(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Masquerade Portrait

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Portrait of my son Devin and his friend Cally before her prom with the theme of "Masquerade" near Greensboro.