We recently rented a house with friends in the NC mountains near Sparta and ended up being socked in by fog and rain for almost our entire stay. We promised the landlord we would be out by noon the day these were shot but lingered around the property to take a few outside snaps because the weather had cleared and view was fantastic. Incorporating the mountains dictated the direction for the shots and the direction and time of day dictated the lighting. Noon is not the best time to shoot outside and my tiny camera mounted flash didn't do much to fight off the shadows but I liked a few of the images. I thought they had a Mother Earth vibe, hence the title. As I was trying settings I brutally over-exposed a couple of images. The monochrome is an edit of one of these, almost solarized.

A few weeks ago a beat up caboose appeared on a grassy siding at small local railyard. I asked the wife if she would consider sneaking in and getting a few photos with a new prop on father's day and she said yes. So this morning I drove there alone to see if the office for the yard was manned and it wasn't. Sundays can be hit and miss. So I drove back and collected my little hobo and my gear. Of course, when we pulled up to the place, there was a railroad guy sitting there in an idling truck. It was still relatively cool and he had his window down. I said to the wife, let's just ask him if he minds us shooting the caboose. So we walk up to him and he's really nice about it. He says, "I can't give you permission, but I can pretend that you're not out there." Of course, the wife is already in her tight bib overalls with a tank top, so it's pretty obvious that we were not just going to be shooting the caboose by itself. But as promised he left us alone and after a while, another guy showed up and they fired-up an engine and went off somewhere down the main line. I wish it had been overcast, but for 90 percent of the time we were fighting harsh sunlight. Here are a few of the better pics hot off the press.