Hi Folks, on this trip to the Smokey's I decided I was going to do something I've wanted to do for some time. Photograph them from the air. Our flight was in a six seat Bell helicopter and we lifted off in cloudy conditions at 1pm. The tour took us over Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Wears Valley before returning to base. The flight covered hundreds of miles but only took us 30 minutes. The lighting was awful but eventually cleared by the time we landed. I wished I'd had better light, but it is, what it is and I apologise for the pour image quality. Below are three shots from this trip. If you want to see the entire album, click on the link. It will show some of the fire devastation around Gatlinburg. There are also 3 movies at the end of the album. Sorry but you must have good internet to view them. Hope you enjoy this tour, I shot it with my friends at UHH in mind. When viewing the album, pausing your cursor over the photo makes a photo caption appear. Enjoy...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/james-frazier/albums/72157681004406001

Yesterday morning the superior asked if I could go to the Cistercian monastery in Sticna (little hat over the c) to help with a retreat. Sure. When? Five o'clock. Today? Uh huh. Fortunately was free. We drove down, about thirty minutes, and I took the train back this evening, about an hour. The monastery was built in the early 12th century and is one of the most significant religious sites in Slovenia. Renown for illuminated manuscripts in the 14th century. The Cistercians were founded in 1092. This abbey was a rather early foundation. In the 16th century the Cistercian order was split into the O.Cist. (old or common observance) and OCSO (strict observance, also known as Trappists). Only a little remains of the original monastery, mostly outer walls. The abbey church was redone during the Baroque. The abbey was inactive by order of the emperor for 114 years but was reactivated. It is not huge nor is it situated on a vast tract of land. Fascinating place.

Because I was facing a significant walk back from the train with backpack stuffed with laptop etc. I took only one lens, a Leica f 1.4 25 mm (50 mm equivalent on Olympus). It finds light where there is none even when hand held.

I have had my Canon Rebel T6s for a year now. I went overboard buying lenses because I didn't know what I wanted or needed. I have a Tamron 70-300 that I thought would come in handy for some longer shots. My husband and I were out the other day (he has wonderful eyes for spotting wildlife). We came across an eagle in a tree, but I didn't have my camera so we went home and got it. The eagle was gone from the spot we saw it, but lo and behold we found it in another spot. My husband pulled over and I just started shooting. I'm teaching myself BBF (back button focus). The only thing I forgot to do is when my husband made noise so I could catch a shot of the eagle in flight, I forgot to change my camera to "shutter priority." All in all, I am very pleased with my shots. There was no post editing done on these except cropping. Any opinions are welcome to this newbie.

4 different poses by more than one Great Blue Heron on a sunny day.

Hand held. 800mm shots.

Photo #1: Canon 5Dsr - Canon 400 II DO f4 - Canon 2.0x III - 1/800 - f/14 - ISO @ 1000. Distance was about 150-175 feet.
Photo #2: Canon 5Dsr - Canon 400 II DO f4 - Canon 2.0x III - 1/320 - f/8 - ISO @ 640. Distance was about 125 feet.
Photo #3: Canon 5Dsr - Canon 400 II DO f4 - Canon 2.0x III - 1/320 - f/8 - ISO @ 640. Distance was about 125 feet.
Photo #4: Canon 5Dsr - Canon 400 II DO f4 - Canon 2.0x III - 1/1000 - f/14 - ISO @ 1000. Distance was about 150-175 feet.