First Post of the New Year!!!!! - Panola Bike Path

Well, the weather finally broke yesterday.  After a month of overcast skies on the weekends, Sunday was a simply marvelous day.  My wife, being the saintly woman she is, told me I should go and shoot some photos.

I have passed by the new bike path near Panola road everyday on the way to and from work.  I have visited the area before and took some grafitti shots under the bridge.  So, I decided to make this my visit for the day.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed.  The path that I thought would be a hiking trail is actually a bike path (hence the title of the post).  The path is nice for bicyclists, but not for photographers.  The path is so far away from the South River at most times that there is not much to shoot.  In fact, the only "keeper", in my opinion, was captured because I was willing to stray off the paved pathway.

The attached shot is of a rope swing, hanging lifeless, waiting for summer and a new crop of children to use it to launch themselves into the cool river.  The makeshift ladder does not look strong enough to support much weight, but I am not an expert in these matters.  The photo was difficult to capture due to many distracting elements that I did my best to eliminate.  You cannot see it, but there is a big tree just to the left of the swing.  Also, there was no vantage point to the right of the swing, so the left view was the only one available.  I choose the use Lightroom's "Antique Photo" preset because I felt it suited the mood of the shot.

I hope you enjoy this shot, and feel free to offer any suggestions to make it better!!!!