On the Lazy River at
James River State Park

Though the strong rains invaded the majority of my trip, I managed to set up camp at James River State Park in spite of it. It also happens to be another IDA certified Dark Sky Park–well what do ya know? But first, some daytime scenes, mostly in the river, mostly of dragonflies.

I enjoyed the park immediately as I saw an abandoned cabin to photograph once I turned in (more on that on another post. I’m way backlogged. I need an assistant…) Then this special buddy came along as I explored the park scouting places for my night shoot.

The view from my campsite. This is the James River, the longest river in Virginia that flows all the way to the Chesapeake Bay. 

Setting up the tent worked me up to a sticky sweat, so I was soon in the river to cool off. And I had my underwater camera to try to capture some underwater critters.

There’s my tent over there! It is pretty big, sleeping 4 apparently. But now I feel like that’s the only way to go. Since I was in it for awhile when it was pouring buckets, I was thankful for the space. Plenty of room for downward facing dogs.

So relaxing. The water just strips away my body’s tension.

Only critters I saw underwater were my feet.

Water selfie

Here starts the dragonfly action. They were all about. Such whimsical creatures–the way they fly, their colors–straight out of fairy land. So yeah, I was very excited when they all started landing on me.

Funny how some insects make the cut.

Whachu lookin’ at?

A lot of these were different dragonflies…

River-wrinkled fingers

Then the clouds were on the move and thunder started rumbling. I wanted to quickly take a shower so I could then just veg in my tent during the rain. It was timed perfectly.

So many noises! Can you identify the sounds?

Tent selfie

So glad I got to camp for the night.. I was beginning to lose hope! Stay tune for the very brief night shoot. It was not a clear evening for very long…