ForestWander - Nature Photography News

A nature photography father and son adventure team from West Virginia has released over 600 new nature pictures taken during the expedition into the wilderness.

Troy and Rusty Lilly, the authors of ForestWander Nature Photography (ForestWander.com) has released over 600 captivating nature photography images from the forests and mountains of West Virginia. These images are taken with a new high quality fixed focal length Sigma lens (28mm f/1.8). Troy states “this new lens has dramatically improved the clarity of our images”, he also emphasizes that he and his son are able to now capture video with a Canon G9 point and shoot camera during their excursions to add to their nature multimedia collection.

The high quality nature images taken by ForestWander are stunning from the subject matter alone. These new images, taken just this year by the photographers, are mostly focused on flower, insect and waterfall photography. The images range from flowers in Troy and Rusty’s yard at home, to several miles deep in the Seneca Creek canyon trail of the Monongahela forest of West Virginia.

The photographers tell of some amazing encounters that they have experienced this year. Some especially notable are on the Seneca Creek hike, which totaled over 25 miles and lasted three days in the deep rugged wilderness. The photographer adventurers describe encounters with a large black bear and extremely rigorous physical conditions on their journey. The journey was especially amazing for Rusty who is only 8 years old but nonetheless is an avid adventurer.

Troy and Rusty began on a Wednesday morning in July 2008 at forest road 112 at the head of Seneca creek trail. They then hiked 5 miles into the canyon encountering a large black bear on the trail and continuing to Judy Springs where they set up their camp and tent. They then spent the rest of the day exploring around the camp area and hiking a couple miles up to Horton trail.

The very next morning Troy and Rusty left their campsite around 8 am with their destination being “The Falls of Seneca”. They reached the falls of Seneca around 1 pm that afternoon. Now that they had made it to the falls they were very excited to get pictures and video. However, the mountain side had slipped away and there was no solid path across the gapping hole that lead over 30 feet down into a deep pool of rushing water. Rusty’s dad braced himself with roots protruding from the hillside and helped Rusty across the landslide to solid ground. Troy says “I knew that in order for him to fall, I would have to fall first”.

After taking several photos and video of the falls, Troy and Rusty tried to find a way to the Allegheny trail with no success because of the steepness of the mountain. At times the team rested periodically on the mountainside and at one time rested on a level place which they realized to be a bear den. After nearly 10 miles of hiking including several miles of an untamed trail the team arrived back at their campsite around 6 o’clock that evening.

The next morning was especially grueling for the father and son who were carrying nearly 75 pounds of camping gear and now had run out of food. Facing a 4 mile hike from the campsite which gradually slopes uphill to the highest peak in West Virginia Spruce Knob, Troy and Rusty hiked out of the Seneca Creek Canyon in a matter of 6 hours. Seneca Creek Map

ForestWander began in 2004 as a hobby project for Troy and Rusty and has grown into a part time business of simply providing nature photography images to browsing visitors on their webpage. The site currently receives in excess of 100,000 visitors each month and continues to grow in popularity every season.

For more information or to contact ForestWander Nature Photography you may visit their website.

ForestWander Nature Photography

http://www.forestwander.com/  

Troy & Rusty Lilly

ForestWanderer@Gmail.com

Cross Lanes, West Virginia

304-776-2477

Networking with peers and professionals, attending workshops and photographing in the field are just a few of the opportunities that will be provided to the select group of scholarship students attending the Fifteenth Annual Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 17-22, 2009.

Past participants frequently describe their experiences at the NANPA Summit with phrases like inspiring, incredible or even “life-altering”! It truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make personal contacts with the top pros in nature photography as well as editors and other industry leaders.

To qualify, you must be at least 19 years of age as of December 31, 2008. You do have to be a full-time college student in an accredited two or four year college, university, trade or vocational school. You don’t have to be an art major. You don’t even have to call yourself a nature photographer, but you will be one when you leave the NANPA Summit! You do have to have a camera (film or digital) that accepts interchangeable lenses. Lastly, transportation to and from the conference site is the responsibility of the student. Past winners of NANPA’s High School and College Scholarships are not eligible to apply.

Before applying, if you’d like to speak with some of our past participants, please ask Mark Lukes for a list of student representatives. They would love to talk with you!

Each college student selected to attend the Annual NANPA Summit will be provided with the following:

• Full Summit registration
• One year NANPA membership
• Photo field trip led by NANPA pros
• Portfolio review given by a professional stock agent or photo editor
• Ticket to the Awards Banquet
• Opportunity to network with mentors throughout the Summit
• Admission to all Summit keynote presentations and breakout sessions
• All meals
• Hotel room (double occupancy) at the conference site

In addition, students will convene each morning for breakfast to meet, listen and speak to a variety of invited guests. Throughout the Summit, students will have the opportunity to brainstorm, critique images and talk with pros on a variety of subjects.
NANPA spends approximately $1,500 per student to develop and operate the scholarship program. We invite you to make a contribution to help support the program for future students.

Application Process: