Yesterday was a GORGEOUS day here in Northern Virginia. The family and I took a drive out to Stribling Orchard to go apple picking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The drive was beautiful along Route 66 and the trees were just starting to change colors.
ISO 200 ~ 28mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/640 sec
© Corrie M Avila
The orchard had pumpkins out front and also crates of already picked apples. Of course I had to have a photo of my boys sitting in the pumpkins.
ISO 200 ~ 90mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/800 sec
© Corrie M Avila
There were freshly dipped caramel apples, apple cider, BBQ, and a bakery filled with all kinds of wonderful and amazing things. The bakery had freshly baked apple pies, apple sticks (which is what we ate), and freshly baked bread. I wish I had a photo of the apple sticks, but um, yeah, they were that good.
ISO 200 ~ 50mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/250 sec
© Corrie M Avila
ISO 200 ~ 35mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/800 sec
© Corrie M Avila
ISO 200 ~ 28mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/160 sec
© Corrie M Avila
There were maps that said where to find each kind of apple. But since we were more interested in the "hunt" of the apple, we just kind of meandered. We also had to lay down some ground rules for the boys.
- Don't climb the trees
- Don't pick up ANY apple off the ground
- Place your apples gently in your bag or you will end up with applesauce
- There is no potty in the orchard
- DO NOT PICK UP ANY APPLES OFF THE GROUND INCLUDES PUTTING THEM IN YOUR MOUTH
ISO 200 ~ 28mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/400 sec
© Corrie M Avila
ISO 200 ~ 80mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/100 sec
© Corrie M Avila
ISO 200 ~ 75mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/800 sec
© Corrie M Avila
ISO 200 ~ 10mm ~ f/16 ~ 1/160 sec
© Corrie M Avila
ISO 200 ~ 19mm ~ f/16 ~ 1/160 sec
© Corrie M Avila
Now for my favorite part of our trip... at the very tippy top of the orchard lies an AMAZING view. If you don't know about it, you'll most likely never venture up that far. It just goes to show, it is worth the time exploring all areas of wherever you may be visiting.
After paying for our apples, we took the car up and ate our apple sticks while looking out at this...
ISO 200 ~ 10mm ~ f/13 ~ 1/250 sec
© Corrie M Avila
I could not get over the clouds. They were just perfect... like God himself took a paintbrush and painted the sky with little cloud fluffs.
ISO 100 ~ 65mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/200 sec
© Corrie M Avila
There is no admission fee to get into the orchard, you just pay for what you pick. I am planning to return to the area in a week or so in order to get my fall landscapes. Seeing as my boys have already made their way through half the apples, it may not be a bad idea to go back and restock.
I'm going to add a side note here. If you notice in my settings, my ISO is set at 200. This was purely by mistake and it should have been set to 100 for all the photos. I didn't even notice my mistake until I got home. This is just a friendly reminder (speaking to myself here too), always check your settings! Even if you know they are where they need to be, check them again. Thankfully this was not a huge mistake, but it was an unnecessary one.
And finally, make sure to wear closed toed shoes... it can get a little mushy and slippery out there with all the apples on the ground.
Enjoy the beginning of Autumn and Happy Shooting!
Corrie
edit on 10/10/12 ~ After speaking with the Striblings, they informed me that when an apple has just fallen from the tree, it is actually at perfection... that the apple drops when it when it has gotten the perfect amount of sugar from the tree ~ how cool is that?!? I think with my boys I have to stick with the rule of "no eating apples from the ground" just because there are some mushy ones down there too. But it goes to show that the best fruit may actually be right under your nose!
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