It was the last day of my vacation week. I was procrastinating but still trying to squeeze in a bit more photography and wanted to go somewhere new. I had never actually been to Lake Lanier, although now I have tried to drive there several times. But as it turns out, you have to pay for almost everywhere. As a rule I try to not go places that require payment, I don’t really have a good reason for this. Just never liked the idea of paying for parking or entrance fees. I like nature being enjoyed at just the cost of nature. I also get the point that places like state parks charge so they can upkeep it, which makes sense. Although maybe that should be a tax that everyone pays. I know different states handle things differently, and there are a few states that have state level parks for free. I absolutely want to travel to these places.

But Georgia is not one of these places. And paying money to go somewhere puts a certain amount of pressure, it’s not just time you’re sinking into something but there is an actual monetary cost associated with it. And as in photography there’s a good chance you could make the trip out, and walk away with no good pictures only good experience. I try to minimize the actual cash costs. Obviously this doesn’t work for everywhere, but especially when it’s just a quick trip. Overall we were here at the lake probably less than an hour. Thankfully it was early on a Sunday and not many people came to this one spot that has free parking, very small area. Honestly as this was more than a year ago, wouldn’t be surprised to find that it’s a pay to park spot now. As is every other place I’ve found at Lake Lanier.

But it was a nice little spot to visit, took some photos of the water and a few other things that interested me.

Took a couple of shots of these floating barrels, probably there to keep boats from coming into the smaller portion of this particular spread of the lake.

I got a little closer and did another shot of these, really like the color orange and how blue the sky was with a bit of color adjustment.

There was also a sign that I took a picture of, I liked the way the colors of the sign stood out against all the green around it. I also make it black and white, just to play around with that in photoshop.

Back in the car, this was interesting with all the rocks coming to meet the water.

One last shot I did I really liked the composition of, even if I didn’t know that word back then. It was a series of 3 as these boats came passed each other. With an island in the background. I edited it into black and white for effect in the waves.