B+W Wedding

October Garden Beauties

The habanero chili (Capsicum chinense) (pronounced /ˌhɑːbəˈnɛəroʊ/; Spanish: [aβaˈneɾo]) is one of the most intensely spicy species of chili peppers of the Capsicum genus.

Mango-Habanero Sauce

2 Tbl. peanut oil

8 ripe mangoes, peeled and cut into large dice

1/2 cup diced white onion

1/2 cup diced carrot

2 fresh orange habañero chiles

1/2 cup champagne vinegar

1/4 cup jerk seasoning

1/4 cup sugar

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add mangoes, onion, carrot and habañero chiles. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat, until onions are soft and translucent. Deglaze with vinegar and sugar. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat and simmer for 35-40 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt to taste. Transfer to a blender, pulse sauce and strain through a medium strainer. If the sauce is too thick add a little water to thin.
Yield: about 3 cups

***Ketchup can be added to this recipe, but I would not recommend because of all the crap that is in most ketchup. Also for milder (hehehe) habanero sauce, blanch your peppers with white vinegar and you can double or even triple the amount of peppers in your sauce. By blanching the peppers, some of the heat is removed and it is easier to taste the sweetness of the habanero.

Red, Green and White

Sophia Anne at 11 months

USDGC

Disc Golf
(photo: Barry Schultz 2005 USDGC)
I am first and foremost a fisherman, and if given the choice, I would probably go fishing before doing anything. But if its windy or too sunny, or if it has been raining or if it is going to rain, I will probably go disc golfing instead. Who am I kidding?!? I love disc golf!!! I have been playing for almost seven years and it seems to be a sport that I can play forever. Ted Williams was 75 and winning World Championships.... if that is not encouraging, I do not know what is. Professional disc golfer Steve Rico has been playing tournaments forever and he looks like he is nineteen years old!! Anyone can play and anyone can make a great shot. It's very inexpensive to play and 99% of the courses are public.

When you go to Richmond Hill Disc Golf Course, you might get to play golf with a world champion or with someone who could use a couple of pointers. Tag matches, skins, doubles, and heads-up battles are always happening, and people will always be gunning for you. With this said, there is nothing better than shooting 8 down with no bogeys and knowing you left two out there. Disc Golf is a sport for everyone. If you have not played before, hit me up, and I will show you the ropes!

I almost forgot why I started writing this post. Click on the picture above and it will take you to the United States Disc Golf Championship website which is happening as we speak. The final round is today and David Felberg has a 3 stroke lead and is 23 down after 3 rounds of play. Winthrop University has hosted the USDGC for 10 years now and I have personally attended 4 of them. This tournament is by far the pinnacle of all disc golf tournaments. The first year I went, I was one of two photographers for the event and this year the USDGC is being broadcasted live!!! Wow! Over a hundred volunteers are on hand and it is the love of the sport that is propelling it into the future. WNC Disc Golf Association has sent volunteers every year for ten years thanks to James and Meredith Nichols. With any luck I will get to watch the last round tomorrow, and I would be gauranteed to see the best of the best playing there best. I watched Kenny win it in 2005 and that was some of the most exciting competition I have ever witnessed.

Just go throw!

Being There

Cascades

Well after waiting a couple of seasons for the root ball to finally establish itself, I have successfully harvested and dried enough hops to make at least
60 gallons of IPA.
I have to admit, this is by far the longest vine that I have ever grown. Shoot after shoot kept coming and before I knew it, I had about 1 1/2 gallons of hops with the first picking (late August). I am hoping to get about the same yield with the late harvest. One brewer said brewing with just Cascades would make a really bitter brew. I said, "Perfect!"

While we are on the subject, Jessica and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this month, and our date started at Hops and Vines. Alex, the owner of Hops and Vines, won the Highland Brewing home brew contest. Highland brewed five-hundred gallons of Alex's Smoked Butte Porter, and Alex said the brew was almost identical to the batches he made himself. Not a bad way to start a date.

Groundhogs, Rabbits, Raccoons, and Weeds

Dag nab bit!!! Groundhogs, rabbits, and raccoons! My cabbage and broccoli have been destroyed, and now my green beans are the target. Papa Bill just brought his "Have a Heart" trap down from Maryland and hopefully I will be transplanting these critters soon.
Meanwhile our tropical rain forest which we used to call Asheville, is on the verge of being flooded. The French Broad River is completely full and shows no signs of letting up. Truly an amazing Spring! Once it stops raining everyday, I will wage yet another battle with various species weeds and vines. Unlike the heart loving battle with the critters, the weeds will be subjected to chemical warfare.

On a positive note, my hops are over 10 foot tall and my grapes are absolutely beautiful. The blueberry bushes are covered with berries and the potato plants look like there on steroids. Red Sail, Butter Crunch, Romaine, and Spinach find there way to the dinner table almost every night and soon they will be joined by garlic, onions and tomatoes.

Also planted in the Spring of 2009:
1- Red Twig Dogwood
4- Rhododendron shoots
1- Mtn. Laurel
1- Gardenia
6- Azaleas
2- Fig Trees
1- Kiwi Vine
2- Giant Arborvitae

Exuberance and Native America

North Carolina is categorize into several different zones and Asheville happens to be on the border of those zones and is considered zone 7. The Almanac clearly states that those living in zone seven should not commence to gardening until the first of May. My garden is now covered in old bed sheets and various buckets. Why? It has been snowing since Carolina to the court and well after they claimed their fifth national basketball championship. I have buckets on my Azaleas, Gardenias, blueberries and Cabbage. I have sheets over my lettuce and broccoli. My onions will have to be strong and my lilies are at the mercy on mother nature.

Savannah River Point - Late Archaic Early Woodland 3000 to 1100 B.P It is hard to find a good photograph of this particular point because every one wants to glorify the craftsmanship of this era, when in reality the tools were crude and usually made of quartzite, which is almost impossible to work with. Why is this period so different from the rest of Native American lithic history?

More Gardening

Joe Reynard and myself went exploring this past weekend on his uncle's land. The goal was to transplant some Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel to our homes here in Asheville. Mission accomplished! I have a stand of old pines in the backyard that have created the perfect soil for such wonderful plants. I have no idea what color the blossoms are going to be, but apparently some of the Mountain Laurel in the area that we were digging in have flame orange flowers! Very cool.

It is so weird how age and circumstance can totally change your appreciation for things that have been apart of your life forever. My mother and father are master gardeners and can turn any landscape into the envy of the neighborhood. I always enjoyed going back to my hometown in Asheboro, NC and just walking around the yard looking at all the wonderful specimens my parents had planted. Any gardener would have thoroughly enjoyed walking in this wild American creation.

My mother's roots in gardening definitely started growing at a young age (sorry). Mary Annie Harris, my grandmother, could throw a hand full of seeds in a field and have enough vegetables to feed the entire street. Mary Annie had ever Lilly and Iris know to man and probably a few only seen by close relatives. Apple trees with three different types of apples on one tree! What a great little mountain farm! I remember one time pulling in Puttman Road and smelling my grandparents farm miles away. Mary Annie was drying apples for pies, turnovers, and preserves, but that beautiful smell couldn't rival the stench from dozens of five gallon buckets filled with rotting grapes. Each bucket would receive a five pound bag of sugar and presto! Soon you would be drinking the sweetest wine to ever touch your lips.

This brings me to my next project in the garden. My wife Jessica doesn't have many vices, but she does have a certain summertime addiction: Muscadines and Scupadines. Last summer was amplified with little Sophia in her belly, so when I arrived to the Far Side Farmer's Market they knew exactly why I was there. With help from mother nature, I intend to grow this wild fruit?!? Maybe. Or maybe I will just grow Concords. I am going to grow some form of grape!

Gene Ween Band

Click image for gallery. The Gene Ween Band played at the Orange Peel last night and it was all that and more! Gene was on his "A" game and the supporting cast (band and fans) was on fire as well! Great energy all night! Stallion pt 4 and lots of other rare treats. If someone gets the set list/recording, please send it my way!

March Gardening

I heard somewhere that sticking your hands in the earth during early Spring is some of the best medicine out there. I do not have the biggest area to work, but it is big enough for me to get a taste for gardening and landscaping. Me and my buddy Craig Fender put a fence around the backyard and I have recently started getting rid of all the privet, brambles, and vines. I managed to salvage some lilies and a couple native trillium plants as seen here.

The vegetable garden so far has the following:
• Various Lettuce species (Butter crunch, Red sail, Hell Cat, etc.)
• Irish Cobble Potatoes
• Yellow Onions
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Boc Choy
• Garlic

The Rabbiteye Blueberry bush has also found its way into my backyard! Very exciting! I am a little anxious though, because Asheville is right on the border for this species of blueberry. I have also learned that more fruit can be produced by cross pollination. I have two of the same bushes, so hopefully they will produce some fruit. Apparently a single Rabbiteye Blueberry bush can produce up to 20 lbs a year! Another interesting fact is that blueberries actually help in the creation of new brain cells. Mmmmm....

Thank You Mr. Williams

I made a brief comment about Ted in my previous post, but I wanted to write more about Ted and I also wanted to mention a few things about my past that I feel are relevant. Ted Williams is a five-time world champion in disc golf and all these titles were obtained after the age of seventy! He passed away at the age of seventy-six from intestinal complications. I feel honored to have met Ted and also to be able to call him my friend.

The first time I walked through the woods with Ted, six Pileated woodpeckers flew right over our heads. Rare? Yes. Ted threw up his hands and said something in Tuscaroan, he smiled, laughed and looked at me as if he were the happiness child on the planet. (Later I asked him what he yelled at the birds, he said to the birds, "Many Thank Yous!!!") He always talked in riddles and it seemed he had this stream of conscious dialog always murmuring under his breath. I did not realize who Ted was outside the world of disc golf. I did not realize I was walking with a Buddha, a Chief, a trumpet player, an Airborne ranger.

A close friend of Ted's joined me for a casual round of disc golf at Richmond Hill. We talked about Ted the entire time and things were good. As we approach the biggest tree on the course, I heard an owl. I thought this was a bit unusual since it was the middle of the day, and we all know owls enjoy the night sky. I looked in the tree and I just could not find the owl. Then the owl's partner started hooting too! Two owls hooting and I can not see either of them. I looked to Ted's friend and he just smiled. By this time there was a chorus of owls and I could not think of anything. I simply looked to the sky and embraced the most spiritual moment of my adult life.

As we get older, most of us are unwilling to accept magic and we dismiss things that we can not readily understand. When I was ten years old, I watched a lightning bolt destroy a mature oak tree. As I was standing with my family on the second floor, a piece of the lightning came into the room that we were in. The lightning paused in the middle of the room, just long enough to feel a resounding peaceful silence before it exploded into nothingness.

When things happen, they happen for a reason and they will foreshadow things that can be changed. We must listen and open our hearts and minds.

Ted has many wonderful stories about spirits, gifted people, and accounts from his own life. Read the book, laugh, and follow the instructions.

Colorado Springs

Five days in Colorado Springs and I was ready to be back in the Sweet Sunny South. Between the elevation, lack of humidity, and fourteen hour days documenting the Tupperware Summit Awards, I had just enough left on the last day to venture out and visit the Garden of the Gods. It really is hard to describe how these monolithic giants dominated the landscape. The birds were in heaven and for a brief moment I relaxed as they filled my mind with there beautiful song.

As I was heading for the airport, I decided to drive into the countryside. I did not venture far to find myself in the middle of nowhere. A couple of horses and a dormant tundra rested in the foreground of the mighty Pike's Peak (14,420 ft.) On the plane ride home, I gripped my book Big Medicine and Six Nations as I prayed to my friend Ted Williams to hold my hand through the turbulence. I hate flying.

Photoshop Post Production

I have recently acquired some new Photoshop borders that really compliment some of the techniques I like to use. In this image, I have muted some of colors and have also used sepia toning to really make the existing color and skin tones pop. I have added some texture to the image by using a scan of some old parchment paper.

Greetings!

Hello and welcome! This blog will be used to post my current and past photography. I am excited to have a space in which I can talk about the context, industry advancements and technical aspects of my work.

Capturing the Moment

The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains around Asheville, North Carolina are the inspiration and fuel of my everyday life. I feel honored to live and work in a place so rich in culture, art, music and people.

I specialize in weddings, portraits, commercial and landscape photography. With over ten years of professional experience, I approach every new project with creativity and technical knowledge.

Whether it be the love of two families brought together by marriage, or the joy of parents with their newborn, every photo shoot speaks of the human condition. Documenting our world through photography is my passion.

- Ryan Bumgarner