I took the XJS out for a cruise on this beautiful Sunday afternoon with the new camera to see what I could see. My first stop was in the small town of Arnoldsville, Georgia and this building ruin.

Arnoldsville was settled in the early 1800s and originally called "Cherokee Corner." In 1894, local store owner Edwin Shaw became the town's Postmaster and renamed the town after himself: Edwin, Georgia.

In 1896, the town was renamed to Arnoldsville after Nat O. Arnold, a wealthy landowner who purchased Edwin Shaw's store.

This building was the Arnoldsville Cotton Gin.

This is actually the second building on this site. The first gin was destroyed by a tornado in the early 1900s.

The gin was rebuilt using stone. Nat Arnold's name can be seen above one of the windows.

Information I found online suggests that the building was later used as some kind of store.

I've always been fascinated by old buildings.

Arnoldsville Cotton Gin, Arnoldsville, Georgia.

Arnoldsville Cotton Gin, Arnoldsville, Georgia.

Arnoldsville Cotton Gin, Arnoldsville, Georgia.

From Arnoldsville, I followed US Route 78 east to Lexington, Georgia where I picked up Georgia Route 77 heading north. I stopped at what looks like an old store to take a few pics.

I don't know what this building is/was. But it looks like some kind of store.

The cows didn't seem to mind me taking pictures.

Actually, I'm not sure the cows even noticed me.

This was a great spot to take pics of the clouds.

Weather has always been a favorite photography subject of mine.

While I am pretty proficient at pointing and shooting, I don't know a lot about the actual principles of photography. I figure one way to learn is to just take a lot of pictures and see what happens.

So that's what I did. I stopped and took a lot of pictures.

I continued on Route 77 north until I reached Georgia Route 72 in the city of Elberton, Georgia. Route 72 West would take me back to Athens.

Since Route 72 was deserted, I stopped to take more pics where I had a long view.

The photos above and below look east back toward Elberton where I just came from.

The clouds were getting quite dark in that direction.

I also saw some dark clouds off to the west where I was heading.

Hopefully, I can make it home before the rain arrives.

Regardless, the clouds looked great.

Looking west along Georgia Route 72 outside of Elberton, Georgia.

Looking west along Georgia Route 72 outside of Elberton, Georgia.

I've taken many pics of the moon in the past. The old Canon SX40HS camera had a 35x optical zoom with 4x of digital zoom available on top of that. In other words, I could get surprisingly close decent quality. The new SL3 camera doesn't have a long zoom lens. But it does have a much larger sensor. So even though I can't zoom in as far, the image quality is still good enough to produce a decent picture. I took the photo above at the long end of the standard 18 - 55 mm lens that came with the camera.

The kit I bought also came with a 55 - 250 mm lens. Switching to that lens not only gets me in closer than before, it does so with good quality.

I took the photo above at the 250 mm end of the lens. The result is still decent even after cropping and zooming in.

I turned back to the east and started playing with some of the settings, (that I don't know a whole lot about just yet).

Focusing on the trees gave me a clear shot. But the clouds in the background are somewhat hidden.

Changing the focus point changed the look of the photo dramatically.

Looking east along Georgia Route 72 outside of Elberton, Georgia.

It's going to take me a while. But I'll figure this camera out eventually.