sunrise at the boneyard

we headed to edisto state park for an evening of camping this past week, with friends from out of town.  it was hot, buggy, and windless - but we managed to have a good time anyways.  cold beer always helps.  fish tacos over the fire, a frozen peach cobbler pie - cooked over the coals, and wine also helped.  i invited everyone to come along for my sunrise adventure, but oddly enough, everyone wanted to sleep in.  so i woke before the sun came up, hopped in the car and drove a few miles up the road to bottany bay.  if you live in charleston, or near it, and have never been - you need to go.  the park contains two miles of undeveloped beach - with a boneyard that is amazingly beautiful, tons of loggerhead nests during the nesting season, and about a million mosquitos and no-see-ums.  the gallery below is a few shots from the campsite, sunrise at the beach, and few shots on the trail to the beach, i didn't have time to spend in the rest of the park - but it is worth it if you find the time. 

sunrise at botany bay

8mm

my recently retired parents stopped by last night on their way down to florida for a few months, and brought with them about 5 boxes of stuff for me to look over and see if i wanted.  one of the items was a kodak brownie 300, 8mm movie projector, that still works!  i fired it up this morning as soon as i could, and loaded up one of the movies that was in another box. 

these films are eerily silent, but show my parents in their younger years, my grandparents when they were still spry, and i believe there are even some films of my brother and i when we were just starting to walk (or else we were drunk) because we kept falling over.

the still captured here is my moms dad, seemingly on a trip to the allegheny mts.  also in the image is the original 8mm camera used to shoot these films.  the video to the right was quite a surprise - the first frames are a man on the hood of a car going through a flaming wall.  way to capture some awesome moments gramps!

if the rest of the boxes are worthy, i may do some still life of their contents.

 

kodak brownie 300 projector and video camera

painted with light

wednesday afternoon - after finishing an awesome shoot with my friend laura - i packed up my camping gear and boat, and headed for capers island.  this was a last minute trip, but it worked out pretty well.  the weather was fantastic - and there was a steady 5-10 mph breeze coming off the water to keep the night nice and cool.  i paddle against an ebb tide, with the wind in my face, so i had a good work out on the way there.  i arrived just before sunset, and ended up running into the only other person out there, who happened to be kayaking in the same time i was.  we chatted for a while, but both preferred solitude, so we set up camp fairly far from one another.  i set up the hammock, got the fire going and had some canned soup for dinner.  i took a hike with my camera down the beach towards the boneyard and nothing seemed strike me as worthy of tripod set up.  as i wondered back towards camp, i noticed the silhouettes of the dead trees were very apparent with the ambient light of isle of palms behind them.  so i found a good subject and went to work.  the images were cool, but nothing seemed to be standing out, so i decided to get the flashlight out and do some painting with light.  to the right is the result of my efforts - i am quite pleased, and i will be making a return trip to do some more of this work the next time there is little to no moon in the night sky.  enjoy the gallery...

one of many awesome trees on the beach of capers island.

sunday funday

hopefully i will be posting a lot more kayaking adventures - here is a start.  i returned to my favorite spot at caw caw sunday with a few other folks i paddle with frequently.  we paddled against an ebb tide the entire way in, and were able to enjoy a pretty speedy float back to the landing on the return trip.  spotted a baby gator and a pair of roseate spoonbills this trip - gotta love the nature sightings.   at low tide the wallace river exposes multiple sandbars which we took advantage of for some swimming action to cool off.  enjoy the gallery.

The fleet on a sandbar.

the smokies being smoky

here is a gallery of selected images i didn't have a chance to upload before, from my recent road trip. these are all from clingmans dome, where i caught sunset, along with a busload of people who were everywhere, and then the sunrise the following morning, with exactly 3 people.  i love sunrise due to the simple fact that most of people aren't going to make it up to the tourist spots for the show.  enjoy the gallery. 

for reference, this is what i mean by people everywhere..... (iphone photo) 

loss of a friend

george was an old friend. literally - he was 83 when he passed away saturday.  many of my young friends thought it odd that i spent so much time with him and his wife barb, until they would meet him, then they understood why, because he was pretty damn awesome.  

george taught me to drive his center console boat, navigate charleston's waterways, catch crab, throw a cast net, and most of all appreciate what charleston has to offer - water. 

george will be dearly missed by so many people, and i am one of them. 

for his service yesterday at mariners cay, sloane and i went out early in the morning and painted the folly boat in his honor - unfortunately it was painted over within a few hours, but thats the folly boat.

 

Folly Boat

barb, george and winston posing for their christmas card last year. if you know me, you know that i really have to like you to do a family photo.... 

road tripping pt 2

after drinking far to much alcohol and pretending like we were in college again, i dragged myself out of bed at 10 am sunday morning for my marathon drive back to chucktown.  after dropping sloane back off in chicago, i headed south for kentucky - to a state park known as cumberland falls.  it was halfway, i had no idea what was there - but after some research while lunching at a rest stop - i discovered that i may witness something very unique, a moon bow.  the stars aligned, and because of super moon, i was hoping to view this rare event.  what is a moon bow?  i arrived at the campground around 1030 pm - set up the hammock, ate a quick mt house meal and drove down to the gorge to see what i could see.  to my horror, about 500 other people had the same idea.  there were people parked all over the road, walking with their kids on leashes, in strollers, some rocking glow sticks and lawn chairs.  i ventured into the crowd and spoke with a few others who were carrying substantial photo gear.  the verdict was the moon bow would not be seen tonight, due to incredibly dense fog.  so being the crowd lover i am, i quickly headed back to my car and across the river to an almost deserted trailhead i had read about that afternoon.  i hiked about a mile in the dark, to a civilian conservation corps shelter on top of a high bluff - where i thought i may get a nice shot of the moon, but there were too many trees.  on the hike back that evening i ran into a couple from oregon who decided they didn't want any part of the party at the other side of the river as well.  we ended up sitting in the parking lot for an hour, drinking a few beers and sharing our travels.  i was up before the sun on monday, to hike the same trail again, only this time i completed it.  the end result is a feeder stream that pours into the cumberland river via a 44 foot waterfall - complete with splash back that resembles an eagle in flight, consequently known as eagle falls.  after a long 3 hour hike, i made it back to my vehicle to drive the final 550 miles home to chucktown.  

stormy skies outside of indianapolis, in

road tripping pt 1

i am in the midst of driving to south bend indiana for a wedding, sleeping in my eno hammock along the way.  i stayed in smokey mountains np the first evening, and caught sunrise/sunset from clingmans dome.  i headed for southern illinois the second night, and after a surprise ferry ride across the ohio river, ended up at a place called garden of the gods, where i was accosted by a raccoon while sleeping in my hammock.  i made it to chicago to pick up sloane, and finally to our hotel in south bend for a well deserved shower.  the return trip is still up in the air...  enjoy the gallery.

packed and ready to go

caw caw swamp

this is by far my favorite place to paddle in charleston currently.  it seems to have a never ending array of wildlife to sneak up on, as well as so many different routes to take through the old rice fields and creeks.  this panorama was shot after i climbed the signal for the train line that runs nearby to the swamp.  

caw caw swamp viewed from train line signal

i came across this deer calmly swimming across the creek today - only the 2nd or 3rd time i have ever seen a deer actually swim. 

deer friend goes for a swim