'yakin in merry-land

i have been testing out the waters of my new home state this past month, trying to find myself some new spots to paddle.  the inaugural trip was down to the patuxent river in bowie md.  when i put on the water and was pretty happy to find a river that was reminiscent of some south cackalacky blackwater rivers - small, winding and swampy - it felt like home a bit.  i paddled up stream 7 miles against the current and found a sweet place to hang my hammock for a beer break.  

beer thirty

found this guy near my hangout

the illusive wood duck

patuxent river in all of its' glory

garter snake

tree at the put in

stormy skies above the put in

my second trip out was to some tidal waters in the state capitol annapolis md.  i met up with my old charleston housemate austin and we put on under a bridge in the south river, into some pretty gusty headwinds on open water.  going was slow, but when the wind finally died, it was quite pleasant and the outgoing tide finally worked in our favor.  we paddled about 8 miles one way to austin's neighborhood landing and got off the water just as the sun was setting.  

one of about a million osprey on the south river

searching for the next meal

an unsuccessful attempt to grab a fish

austin's beautiful paddling form

sunset 

a container ship on the way up the mighty chesapeake bay

the latest trip i recruited my old college roomy frank to push some water on the potomac, and do a little camping along the water.  we put on near point of rocks md, and paddled 24 miles down river to edwards ferry.  the water was moving pretty quickly from recent rains, so we were able to cover a lot of distance fast.  it also poured down rain for more than half the day, and we got a little bit wet.  we were graced with a break in the precipitation long enough to set up camp on a very muddy island, and get a fire going.  pretty much as soon as we cooked dinner the skies opened up again, and we were very happy with our decision to hang the tarp in the trees.  the weather cleared overnight and we had a beautiful morning to finish the last 5 miles of our trip.

gearing up at the put in

the only shot i made on the water the first day, after this it was too wet to shoot.  point of rocks bridge in the distance

make shift garage on our muddy island.  we had a hell of a time getting this fire going with everything so saturated.

franky bones drying out

frank boiling water for the evening meals.

frank pushing water on day 2

sunny skies the second morning

whites ferry across the potomac

big ass power lines over the river, the noise these suckers were making was unbelievable.

spring crick

april 11-13 2014 - the annual migration to the woods of the allegheny national forrest to fish (drink) with my fellow pennsyltuckians in honor of the first day of trout season.  it usually snows, rains and is generally pretty terrible weather.  this year was an extreme exception.  aside from a full day of rain on friday, when most folks showed up, we had sunny skies and warm weather the rest of the weekend.  despite the warmer temps, we were still able to burn at least two entire dead trees.  i took a few moments away from the party to shoot some images, but mostly we stood around the fire, ate and drank heavily.  good times were had by all as usual.  

the crick

moss covered hemlock

sunlight beaming through the trees

the twin vdubs

empty fire side

full fire side

the life of the party - time lapse from 7pm to 2am at the campsite

the art of flight

a few of my friends have some of the coolest hobbies i have yet to discover, aside from kayaking. they are addicted to flight, in one form or the other, and most of their extracurricularactivities revolve around it.  they fly rc helicopters and planes with cameras and goggles, which allow them a first person view of the object the are piloting.  they kite surf and sky dive, one of them has a private license for fix wing aircraft and is working on a helicopter license as well.  the other is the man behind a sweet little anemometer that plugs into your smart phone and gives you instant and accurate wind speed, with the help of a free app.  back in early february i photographed said device, for a pr campaign he is launching, one of our location shoots took us to folly beach to photograph the wind meter with his flight gear.  of course since we dragged all the gear out there, he had to go for a flight while we were there.  these are a few of the better shots i managed while ryan (green wing) and joe (orange wing), who showed up a bit later, were up in the air.  enjoy, i know they did...

step 1 - strap propeller to back, lay out wing and lines

step 3 - keep running

step 2 - start running to get the wing in the air

step 4 - jump in the air and hit the gas


ryan looking cool flying his quad copter

it's not the government spying on you, yet….

return to chucktown

i wasn't gone very long, but it was great to be back anyway.  i was afforded the chance to get out of snow riddled baltimore for a week recently, and return to the sunny old stomping grounds in south cackalacky.  i spent the week of march 10 - 16 back in charleston for a shoot with coastal contacts.  i made sure there was some time in between work for some fun as well, not that work wasn't fun....

the vw thing.  my friends holly and forrest  were gracious enough to let us borrow it for a recent shoot on folly beach.  she's a bit difficult to drive, but once you figure out the clutch to gas ratio, it is a dream.  

quick shot of the models and their fashionable eye wear on the the thing.

fellow hammockers under folly pier on a 40 degree morning, they must have been freezing.

spent a few windy chilly nights out on the beach, working on my project - i was hoping to catch the tide up around the tree, but i never got out early enough.  although the sky made up for the  lack of reflection here.

this is the same tree - lit only by the moon

i spent saturday and sunday kayak camping out with friends at caw caw - i attempted to photograph a few trees via kayak, but after getting stuck repeatedly in the mud my frustration got the best of me so i headed back to the campfire to enjoy the beer and the night. 

habza on the paddle into caw caw

habza paddles into the last bit of sunlight.

karls bar - empty yet again

we were threatened by rain on the paddle out of the swamp

it was looking a bit eery

and by eery, i mean awesome.  we did get wet that day, but the trip was worth it.

i packed my bags and headed north on monday, after a successful shoot and kayak trip, directly into a winter storm....