Category: News

The steeples of Mother Emmanuel Church, St. Matthews Lutheran Church, and the Citadel Square Baptist Church, one image taken this afternoon, one at sunset, and the other during the “blue hour” at around 8.30pm.

If you go on to the NASA website, you can sign up for email alerts that will let you know when the space station will be visible in your area. Sometimes it’s just not convenient, like at 3am, or when you have to be doing something somewhere else, but this evening was perfect. My “spot the station” alert informed me that it would be visible for six minutes, appearing 10 degrees above Southwest at 9:09pm and disappearing 10 degrees above Northeast.  You would think that with such specific information it would be possible to document its entire path across the sky, but I only managed to pick it up about half way through its transit. OK, next time I’ll do better.  In any event, it was a beautiful evening to be out in the James Island County Park, one of my very happy places.

I am always seduced by the romance of tall ships, so today I stole away and joined the Lynx, a square-topsail schooner from Nantucket, MA in the Parade of Sail. The weather was perfect, just enough cloud cover to mitigate a really punishing day under a hot Carolina sun, and a sweet onshore breeze.  The ships are docked in North Charleston and the festival runs through the weekend, so go take a look and support this wonderful event.

I’m always scouting for new vantage points for shooting a full moon.  I love Charleston rooftops, but there are few elevated views available to the general public without having to shoot through glass, or without freedom to move and compose shots according to the position of the moon, etc.  This one is not too bad, and so this morning found me on top of a public garage watching the moon set behind St. Philips Church steeple.  It was warm, there was a light breeze, and I had my morning cup of tea along with me so all was well with my world 🙂

 

The last location I checked off my list before I headed back to Charleston was the St. Augustine Lighthouse.   A beauty for sure.  I climbed to the top, but cheated sort of, because I was photographing all the way, so I didn’t get in the least bit winded.  While I was working there, I watched many locals who climb up and down the stairs multiple times as a daily exercise regime. That’s more interesting than the stairmaster at the local gym!

No visit to St. Augustine would be complete without spending some time at the amazing Alligator Farm, a misnomer really, since this zoo is so much more than alligators.  To be sure, they have a LOT of alligators, more per square inch than most southern swamps.  I was there to photograph their rookeries.  What a chaotic cancophony of  discordant squawking and activity.  Birds of every description are nesting and raising their chicks in every nook and cranny they can find.  Just when you think it impossible to fit another nest in a tree, some resourceful bird has bagged a spot.  All of this is going on above the alligator infested swamp. Here are a few of the birds that I photographed.

I have been wanting to visit this beach for years, made plans in the past but they never materialized for one reason or another.  Finally made it.  What attracted me are the unique outcroppings of coquina rock found along this particular stretch of beach.  Love the textures, and the way the water swirls around them, creating wonderful motion patterns.  This was sunrise, and I went back for sunset later on. Those images will be posted later.

I stopped here for awhile on my way from Charleston down to St. Augustine.  I wanted to see if there was still a good sized shrimp fleet in the Darien River, but as I wandered, I discovered other gems in this sleepy little southern town.  It has quite a history, and I spent some time at the Fort King George State Historic Site, which is very well reconstructed and beautifully maintained.  Wandering through the neighborhoods, I stumbled into Vernon Square, a beautiful park with a fountain and graceful old oaks, surrounded by historic churches and quaint bed and breakfasts.  I need to go back and photograph in softer light to do justice to the town of Darien.

Ah … seasons in life.  So many roles; child, daughter, sister, mother, and finally grandparent.  Funny how the tide just rolls along and carries you, like it or not.  I still feel the same inside even though of course I know I look very different.  Hopefully I have acquired a little wisdom along the way.  Enough of philosophy.  Suffice it to say that much of my time these days is taken up with these four adorable children.  It’s not often that you catch them all looking clean and preppy at the same time, but Easter affords such an opportunity, so I took it and updated their photos, Gideon, Euphrates, Torah and Raven.