Well, it was big and beautiful, and the first time since 1866 that this has happened, so I guess it is a pretty big deal.  Big enough to fly hundreds of miles for, and stay awake in the cold for 🙂  I will post more images in the next few days, after I have returned to Charleston, but here’s a nine image collage of the various stages of the eclipse.  Unfortunately it set before it was over, so the entire progression was not captured from where I was in Joshua Tree, but this was awesome enough, and besides I desperately needed to find some hot coffee by the end of it.

Most of day two was spent scouting for suitable locations for sunrises, moonrises, and lunar eclipse shots, and I did a lot of driving all over the place.  This is a wonderful place, truly magical, and there is way too much to see in just a few days.  Highly recommended place to visit, especially if you love the desert.  Staying in a really rustic (but very cool) hotel in  the little town of Twentynine Palms, gateway to the northern park entrance.

Disappointed not to be able to witness this month’s “super blue blood moon” on the east coast, and seduced by all the attendant hype surrounding it’s anticipated display, I made a crazy, spontaneous decision to head west so that I would be able to see and photograph it.  Of course I did as much research as I could in terms of choosing a suitable location; somewhere where it wouldn’t rain, and somewhere where I would be able to see most of it’s progression, so here I am in the town of Twenty Nine Palms, just outside the Joshua Tree National Park.  The first afternoon after flying from Charleston was spent getting my bearings and hunting for a suitable location from which to shoot this major event.  Here are a couple photographs from that day.

I have many photographs of McLeod Plantation, but this is the first time I have photographed snow on the ground.  Wish I could have got here even a day earlier, but even so, this was still sticking two days after the event.  

Today’s weather in Charleston was nothing short of historic.  On James Island we accumulated about 4″ of snow.  The last time Charleston had experienced anything like that was in 1989 shortly after Hurricane Hugo had devastated the area.  As the meteorologists excitedly elevated their predictions for snow in the Coastal Carolinas, I listened with some scepticism, having heard similar  forecasts in past years, forecasts that never materialized.  Well, they got it right this time.  Of course we are entirely ill equipped to handle such events, and all businesses and school activity came to a grinding halt for two days, but it sure was a pretty sight.  Maybe we’ll see it again in another 30 years, or maybe not.  I had forgotten about global warming 🙂

It’s been my privilege and pleasure for the past few years to photograph this gang.  Last year there was Mum and Dad and five kids, this year we added two, new born twin boys.  To add a little more action to the mix, Mum home-schools them all (not the twins yet!)  They are seriously a great family and they said it was okay to post a couple of the photos, converted to black and white, that I had been working on.

I enjoyed my visit so much last weekend, that I decided to spend some more time poking around the more “tucked away” lanes on Edisto Island.  I was disappointed earlier this year when I completely missed the timing of fall color in the Blue Ridge Mountains, so this has been somewhat of an unexpected bonus.  More subtle, but very lovely, as the low country displays its fall splendor.

Spent some time with friends on Edisto Island this weekend.  This was one country lane less traveled.

Our County parks are a wonderful asset to the residents of Charleston, and after many years of visiting the James Island County Park, I am still discovering trails that are new to me.  There’s something magical about leaving the paved, more traveled paths and padding through a soft carpet of pine needles and freshly fallen leaves.  I took these with my phone this evening, and it goes to show that beauty needs no fancy equipment.  It just is.

Had fun last evening shooting a most beautiful Gift Plantation property that is about to hit the real estate market.  A cottage of course it is not, but someone with means will be the fortunate recipient of these gorgeous sunset views across the marshes and creeks!