Denver Weekend Part II

Yesterday’s images were from Saturday, and on Sunday we changed direction. Matt and Christine showed me their downtown area, and we found a nice sidewalk restaurant where we ate lunch.  My favorite downtown place was Union Station, a classic, beautifully designed and built old fashioned train station, still used for that purpose but also buzzing with all kinds of activity and vibrant life. After lunch we took a 25 minute drive to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a really interesting and unique event venue, surrounded by a recreational area populated with more towering red rocks and crisscrossed by walking trails.  Very cool.

Weekend in Denver, CO

My son and daughter-in-law moved to Denver because of a job opportunity, and so Friday afternoon I hopped on a plane for a visit and arrived in time for dinner. We spent the weekend catching up and I was shown around their new town.  On Saturday we headed out of town for Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Battle of Aiken 2016

The reenactment of the Battle of Aiken is held annually in Aiken.  There are many opportunities for action photography, portrait photography, and certainly for people watching.  I have never seen such an interesting collection of characters in one place as I have seen today.  These are a few images captured as I tried to get a sense of how it all works.  I am going back tomorrow with a slightly modified set of photography tools and a little better idea of where to position myself.  

Defiant against the Elements

I had nowhere special to be today so I gassed up the car and headed south to one of my all time favorite places, Hunting Island State Park.  Usually I explore the area near the lighthouse, but this time I went further south to the nature center and hiked the trail to the beach, through the maritime forest and over the lagoon on the pedestrian bridge.  It is quite startling to see how much erosion has taken place at the south end of the island. The sand has disappeared and neighboring Fripp Island has been the beneficiary.  The state park has one lone cabin still standing in the sea.  It used to be part of a group of cabins set back from the beach. It won’t be there much longer.  It was a cold, windy, and gray day.  Not ideal conditions for photography, but it’s always nice to be outside in the fresh air and I got more interesting exercise than my usual treadmill slog to the tune of political talking heads on the tv.

Charleston’s historic Cemeteries

Over the weekend I visited Magnolia and Bethany cemeteries.  They are not particularly photogenic as wide angle shots, at least I have never found them so, but there are so many details worthy of capture.  Parts of the wrought iron work for example, and lichen textures on the historic headstones. Sadly, much of it is falling apart. Stones and statues are crumbling or lie broken on the ground, the ironwork is in disrepair.  Stopping to read some of the epitaphs, one conjures up images of people who lived full, notable, and sometimes tragic lives, now forgotten for the most part.  Life goes on.

Happy New Year!

So how did 2015 work out for you?  I hope it was a good one, and that you accomplished most of the goals you set for yourself.  The best way to put it all in perspective for me is to count my blessings.  I have a home, unlike many global refugees; I haven’t lost a loved one to tragedy, unlike the many families who have been affected by terrorism, and I have not gone hungry – far from it.  I do not live with pain and am not lonely. When I add all those up, I realize that I have no cause for complaint.  My top three resolutions for 2016 are to lose that 10 pounds (I think that was a goal for 2015 …), spend more time helping others, and spend more time practicing hearing from God.

I have been working with adding textures to images. Here are a couple that I like.  The originals were taken at Botany Bay and Hunting Island State Park.

This Christmas in Charleston

The weather across the world has been highly unusual of late.  Floods in North England, droughts in Africa, blizzards and terrible tornadoes in the US Midwest, and beach weather in Charleston – not just for a day, or a weekend, but for weeks! Here are a couple of pics from Folly Beach yesterday evening.

Merry Christmas 2015

“The Reason for the Season” has  become such a cliche, but it’s still funny how people just seem to be a little more tolerant around Christmas time, a little more friendly, a little less impatient (except in the traffic around the malls perhaps).  There a probably a plethora of reasons for that, diverse as the people they represent, but I think for many (at least for me), it is the reminder that we have been given so much and it is an outflow of gratitude.  God gave the very best He had for us, so let’s pay it forward. Merry Christmas!

Ruins Plantation, Sumter SC

As part of my involvement with the Slave Dwelling Project (slavedwellingproject.org) I visited Ruins Plantation in Sumter recently to document what is believed was once a slave cabin.  The owners were very gracious and were happy for me to photograph the main house and grounds.  It was beautifully decorated for Christmas.  Here are a couple of the images.