Tag: SC

Charleston Evening Views

I was looking back through my folders of aerial images the other day, and thinking about how much I have missed not being able to fly over the city and photograph it in all its moods and seasons. Unfortunately, COVID19 led to the demise of my helicopter pilot’s business. I don’t think there are many businesses who cannot say that 2020 was a very challenging year. Exceptions of course would be Zoom, social media, and other high tech companies. Anyway, these images were taken during an evening flight back in November 2017. The air was warm and there was a full moon rising. A little slice of heaven.

Road Trip to SC Peach Country

Spring in the south is a wonderful thing. For refreshing the soul, try driving randomly through the area of Ridge Spring, Johnston, and Monetta in upstate South Carolina while the peach orchards are in full bloom. Every year I am compelled to take that run up Highway 78 from Charleston and every year I am so glad I did.

Pecan grove

New Challenge for a New Year

Every so often I find I need to switch gears and focus on a new thing in order to keep growing and keep learning. I have decided to spend my “growing” energies in the pet portraiture genre. I do love animals, and so I will work on applying my “people portrait” expertise to producing portraits of pets. These are some that I have done in the past, but I also have ideas for different styles; quirkier, different, amusing. Stay tuned.

Gracie & Lacy at the Forte Jazz Lounge

Businesses of all kinds on King Street are struggling to come back. Not only has the COVID19 virus wreaked havoc with their vibrant tourism-driven livelihood, but their troubles were compounded by the riots that took place in downtown Charleston in May. Many enterprises have not survived, as evidenced by all the dark and boarded up storefronts I passed this weekend. One location that is gamely fighting to revitalize is the Forte Jazz Lounge. The owners showcase talented performers and musicians in a relaxed, laid-back (socially distanced) environment. On Saturday night I enjoyed performances by the talented sister duo, Gracie and Lacy, as well as from the legendary low country artist, Ann Caldwell. Get out and support these local artists when you can. You will be glad you did.

The Newly Renovated Cathedral of John the Baptist, Charleston SC

Because of my association with one of the contractors who worked on this amazing project, I was asked to photograph the end result. This has been ongoing for many months and a massive amount of work has been done in many different categories. It is beautifully restored. Congratulations to all who contributed to this very impressive result.

Bird Key, Stono Inlet

Because of current rambling limitations, I have been going back and re-editing some of my older images. Sometimes I am sloppy with editing if I have a batch of hundreds to get through, so it pays to go back and try and adjust exposures, color, and extract the most detail possible from these aerial images. Here are a few of Bird Key, just off Folly Beach and Kiawah in the Stono inlet, taken in March of 2016. Soon (if not already), it will be a hive of activity and full of nesting shore birds of all descriptions.

Stormy Skies over Charleston

Last weekend, the South experienced an almost unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes spawned by severe thunderstorms that swept through the area. This past weekend, more severe weather was predicted, and so we all hunkered down, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Mercifully, there were no tornadoes, just rain and some lightning. I visited a couple of my favorite city viewpoints to watch the clouds roll in, and captured these just before it started to rain. I do love Charleston!

COVID 19 Cabin Fever

I know it’s not hard (like when men were called up to war) but it’s just plain boring to sit around at home. Besides, I end up eating way too much, just because I bought all these snacks! Anyway, today I resolved to get outdoors, but where? The beaches, county parks, city parks, golf courses are all closed and I’ve walked my neighborhood until I know it better than I want to. So I headed south down Highway 17 and explored the area down Bennetts Point Road, including the Donnelley Wildlife Management area in the Ace Basin. Nice, but the gnats and mosquitos definitely rule out there, and no amount of repellent seemed to have any effect. Plus, as soon as you open your car door, they all fly inside. Aside from all that, it was a good day!