evening

Falcon Heavy Fly-By

The SpaceX program and their apparently bold and limitless imagination as to what can be achieved is so admirable. To me, it represents the brightest and best of American ingenuity and I plan to visit Cape Canaveral soon to witness a launch in person. In the meantime, I went out to Folly Beach on the evening of December 28th to see if I could spot Falcon Heavy fly by. Launch time was 20:07 and the trajectory was showing that it was passing up the eastern seaboard. I took my camera along for fun, and captured this shot of the separation from the boosters as the rocket continued on its journey into orbit. What a thrill!

The Edge of America

Summer is almost over and most vacationers have returned to their homes. I don’t enjoy Folly when it is crowded but love to spend time there out of season. Yesterday was a beautiful warm evening and it felt good to walk the beach again. I have so many images of this shoreline, as do many of us locals, but it never tires, and they are never the same.

Botany Bay Boneyard Beach

One has to time one’s visit to this location carefully, otherwise you run the risk of driving an hour South from Charleston, walking the trail to the ocean, only to find that a high tide has rendered it completely impossible to access the beach. I saw a low-tide opportunity during the late afternoon yesterday and decided to pay a visit. The weather had been unsettled and was overcast in Charleston, but at this time of year it is so changeable that it was worth a try. The beach is always wonderful, and I so enjoy just being there, but the air was hazy with smoke from the Canadian wildfires, and the colors were pretty dull, so I decided to convert the images to black and white. Here are a couple.

Winter Evening in Downtown Charleston

Winter can look bleak sometimes. Not much color anywhere. Seems almost as though everything and everyone is resting, waiting for Spring. So it seemed on my walk around the historic downtown residential part of Charleston the other evening. My images definitely needed a little editing help, so I played a bit with software and came up with these whimsical renditions of classic Charleston cameos.

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.

Unscripted

So this is when you set out with a purpose and vision for an image, and things don’t quite go the way you planned. I drove an hour to Lake Moultrie one of the evenings during Comet NEOWISE’s visit, and the clouds were just way too thick to reveal any celestial activity. When ya don’t get what you want, you just shoot what ya got!

The Shorebirds are back at Bird Key

Every Summer sees the congregation of thousands of diverse shore birds on Bird Key, a small island in the Stono Inlet between Folly and Kiawah, managed by SC Department of Natural Resources. I notice that it is now being referred to as the Stono Seabird Sanctuary. Regardless, it is recognized as an important bird area by Audubon and it is forbidden to land on the island during nesting season. It makes for a great boat ride in the evening. Even the Stono Bridge looked beautiful in the late afternoon light.

The Cape Winelands

I have seen winelands in France and California (Italy, Portugal and others are still on my bucket list) but so far, I have to say that some of the prettiest are to be found in the Cape, South Africa. I know I may be a little biased, but seriously, this has to be some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere on God’s earth. These were taken on an estate in the Stellenbosch area.

Harvest Moonrise over Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve

I am a sucker for full moons, a hint of lunacy perhaps 🙂 Anyway, it was a beautiful evening with a warm breeze blowing, and it was a treat just to be out on the beach. As the moon rose, it was almost as bright as day, with the trees, dritfwood, and people casting long shadows on the sand.

Port Royal & Parris Island

One of my aerial targets on the recent trip down to Savannah was the Beaufort area. These images specifically cover the area of Port Royal and Parris Island. The sun was setting as we circled and the flooded marshes and creeks reflected the sky. What a privilege to live in the lowcountry!