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.
The temperature was no indication that anything was different this morning, no obvious sign that the Northern Hemisphere had quietly drifted into the fall season, but there was fog, the first fog of the season. There’s something mysterious and beautiful about the way fog rises and dips among the trees and across the marshes and creeks. Although not strikingly obvious in these photos, the fog softened the landscape and the distant views of marsh and trees.
The marsh was not my intended subject matter. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you planned them, quite often in fact. I had decided to drive down to Edisto to do some long exposure photography at low tide, but conditions were less than ideal. Too many biting bugs, too few clouds, too many people, etc. I was determined to justify the (high) cost of gas plus my time so I needed to come away with something, anything! These were my despondent thoughts as I trudged back from the beach in the heat to the car across the stretch of marsh. As I stopped to swat yet another bug and set my camera bag down for a moment, I grabbed a couple of sweeping shots as a last ditch attempt to redeem the afternoon. Actually these two I like, and I did learn something from them too, ways to improve the technique. So, it is what it is. Can’t win ’em all. Kinda like golf.
Sometimes, when the tide is slack and there is no breath of wind, the water so perfectly mirrors the sky that it’s hard to figure what is sky and what is water, what is physically before you and what is a mirror image. This was just one of those evenings.
Last Saturday morning has got to have been one of 2021’s photographic highlights. We had scheduled an early morning trip out on the water off Wadmalaw Island to photograph shore birds and shrimp trawler activity. This was nothing new, but rarely do conditions come together to offer the best weather, light winds, gentle tides, and great subject activity, the subjects being the birds and shrimp trawlers. It was hard to pick a few images to showcase here, because we came back with hundreds of keepers. The thrill of a successful morning more than makes up for the many early rises and time spent drifting on the water in less than perfect conditions, having spent hard earned cash for pitiful results. This is the challenge of photography. The outcome is never a given, but this was a treat. Thanks to photographer, naturalist, and boat captain extraordinaire Eric Horan. You can find information about his lowcountry tours here: https://horanphoto.com/lowcountry-photo-tours-adventures
I was thinking this as I walked the West Ashley Greenway and watched all these different species of wading birds as they feasted on small fish and molluscs at low tide this morning. They were all courteously minding their own business as they went about their day. Didn’t look so hard.
These are the views you can expect to enjoy when you rent an apartment on the twelfth floor of the new Jasper Apartments on Lockwood Boulevard.
These are the views that you could expect to enjoy if you decided to rent one of the new apartments at the prestigious Jasper down on Lockwood and Broad Streets. The new project is scheduled for completion by December this year.
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!
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!
