Uplifts My Spirit
Just beyond these sand dunes in the Mojave desert is a place called the Devil’s Playground; however, I don’t believe the Devil lays claim to the Kelso Dunes. This is God’s Sandbox. It is 45 square miles of ever changing, migrating, transported yet accumulating, sand.
Climbing to the top takes some effort in the yielding sand, especially if the temperatures are high, but it is well worth the journy. You can gaze upon miles of nearly untouched desert terrain. As your heart slows from the exertion of your climb to the top, your spirit begins to soar.
That is, until an incessant bee takes interest in you.
I See You
I bought a camera off a friend of mine for a good price, and, of course, I wanted to give it a test run; so, he and I headed to a nearby park in North Naples. After walking the boardwalk, we quickly exhausted interesting things to shoot, and we decided to take a drive.
I had been to Six Mile Slough a few times before. It’s no Corkscrew Swamp or anything, but, in its own right, it is a pretty nice boardwalk through a swamp in Florida. (By the way, swamps are actually pretty cool—they aren’t spooky or murky like I had imagined as a child.)
So, this bird was one of the first shots I took.
It’s tricky getting decent lighting in a swamp, even with ISO cranked up. This particular shot was serendipitous because the bird was standing on an upward branch lit by the sun.
Sometimes, as is my wont, I will share a particular image with a friend of mine, usually for a week or so. The purpose of this is to share a piece of myself as well as to acknowledge and cherish the friendship. Then I will post the image for others to see in whatever venue is fashionable to me, e.g. Tumblr or Facebook. This particular image was in the “custody” of this friend for far longer than a week. I hadn’t forgotten about posting it, it’s just that the circumstances of life got in my way. I hope my friend enjoyed the exclusive viewing rights that were hers and hers alone for so long.
Boat At Zzyzx
This boat has been near the oasis for as long as I have been coming to the Mojave National Preserve, which is about 12 years.
Oasis at Zzyzx
This is Lake Tuendae in the Mojave National Preserve.
Savannah Postcard
As a lark, I designed my own postcard. I took the photo in Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
My excellent good friend Amanda in Savannah, Georgia.
We had seen this fountain a few days prior, even dipped our feet into it, so when I asked Amanda if she wanted to do some night shots, this location made sense. Well, first I was going to shoot the cathedral, but there was something about it that said, “shooting fish in a barrel,” so we left that shot behind.
Getting a good night shot is trivial—until you add a human to it. Humans move! That was easy enough to correct by firing a flash every few seconds. This was an 8 second exposure, and I counted aloud to indicate when she should move and when I would manually fire the flash.
The treble shot was actually Amanda’s idea. Her over-shirt and the writing on her T-shirt, as well as the lightness of her skin, show up well, and the darker colors she wears became almost transparent.
Flower Tree
This rose(?) bush was photographed in Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.
The day was mostly overcast, so the bland gravestones, the dullness of winter, and the grayish-green Spanish Moss, tend to make a cemetery seem vacant and empty. The bright splash of flowers is refreshing, almost stunning.
FAIL
This gravestone is totally legit. It’s in Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.
