Happy 4th of July- and Happy Birthday!

Independence Day is special in our family for more than one reason- it's also the birthday of the oldest member of the next generation, my nephew Paul Louis Stone III. He is a sweetheart and a beautiful boy, who loves all things Star Wars. Note the injured finger, almost broken on the playground! Happy Birthday Paul!




After presents and dinner, we all went out on the water to watch fireworks.


This is the new filling station






The line of lights along the horizon are the headlights of all the boats anchored for the show.







A note to my photgrapher friends, the images of fireworks were shot from 1/20s to 1/60s at ISO 5000 on a rocking boat! I hope everyone had a very happy and safe weekend. It was my favorite Fourth, spent mostly floating on the lake or partially submerged in the pool, when not searching for roadside-stand tomatoes or socializing with the local party-goers. Til next year!

By any other name

I fell off the blog wagon, didn't I? I can't think of a more compelling reason to come back than a simple flower. The rose bush blooming outside calls to mind last year's blooms, and before that the rich velvety red blooms of the bush that flowered in my childhood. Nostalgic, yes, but truly consistent. Year after year we can rely on these colors that push themselves out, burst, fade away and come back and come back.

Menagerie, as presented by Canon 5DMKII

I recently stopped by my friend Heather's house with my one-day-new camera in hand and enjoyed making some tests shots of her animals, those with real fur and those of the stationary variety. Heather and I have been friends since we were fifteen, almost half our lives. In many ways we are very different but we do share some of the same core values. Mostly thanks to Heather's research on factory farming, both Mandy and I switched to a "plant-based" diet last summer. It's a great way to live and we haven't looked back.

As I walked through the house chatting with Heather, I quickly snapped pictures of everything that sparked my interest and later recognized the menagerie theme. For you chic geeks out there, the ISO range on these images is from 3200-4000 indoors and closes with the pink flamingo at ISO 100 outside. So far I'm impressed with the MKII, especially in terms of the clarity of the color range and the super-convenient automatic ISO feature. There is so much excitement inherent in a new camera- what will be created with it? I can't wait to see what unfolds.

West End

On a recent rainy day, I wandered out into the late afternoon drizzle with my three dogs and a camera. The setting was cold and dim, but perfect for creating images of a certain texture and dimension that would be elusive in better conditions. These images represent the path I often take with the dogs, an odd shaped loop down Tift-a road that is barely more than an alley-then lefts on Murphy and Aberntathy until we reach Wells again. This neighborhood is Atlanta's West End, an area most city-dwellers don't recognize when mentioned. I think it has a moody charm, hopefully represented in this collection of images.

View from the loft doorway:



A bemusing Gatsby-esque billboard; eye-in-the-sky David Duchovny dangles his cigarette over the street below.




Other scenes-

















This last photo shows my shadow, the camera, and directionally opposing leashes as I stopped to note the graffiti We Are All One.

Tennessee

I was more than happy to agree to a few days in the mountains of TN, leaving the computers behind but taking the camera. What's a road trip without a puppy in the window?


Due to icy and snowy roads, an estimated 3.5 hour trip turned into 5 hours, then 6, then 7. It was funny at first, until morning turned into afternoon... Around hour 5 we stopped for lunch at one of those roadside places that are inhabited by the local folk drinking cofee during the off-season. The apple fritters were very, very tasty-


It was the kind of place where I wonder about everyone's backstory- where they've been, who they've loved and hated. We asked our heavily mascara-ed waitress if she knew what the roads were like up ahead, and when she replied, "Oh, I don't know, my sister lives up that way, but I haven't talked to her since..." I expected her to say, "...twenty years ago," but she finished with "...last night."

The view from our table, dripping icicles framing the orchard below.



After finally reaching the cabin and showering and resting (I fell hard and fast asleep on the sofa to the strains of Guitar Hero about 9pm), we set out for Cade's Cove the next day. These are my images from that rainy afternoon that melted most of the snow away. I have never pursued photography of old things or spaces because haven't we seen it all before? but I was pleased when one of my favorite photographers at APG commented that these photos did not look like any others he had seen from the Cove. That was exactly my intention, to make the photos distinctly mine in at least some small way.

A church built in 1839-




Ah, you are so not cool you vandal, you. What's that, the whiskey made you do it?

A farm house with front and back doors that blow open in the wind-




On the late night drive home (4 hours via an alternate route), we passed a mostly empty field with trees and gravestones illuminated in the center. I could hardly believe it, did I see what I thought I saw? A mile down the road I insisted we turn around, or I would forever wonder. The image quality is questionable, a too-long shaky nighttime exposure with my longest but not long enough lens propped in the open car window. Still I'm glad we turned around and I had my tired, incredulous chance.