Contest Winner: Magnolia Cemetery Sunrise

 When I saw that the weekly Charleston Post and Courier photography contest topic was graveyards and cemeteries, I thought this is one I have to enter. Deciding which photo to submit was the hard part. 

I thought about the pictures I took last November when Magnolia Cemetery superintendent and fellow Carolinas Nature Photography Association (CNPA) member Beverly Donald opened the gates pre-dawn for our club members to take sunrise photos. 

Those of us who came out so early enjoyed a glorious sunrise in the dramatic setting of beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery.

I posted my ten favorite photos from the day (good example of a "listicle" list article that I have shared with my college students) and this is where I found the image I entered in the newspaper's contest. 

Bleary-eyed Sunday morning when I brought in the paper from the driveway I immediately opened it up to this section. As my eyes were coming into focus I thought my photo was not among the three selected as winning entries in the "Graveyards and Cemeteries" contest. 

But once the cobwebs cleared, I saw my picture is not only included but that is the largest of the three meaning I won!  So this got my Sunday off to a great start. And it got even better when my favorite tennis player Rafael Nadal won the French Open men's singles title, his 13th victory at Roland Garros. 

Days ago as I followed the Covid-19 delayed French Open I shared on Facebook some images from my visit to the Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris in 2017.  See the photos here. 

A Facebook friend posted a photo of the above newspaper spread on my FB timeline, which was very nice!  

Online I took a look at this site (right) to see the other entries. A total of 12 are on this Post and Courier reader photos page for this contest. I am very impressed with the quality of the other entries and it made me even prouder and honored that my photo was selected tops by editor Debbie Clark. Thank you Debbie!  (I just emailed her a thank you note).  

I am quite familiar with the woman sculpture in this shot. It marks the grave of Thomas Aston Coffin who died in 1863 at the height of the Civil War. 

His story is one of many I researched and wrote about in my 2014 book, "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry" (see the book cover at the end of this post).

My book is available on Amazon, at select Charleston locations and from me directly (birdseyeviewspublications@gmail.com). My other books are also on my Amazon site and this site as well. See the links at the top of the homepage.  

While looking at my blog post from last November's Magnolia Cemetery sunrise shoot, I found a similar sunrise photo from March 2013 when our CNPA group had a previous sunrise photo opportunity. See that blog post here. 

Day or night (OK maybe not at night- the cemetery would be closed- and scary too!) Magnolia Cemetery is a fun and interesting place to visit.  It has its own Facebook site now that features many amazing bird photographs taken by local shutterbugs. 

My first book, "The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston's Secret Bird Sanctuary" (published in 2011) is also still available.  OK, enough plugs already!  The holidays are approaching and what great gifts my books can be!  Stop it Patrick!