Hello Cedar Waxwings!

I don’t often see the interesting masked Cedar Waxwing, but have twice the last two weeks, once in my backyard and then in my front yard. They like the berries on our holly shrubs- and the water in the birdbath. American Robins have been accompanying the Waxwings. The two birds seem to be partners in crime!

This first photo shows the Waxwing’s yellow-tipped tail and red-tipped wings.

Visions of Portugal: Liking Lisbon!

Thanks (many!) to my wife Alesia I had the golden opportunity to visit Lisbon, Portugal where Alesia was on a two-week business trip. My trip, from last Thursday to Tuesday (Jan. 30-Feb. 4), was a wonderfully enriching experience.

We stayed at the Sheraton Lisboa Hotel and Spa, which is centrally located in the city. Our room on the 25th floor had a great view of Lisbon, the Tagus River, the red 25 de April Bridge and the majestic Christo Rei (Christ the King) monument (seen at the top of this first photograph).

My one-word impressions of Lisbon and Portugal, in no order: ports (as in wine), tiles, mosaics, friendly (as in the Portuguese people, many of whom speak English), historic, cod (fish), discoveries, fishing, navigation, churches, monuments, and steep (streets).
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To follow are my visions of this ancient city, one of Europe’s oldest and most historically influential.

January Bird Bounty

The new year and the recent cold spell have created a busy time at my bird feeders. I had been noticing the increased activity.

Finally, on Martin Luther King Day I spent some time seeing if I could get some nice camera captures.

This photo shows several Chipping Sparrows (a "tournament" is the collective name- who knew?) and an Eastern Bluebird on my rather elaborate bird buffet.

The Cost of Slavery- the Hutchinsons of St. Bartholomew's Parish (Colleton County, S.C.)

Hercules- $750. Hector- $700. Marlborough- $350. Molly- $600. Mary- $300. Betsy- $50.

These "Negroes" were slaves belonging to planter and lawyer Leger Hutchinson, Esq. And these were the values placed on each of them. A document like this truly brings slavery to life and light.

Leger died in 1815 at the young age of 24. He was part of a line of Hutchinsons who owned large rice plantations and hundreds of slaves in South Carolina's Lowcountry. Specifically, Leger was from what was then called St. Bartholomew Parish. Today it is Colleton County.

Remote ACE Basin Cemetery Revisited

Such a remote part of the Lowcountry. But people did live and die there. This week we drove about 40 miles south of Charleston to the ACE Basin, to the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, to the Boynton Trail within the vast nature preserve. Its address is barely on the map (or internet) too: Green Pond, S.C.

After more effort than I thought it would take, we found what we were looking to find. A very old cemetery that may have burials going back to the 1700s. There are five visible grave markers here.

Ravenel Bridge Walk A Christmas Gift Itself!

A Christmas afternoon walk on the Ravenel Bridge was a treat in many ways. The Holy Day was a great day to check out the Holy City and the Cooper River from this perspective. The weather was beautiful, a sunny day with temperatures in the low 60s. Many people had the same idea in mind but it was not too crowded along the bridge's walking lane.

We took our cameras and monopods, including Alesia’s new monopod that was wrapped under the tree for her.

December Virginia Trip Photos

We drove to Virginia last week to see my parents at their beautiful home on the Chesapeake Bay. Here is a collection of photographs I took from the road and around the Northern Neck of the Old Dominion.

“The Leaning Tower of Pedro” at South of the Border, Dillon, South Carolina 

Gorgeous Skies!

A simple walk back to the car after a workout at the gym can produce a photography moment. You have to love the ease and access of smartphones and their ever-improving cameras.

I did do some enhancements in the Snapseed app, bringing out the colors using the HDR tool. The Charleston paper has a weekly photo contest. This week’s topic, with winning entries shown in tomorrow’s paper, is twilight. I entered this first image. Fingers crossed... Update: see below- my photo won!!!

This one is pretty cool too. 

This last image I made with my iPhone’s panorama feature. 

What a thrill this morning to open the paper and see that my twilight photo was one of three selected as winning entries!  I'm planning to enter this week's contest. The subject is clouds. And, man, have I taken some cloud photos in recent years. 

10 Best Photographs: Magnolia Cemetery Early Bird Outing

With my trusty Canon SX 50 mounted on a monopod

Up before the crack of dawn on a Saturday? There had better be a good reason!

And indeed there was when Beverly Donald, longtime Magnolia Cemetery superintendent, opened the gate super early so she and fellow members of our Carolinas' Nature Photography Association (CNPA) club could come in to take sunrise pictures.

I rolled in around 6:20 a.m. and had time to grab a selfie in front of a favorite Magnolia Cemetery sculpture- the girl with no hands. She, of course, used to have hands. In fact, she was holding a Bible, but some years ago vandals amputated her arms and the Good Book. There's a special place in you know where for such people!

New Name, Same Beauty at Historic Stono River Site

It used to be called Dixie Plantation but the College of Charleston recently changed the name to Stono Preserve. The obvious presumption: “Dixie” is just not politically correct anymore. Read more in this Post and Courier article cleverly titled "Nixing Dixie."