Another Cold and Foggy Morning

It was another cold and foggy morning in Shelby County, Alabama, today, so my camera and I went looking for some more barns to shoot. (If you are not on a phone, click the pictures to see them on Flickr, much better view.)

Through and Through

These may not be as pretty as the one I did the other day (maybe the last one), but these structures are all over the southern part of the county.

Red Barn in Morning, Sailors Take Warning?

I've been wanting to shoot this barn for months, we drive by it all the time. I sort of wish the truck hadn't been there, but hey, it's part of the scene.

Lone Star Lost

This is another one very near our house that we drive by daily, sometimes multiple times. I think the horses are glad they have the shelter.

Foggy Morning in Alabama

Post Card from Alabama

It was a damp and foggy morning in Shelby County, with a threat of rain, but he took his camera out to see what they could see together. This first shot alone made it worth the trip.

Cantilever Space Dock

The dock at the Beeswax Creek boat launch appears to be cantilevered out into space.

Falling Branch

No, I didn't shoot just as it fell, nor did I throw it up in the air. It was foggy down at Lay Lake, and some fisherman had tangled his line, broke off the branch, and left it hanging. The mono-filament was invisible. 

Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery

They've lain here over 150 years. What's one more foggy, rainy day?

Christmas Lights in the Bushes

Good Morning from Shelby County

Try to set the night on . . . FIRE. (The Doors)

Good Morning From Alabama!

Doo doo doo lookin' out my back door.

Super Moon Over Vestavia

Monday night's Super Moon from the parking deck behind Vestavia Hills City Center. Yes, it's a composite. I could never get this exposure in one shot, but both the moon and the foreground were shot from the same deck.

Good Morning!

Looked out our window this morning to these three wandering around our yard, which is really 7 acres of woods adjacent to hundreds of acres of woods with an occasional house or farm. They pruned our mock orange and weeded some flower beds before they wandered off.

What' that? This one was the most curious and came the closest to the house.

No exclamation point, just time to wander on.

Birmingham Church Photowalk

Monday evening Gary Crumpton and I went on a little church photowalk in downtown Birmingham, AL. Here Jesus welcomes you at the main entrance to St. Paul's Cathedral.

They turn on some major flood lights after it gets dark, but the lighting was somewhat uneven, with the spires all but disappearing into the blackness. The bell ringers were practicing the whole time we were downtown, and those bells are LOUD!

The second church we visited, about a block from St. Paul's, was First Presbyterian. The stained glass windows intrigued me most here. Since I was outside taking the photo, I reversed the image so we can read the words and so the sheep are on our left and the goats on our right (opposite of His left and right?)..

The third church we visited was the Cathedral Church of the Advent (Episcopal). It was DARK. There was a little maple lined walkway between buildings to their bookstore which proved interesting.

This tower was very dark, but with a tripod and long exposure, you can get a decent shot, but not like daylight.

This statue was so much in the dark it proved very difficult to focus, and the expression on his face is hard to interpret at first. The red and green tints come from traffic lights on 20th Street.

As you exit the building, your view clearly says, this church is right down town.

Last Night

Full moon from my driveway last night.

Stratford Road Time Lapse

The lights come up in Birmingham.

Columbiana Shoot

Gary and I went to downtown Columbiana Tuesday for an early evening photoshoot.

The "new" Shelby County Courthouse was completed in 1908. The "old" courthouse is two blocks south and now serves as home to the Shelby County Historical Society.

Evening falls on the steeple of Columbiana United Methodist Church.

Columbiana may believe in the separation of church and state, but not by much. Columbiana United Methodist Church (Est. 1846) sits across Depot Street from the Shelby County Courthouse (built 1908).

When some of the older building on Main Street in Columbiana were built, setbacks from the property line were pretty small.

This old building in Columbiana has been used by several businesses over the years and is now an optometrist's office. If these windows aren't original, I believe they must be quite old.

Monday evening Gary and I went to Liberty Park where there is a replica of the Statue of Liberty. When I came to Birmingham in 1971 this statue sat atop a building downtown, the headquarters of Liberty National Life Insurance. I don't know why the gas flame was not burning, nor do I know why all the cherry trees are dead.

We also visited a small man-made waterfall in the same neighborhood. As the sun goes down you can get some silky water effects.

Oak Hill Cemetery

I was unable to attend the Catchlight Small Group visit to Turkey Creek Preserve last Saturday, so Gary and I decided to go to Oak Hill Cemetery just north of downtown Birmingham to see what we could shoot Monday evening. This was a view of the Birmingham skyline I had never seen before. It was so very peaceful and quite, yet so close to I-20/59 and downtown during rush hour.

The waxing gibbous moon rose over the city, just to the left of our view of the skyline. We decided to go back Thursday to aim for a full moon over the city, but the clouds did not cooperate.

The buildings all look reversed from the normal skyline shot I'm used to from the south side at Railroad Park or Vulcan Park. Plus I had never seen City Hall illuminated with the green and blue LED lights before.

Limestone Dragonfly

Sometimes you go looking for birds and all you get is dragonflies. Such was the case Thursday at Limestone Park.

Zoo and Gardens

JoPaul and I went to the zoo and botanical gardens yesterday morning.

The flamingos like to bury their heads and give you the evil eye if you look at them.

This was the only one of the Macaws that was out sunning.  

The water lily pond, or reflecting pool, was filled with beautiful lilies. I love the surface tension of the water around the leaf.

These guys love the water lilies, or maybe they love the little things that are hatching out in the pond

I like how the dragonflies pose for you.

Cedar Tree

The branch was in the way, so now it's not.

Catch and Release

This Great Blue was following a fisherman up and down the beach. At first I thought he was hoping to steal a catch from the guy when he had a fish, but then I saw his plan. He had the catch and release thing down pat. The fisherman finally caught a small fish and the heron just stood there and watched. When the fisherman threw it back into the surf, the Great Blue took off and almost caught the stunned fish before he realized he was back in the water. This time the fish survived, but I'll bet they all don't.

Ghostly

A ghost crab on the beach at St. George Island.

Flippin' Flipper

Dolphins routinely swim from one end of St. George Island to the other, depending on what the tide is doing and where the food is, but I never thought I'd be able to time a shot of one doing this.

Dragonfly

Nature center in East Point, Florida, across the bay from St. George Island.

Speeding Through Mt. Laurel

Our photography small group from Church of the Highlands met at the planned community of Mt. Laurel outside Birmingham. A good time was had by all, but I was a little disappointed in my own photos for the evening (others had some great shots). This was my favorite from mine that evening.

Vine

Our challenge/inspiration this week comes from John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches." 

Every spring, near Easter, the wisteria vines around here put on quite a show.

Arisen

The challenge word for our Catchlight small group at The Church of the Highlands this week is: Arisen.

Our Lord, our bright and morning star has arisen, and we celebrate it this month.

The Way

The inspiration for this week for the Catchlight Photography small group is "The Way." This is an old photo, but I thought it appropriate to the theme.