November Camellia

This Camellia blooms in November, while others in our yard bloom in January and February. They're always beautiful when they do, though.

Magnolia Seeds

Magnolia trees can be magnificent, but their leathery leaves can make a big mess on the ground. Their beautiful flowers turn into these seed pods, and as far as tree seeds go, I don't think I know of any that are prettier than the bright red ones of the magnolia. Close up, the fuzzy pod can be kind of weird looking, maybe even gross.

Gulf Fritillary

This poor little fella didn't make it to the gulf this year. I found him on our driveway last week, already gone. I brought him inside to photograph him, but never got the chance until the small group met last night to discuss product photography and try our hand. I guess he's a product of something, just not manufacturing. By the time we got to shooting, he had become very fragile, and positioning him without destroying him was tough. There was a discussion afterwards about what kind of butterfly he had been, and I thought it was a Gulf Fritillary, but was unsure because I remembered their wings being mostly orange. It turns out, the top side of the wings is very different than the bottom, but it is a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae).

Upon close examination, I commented that the eyes looked, well dead, I guess because they were. He's still a sight to see, though.

Riveting Railroad Reflection

I guess I like making photos of reflections, especially in a fresh coat of shiny paint on the side of a railroad car. This was at the red caboose that used to be Victoria Station restaurant on Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham, but is now home to kinetic.com, an internet company. The car is red, but appears black in the dark, and the red is the reflection of a traffic light a block away.

Night Shoot Birmingham

Last night our photography small group from church went to one of our old standby locations to shoot light trails from a bridge over the Red Mountain Expressway. I think the stars around the lights are my favorite part of this.

We've done the light trails thing several times, so some of the old timers were looking around for some other inspiration. The tower part of the Sirote Permutt building nearby is interestingly lit by purple LEDs.

And here we go with the "love locks" on the bridges. In Paris, the loony tourists virtually destroyed a bridge with the locks, throwing the keys in the river. At least with the combination lock, there's no key to toss into someone's windshield.

Super Blood Moon Eclipse

For the most part, it was too cloudy to get any really good shots, but here's a quick composite of several shots as the moon exited totality and moved back into the sun. No, the pictures are not spatially accurate, just stuck on a black background.

A little enlargement of one of the composite frames. Not nearly as sharp as I'd like.  I must say, I am unequivocally unimpressed with either the Sony Nex 7's ability to focus in low light, even manually to infinity, or my inability to understand how to do it.

Railroad Park Favorites

Some of my favorite shots from Railroad Park Monday evening.

Sky Afire

Pink Sky on the Water

Flowers Past Their Prime

City Federal Building Reflection