2009 In Review

Furman University Clock Tower

It is the end of another year. 2009 has come and gone faster than I thought it would. Seems that the years speed up as we get older. Looking back through my photographs of past year, I can remember all of the good times I had behind the camera. That hunk of plastic, metal, glass and electronics has been a welcome friend, tool, and therapist these past twelve months and longer. Honestly, I don't know how I would have made it through the year as sane as I am without it. It says something though. We all need to have some way to express ourselves that can both keep the world at bay and put it into perspective for us.

Here is a link to my Favorite Photographs of 2009. Click through the break for a Flash slideshow of the 2009 Favorites gallery.





I hope that next year is even better than this year for you.

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The Night Before Christmas

Here are some photographs of the holiday lights in my neighborhood this year.

Zenfolio now lets it's users create embeddable, Flash slideshows. I hope this works.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

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Some Links

There hasn't been much going on around here because of the upcoming holidays. My son has had a couple of things, but I don't think anyone really wants to see pictures of those. Well, to be honest I'm not really happy with the pictures that I took and assume that people won't want to just see some snapshots.

One thing that I haven't done in a long time is post links to some of the other blogs that I read. I've found a few that I enjoy since the last time I posted the links. These are all sites that I visit and read.

First up is Scott Diussa's blog. Scott works for Nikon, but he doesn't talk much shop on his blog. Instead he posts some wonderful photography from some of the interesting places that he gets to travel to with his job. Places like the recent launch of the space shuttle Atlantis from closer than most people ever get to see them. My favorites are from his recent visit to Walhalla, South Carolina. He was visiting family, and it is kind of local to where I live. Actually I went to college not far from there and was thrilled to see his photographs which capture some of the beauty of the area. He is also a musician and concert photographer. On top of all of that, he also posts good photography tips and guides.

Next is a commercial photographer Ian Curcio. Great images on his site from someone that really seems to enjoy what he does.

Scott Hargis is a San Francisco area photographer whom I discovered through the Photography for Real Estate website and Flickr discussion group.

That was two links in one and what's up with all of the Scotts? Scott Disussa, Scott Kelby, Scott Hargis. There are a couple of other photographers named Scott who's blogs I read. Hmmmm.

Finally is Jim Richardson. He shoots assignments for National Geographic and other such publications. He has recently redesigned and reemphasized his site. Needless to say another awesome photographer ... guess I said it anyway but he is.

And as an extra link I am throwing in What the Duck. This is photography related comic strip where all of the photographers are ducks and you never see the humans' faces. It is a fun take on the trials and tribulations of professional and amateur photographers.

That is it for today.

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Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf

Where does the time go? I just realized that I hadn't posted today's image. This is my favorite shot from our walk on the Cottonwood Trail. I saw this maple leaf as we got close to the parking area at the end of our walk. The backlighting by the sun kind of caught my attention and I took a few photographs of it. There is still a little bit of the season's colors around if you look for them.

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Lawson's Fork Creek

Lawson's Fork Creek

Another image from our outing on the Cottonwood Trail. This is Lawson's Fork Creek which runs along and through the nature preserve. The particular area is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. There is also a Duke Power right-of-way on the property.

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Seeds

Eldar Seeds on the Cottonwood Trail

It is late Autumn and most of the colors have faded and the leaves have fallen. This is also the time that plants drop their seeds. I noticed these Eldar seeds in a tree on the Cottonwood Trail. These are the kind of seeds that spin like little helicopters as they fall to the ground. This particular tree was full of them just waiting to let go of their branches. I'm sure the local birds and squirrels will have quite a nice little feast before Winter comes.

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A new find

Marsh

I recently learned about the Spartanburg Area Concervancy (SPACE) organization. It is a local organization that promotes natural conservation in the Spartanburg area. They have several properties which are open to the public with nature/hiking trails. The largest of them is the Edwin M. Griffin Nature Preserve which the home of the Cottonwood Trail.

We spent a couple of hours walking the trail this past Saturday afternoon. The trail is not very far from downtown Spartanburg. One of it's access area is at Spartanburg High School. It is about 115 acres of natural land on the banks of Lawson's Fork Creek. A surprising feature on the nature preserve is a marsh. There are also beaver dams that visitors can see along the trails in the wetland area of the preserve.

It is a nice area to walk and seems to be fairly popular as there were a couple dozen people on the trails at the same time we were there. These photographs are really just snapshots as I went just to get an idea of what the trail was like. We definitely plan on going back. I can't believe that I didn't know about this trail before now.

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