No Dictionary Found ::

Found ::

in Morgan City, Alabama:

A New Photograph ::

Here's one of several photographs that I took this afternoon:



I also shot a couple of scenes in HDR so I'm off to process them right now. I'm not really much of a fan of HDR, but I'm still a novice so we'll see what happens.

The Tip Top Cafe ::

Many fun times here in my misspent middle age!

A Holga Photograph ;;

The weather has been pretty lousy the past few days with a lot of rain and now some chilly temperatures and I'll be working all day Saturday, but I'm hoping for some nice spring weather soon.

A Red Cross ::

I found this scene this morning in a rural community near where I live. Actually, crosses are big in this little area and, off the top of my head, I can think of at least 4 more that I have photographed within just a couple of miles. I'm hoping to take many more photographs around here in the summer when the fields are planted.

A Closed Title Pawn Shop ::

It's unusual to see one closed around here these days. Kinda like all of the thrift shops popping up everywhere--a sign of the times!

In The Clouds Cove Community ::

The Clouds Cove community is a short drive away from where I live and it's down this back road that I would probably never have ventured down if not for a sign beside the main road that led me to check it out several months ago. This is one of those areas where I seem to always find something new to photograph every time I visit.



I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time in the area during the summer. As a bonus, the Flint River also runs beside the road for a ways and I'm going to try fishing there some also.

A Rural Church

I started a project to photograph churches several years ago but I quickly found that most were very unnoteworthy, but every once in a while I come across one that's interesting, such as this one in Owens Crossroads, Alabama.

All Things Change ::

This was formerly a used appliance store that had all sorts of character until it was sold, torn down, and is now a used car lot!

More Experimentation ::

I've been working more and more with OnOne Software's Phototools 2.6 and here is one of my latest products. It's a bit more manipulation than I would normally do, but I like it. The software is very nice for working with portraits and wedding photographs and next I'll post some before and after shots with some skin tones in a few days.

Albertville, Alabama ::

I've been trying out OnOne Software's Plug-In Suite 5 and the more I use it the more I like it. The suite includes Focal Point, Mask Pro, PhotoTune, Genuine Fractals (now called Perfect Resize) PhotoTools, and PhotoFrame. I've found FotoTools to be indispensable for enhancing images and I've long used Genuine Fractals for upsizing my photographs. I believe that they do offer a trial download at their website and they also have some really great videos which run round around 1 hour each to help you get used to the products and how they can enhance your workflow.

A Chair ::

This is a photograph from 2008, but I have recently realized that I have, perhaps unconsciously at first, been photographing corrugated metal buildings and loading docks that I run across.

Cash Only ::

I finally got Windows 7 up and running and all of my programs and plug-ins loaded up so we should be good to go for a while. All I need now is more ram. I'm currently running 4 gigs, but my motherboard accepts 16 so I'll probably add 8 gigs soon.

Still Here! ::

I haven't gone anywhere--I've been updating the desktop to Windows 7 and there have been some glitches, but I'm working through them right now and should be fully back with some photographs sometime this weekend.

It's a pain to change operation systems, but I hope this will be a good move in the long run!

No Thieves ::

This sign in on the side of a building which formerly housed a local charitable organization. People would leave donations outside during weekends and off hours and, unfortunately, theft was a huge problem even though one of the local police departments was only a couple of blocks away.

Never To Run Again ::

This is an old tractor at a sod farm just down the road from where I live. Actually, there are several pieces of old equipment and I'll probably be taking some more photographs of them in the next couple of months.

A Sign On The Side Of A Building ::

Unfortunately this building was torn down shortly after this photograph was taken. It's now nothing more than an empty lot.

A Sign ::

A Holga photograph of a hand made sign beside the road advertising a rural barber shop.



Signs have been interesting me for a long time and I often photograph them with the little plastic fisheye lomo. Here's an example:



The owner of the acreage next to me is a beekeeper who also has begun something of an orchard in the back portion of his land. Several years will be required before the fruit trees produce, bu when I need local honey for medicinal purposes it's impossible to get more local that what I get from Hal!

Piney Woods Community Church ::

This was photographed back in January just after a significant snowfall here in north Alabama. This church began life as a wedding chapel which apparently couldn't attract enough weddings to survive!



Over the past several years I've been photographing churches,especially rural churches, generally with disappointing results, photographically speaking, but I still think that the project has merit!

Open Gate ::

ajar in front of the doors of a weathered church in Mooresville, Alabama.

Hard To Miss This Building!

A Roadside Memorial ::

Found beside a creek in Camden, South Carolina:

Leon Lipscomb Grocery ::

Found in Lacey's Spring, Alabama:



I found another old country store this past weekend, but I didn't have the opportunity to photograph it. I'm hoping for some nice clear blue skies, hopefully with some white fluffy clouds, soon. The old store has been there for decades so I doubt if it'll be going away soon.

Number 77 ::

Found a couple of years ago in the Hebron Community of Marshall County, Alabama:



This old race car was found in front of a boat repair shop that is slowly being cleaned up with the removal of dozens, at least, of old boats. I haven't stopped by lately, but I really should do an overall photograph of the lot.

"Just Kids"

I picked up the book "Just Kids" by Patti Smith a couple of weeks ago because I was interested in her recollections of her relationship with the photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe and I found the book to be very interesting, especially the early years when Smith left home and moved to New York. The story of her meeting up with Mapplethorpe and moving in with him as they both pursued their artistic careers was fascinating in the poverty level they endured as well as the intensity with which they grew as artists.

The tales of their early years in New York made me envious of the artistic community that they were surrounded with and left me wondering what it's like up there now. I have long been a Mapplethorpe fan and had the good fortune to see an exhibit of his work at The Nexus Cooperative in Atlanta. It's too bad that so much of his work is deemed unsuitable for large public gallery spaces.

The Blue Door ::

The entrance to a boat repair shop:

Found Beside The Road

This photograph was taken on December 14, 2007 on the side of one of the local roads which goes over what passes for a mountain in north Alabama. For a couple of years after the road opened people would decorate many of the trees and bushes beside the road for Christmas then, as too often happens, the city decided that this constituted littering and threatened to fine anyone caught putting up the decorations. For the past couple of years a few people would take the chance and decorate some, but this year I only saw a couple of trees that had been decorated. I really enjoyed seeing the festive trees as I drove over the mountain!




This is one of the patriotically decorated trees which I had to hike up the side of the mountain for a bit in order to get the photo.

Fantasia! ::

You can get fireworks of different sorts in both buildings!

A Sign On The Dock ::

This is a photograph I've wanted to take for a long time. I drive by this scene twice a day and finally had a chance to take the picture with some fairly decent light a few days ago.

Jars And Wet Cardboard ::

Here's one from 2004 taken with my first little digital camera-a 5 megapixel point and shoot which I still have and use occasionally:

Printing With Jay Maisel ::

Here's Maisel's take on Epson inkjet printing:



Long ago I did some Cibachrome prints of original Jay Maisel transparencies for one of the large ad agencies in Atlanta. It was interesting!

Missed! ::

The shotgun pellets got the directional sign but missed the church sign:



I'm wondering just how far away the shooter was since the shotgun pattern is so small!

Grave site ::

with the little guard:

Happy New Year!

To everyone. I generally head out to take some photographs on new years day, but we have thunder storms and heavy rains right now so that plan is more than a bit iffy!

For Rent? ::

This is a lot where an old shack was torn down several years ago and I'm not sure just what is for rent here!

The Little Guard! ::

Merry Christmas!

And a very Happy New Year to all!

The Happy Rat ::

I came across this business a couple of weeks ago while out driving around. The name of the business just rolls off the tongue, but, unfortunately, it seemed to be long closed!

Auto Sales Lot Decorations ::

I saw some information a couple of days ago about a new Western Digital 3 terrabyte hard drive that will be going on sale soon. I don't currently have a need for a drive that large, but it's interesting just how much storage technology has advanced in the past 10 years or so!

A Scene With A View ::

This is about as scenic as it gets in Morgan City!

A Grave Marker For A Veteran Of Our Revolutionary War ::

Slapping My Head! ::

Yesterday morning I came across an interesting scene, shot a couple of exposures, and drove off. I grabbed the camera yesterday evening to download the photographs and, lo and behold, there was no CF card in the camera. I had had it out downloading over the weekend and had forgotten to put the card back in. I'll go back to the scene hoping that it has not changed after today's rain ends, but you can bet that I've learned a valuable lesson here. From now on I'll be sure that I replace the card after downloading. The really sad thing is that I had 3 other CF cards with me that I could have used if I'd only realized that I didn't have one in the camera.

A lesson learned!

An Old Headstone ::

A Holga photograph taken last weekend in a small rural cemetery.

Potters Field ::

Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama:

Found Next To A Cemetery ::

in Camden, South Carolina:

A Cemetery Panorama ::

I've enjoyed shooting some panoramas over the past few months and I assembled this one this past weekend from several shots in Maple Hill Cemetery.



I think this is the first panorama that I've posted here so I won't really know how it looks 'til I post it and click to see how it opens up.

[update] Well, it looks pretty good for a 33" horizontal viewed on a 23" monitor!

Nothing Special Here ::

I was just taken by the symmetry of the facade of this church:

Old Car At The Drive-Thru ::

The Local Recycling Center ::

I'll be heading over shortly to take a load of plastic bottles and newspapers.

Cotton Picking Time In Alabama ::

Actually the cotton picking is winding down now and started a bit later than normal. I called one of the local cotton gins a couple of days ago and made arrangements to pick up composted cotton seeds for fertilizing my garden. $15 for a pickup truck load! You can't beat that!



As an afterthought I guess a technical detail is in order. This image is from the little plastic Holga camera. The more I use this the more I like the simple little camera!

Upsizing My Printing Capabilities ::

I'm picking up a lightly used Epson 4000 printer from a friend tomorrow. This will give me the capability to print on 17x22 paper as opposed to my maximum size of 13x19 right now. The price this unit was offered to me at is just too good to pass up!

Now I just have to find a place to put this beast since it has a huge desktop footprint!

A Holga Photograph In A Cemetery ::

This is one of the many scenes that I often return to photograph. I've always wondered what sort of back story there must be to Frances Wigglesworth, Consort of William Gibbes Hunt.

Another Flag Photograph ::

I seem to be on a flag roll these days:



I came across this scene a couple of years ago and was struck by the single adornment on one of the balconies.