Downtown Charleston

When you think that Charleston is one of the nation's top tourist destinations, you realize how fortunate you are to live right here.  Today was glorious once again (I have even noticed azaleas blooming - in January!) so I spent an hour this afternoon wandering around downtown.  These are a couple of the images.

Birds of a Feather

I took a day trip to McClellanville and Georgetown over the weekend just for fun.  The weather was mostly cloudy on Saturday and not that great for photography, but we found lots of pelicans and roosters hanging out near the shrimp docks in Georgetown and they were fun to capture.  The late Don Gale once said to his photography class that if you can't find anything to shoot, that's your fault, and I've always remembered that.

Renovation of McLeod Plantation

It was foggy this morning so I dropped by McLeod Plantation on the way to work to check on photo opps.  It turned out that a "mood" type image was going to be challenging due to all the construction taking place at the site.  There are workman all around the old plantation house, replacing windows, scraping off old paint, shoring up structural walls, etc.  It was great to see the old place being cared for, so the photos ended up being documentaries of its restoration process.  Can't wait to see the finished product. For many more images of this project progression, please see my website at www.vanessak.com

Different takes on older images

It's the end of another weekend - can't believe how fast the weeks fly by.  I spent quite a bit of time in "organizing mode", which is usually a Spring thing for me.  Anyway, since I haven't done any photography for a week or so, I gave a couple of older images a new look .

 Underneath the James Island Connector

This was taken in the South Santee Coastal Reserve.  This is not a people-friendly place in the summer.  The mosquitos and biting flies will deter most would-be visitors.

Sunday evening on Folly Beach

Almost a full moonrise and simultaneous sunset with 60 something degree temperature in January.  Takes a lot to beat this.

James Island County Park

Everyone was outdoors today at the James Island County Park - or so it seemed.  I took the dog for a walk and was captivated by the model boat racing.  They weren't exactly streaking through the water because there wasn't much of a breeze, but they were colorful and their controllers were enjoying being out in the mild weather.  Almost full moon rising this evening - just hope it is not obscured by clouds ...

Georgetown & Litchfield area restaurants

HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography is trendy at the moment and some examples of it are nice, some are fun, and some are downright awful.  It is a process where multiple exposures of the exact same image are blended together in software post-processing to yield the supposedly best of what the eye sees.  In other words, the detail in a bright sky can be captured along with the detail in the darker shadows to give the "total picture".  It works well when nothing is moving (like leaves or people) and where you have interesting textures to showcase.  I am content for these to fall into the "fun" category.  For more, see here trip to Pawleys Island, Georgetown and McClellanville

Another New Year's Eve in Georgetown

Not being a big party person (I tend to fall asleep prematurely) I elected to take the long weekend and do some recreational photography in the Pawleys Island area.  Last year I was at Mansfield Plantation just outside Georgetown, and this year I was drawn back to this historic, very quaint community as you can see from these images.

Yes, I'm aware I have a shrimp boat fetish.  I'm thinking I should channel that positively into a book of shrimp boat images.  Something to work on in 2012.