Photography – Page 45 – Random Connections

New DSLR

July 22, 2012 Tom 2 Comments

I’ve had my trusty Nikon D50 for a number of years now. I had been trying to avoid “Upgrade Fever,” so, I hung onto it for a long time, while many of my photographer friends had long since upgraded their systems. It’s 6.1 megapixel sensor had long been surpassed, and even my phone now has … Read More “New DSLR” »

Rainy Paddle on the Edisto River

July 16, 2012 Tom No Comments

Paddling, Photography

Not only was it a second Saturday and time for another Lowcountry Unfiltered kayak trip, but this month we were set to repeat one of our legendary treks – running the Edisto River from Mars Old Field Landing to Messervy Landing. We’ve come to refer to this as our “beer commercial” trip. It’s always a trip with rope swings, lazy river paddling, home brewed beer, and lots of wildlife.

However, we wouldn’t be alone on the river. According to the Edisto Floaters Facebook page, this was also supposed to be the day for their “Megafloat”. From the description, it was supposed to be bank-to-bank inner tubes. Part of the discussion on their page was that singles should wear a red shirt to advertise their availability. Sounded like things could get very interesting on the river.

Exploring Upper Jocassee

July 9, 2012 Tom 1 Comment

Paddling, Photography

I haven’t done much paddling with the Greenville Canoe and Kayak Meetup lately. Since they merged with the Asheville organization the group seems to have lost its identity, having been subsumed into that group, and many of the trips just didn’t appeal to me. However, one scheduled for this past Saturday really caught me eye, and I decided to give it a chance. It turned out to be a perfect day paddling on Lake Jocassee, and I’m now glad I gave them a shot.

Brooks Wade, owner of Jocassee Lake Tours, had offered to load our kayaks onto his pontoon boat and take the group to the upper reaches of Jocassee. The area is hard to reach unless you’re a very strong paddler with a very fast boat, or unless you break the trip into a two-day venture. But the rewards are spectacular – waterfalls and pristine mountain scenery. Of course, I couldn’t pass this up.

Read More “Exploring Upper Jocassee” »

Rambling through Greenwood

June 26, 2012 Tom 1 Comment

Photography, Rambling

I got a note from fellow explorer Mark Elbrecht the other day mentioning that they were offering tours of Cokesbury College as part of Greenwood’s Festival of Flowers. Mark was able to do the tour on Saturday, but I was off paddling Parr Shoals. My brother Houston was in town, so we stopped by to pick up my sister Glynda and headed down toward Greenwood.

The route from Gray Court to Greenwood cuts across the Laurens County countryside. Southwest of Hickory Tavern we found ourselves at Boyds Mill Pond, an impoundment on the Reed River with a small hydroelectric plant. We stopped to take a few photos.

The river below the dam has several fishing access spots. One point looked like it would be an excellent place to launch a kayak, but it was very trashy. There were several folks fly-fishing downstream.

Searching for Coopersville

June 17, 2012 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling

About a month ago SCETV was airing an episode of Palmetto Places on Gaffney, South Carolina. I caught the tail end of a segment about the Coopersville Iron Works. I didn’t catch much of the segment, but heard enough to know that it should be a target for one of my ghost town hunts. It sounded like it would be a perfect rambling trip for this week’s Friday off.

Coopersville was one of a series of Civil War era iron furnace operations in Cherokee County. In addition to this complex, there were furnaces near Cowpens and Thicketty Mountain. Coopersville was the largest, with several factories, a post office and some stores. All of these historic iron works are on private property, and finding information about the actual location proved to be a challenge. The National Register nomination form for Coopersville was severely redacted so that no addresses were visible. Even beyond that, the name “Coopersville” didn’t show up on any GNIS listings, or on any other lists of towns that I had, historic or otherwise.

After several conversations on Google+ with my history exploring friends, Mark Elbrecht pointed me in the direction of an archeological survey done in the 1980s prior to the construction of electrical transmission lines. It contained several maps which were not redacted. I used that map as basis for my ramblings.

Birding in Sparkleberry Swamp

June 3, 2012 Tom No Comments

Paddling, Photography

Laura was away for a conference, so for the second week in a row it was off for a paddling trip. After last Saturday’s marathon on the Broad River, I was up for something more relaxed. We decided to head back to Sparkleberry Swamp and do a shorter out and back paddle.

This time our paddling group would consist of myself, Dwight, and his two friends Mike and Lisa Webster. Mike is an expert birder, and Sparkleberry is a birder’s paradise. I was looking forward to paddling with someone this knowledgeable about birds.

Unfortunately, none of my paddling companions on this trip have their own boats. Fortunately, I do have enough gear to accommodate several spare paddlers. So, Friday evening I loaded up my truck with four kayaks so I could head out early Saturday morning for the swamp.

Paddling to Columbia

May 27, 2012 Tom 3 Comments

Local, Paddling, Photography

I’ve always been intrigued by the Broad River, especially the stretch starting at the Peak trestle. It looks like it would be a great paddling venue, but unfortunately public access points are few and far between. The next access point downstream from Peak is Harbison State Forest, near Columbia. Alan wanted to do a trip for Memorial Day weekend, and it looked like the perfect opportunity to hit this stretch. It turned out to be the longest single-day trip I’ve every attempted, but it was another great day on the water.

The SC Trails website describes the Peak to Harbison stretch as a 22-mile paddle. This site lists the put-in about a mile upstream at the Highway 213 bridge. The route also describes paddling down to the I-20 bridge, then back up for some reason. I had been down to the 213 put-in, and it was a very rough drive down, and a difficult launch. The new access point at the trestle seemed much better, and would shorten the trip a bit.

Even so, I knew it would be a challenge. However, I was hoping that a strong current would make it easier than if we were doing a flatwater trip of the same distance. All the same, I wanted to get an early start. In addition to Alan, my brother Houston and his two friends Steve and Jeannie Boyette would be joining us. The plan was to meet at the put-in at 8:30 am, run the shuttle, and get on the water by 10:00.

Whither Photography?

May 16, 2012 Tom 4 Comments

Photography, Rants

A long time ago I used to do calligraphy. I was pretty good at it, and picked up some spare change by doing place cards for wedding receptions, invitations, and a couple of framed pieces. I didn’t do anything fancy – just basic Old English and script fonts. I had the correct pens, and that … Read More “Whither Photography?” »

Trestles to Trails

April 26, 2012 Tom 3 Comments

Local, Photography, Travel

Tuesday I had one of my quarterly meetings in Columbia with the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) Tech Leaders’ Roundtable. I normally try to drop in to visit my mom on the way back from these trips, but this time she was out and about. So, instead, I decided to see if I could find a few spots to try out the new camera. There are a couple of neat places just off the interstate – just a quick detour away – that are full of history and scenery.

My first stop was to the west of I-26 between the towns of Little Mountain and Prosperity. I first spotted the old Wheeland School in the photo layer of Google Earth several years ago, and have made regular visits to it since then. I figured it would be a good test subject.

Edisto River – The Jacksonboro Passage

April 22, 2012 Tom 2 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, Paddling, Photography

This trip was supposed to have been last week. The second Saturday of the month is when our Lowcountry Unfiltered group normally hits the trail. However, an event last weekend involving most of our group caused us to postpone the trip. That freed me up to participate in the Tame the Tyger Race last weekend.

So, this weekend rolled around, and our group headed down to the Edisto River. This time we were headed to a new stretch that ended just shy of the ACE Basin. We were going to do a thirteen mile stretch from Martin’s Landing to West Bank Landing through the historic district of Jacksonboro.

I loaded up the boat and gear Thursday night and headed down as far as St. George after work Friday. The weather wasn’t looking promising, but I decided to take the chance. When I got up Saturday to head down to the river a thick fog covered the area. However, it looked like it was going to burn off later. Driving through this historic area I wanted to just stop and photograph everything, but knew I’d need to get on down to our rendezvous at the take-out. I drove on through Jacksonboro, and turned at the old Wesley United Methodist Church onto Hope Plantation Lane.