A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
After a short life of only two years, my trusty Nikon S1 has finally bit the dust. I carried it with me everywhere. It took fantastic shots, and was great in situations where my big Nikon D50 wasn’t appropriate. I loved the idea of having a quality camera with me at all times. I loved … Read More “So long S1, Hello S50” »
The other day I was out playing with the camera and several of my macro lenses. I wanted to catch some reflections in water droplets, but it was late afternoon, and there was no dew to be found. So, I created my own. I took an eyedropper and deposited several drops of water in … Read More “Catchy Colors” »
On Wednesday I had to make one of my many treks down the road for a meeting in Columbia. At mile marker 93 on Interstate 26, just north of Columbia, I pass a sight I’ve seen many times – a rather elaborate roadside memorial in the southbound lane. On July 24, 2000, a north-bound … Read More “Roadside Memorials” »
Google keeps working to improve the functionality of Google Maps. The latest ugrades are for the Google Maps API for those that plant to include maps on their own websites. It’s now possible to use the API to pull in KML and KMZ files that have been posted online. This may not seem like such … Read More “Google Earth to Google Maps gets better” »
After I got back from my Furman photo trip this morning, I found the light almost perfect for photographing the hawks across the street. This morning they were quite active, and one of the parents returned to feed them. In the spirit of Mother’s Day, I caught a couple of tender hawk family shots … Read More “Learning to Fly” »
Catching a sunrise takes advanced planning. First, you need to stake out a location. Then, you need to get up in time. I had done neither this morning. I spotted the sun rising over my shoulder as I drove up toward Furman to take a few shots. Fortunately, the sun had further to go … Read More “Early Light” »
It’s apparently very easy to create a superhero or supervillain. All you need is some random scientific experiment, be it radioactive spider or vague particle physics. The new Spider-Man movie has so much going on that it tends to gloss over important details. We only get a glimpse of the strange lab and weird experiment … Read More “Spidey 3” »
Tonight was the retirement dinner for Furman, and once again, three professors with whom I have worked mark the end of their careers at Furman. Duncan McArthur taught English at Furman for 36 years. He was my English professor my very first term as a freshman. Ken Sargent nearly convinced me to become a geology … Read More “Furman Transitions 2007” »
Our family of red-tailed hawks has once again returned to their nest in the top of one of our neighbor’s trees. I had seen activity on the nest, but assumed the large birds I was seeing to be the parents. When I looked through binoculars today, I saw that these were in fact the chicks, … Read More “Return of the Hawks” »
We really weren’t expecting any motion until August. It looks like things are already happening. Greenville County had agreed to purchase the houses in the floodplain on our street and demolish then, turning the area into a natural area with a pedestrian bridge. The plan presented was for demolition and construction of the bridge … Read More “Demolition Begins” »