Friday, February 22, 2013

February 22. Dead Willow Tree.

 
February 22. Dead Willow Tree.

February 22. Bird & Broken Window.

 
February Twenty Second. Bird & Broken Window. There is a sparrow nesting inside the shop where I work. She uses a missing window pane to come and go.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

3486.6 Miles. Texas-Florida-Illinois-Texas.

 
A long drive. Short version. Leave Texas and drive 1038 miles to Jacksonville, Florida to visit my dad, my brother and his family. Mostly just visited, but managed to squeeze in two hours or so of shooting with my brother. Some wonderful wildlife shots had me wishing for faster and better quality long glass.Good visit, then I left for Illinois, 1052 miles. The weather radar showed I was headed for a wall of severe storms in Georgia. The storms did not disappoint. I missed running into a tornado in Adairville, Georgia by fifteen or twenty minutes. I was just east of Adairville on Interstate 75 when high winds forced me and three semis to leave the highway. The trucks drove on away down the side road but I stopped just off of the interstate at a small group of buildings. The tornado sirens went off while I waited but I never did see a funnel cloud. http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/tornado-hits-adairsville-ga-31612245.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fus-15749625%252Ftornado-hits-adairsville-ga-31612245.html. I drove into Adairville from the north side of town until I could see the road was blocked by emergency crews. The storm delayed me by over two hours as I repeatedly tried to find a way through storm damaged towns only to be turned back by blocked roads. I could have driven around the damage but did not want to hinder rescue crews in any way. Then on to Bloomington, Illinois to visit my sister and her family. A short busy visit allowed me to watch my niece Mia compete in two games for her high school basketball team and also catch my nephew Mitch compete at hurdles and high jump for his college team. My sister and I managed to take a half day photo drive which included a visit to a closed insane asylum and it's graveyard. I had a good visit, then it was off to Texas 1000+ miles. I dropped my nephew off at Washington University in St. Lousis on my way. This trip was about family but it also had a little adventure and I grabbed a few pictures along the way. All in all, a great trip. Thank you to my family for opening your homes and making time for me. Total mileage for trip including photo drives and detours for storm. 3486.6 miles.
 
 
 
 
 






 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Mount Nebo State Park, Arkansas. December 2012

I concluded the 366 Project on top of a snow covered mountain in Arkansas. I had the good fortune to share a cabin with some wonderful people. It was a great and relaxing trip. The mountain was in thick fog almost the entire time we were up there. The fog gave the woods a magical somewhat eerie quality. The fog made for some tough shooting with it's soft focus and low lighting but that did not stop me from shooting hundreds of exposures.
I am happy the 366 Project is over but I do feel a sense of loss at it's conclusion. I have taken a break from both the blog and shooting since the trip. I am going to keep the blog and continue to post pictures and commentary but it will no longer be driven by the calender. I am looking for balance in my life. I want to devote more time to writing and maybe even take a few creative writing courses, I want to take more big drives and less of the few hundred mile trips. I want to be a better friend to the people around me and spend less time alone. And I want to become a better photographer and take my pictures to another level. I invite all of you to keep traveling with me but I can not tell you where we are going or when we will get there. Below are some pictures from the Mount Nebo trip. http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/mountnebo/

 


































Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Thank You

I would like to thank everyone who accompanied me through the 366 days of this year. I do not have any real way of knowing who was viewing the pictures. The blog was difficult to post comments on until the last few months and I had very few followers that braved the sign up process. The blog ended the year with 12,362 page views. Who ever took time out of your day to look at my pictures, I really appreciate it. One of my own quotes is a variation of "if a tree falls in a forest . . . "If a picture hangs on a wall where no one will see it, does it really exist?". Thank you for making my pictures exist. I am going to change this blog into some type of vehicle to still present some of my pictures. I do not know what form it will take but I hope everyone will still drop by now and then. Thank you to everyone, and a very special thanks to those who interacted and became daily traveling companions with me. Jaybaumphotography.blogspot.com