Gulf Coast | Day One

I'm in the deep South and I'm in Mississippi. Quite honestly it's not a place I thought I would ever visit for any length of time. I can't say why exactly, it's probably because I thought "too hot", "too humid". And after my first day, both are true. But to my surprise, I've learned that I like it here. Don't get me wrong, I like it enough to visit, but not to live. Right now a Boston Winter isn't looking so bad, trust me! However, there is a beauty here in the Mississippi and Louisiana that I've seen so far, a friendliness to the people that is genuine and an ease of getting around that is nice, especially compared to the hustle and flow of Boston and it's endless traffic.


So coming here under the guise of photographing what I could see of the oil spill was the main reason for the visit but today I saw more. For an area of the country still dealing with the after effects of Hurricane Katrina, feeling the pinch then maybe more deeply of this down economy and now the oil spill, I expected a deep sadness but see instead a community coming together to fix it how they can and an area with strong holiday visitor traffic, which while I'm sure is light overall is better than I expected it to be. I even saw individuals swimming in what is obviously impacted waters of the Gulf and while I personally would not feel comfortable swimming in such water, it's their choice and they made it. Maybe to enjoy this piece of their world and ride it through like they have so many other times, other disasters before. I can only guess.


So what did I see? I can feel the questions from afar. The pictures below highlight what I've initially seen. The tar balls as they call them, look honestly, just have to say it, like light brown dog poo or in some cases, as you'll see in one picture, light brown rocks. The water in one section of beach here in Gulfport has a brownish cast and if you look into it you see what appear to be rocks, but are actually the tar balls. 

As I rode with my two photo friends - Rebecca and Denise - we saw the volunteers, being paid by BP to help in the beach cleanup, up and down these beaches. They use rakes and shovels to clean the oil off the beach and bag it into trash bags. Buses dot the beach parking areas, they shuttle the volunteers back and forth from their temporary housing, paid for as part of their work here along with $18 dollars an hour. I can't imagine doing this job in the heat and humidity here, oppressive doesn't begin to describe it. I had the luxury of shooting my photos and then sitting in an air conditioned car to cool off. Working the beaches all day to clean them has to be exhausting.

Again though, as I moved through my day and drove a coastal road West towards New Orleans, I marveled at how much is still beautiful here and how rich in tradition and scenery it is. Stopping at a small town along the way - Bay St. Louis - we explored a small section of the town where wrought iron fences enclose quaint gardens, where a small cemetery sits next to a duplex and the local coffee shop.

For lunch we reached New Orleans, parked and walked part of the French Quarter until we found a place to eat. From there we wandered the streets a bit though I admit the heat got too much for us so we made our way back to the car, planning to return for drinks Saturday night. Along the way we did find street musicians who set the mood perfectly for New Orleans.


All in all, a good first day, we are all exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep to be ready for tomorrow and day two in the Gulf Coast. 


P.S. The final shot here is of a cemetery in New Orleans that we stopped to take quick pictures of through the gate as it was closed. Hoping to get more before we leave.

In my own backyard

I have the benefit of living with someone who creates wonderful gardens giving me plenty of photo opportunities throughout the Spring, Summer and even Fall. In the Spring I shot the pictures here and now with Summer finally here, more opportunities are coming both with the flowers, plants and also the birds.

The gardens attract a great variety of birds and I try to entice them with bird baths and food. So far I've seen a mating pair of Cardinals, along with a juvenile male cardinal, Robins (of course) who enjoy the bird baths in particular, the usual brown chickadees, a pair of Nuthatches and Red Headed Woodpeckers. They are quite vocal--all of them--and it's interesting to see the pecking order (pun intended) of who gets to the feeders first, who gives way when others come by. Sometimes the larger birds vacate when the small birds come by as they tend to travel in packs or as I call them--bird gangs. It makes for an entertaining time, coffee in hand, watching the back and forth. Pictures of some of my visitors will be coming as soon as I can get them used to me sitting close to them to take their pics.

Ultimately too, attracting the birds makes my indoor cats a bit crazy, which is also fun to watch. I think my black and white female, Mitzy, is going to have a kitty coronary one day she gets so excited.

One Rainy Sunday

When your alarm goes off at 7:10am on a Sunday morning, you want to hit that snooze button - hard. I was going to Blithewolde Mansion in Bristol, RI with my photography group and after a long, busy work week and a busy Saturday I really did not want to get out of bed. Especially too hearing the light patter of rain on the window, getting up and out to the rainy cold did not seem appealing at all. But I got up. Showered, dressed, quick breakfast, grabbed my pre-packed camera bag and tripod and out the door. Fortified with a large DD's coffee and my Tom Tom leading the way, I drove in the rain South to Bristol.

Amazingly by the time I arrived, along with several of my group, the rain had stopped. It was overcast and cool but the sun was trying to come out. Immediately everyone began shooting. The Spring flowers were all in bloom,

daffodils, tulips, and purple hyacinths. Within moments I could see that most of the group was on the ground, shooting closeups, finding the details in the flowers. I found one spot that I got hyper focused on. The rain had left large rain drops behind in the cups of the green leaves of plant that has yet to flower. I could have literally been there for hours, I had to force myself to walk away. I'm including one of my favorite shots of those leaves here.

After about two hours the group had explored Blithewolde fully or we were just tired and hungry. Probably the latter. In the end we all couldn't stop marveling at how nice the day ended up. The day reminded me of the old adage used around New England a lot -- "If you don't like the weather here, wait a minute". Today proved that so right.

Back to School

If you are like me, I'll bet you are walking around going... is it really almost April? The new year started off very fast and furious for me, work, work and yeah, some more work. Oh right and some business travel to California, Texas and Seattle. But then along with all of that one very bright spot. I'm a student again taking photography classes at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The beauty of where I live is being so close to some of the country's premiere colleges - RISD being one of them. They have a Certificate Program for Digital Photography that I learned about and with a few quick clicks of the mouse - viola I'm a student again.

Bottom line, I'm really liking it so far. I've taken one full class and I'm in the middle of my second one. In the course of beginning the program I also made the leap from PC to MAC - woot! I still appreciate my PC and all it can do, but once you go MAC - you don't go back. I got the MAC right before Christmas and then proceeded to spend my entire holiday vacation bonding with my new technology. It's a forever love, I can just feel it.

Currently the class I'm taking is "Photography: An Introduction" and it's brought me back to some basics with photography. Realizing that shooting pictures without a bit of a plan can be frustrating but the converse is that it might take 100 shots to find 2 that are good or what you envisioned. That sometimes your fellow students will inspire you to stretch yourself and some are well - how do I say - "interesting". We'll not go there for now.

The best part of the experience to date has been finding a smaller group of photographers within RISD that I've had a chance to get to know. They are in various stages of the certificate program and have given me great insight into their experiences with the instructors and I feel the beginning of some real friendships forming. Their photography is inspiring and I feel like knowing them and seeing their work will push me to where I can find my own vision and confidence in what comes through the camera.

Sunsets

Why do sunsets always give us such a good feeling?

As a photographer, it's a great time of day. The light is at its softest, shadows are darker and more dramatic and everyone loves a sunset photo, right? It can be a bit tricky though, the light from the sun will throw off the settings on your camera so sometimes all you see is the light from the setting sun and the details from other parts of the scene can be lost.

I've noticed that most new quick shoot cameras (those small one's that can fit in a shirt pocket or your small purse) have a sunset setting which will help with this issue. Or if you have a camera like mine that let's you configure your settings manually, you can play with the aperture and shutter to try and get different effects.

The pictures I'm including here are from the end of my day yesterday. There is a state park near me called Deception Pass Park. A large metal trestle bridge is the main focal point in this area, along with the amazing vistas. I drove through the park down to the beach area to get a shot from the shore. Fisherman (and one woman) were trying their best to catch the salmon that live in these waters. Though while I was there no one got lucky. What impressed me about this waterway is how fast the current runs, the water almost looks like a whirlpool in spots where current criss crosses itself. I wasn't brave enough to put my feet in at that point but I heard one small boy exclaim "that's cold!". I took his word for it.

There be Orcas!

Friday, September 4, 2009 was a good day. I got to spend it on an Orca Whale Watch out of Anacortes, WA (if you look for this on a map, find Seattle and look North West from there along the coast). It was a very good day.

About an hour into the cruise we came across a pod of 25 Orcas of all sizes; large males, females and three calves. One large male is known as “Ruffles” for the ruffled appearance of his dorsal fin. He was traveling with a female Orca named “Granny” who is actually his mother and she is estimated to be 98 years old! They have confirmed sightings of this particular Orca in these waters back to 1911. Can you imagine? Really, how cool is that? I wonder about their pod dynamics based on the fact that a 98 year old Orca was leading them. She seemed to be setting the pace, so (and this is totally my theory, no scientific backing here) maybe out of respect for her they let her set the speed knowing she might not be able to go as fast? I asked this question of the naturalist on board and she said she wasn’t sure but anything was possible with these complex mammals. As much as they know about Orcas, there is still more to learn.

What I learned was a lot. Orcas are part of the dolphin family and there are several types of Orcas. The ones we saw today stay in pods their entire lives and are known as “Resident Orcas” and researchers consider them a matriarchal society. At breeding times, they look to breed within other pods but then the calves stay with the mothers or their original pods their entire life. Female Orcas are pregnant for 18 months and the calves feed from them for 8 to 9 months before being able to eat independently. But what I found even more interesting is that there are “Transient Orcas”, one of the guides on the boat likened them to “wolf packs”. They are the aggressive ones you see in National Geographic specials tossing poor little seals around (and I would guess this is where the term “Killer Whale” started) vs. the ones I saw today that primarily eat the salmon and squid that live in the waters of the Pacific Northwest. The Transient Orcas will not attack their own kind but have been known to attack other whale types and smaller dolphins. Then there are the “Offshore Orcas”, not much is known about them because they live so deep out in the oceans they are hard to find and harder to study.

Bottom line, it was so much fun to see them within 100 yards of the boat and to hear their breath puff out over and over as they surfaced and dove, surfaced and dove. It was surprising too how quick and steady their pace is as they move through the water. I heard the ship’s Captain say they’ve used speed radar to measure the Orcas speed and they can go as fast as 30 to 40 mph.

I included a few pictures here but go to this link for the full gallery.

And if you are ever anywhere close to this area during Orca season--go on an Orca Watch!

Where does the time go?

Well, my last blog talked about an upcoming trip to California and I have been sorely remiss in updating this blog with that trip. The last day and a half of the trip I spent going to Joshua Tree National Park in California, about 2.5 hours north and east of San Diego. It was great.

What I love about that part of the country is how different it is from where I live. The desert seems bleak and lifeless at first impression, but as you walk around it or just stop and listen, it all comes to life. The hummingbirds, insects and lizards are just a few of the things that live in the desert - these are all I saw but there is more there than meets the eye. Honestly though, I was very happy not to run across a tarantula!

I was able to visit at what I think is the perfect time. It's hot, but not quite the hot of pure summer and there is no humidity so once you find shade it's more bearable. The park itself is impressive due to sheer size; over 700,000 acres are designated as part of Joshua Tree. Most of it isn't accessible by car, you would have to hike into it to see the various areas. Being that I was traveling alone, I wasn't that brave but would love to go back for deeper exploration. I did take one small hike and as when I was in Yosemite, being alone in these parks with literally no other person around you, the cell phone not working, you realize how small and insigificant you really are. It's scary and awesome at the same time.

Here are a few pics from the trip.





















Ironically, a month after this trip finds me heading back West to California for the upcoming week. Heading to Northern California this time and this trip will be a mix of business and pleasure as well. While I'm out there I'll be able to visit family I haven't seen in a while. Pictures of this trip will more likely be of family that landscapes, but aren't those the best kind anyway? :-]