A Demonstration to Save Cooper Green Hospital

In downtown Birmingham, in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse, there is an on-again-off-again demonstrator, who sets up his numerous signs, his baby carriages full of baby dolls, dons his snazzy get-up, and sings for hours on end. And despite Birmingham's many social problems, he isn't protesting any of them. His song isn't a call to action for upheaval. His is an entreaty to God and the Jefferson County Commission to save Cooper Green Hospital. His song of choice, Give Me That Old Time Religion, which he was crooning at the time I arrived at the courthouse and was still going strong with it two hours later, when I left.

"Save Cooper Green Hospital"

I have wanted to take this fellows photo for some time now, but until Friday, either I didn't have a camera when I was at the courthouse, or he wasn't present when I was armed with one.

Hiking at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center

Nicely tucked away over in Birmingham's East Lake is the Ruffner Mountain Nature Center. It had been about ten months since I last visited, when I went trail running last May. This trip was to be a little less intensive; I was going with two friends and Darby.

Matt attempting to scale part of Sandstone Ridge

While us human folk hiked a couple of miles, Darby easily doubled and maybe tripled our mileage with all of her advanced scouting of the trail.

Darby impatiently awaiting our catching up to her

It was a really nice outing, though we ended up on a different trail than we had intended. I had hoped to go down to one of the quarries but somehow ended up on the same trail as last time, and headed to the wetlands, then to Sandstone Ridge. 

Cattails of the Wetlands

The Wetlands

In addition to some incredible weather, we also had the please of the early blooms of the wildflowers. If you haven't yet been to Ruffner Mountain, you should certainly add it to your list; it's smaller than Oak Mountain but also less populous, meanwhile offering well manicured trails and quiet commune with nature.

Wildflowers near the Wetlands

One of many Trillium flowers along the Trails

Technorati Tags: alabama, birmingham, ruffner mountain nature center, trillium, sandstone ridge, panasonic lx3.

Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover, Alabama

Somehow, I have managed to live in the Birmingham area for 8+ years without knowing of the existence of Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover. Well, now that I know, I expect I'll probably be a semi-regular visitor. With several miles of trails and a variety of scenery, Moss Rock Preserve is a pretty nice way to spend a day outdoors. It has the makings of allowing your hike or bouldering to be easy or difficult as you'd like.

Panorama of Boulder Field at Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover, Alabama

Knowing almost nothing about the place, a couple of friends and I went to Friday to visit the preserve. I don't think we really had any particular expectations, and were thus pretty pleased with what we found there.

Ornaments Dangling over Hurricane Creek, Moss Rock Preserve

High Falls at Moss Rock Preserve

The below video is really just us enjoying ourselves. If you're looking for some footage that's just going to knock your socks off, this isn't it; but we did have a good time with our silly foolishness.

All photos shot with Panasonic LX3 and video on GoPro Hero2

Technorati Tags: alabama, birmingham, gopro hero2, moss rock, moss rock preserve, panasonic lx3

And a Merry Christmas to You

The Way of the Sluggard

Proverbs 15:19: "The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns...." That "hedge of thorns" was Darby's teeth in this case. I barely saved this guy from instant and squishy death. If he hadn't been so slimy and hard for her to get ahold of, he would have gone the way of the cricket.

Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, Atkeson Trail

On my way up to Huntsville on Friday (in order to run the Huntsville Half Marathon the following day), I decided to stop at the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge on the Tennessee River, near Decatur, Alabama. I didn't have a great deal of time, so I stopped at the Visitor Center where I found a nice half-mile trail, called the Atkeson Trail. This little hike contained all sorts of flora from bamboo to a bald cypress grove, hackleberry to red oak.

In addition to carrying my Panasonic LX3, I have just acquired an iPhone 4 and wanted to test its abilities. I used the iPhone to take the first two photos below.

And while I was pleased enough with the results I achieved, it certainly can't replace a camera, except in a pinch. Just too many limitations. I did download the ProCamera (which gives you greater control over focus and exposure) and Adobe Photoshop Express (which has some nice little post-processing options), which increased some functionality.

The below photos were the best of the photos taken with the Panasonic LX3, which is quickly approaching the its second anniversary with me. It was my first digital camera, and I have just loved this thing.

Huntsville Half Marathon

In February, I ran my first half marathon, the Mercedes Half Marathon, in Birmingham. In July, I set about looking for the next Half I would run and came across the Huntsville Half Marathon on November 12, which gave me plenty of time to re-train (following a very lazy June) and cooler temps to run in. I then convinced my friend Mark Gouge to run with me; it would be his first Half.

So with each short run, long run and cross training day, D-day drew nigh. And on Friday, I went to the thrift store to pick up throw-away sweatshirts for Mark and myself. I was incredibly fortunate to find these lovely bowl game sweatshirts from 1998 (below).

USC-TCU at the Sun Bowl, and Tennessee-FSU at the Fiesta Bowl

The Huntsville Half is a much smaller race than the Mercedes, with about 950 registered runners. On Friday evening we went to pick up our SWAG bags and numbers.

 Due to the slow nature of our pace, Mark and I elected to start at the very back of the pack. We ended up placing in the mid-600s, meaning we passed about a third of the field. So here's a day, in a slideshow (but for those of you using portable Apple products that don't support Flash, you can find the gallery containing these same photographs: here).

And since finishing was really the highest of priorities for Mark and myself, here's a video of us doing just that.

Lyric Theatre

Canon Rebel T2i, EF 50mm f/1.8 II

Panasonic LX3

The Ensley Steel Works, Property of US Steel

The Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (TCI) established its largest production facility in Ensley, Alabama, at the site that has subsequently become known as the Ensley Works. According to John Stewart, "The Ensley Works became a very significant steel property and was key in the growth and development of the Birmingham District as a steel and particularly a rail manufacturing center." Eventually, US Steel purchased TCI and procured control of the Ensley Works.

1909 Panorama of the Ensley Works :: Copyright Deposit, Haines Photo Co., January 14, 1909

In August of 2010, several friends and I came upon this site while out looking for another site, which turned out to be less interesting than had been hoped for. We spent several hours checking the place out, but I wasn't really prepared for an in-depth photo session, not having either of my nicer cameras nor a tripod on me at the time. Hopefully, there will be an opportunity to return in the not-too-distant future, with proper equipment in tow.

 

 

Festive Fall Fireworks

Pretty soon, it's going to be boring, drab ole' winter, 

so enjoy these colorful bursts of foliage autumn provides.

Republic Steel's East Thomas Plant

A little more than a year ago, two friends and I were given permission to shoot the remains of Republic Steel's East Thomas plant, which lies on the premises of Wade Sand & Gravel on the western side of Birmingham. 

I haven't shared these photos until now, but at long last, here they are.

Part of the reason I share this now is that I've been given permission to photograph another historic Birmingham structure at the end of this week. I'm pretty excited, though I have no idea how it'll turn out; the only photos I've seen of the building's interior are nearly 100 years old.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9

I just purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 which, for me, was an upgrade from Elements 6. There are innumerable reviews on it, so I won't elaborate. But Adobe Camera Raw, which allows me to manipulate the RAW files from both my Panasonic LX3 and Canon Rebel T2i, is worth the price of admission by itself. I think it's probably going to change my whole workflow; ACR is so much more user friendly than Canon's Digital Photo Professional, with the added benefit of no more switching from one program to the other.

Review :: Camelbak Lobo [Update]

After carrying my Camelbak Lobo on both an 8-mile run and equidistant hike this weekend, I can reconfirm both its comfort and utility. Regarding carrying the Lobo while running, nothing has changed from my initial review. But as it pertains to hiking, I am even more pleased with the Lobo than I had anticipated. 

That's me and the Lobo on its inaugural hiking trip.

I planned a several-hour hike at the Sipsey Wilderness (report from that venture, here) with a couple of cameras. I intended to carry two small cameras [Panasonic LX3 and Agfa Billy Record], a monopod [Velbon RUP-40 w/Slik SBH-100 ballhead], KA-BAR knife, film, Leatherman utility tool, small medical/first aid pack, snacks, compass, trail maps, cell phone, other small necessities/accessories, and of course, a fairly full bladder of water.

Camelbak and Gear :: I know, a little over-prepared

Result: No problem. There wasn't any extra room, but everything fit sufficiently well. And perhaps most importantly, even though we went off-trail a bit (intentionally), none of the survival gear became necessary to use.

Please feel free to leave any comments regarding your own experiences, or questions you might have. I strive to make this as informative as possible.

Lyric Alley (Vol. II)

Follow these links to access either Volume I of this set or the Gallery.

Lyric Alley (Vol. I)

Last Friday night, I went with friends to see the Civil Wars at the Alabama Theatre. We park about a block-and-a-half away from the Theatre, and as we were walking we passed the Lyric building, itself containing an old theatre. But in the alley behind that building, something caught my eye, and I made a mental note to return with a camera. So yesterday, with a little extra time between work and class, I did just that. 

This one (above) was the initial 'inspiration.' But as it turned out much of that alleyway was interesting to some degree or another.

This set served as further inspiration to start a new gallery on my website, simply titled: The Doors. Over the years I have photographed so many interesting doorways and doors in Birmingham, that I thought it only appropriate that they receive their own designated space.

So this is the first half, with the rest to follow tomorrow.