Moon Sets, Sun Rises, Tree Abides

The Sun and Moon daily dance across the sky, but steady tree, 

rooted, bides its time until lively Spring beckons and Life resumes.

This and other such scenes around Alabama can be seen at the gallery, Alabama the Beautiful.

Trees on a Ridge Backlit by the Low Winter Sun

Trees on a Ridge Silhouetted by the Low Winter Sun near Montgomery County, Alabama

This and other scenes from around the State of Alabama can be found at the galleries.

Wisps of Color on a Winter Landscape, Alabama

With a conflicted state of mind as to whether actually to stop and photograph on this miserably cold winter morning, I was rewarded with this pre-dawn landscape of two weathering the dreary months in solitude. Here seen as colors were just beginning to decorate the surface and sky.

Recently, I have been told that this somewhat looks like a momma tree and a baby tree growing alongside one another, and I rather like the thought of that.

Wisps of Color on Barren Trees in a Winter Landscape in Montgomery County, Alabama

Transfixed in Solitude against Dread Winter, Alabama

As it turns out, I was first smitten by this particular scene about a year prior to the taking of this photograph, though the different time of day and other factors led to a disparate result (here). 

There's just something about the stark nakedness of the unclothed trees standing atop an otherwise barren ridgeline that captures my attention. So I, in turn, have taken to turning the tables and attempting to capture it.

Trees on a Ridge are Transfixed in Solitude against Dread Winter

near Red Level, Montgomery County, Alabama

Pre-Dawn Landscape of Barren Winter Trees, Alabama

On a recent trek across the state, when I had to set out before anything else was stirring, I came across this scene on a bleak winter morning. The sun was just about to break the eastern horizon, and I drove past thinking: (1) there might be something there, and (2) it's cold and I'd really rather not get out of the car. So after a half-mile's worth of deliberation, I turned around, and I'm retroactively grateful to myself for doing so.

Winter Landscape of Lonely Trees near Red Level, Montgomery County, Alabama

This and other scenes from about the state can be found at the "Alabama the Beautiful" gallery.

Fiery Shades of Sunrise, Fultondale, Alabama

Fiery Shades of Sunrise in Fultondale, Alabama

This and other photos taken on my iPhone can
be found in the gallery "Fun with Instagram".

Monochrome Morning over Birmingham, Alabama

Monochrome Morning over Birmingham, Alabama

The Sun Also Rises

I used to think that Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises was curiously titled. But then I began to think about what I wanted to say about this photograph, and the book's title came to mind, though I won't begin to suggest that the meaning I derived from the title is what Hemingway had in mind too.

We lead busy lives. From the time we get up, we have a routine. We get ourselves ready for work or school and then help our loved ones get ready for work or school. We feed ourselves and our pets. We turn on televisions or radios to discern if the world has changed significantly while we slept,. There is no good news. Then we clamber into our vehicles and dash into traffic in anticipation of a day that will be all too similar to the days that surrounded it.

But the Sun also rises, and in the midst of our daily scramble and toil, we shouldn't fail to note the beauty and small wonders that are ever within our purview. 

October Morning Sunrise, Fultondale, Alabama :: iPhone 4s

A Fultondale Sky, a Time Lapse Video with Hero GoPro2

On January 6, 2012, I tested my GoPro Hero2 for its time lapse capabilities. I pre-set the camera to take 1 photo/sec at 5Mb for a bit more than three hours, resulting in about 9700 photos. Nothing spectacular here, but it is a nice exhibition of the camera's capabilities.

Another post featuring a brilliant sky in Fultondale can be found here, a sunrise I witnessed when out running a few months ago.

The GoPro Hero2 can be purchased at Amazon: GoPro HD HERO2.

Somewhere in Texas, circa 2001

The Heavens are Ablaze

The heavens are ablaze with amber light

The morning star has ruptured

Its embers setting fire

to kindling clouds

A rampant conflagration that abates

only as flaming fingers

reach the western horizon

from Birmingham to Washington State

In an effort to help my sister and her husband (she has an infant, and he's is deployed to Afghanistan with the Army), I agreed to help my dad drive their stuff up to Washington state from Dallas, where she was living while her husband was away. But I don't want to give the wrong impression and have someone prematurely nominate me for sainthood - my motives weren't entirely selfless. First, a road trip (even a really brief one) was going to provide some great photo opportunities. And second, I needed to add some more states to those that I've visited; it had been a couple years since any new states had been added (I'm now at thirty-three).

I flew out of Birmingham at 5:30pm on Wednesday; upon arriving in Dallas, I disembarked the plane headed straight to my dad's awaiting vehicle, and from there we grabbed a burger from Whataburger and hit the road by 8:15pm. Initially, there had been some discussion of spending the night in Kansas, but we decided to head straight on through the night.

Daybreak found us already in Colorado, where temperatures reached 15 degrees, which was sixty degrees colder than what I had left behind in Birmingham.

some Rest Stop on I-70 in Colorado

My favorite road on this venture (I have to qualify it by saying "so far," because we're currently still in Idaho), has been Hwy 287 in Colorado. Fortunately, from my photography perspective, we hit some road construction on Hwy 287 in a very opportune location.

on Hwy 287 in Colorado

on Hwy 287 in Colorado

We stopped for gas around lunchtime in Rawlins, Wyoming, so I asked the attendant for a suggestion (this after I commented to him that I hoped he had his store anchored down because the 30mph winds were about to push us off the road, to which he replied that it was "just a light breeze"). He recommended Penny's Diner, which was a 1950s style diner located in an aluminum trailer just up the road. It was the best BBQ burger I've had in a long time, maybe ever.

Penny's Diner :: Rawlins, Wyoming

So being filled up, we went onward and forward. More grandeur accompanied us on our route.

west of Rawlins, Wyoming

near Salt Lake City, Utah

near Ogden, Utah

So it's dark now, and we're about to wind it down for the evening in Ontario, Oregon. After more than 24 hours of being largely confined to either the captain or passenger chair of the Tahoe, I'll be able to unfold myself for a bit, before setting about on the final leg of this trip...actually, only the driving portion. I still have the flying back to do, which should be less taxing.

Update: This was taken Friday morning in Oregon, just before crossing over into Washington.