Lowland Marsh near Mobile Bay, Theodore, Alabama

On a recent trip down to Bayou la Batre, Alabama, I happily concluded my business errands shortly before sunset with the opportunity to photograph lands and waters along the western side of the Mobile Bay.

My last photograph of the day was made at this lowland marsh, whose waters would slowly become more saline as they moved toward the bay.

A fiery sunset blazes in the western sky and reflects off the marsh's still surface as the air begins to chill, shrugging off the day's warmth.

Lowland Marsh at Sunset near Mobile Bay, Theodore, Alabama

Shady Grove on Newfound Creek in Gardendale

Shady Grove on Newfound Creek in Gardendale, Alabama, was a place that immediately struck me as a place that I liked, upon my first seeing it several years ago. It wasn't until two years ago that I first actually photographed it, and have since returned a couple of times. The problem with this little tract of rugged marshy beauty is that unless you have a kayak with you or are sporting waders and willing to brave what can only be snake-infested waters, you're pretty much relegated to the view offered by the road, which isn't all bad.

I hadn't thought about photographing Shady Grove on the occasion presented here; I was really only out for a bike ride (I have begun supplementing my running with biking, though as it turns out, the biking has supplanted the running a bit because I like it so well), when I road past the swamp, decorated as it was with tall grasses and yellow flowers. I was compelled to stop and photograph with the only camera I had on me at the time, my iPhone 4, which isn't all bad.

Hilton Head Island

Anna and I took a trip to Hilton Head in August, as a sort of delayed anniversary celebration. Thanks to a family friend, we were able to stay at a condo that was a mere nice-boardwalk-over-a-salt-marsh stay from the beach.

The salt marsh and proximity to the beach were fortuitous, because while Anna exercised in the mornings, I was able to wander out and take photos.

 

And I learned a lot about salt marshes while on the trip. They are the densest ecosystems in the world for biomass and are integral to the maintenance of healthy coastal environments. They're also kinda pretty.

We took one day to go to Savannah. It was a really hot day (as should have been expected in Georgia), so the trip to the city that General Sherman offered to President Lincoln as a Christmas present in 1864 was a little less pleasant than it might otherwise have been. We also made it out to Tybee Island for a quick visit.

The church above is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. One of my favorite photos from this trip (below) causes me to chuckle inside a little. Then the photo below that is one that was taken about seven years previously on another day trip to Savannah.

Our final excursion was to go on a boat tour in an effort to sea some dolphins. We were successful, but even more memorably, I was able to photograph a shrimping boat and a really splendid sunset.