sunrise at harbourtowne resort, where we stayed
sloane recently had a work retreat in st michaels maryland, and her company was nice enough to invite me along. so i of course used my free time wisely, and went kayaking on maryland's eastern shore. i had been reading about this swamp just south of st michaels, called the black water national wildlife refuge.
Read Morei have been testing out the waters of my new home state this past month, trying to find myself some new spots to paddle. the inaugural trip was down to the patuxent river in bowie md. when i put on the water and was pretty happy to find a river that was reminiscent of some south cackalacky blackwater rivers - small, winding and swampy - it felt like home a bit. i paddled up stream 7 miles against the current and found a sweet place to hang my hammock for a beer break.
beer thirty
found this guy near my hangout
the illusive wood duck
patuxent river in all of its' glory
garter snake
tree at the put in
stormy skies above the put in
my second trip out was to some tidal waters in the state capitol annapolis md. i met up with my old charleston housemate austin and we put on under a bridge in the south river, into some pretty gusty headwinds on open water. going was slow, but when the wind finally died, it was quite pleasant and the outgoing tide finally worked in our favor. we paddled about 8 miles one way to austin's neighborhood landing and got off the water just as the sun was setting.
one of about a million osprey on the south river
searching for the next meal
an unsuccessful attempt to grab a fish
austin's beautiful paddling form
sunset
a container ship on the way up the mighty chesapeake bay
the latest trip i recruited my old college roomy frank to push some water on the potomac, and do a little camping along the water. we put on near point of rocks md, and paddled 24 miles down river to edwards ferry. the water was moving pretty quickly from recent rains, so we were able to cover a lot of distance fast. it also poured down rain for more than half the day, and we got a little bit wet. we were graced with a break in the precipitation long enough to set up camp on a very muddy island, and get a fire going. pretty much as soon as we cooked dinner the skies opened up again, and we were very happy with our decision to hang the tarp in the trees. the weather cleared overnight and we had a beautiful morning to finish the last 5 miles of our trip.
gearing up at the put in
the only shot i made on the water the first day, after this it was too wet to shoot. point of rocks bridge in the distance
make shift garage on our muddy island. we had a hell of a time getting this fire going with everything so saturated.
franky bones drying out
frank boiling water for the evening meals.
frank pushing water on day 2
sunny skies the second morning
whites ferry across the potomac
big ass power lines over the river, the noise these suckers were making was unbelievable.
april 11-13 2014 - the annual migration to the woods of the allegheny national forrest to fish (drink) with my fellow pennsyltuckians in honor of the first day of trout season. it usually snows, rains and is generally pretty terrible weather. this year was an extreme exception. aside from a full day of rain on friday, when most folks showed up, we had sunny skies and warm weather the rest of the weekend. despite the warmer temps, we were still able to burn at least two entire dead trees. i took a few moments away from the party to shoot some images, but mostly we stood around the fire, ate and drank heavily. good times were had by all as usual.
the crick
moss covered hemlock
sunlight beaming through the trees
the twin vdubs
empty fire side
full fire side
the life of the party - time lapse from 7pm to 2am at the campsite
a few of my friends have some of the coolest hobbies i have yet to discover, aside from kayaking. they are addicted to flight, in one form or the other, and most of their extracurricularactivities revolve around it. they fly rc helicopters and planes with cameras and goggles, which allow them a first person view of the object the are piloting. they kite surf and sky dive, one of them has a private license for fix wing aircraft and is working on a helicopter license as well. the other is the man behind a sweet little anemometer that plugs into your smart phone and gives you instant and accurate wind speed, with the help of a free app. back in early february i photographed said device, for a pr campaign he is launching, one of our location shoots took us to folly beach to photograph the wind meter with his flight gear. of course since we dragged all the gear out there, he had to go for a flight while we were there. these are a few of the better shots i managed while ryan (green wing) and joe (orange wing), who showed up a bit later, were up in the air. enjoy, i know they did...
step 1 - strap propeller to back, lay out wing and lines
step 3 - keep running
step 2 - start running to get the wing in the air
step 4 - jump in the air and hit the gas
ryan looking cool flying his quad copter
it's not the government spying on you, yet….
i wasn't gone very long, but it was great to be back anyway. i was afforded the chance to get out of snow riddled baltimore for a week recently, and return to the sunny old stomping grounds in south cackalacky. i spent the week of march 10 - 16 back in charleston for a shoot with coastal contacts. i made sure there was some time in between work for some fun as well, not that work wasn't fun....
the vw thing. my friends holly and forrest were gracious enough to let us borrow it for a recent shoot on folly beach. she's a bit difficult to drive, but once you figure out the clutch to gas ratio, it is a dream.
quick shot of the models and their fashionable eye wear on the the thing.
fellow hammockers under folly pier on a 40 degree morning, they must have been freezing.
spent a few windy chilly nights out on the beach, working on my project - i was hoping to catch the tide up around the tree, but i never got out early enough. although the sky made up for the lack of reflection here.
this is the same tree - lit only by the moon
i spent saturday and sunday kayak camping out with friends at caw caw - i attempted to photograph a few trees via kayak, but after getting stuck repeatedly in the mud my frustration got the best of me so i headed back to the campfire to enjoy the beer and the night.
habza on the paddle into caw caw
habza paddles into the last bit of sunlight.
karls bar - empty yet again
we were threatened by rain on the paddle out of the swamp
it was looking a bit eery
and by eery, i mean awesome. we did get wet that day, but the trip was worth it.
i packed my bags and headed north on monday, after a successful shoot and kayak trip, directly into a winter storm....
the back yard, complete with canal, dock, gazebo and boat. you know you've made it when your landscaping is this well lit.
the 'rents recently moved to punta gorda, fl for the winters - to live the good life, away from the snow. us kids came down for a few days to see why they worked so hard the last 60 years. i think it was worth it….
the screened in pool, which overlooks the canal.
back yard in the daylight
back of the house
front of the house
pop and thomas cleaning the days catch
they work like well oiled machines
i have seen these fish (sheepshead) on the internet, and i always assumed it was photoshop. they have a full set of human like teeth - quite creepy. i caught this fella while untangling a birds nest in my line, luck was on my side.
the gratuitous family photo
my niece brenna loves the water
and bubbles.
bubbles are awesome
sunday, february 9th, under sunny skies, a light breeze and temps in the high 60's - we departed for the final official charleston adventure club kayak trip, before sloane and i departed for our new home in baltimore. 7 made the paddle out, 6 of us stayed the night in caw caw swamp. brad's boat rentals in full effect.
dolphin guarantee with tom's tours
unloading gear at the campsite.
anthony was the 7th paddler to join in, we met him halfway into the trip, and almost passed him on a short cut through the grass, luckily we were noisy and he found us.
my bed for the night, brandy new blaze under quilt thanks to my friends at ENO. this sucker will keep ya toasty down to 30 degrees, which greatly lengthens my hanging season. i had to kick anthony out after a while….
sunset from the hammock, best view ever.
sunrise on the west side of our island 7 am
sunrise on the east side of our island - 630 am
karls cabana bar on the return trip. i have dreams that someday it will be hopping with some blue grass and frosty beers. some day….
the rest of the good shots from our trip are in the gallery below. enjoy.
a few weekends ago i talked 2 of my adventurous friends into joining me on a chilly (for charleston) 40 degree over night paddle into caw caw swamp. we left from lime house landing on johns island and headed to a spot i had been to before, but never overnighted at. the plan was to photograph a few trees for my current project that evening, however we had zero water in our the canal we were staying on from 8 pm until 2 am, when the tide started to come back in. so i decided to get up around 5, and photograph before the sun came up - and it worked out perfectly. i managed to get a good time-lapse of the sunrise at the same time i was out shooting the trees.
who would have thought that putting fruit in sparkling water would be so cool? thanks to sloane who dropped some raspberries in our drinks, and a sunny afternoon, i was able to make some cool images right on our coffee table. refreshing and beautiful. click on the images to view them in all their splendor.
this past weekend, our plans to camp saturday evening were thwarted by the possibility of death by tornado, which didn't seem like much fun. so we enjoyed the chicken chili we were going to cook in the dutch oven, on the stove instead and watched football in the relative comfort of my friends house. we got up early on sunday to clear skies and calm winds, and hatched a plan to paddle eleven miles from sunrise park on james island to crosby's on folly road. we caught the back end of an ebb tide from sunrise park and let that and wind carry us out of the harbor.
brad and beth paddling the harbor
the history part of this trip comes in the form of the civil war. very near the entrance to charleston harbor is fort sumter, the very spot where the first shots of the civil war were fired. the fort is now a national monument that folks can tour either by paid ferry ride, or by personal boat. we opted not to get out and explore, as we had all been there before.
fort sumter
fort sumters flags
fort sumter from morris island
we pulled our boats out of the water for an expiration of the north end of morris island, and waited for the tide to start coming back in, so we could paddle with it the next nine miles inland.
ft sumter from morris island
dead dinosaur, or horse shoe crab as many know them
the coast guard
view of sullivans lighthouse from morris island
oyster cacher
brown pelicans
brad and beth on the home stretch - check out that awesome hat
