365 Day Photo Challenge Day Twenty-One “A Look Back”

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

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This picture is still hard to look at.  April 27th, 2011 an F-4 Tornado ripped through our little community.  We lost 12 people and over 600 homes that evening.  We were one of the lucky ones.  We had some tree damage and debris in our yard but nothing compared to what happened just down the road.

The young man in the picture was one of my scouts.  His dad is there with him trying to dig out his bedroom.  They found the water bed intact and still full of water while everything else was destroyed.  What your seeing in the picture was in fact two houses.  The storm picked up the neighbors house and flipped it on top of the other.

It’s a miracle more people were not killed in this storm.  One thing that I feel was a huge contributor is that the high school band and 86 of it’s members were on their way to Orlando for a band trip.  If those kids had been home I feel the fatality would have been much higher.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Twenty “The Straight and Narrow”

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Some may disagree with me but I think we have all chosen the path we travel.  At some point in out lives we made a decision that eventually made us into what we are today.  I made several “wrong turns” in my life that I now regret now that I have had a chance to look back.  Some of which I knew once I made the decision I would live to regret it and it would have dire consequences.

It’s how we handle these “wrong turns” in out lives that really matter.  Although I have not been diagnosed but I know I have bouts with depression and severe anxiety attacks.  I guess I should talk to my doctor about it but I really don’t need any more meds.  I try talking to my wife about some of the issues I’m having but she doesn’t understand.  She says she does but there’s really no way she could.

I know ignoring the problems isn’t healthy and I don’t really ignore them.  When ever things get tough at work I try to face the problems head on and deal with them but my question is, am I really handling the problem in the right way? Is there a different way I should be dealing with the problem.

Sorry for the rambling but it’s something that I had to get off my chest.

I admit, I shot her!

19 Monday Jan 2015

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With my camera!!.  Come spring time I’ll wish I had got her with something more lethal.  I love most animals and I love to take pictures of them.  What I’d love to shoot and I have never been invited is a deer.  Not with a gun mind you but with a camera.

I’m assuming this is mother Mocking Bird waiting on her mate to bring nesting material.  They have nested in this same tree for over five years now.  I keep calling her a she but in reality I’m not sure what sex this bird is.  Two summers ago I found  feathers of a Mocking bird on the ground next to the tree where they nest.  I figured that the mate would move on but to my amazement there were two nesting last year.

She kept moving around and I found it hard to get a decent shot of her due to the limbs in the tree.  I know my neighbors thought I was crazy but who cares.  I knew what I was doing.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Nineteen “Almost a Bust”

19 Monday Jan 2015

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Well, today was almost a bust.  I did not get to ride my bicycle today which I am really upset about.  I have a 46 mile bike ride coming up in April and I have got to train for.  Today was a beautiful day with highs in the upper 60’s which was higher than forecasted.  The reason for the bust is that my wife had a doctor’s appointment and I had to stay at home near the phone waiting on the garage door repair man to come by and give us an estimate.  It was really late when he came by and only stayed a few minutes.  After he left I ran got my camera and my tripod and off I went.

As you can see by the photo I was able to capture some amazing shots of our cities court house.  I also got to spend some time at our cities park which is across the street from city hall. I had a time taking the pictures of city hall because every time I snapped the picture a car would drive by and ruin the exposure.  I didn’t stay long because the temps started to drop again and I didn’t bring my jacket.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Eighteen “HDR 2 CCC Camp”

18 Sunday Jan 2015

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The above picture is at a  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp located on the grounds of Oak Mt State Park located here in Alabama.  This cabin is part of this camp with was built back in the ’30’s.  In past years it has served as a church camp, a girl scout camp and a boy scout camp.  In 1976, the dining hall burnt to the ground and the camp decided not to rebuild.  Fortunately, a couple of years ago, a group of Boy Scout leaders decided to put life back into this camp and rebuild the cabins.  Through the use of Eagle projects they have rebuilt over 75 percent of all the cabins.  Although there are no plans to rebuild the dining hall, they are planning on using another large building as a smaller dining hall once it get rebuilt.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Seventeen “HDR”

17 Saturday Jan 2015

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HDR, High Definition Resolution.  Some people love it while others hate it.  I’ve been interested in this for quite some time.  In my opinion, some people over use it and abuse it. They over process it way too much. It can be be used to make an interesting effect and make a dull photo more interesting.

I finally broke down and purchased the software last night and after a day at a car lot shopping for a car, which is an entirely different story, I got a chance tonight to go out and play some.  This is at our local high school.  the sun had just gone down below the horizon and the street lights had just come on.  My camera is a Nikon D7000 and is able to do bracketing.  By taking three photo’s, one under exposed, one metered and one over exposed, the software stacks the three photo’s together and creates this image. I know I’m over simplifying the process and I know some of you already know the process but there are those that don’t.

I’ll go ahead and warn everyone that I will be posting some of these from time to time.  Let me know what you think.  I’m willing to learn and hopefully get better.

365 Day Challenge Day Sixteen “Redneck Ski Slope”

16 Friday Jan 2015

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That’s what my co workers call it anyway.  Cloudmont is located in Mentone, Alabama.  It’s nearly 2 hours from where I live.  Last year I took my two daughters and one of their girl friends there for an afternoon of skiing.  It’s all man made and it’s all ice.  They call it “red neck” because nearly everyone there skiing was wearing camouflage.  A deer hunters paradise.

Personally, I’ve never skied and I’ve never really cared too.  I used to roller skate and I’ve went ice skating once but I stayed on my butt the whole night.  Snow skiing to me is just asking for trouble.  I’ve always said that the good Lord was gracious enough to give me a lot of things and one thing He gave me was common sense. As Mike Rowe is fond of saying in dangerous situations, “It’s ill advised my friend”.

Both my daughters and their friend all learned how to ski that day and in fact went down the bunny slope.  I was a proud dad to see them do this.  My son, being in the Boy Scouts, got a chance a few years back to go to Cloudmont and not only learned to ski but got his Snow Sports Merit Badge.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Fifteen “Longing for Warmer Days”

15 Thursday Jan 2015

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I’m so ready for some warmer weather.  Today was another cold and miserable day.  Granted, I know some of you are dealing with much colder temperatures but it just seems like the cold will not go away.  We’re supposed to see some warmer temps this weekend and I’m so ready for it.  There were even reports of snow and ice just north of where I live.  It’s funny how we are so not prepared for any depth of snow here in Alabama.  They got a dusting of snow in Huntsville today and our satellite office there sent everyone home.  It’s funny I know but we are not prepared to deal with it.  All we have are sand trucks that put sand on the bridges to help with traction but the ice and snow is still there.  Some people here are so hard headed that they think they can drive in this mess that all the do is stall the traffic with their wrecked vehicles.  I just have to laugh at their stupidity.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Fourteen “It’s an Up Hill Battle”

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

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Loosing weight has always been a battle for me all my adult life.  I decided on the first of January that I would start trying to loose weight again.  I was doing good until I found out that I was going to have eye surgery.  To me there was no since trying to get myself in a habit of exercising if was going to have to stop for a couple of weeks after the surgery.  I know I’m just getting back in the same routine and looking for excuses not to exercise.

I go downstairs and I see that treadmill and I get this sickening feeling down in my gut.  I really hate that thing but all it’s doing is collecting dust.  I’ve lost a lot of weight on that treadmill but I just can’t get myself to get back on it.  I love being outdoors and being on my bicycle so much more.

I will have a three day weekend with no doctor’s restrictions and the temps are supposed to break the 60 degree mark.  Come Hell or high water I’m getting on my bicycle and getting some miles in.  I might even post a short video of my ride.

This photo was taken last night at the same place of Vulcan.  It’s the path you walk up to to see the city’s skyline.  Some day soon I’ll hopefully capture an image that I’m proud to share of our great city.

365 Day Photo Challenge Day Thirteen “Icon”

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

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I had to take my daughters to a meeting tonight.  The meeting lasted three hours and there was no sense of me going home and then back out to pick them up.  I took this time go take a few pictures.  The main thing I wanted to take pictures of didn’t come out the way I wanted but this one turned out pretty decent.  I tried to tone down the top but then the rest of the picture looked under exposed.  Anyway, still playing with the new camera. Hopefully one of these days I’ll figure it out.

This is Vulcan, one of Birmingham’s icons.  The park around him has been newly renovated and it’s the first time I’ve been there in over twenty years.  In fact, none of my three kids has ever been there.  Looks like a field trip is in order.

Years ago, the light at the top of Vulcan’s extended hand would change color from green to red when ever a fatality would happen on the roadways.  It stayed red a lot in those days.

For those that are following, I got released from the doctor’s care today and I’m going back to work tomorrow.  I’m not really excited about it; I got kind of used to not going in and being Mr. Mom.