Asheville trail

Took this picture on my last trip to Asheville in October when I went to see Leonard Cohen. This trail is one of Susannah's favorites so we took her dog. Saw this couple right away who had climbed out on the limb. Looks idyllic. They asked us to come join them but we declined. The water is so clear there so different from the water here in Athens.

Dawgs

I liked this reflection. Saw this walking to my car after work on what could have been the day before a game day, I don't remember. I saw the reflection first and then after I passed a wall I saw the car. I wish I was able to take pictures of all the things that strike me during the day. Today it was two woodpeckers on a tree outside my bedroom window. Yesterday a hawk sitting on a gravestone. I don't always think to pull out my iPhone because I just get caught up in the moment.

More Bonaventure

Another shot, I believe I took this one in December last year. I got to go to the cemetery twice last fall. I like the forlorn look and posture of the woman and the way the trees form a frame around the story in the middle. The palm fronds add a nice touch too. I don't think it is possible to take a bad picture there.

Bonaventure Cemetery

The most amazing cemetery in the world, where Johnny Mercer is buried, is in Savannah, Georgia. I went there last year for a conference and so this picture was taken last November. I don't know if it was the overcast afternoon, the Spanish moss, the statues, but the place has this kind of cool and spooky vibe. It's also just incredibly beautiful. Some graves are rundown and others are so new looking they seem out of place. This is a place to behold.

Happy Halloween!

These are some decorations I have on the tree outside my house. I decided to hang these metal buckets with black cats and orange jack 0 lanterns and place large Christmas lights in them. The effect isn't spooky but more stylized I guess. A 1940s looking Halloween maybe, which I have to say I much prefer.

Folk 4 Life

Saw this on a door in the parking lot at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta. We were there doing Home Movie Day and Renna pointed this image out to me. I like to think it means folk music for life. Or maybe just people for life. Whatever it means it made an impact.

Walking up the hill to work

Saw this doing my usually hike up the hill to work. Like the wet that remained around the leaf. The green flecks on the leaf look like rubbings from asphalt below the leaf. It was a welcome surprise when I was looking down that morning asking myself for the gazillionth time why I chose to walk up that fucking hill every morning. This is maybe one reason why.

Ben Burton Park flooded

This is one of several pictures I took at Ben Burton when the river flooded. The river is usually just beyond those trees behind the picnic table and probably 6 to 8 down the bank. I have never seen the river so flooded there. A bunch of sand got moved with that flood to the area this picture shows. Rivers are really amazing and I have so much respect for their power to change and move huge downed trees or grill or tires or what have you.

Fungi tree Ben Burton

Saw this tree covered with what looks like some kind of whole wheat pasta but that is actually fungus. This at my favorite park in Athens. It was wet when I took this. In fact October has been one wet marvel. I like the light on the leaves and the effect that the mist and water has on the image. So important to look at things in different kinds of light. Light can change how we perceive anything with our eyes.

Drain Cover

Another in my series of industrial art work. Like the colors, the wetness, the numbers, the grid, and the fact that people walk over this thing everyday and probably don't even look down to see it. Again, this looks like something I would like to paint. The layering and textures really inspire me.

Chimney Swifts

After an amazing meal at the 5&10, which must be the best restaurant in Athens, we came upon a massive swirl of hundreds of chimney swifts in the sky near dusk. This picture does not do justice to what I saw by a long shot but the beauty of the moment is what I want to capture here. The birds kept circling above that chimney in the center of the frame. Periodically a swift would go in. Sometimes a whole group in a line would go in. There happened to be a birder there watching and taking pictures and he told us they were migrating to central and South America and that they gather in these masses and sleep in chimneys or other vertical safe houses overnight. We watched until they were all inside the chimney resting for the night.

Purple Surprise

The day I got back to Athens I took the dogs for a walk in the woods and came upon this stunning purple flower with extra dark purple bonbon looking things. I am always stunned by the small beauty everywhere, you just have to look.

Storm Sky Illinois

Taking pictures while I drive is probably not one of the safest things I do. Not as bad as texting and worse then talking on phone while operating a motor vehicle. Came upon this storm on my way to Urbana for my overnight. This was the rolling in part right before I got hit with the major rain.

Redneck Wedding

One of the reasons I was in Wisconsin was to go to my brother' wedding. A picture of the bride and groom shown here right after they got hitched at the hitching post which is to the left. Across the river behind them is upper Michigan. The wedding took place on a piece of property once owned by my grandpa Rudy (Rudolf). The last time I had been to this place was when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. At that time I came up with my brother and my mom's parents Nick and Elfrieda. I remember having the best time playing outside in the rain, in my swimsuit. My brother and I just splashed around in the puddles. I also remember Rudy's Russian girlfriend who had bleached blonde hair and was very nice to me. Right after the pictures the happy couple took off on some ATVs with their wedding party and had a private celebration in the woods.

Giant Cross

If you are ever driving on interstate 57 in Southern Illinois you might get a chance to see this gigantic cross. It seems to appear from nowhere. I took a driving trip at the end of August to Wisconsin and came back to Georgia in September and took very few pictures. Today I am doing a mass download of the few images I took and thoughts that go with them. I wonder what other people think when they see this thing. My first thought it you are trying to hard. My second thought is what the heck is that thing made of and how much did it cost.

Athens Sign Art

I love when people change standard signs and offer up another interpretation. This one is behind the Bottle Works and made me and my lunch partner laugh.

Floating Leaf 3

I like this picture because only the leaf is blurry. There are some very distinct lines visible in the leaf because of the shift and play of the light with the blur. I took this leaf series in a few minutes because I needed to get to work. My dog starting barking at me because he could see me from the window. I had to yell back at him to stop. The leaf kept moving, back and forth, sometimes coming very quickly towards me. I could walk all the way around it. Another magical small moment in an ordinary life.

Floating Leaf 2

Trying to capture the leaf in a still image and getting that lovely iPhone blur instead. I like the comma shapes.

Floating Leaf

This leaf was attached to a single spider web strand that was about 10 feet up connected to a tree limb. I was looking out my bedroom window and this lone leaf was swirling around but never falling to the ground. I wanted to capture that as best I could with my camera. Video probably would have been better here, but I don't have that yet, so this image and a few that follow must suffice. I saw this in the morning and by the time I got home from work it was gone.

SC Big 7

Last of the USC construction series. I liked the numbers, the calculations, the big 7. These images and the ones I took of the train car really do inspire me to paint and layer numbers, letters, and random marks on a surface. Kind of like modern cave paintings in way. Will people in the future tear down our buildings and sift through the wreckage and wonder about the markings someone left behind? Will they wonder what or who a Mac Daddy was?