Brand New Day

Shagbark Silhouette

Sunrise.  January 3, 2005.  Taken with a Sony Cybershot 5.0 Megapixel – my first digital camera..  At that time I lived on Wheeler Lake, which was a wide spot in the Tennessee River west of Decatur.  It was here that my soul was awakened and I shagged off the pretenses of my former corporate existence.  The Real Me emerged as I remembered my love of photography and music and nature.  It was a heady time filled with daily adventures from the small to the grand.  Red headed woodpeckers nested in a nearby snag close to the deck.  Red buckeyes grew wild on the bank.  Great blue herons landed in trees and flew by often like huge pterodactyls with their raucous calls.  Barges thrummed by daily, the Delta Queen cruises entertained with the music of calliopes and most weekends bass boats roared by at 80mph chasing the elusive fishes.  It was paradise.  

Some ask if I prefer beach or lake/river.  My answer is … yes. 

I love Nature in all her moods.

“Turn the clock to zero buddy
Don’t wanna be no fuddy duddy
Started up a brand new day”

Sting

Okay, yesterday was kind of a fuddy duddy post.  In the immortal words of Sting,

“…the river’s wide, we’ll swim across – starting up a Brand New Day!”

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Cypress Swamp

Sandhill Cranes

Gulf Fritillary

Early in the morning, while the butterflies are still cold, it is easy to sneak up on them and take some good shots.

Mists of Avalon

The morning was frigid.  Easily in the teens.  The waters were cold, but not that cold, and covered with a thick fog.  The sun rose, the winds began and the mists began swirling and rising into the air.  I shot and shot until my fingers were the color of bright red lobsters.  These mists are one of my favorite memories.  Black and white makes this look kinda surreal.

Sunrise

Hurricane Rita Sunrise

Bright orange glowed beneath my closed eyes like those of a jack o’ lantern at Halloween.  The sky was glowing well before the sun rose from the hillside.  I grabbed the camera and hustled to the dock below.  Standing above water glowing like molten lava I shot waves of tangerine, orange and gold both above and below, in the lake.  The show lasted about 5 minutes before the clouds ran together, blocking the sunrise.  Eventually, these outer bands of Hurricane Rita turned Wheeler Lake into the Red Sea as torrential rains drained the south’s red clay into the river.  Winds here in North Alabama reached 80 mph.  I could not imagine being any closer to the eye of such a beast.  It was an experience like no other.