KK-Ville Photo Journal

I don't know why I have a fascination with train tracks, but I do. Yesterday my Mother-in-Law went to Varnville for some business and while she was busy, I took a walk to the tracks.

In Varnville, they have Palmetto trees running parallel to the tracks.





A professional photographer that I follow gave out an exercise which entailed putting your camera on ground level and taking a shot.





So I decided to give it a try.




I tried it by setting the camera on the rail, as shown above. And by setting it on the thing that goes across.




I like train tracks but I'm not very versed in train track vocabulary.




At one point I heard sirens and thought someone had called the police on me. You can never be too sure about those small town folk and what they think about some woman hanging around the railroad tracks.




Heck, I probably would have called the police if I had seen someone like me a-sittin, and a-settin, and a-squattin with her camera on the railroad tracks.

Before you give me a great big yawn about my morning walk, please note that I went to a different place today. Instead of just walking out my door, I drove about 20 miles down the road and visited The Sands. I would have liked to have gotten there earlier, but I needed the extra five minutes sleep.





The Sands is a beautiful place in Port Royal. When Joe and I were just Joe and I, we lived just a short walking distance from here.




We used to walk here and then go across the street from where we lived and get some Plum's ice cream. Then we'd walk back to the house, sit on the front porch swing and enjoy our creamy delight.




I loved the creamy delights from Plum's. Then they moved to Lady's Island and we were no longer within walking distance to them.

Rats!




So then after our walks instead of eating ice cream, we just swung on the front porch swing.





They shoot off fireworks at the Sands every Fourth of July. We would walk down there enjoy the fireworks and walk back home. There was something relaxing being able to sit on the front porch swing watching all the traffic after the fireworks show was over.

I always felt sorry for the tired people in the cars who had to fight all the traffic to get home. Now I'm one of those tired people in the cars who has to fight traffic to get home.





But that's ok. I really like fireworks. There's something romantic about them. There's something thrilling about them. There's something so patriotic about them that makes me want to start singing The Star Spangled Banner.




This morning as I walked along the Sands, I could hear the noises of Parris Island. The sounds of the recruits echoed across the water as did the pow-pows from the rifle range.





I wonder if the folks on Parris Island heard me as I shouted, "Stupid gnats, GO away!" Man they were thick this morning.




They interrupted the peace and tranquility I felt as I walked along the shoreline.




Gnats are a part of our little paradise that I could do without.

This is a picture of the house. I like it because of the sky and clouds. Look closely because soon we will be building a garage.

But God thought I looked more like a Canon girl. And who am I to argue with God?

My uncle gave me his Canon EOS 350D Rebel XT today and, needless to say, I'm quite excited. I took it for a test drive without reading the manual first, because that's the kind of person I am. Besides, the manual my uncle gave me is written in Spanish.

Here is my very first shot with my new camera.




I know it's not very exciting or anything that someone would want to hang on their wall but it is the first picture.




One of the first pictures of Buffy.




I have a learning curve but that's ok.




Here's the tree I told you about the other day. You know, the one that looks like an alligator. That's the first thing Joe said when he looked at this picture and I didn't even explain it to him earlier.




Yep, I'm pretty excited about my new toy. Please bear with me as I learn how to use the thing. And remember, my instruction manual says, "Gracias por adquirir un producto Canon." So it may take me awhile ...

It wasn't pretty nor was it a winning day. We lost 9-0. We didn't even get a hit.

Today I've put the pictures in a slideshow. I don't normally do this but I had a lot of pictures to choose from today.

And that's it from me. No dialogue to go along with the game.

I like candid pictures of people. Not that I have anything against posed portraits but I think that candid shots allows the personality of the person to come through. Or maybe a different side to their personality.

I like to take candid pictures of children. They provide so much variety and spontaneity to almost each click of the camera. One of my favorite ways to catch them is to just sit in the middle of where they're playing and snap away.




Believe it or not, this little girl is sitting in a tree ... with the rest of her family! This is the daughter of the friends who had me take their pictures and I captured this when they were settling in on a humongous tree limb for a family shot.

Shooting candid shots does have it's challenges though. Many times you accidentally get a picture or two with eyes closed or arms flailing this way or that. And, if you're like me and have no mercy, you try to get shots when people are eating and have their mouths full.

One of the most challenging subjects for me is when the subject happens to be that of the canine variety.



My dog doesn't listen very well and it's extremely unusual for me to get pictures of her looking like a pretty puppy.




Eating is about as normal as I can get. Eating is something that she loves to do. It's her favorite part of the day.




I wasn't quick enough and she licked just as I clicked.




There there are shots like this, where you see only her tail as she goes exploring in the weeds.




She actually tried to jump this ditch and ended up landing on her nose. A few days ago they mowed the ditch and it looks even more menacing than when it was overgrown. This did not go unnoticed by the dog who is currently recalculating her take0ff speed.




And then there's the candid shot like this next one. The one where just a moment ago she looked all cute and cuddly.




And now she looks all gnarly. Could be that she's in mid-burp.

Nope, with candid shots you just never know what you're going to get.

I told you in a previous post that some friends asked me to take some Christmas photos of them. We did this at Paris Island and the next two photos are a couple of nature shots that I was fortunate to grab. By the way, it's absolutely gorgeous out there and if you have a chance, you ought to go out and enjoy the scenery.

I look at this picture of Joe and it almost brings tears to my eyes. Where, oh where, has time gone? I noticed in the pictures that I took on Sunday that Joe's neck is getting thicker which gives him a more mature look.


But don't let the looks fool you (or me). He's still very much a boy.


By the way, I had to pay him a dollar in order to take his picture. Sheese!

While I was snapping pictures, my neighbor came over to chat and when she did her extremely cute daughters came with her. One went back home because it was hot but the other stayed and let me take some pictures of her. And I didn't have to pay her a dollar!



She can be a silly girl!

But then she saw a little bat and decided she wanted to play some ball with Joe.


Such a contemplative little girl.


I think she looks quite natural playing ball. Even though she is all girlie-girl.


I showed Joe this next picture and we had a conversation that went like this:



And I laughed! Where do they come up with stuff like this?



I don't know, Joe, I think you'd make an awesome big brother to a little sister.

Does anyone know what kind of spider this is? This is the spider's back.