Photography has opened my eyes to nature's colors and their durability.  Here in Georgia, once Spring sets in in mid March, the colors abound until the end of Fall.  Each week Mother Nature proffers up a new colors, textures and scents for our enjoyment and allergic misery.

 I spend a lot of time on the Chattahoochie.  It is a very nice  river.  Numbingly cold, it fogs up in the morning and evening.  I cross over it every day that I work and I marvel at the mysterious fog.  There are lots of preservation parks all along its muddy banks.  The 'hooch is a deep slowish moving river with steep banks, so it's not exactly a swimming river.

Forest City, Iowa. 

Abandoned homes abound in N Iowa as well as in Georgia.  This is a collapsed barn.

 Inside the collapsed barn.

Inside the abandoned farm house that sits on the same acerage as the collapsed barn.

 Oil filters at my dad's shop in Forest City.

It's amazing what people will leave behind when they move out of a home.

 These fall off the trees in Nebraska, and apparently, repel roaches. 

 Back rubbers at my sister's house.

 If I'm not mistaken, this is a working co-op.  Talk about run down.  I don't know for sure if is, though, so dont' quote me.

 The oak tree species up in N Iowa are classic Halloween!  The oaks here in Georgia are still in leaf. 

 I used to climb on this WWI tank, used as a veterans' memorial in Lake Mills Iowa, as a kid.

 A statue of a statue in Old Town Omaha.  Visiting Omaha helped put into perspective exactly how large Atlanta metro area is.  There is also something about Midwestern towns....their wholesome-ness?  their quaintness?  Their complete homeliness?  It's hard to pinpoint, but I really enjoyed getting back to the midwest.

 Gryffins have uber appeal to me and I would love to have this one for my very own.

 It is difficult to capture the mercurial and mutable beauty that is a camp fire with a camera.

Bride's Maids at my cousin's wedding.  Their creativity and orginal, unique style made me a lot reminscent and cognizant of the indominable passage of time.  I used to be very similar to them:  a maverick, an eccentric.  I'm much more mainstream now and that saddens me.  To the point of wanting to go out and get bright red streaks put back into my hair like the old days.  Hey!  I'm an "artist" so it's cool, right?

Vala's Pumpkin Patch is nothing short of astoundingly amazingly cool.  It has such a fantastic energy of activity, youth, laughter and family togetherness that  I am already planning next year's visit.

The allergens here in Georgia are sky high all year round.  It is a double edged sword;  all of the things that make this area gorgeous all year round are the exact same things that cause so much misery for so many of us....all year round.

The primitive southern cross is the antithesis of the ornate baroque/gaudy/flaunting Catholic crosses.

I'm so used to seeing Jesus hanging off one that it is a little weird to just see these unadorned ones all over. 

 This is a mini chapel in a small town called Smithville.  The sign proclaiming its name also boasts of it only having five people for its population.  Interesting place.  Old buildings with dates painted on them had been turned into shops but weren't open. 

 Lake Rabun is beautiful.  It is a thin lake outlined by winding roads that wend around it providing views and fun and interesting passage thru sweet river homes. 

 A smattering of red.  Scarlet is my favorite color.  And all the vivid hues of red that Mother Nature provides in the arboreal cathedrals around Georgia make me very happy.

Talulah River Dam.  What a nice find!  We were on our way to Minihaha Falls when I decided that I wanted to take some photos of this place instead.  We didn't make it to the falls on this trip. 

 Fall in Georgia is very nice.  I am surprised by how much I missed about my surroundings until I became an avid photographer.  I now scrutinize everything I see. We miss so much in our day to day lives because we are so caught up in the mundane trivialities, that we forgo the truly miraculous and awesome.

 Having a child is like having a second childhood.  Mud, bugs, rain puddles and coloring have all been re introduced to me and I really dig it.  This little girl has given me the gift of life:  mine and hers.

 Since I have some cool lights, I have been mulling over ideas to fiddle with objects in my environment.  This is experiment number one. 

 New cache for great textures, shapes, colors, materials and mediums!  A local discount retail store.

 Seasonal ideas without purchasing them.

 I am a fairly spiritual person, but by no means an affiliate of any religion.  Could someone please explain why I am deeply fascinated with Religious symbols, regalia, architecture and places?  This is a giant, mega church that is commonplace down here in the South.  While this is not one of those true "Holy Roller" places you can run into with great frequency down here, it is on a HUGE campus and even has its own school.   Maybe I never paid attention to the amount of Christian schools present in the other cities I lived in, but it sure seems like there are lots down here.

 Look at how cool that giant shadow is! it is what caught my attention and brought me to this church.  There was a dude fishing in one of these obviously man made ponds.  I wonder if he was on his lunch break and needed a little relax time or if he was there on the sly to catch some fish grown up in the shadow of this edifice?

 There is a strange dichotomy about North Georgia:  homes.  A lot of hurried affluence has caused many many abandoned homes to decay within sight of the Mc Mansions that are so prevalent these days in this part of Georgia.  It is a paradise for someone like me who loves to go into these dilapidated masterpieces and snoop around.  I like the slight creeped out feeling I get being in an empty, discarded building and I also like the adrenaline rush I get from not exactly knowing if I'm going to get shot at, charged by a wild animal or surprised by some homeless person who's set up shop.  This is a porch that is caving in.  I shot this at about 9am with my 55mm lens stopped down to 2. 

 This is the door under the porch in the photo above.  C is for Clampett, right?  Like so many other things Georgia- rural- types like to leave to Mother Nature to dispose of, this door will be around for another 75 years unless it's torn down.  This is also my 55mm lens f/2

I like shooting in the morning sun.  I am awake, well rested and the light is fantastic and the weather is usually decent.  At night, while I like the light too, I find I am feeling rushed and thinking about dinner and getting my daughter off to bath and bed.  55mm f/2