In a recent visit to Charleston, South Carolina, I was able to get a few shots from the intercoastal waterway and coast.


The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, also known as the Cooper River Bridge, is a cable-stayed bridge over the Cooper River in South Carolina, connecting downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant. The eight lane bridge satisfied the capacity of U.S. Highway 17 when it opened in 2005 to replace two obsolete cantilever truss bridges. The bridge has a main span of 1,546 feet (471 m), the longest among cable-stayed bridges in the Western Hemisphere. It was built using the design-build method and was designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff.


On the go at about 15 knots, I was able to steady the camera enough to get this shot of a couple of steeples in front of the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge. The omnious cloud cover at the time caused the steeple on the right seem pearly white. I thought it was a cool effect but this leaves me wishing I had a little more zoom.


Higher aperture?


This three-mast schooner carries tourist adrift along Charleston Bay. More information is available at Charleston Schooner Pride. 


Nearby Folly Beach South Carolina offered up morning hang-ten'ers.

Image hosting services provided by Iredell Photography Club.

...of landing.

The pictures below are of a Black Rat Snake found in the pasture this afternoon sunning himself.  My brother captured him and kept him in this cardboard barrel until I was available to take a few pictures.

This snake was fairly agressive at first cause he was a little afraid of what I might do.  But after fifteen minutes of careful handling, he was as tame as a kitten.

Before:

After:

Yes!  That is the same snake and oddly enough, that's not a strike posture.  The still photo does look that way but he passed on every opportunity to bite me.  

Anyway, I think I found about five or six snakes last year and it looks like I'm off to a good start this year!  I mean, it's only just April.  I think last year I found my first around June after months of hunting.

I have ten minutes of video to go along with this picture to show how relaxed the meeting was.