At the Lake Again

Enjoying the Lake

A couple of years after we moved to Charleston, we bought a 17 foot Bayliner runabout. We used it for skiing, getting to the local beaches, harbor cruises, and for finding secluded spots for nude sunbathing and photography. One of our favorite spots was an island in middle of Lake Moultrie. When we could get baby sitters or when the kids were visiting their grandparents out of state, we would load up the boat with picnic supplies, a cooler of drinks and a bottle of wine and head up to the lake and take the 45 minute ride out to the island for an afternoon in the sun and in the water. In fact, we celebrated our 9th anniversary with a picnic on the beach.

The small island was also great for outdoor glamour photography, and I have lots of images from those days. The problem is, of course, that the images are all on film and even though I've scanned directly from the negatives or slides in most cases, the quality of film and the processing from mumble, mumble, cough, cough years ago just doesn't match the quality of today's digital images. So, once scanned, I've had to put a lot of work into retouching and processing the images so they meet at least a minimum quality for use here. It takes time to do that processing, and it doesn't help that my photographic skills lacked quite a bit in those days. It's not that I'm perfect now, not by any means, but I certainly know more and have developed more skill with the camera over the years.

Having a boat, a secluded place to shoot, and a willing model certainly helped me develop those skills though, so I thought it would be fun to share one of those images here.

A Few More from Death Valley

We just completed a road trip to Arizona and back. We drove down at the beginning of August and spent a couple of weeks visiting with family, then drove back via the Grand Canyon, Historic Route 66, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, etc. We spent most of our time talking and enjoying the ride, but it got me to thinking about a road trip we had made 7 years earlier and some images we made in Death Valley. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

Posing in Golden Canyon

The above image was taken in Golden Canyon. We stopped there for a hike on our way back from seeing Badwater and the light was so gorgeous, we had to get some figure images.

On the Road in Death Valley

Okay, the image above isn't technically perfect, some would say it isn't even a good image, but you certainly can't fault the bravery of the model. This was right in the middle of the valley and although there was no traffic to speak off, anyone coming along could see for quite a ways into the distant, not to mention you could fry an egg on the asphalt, hence the sandals. 

Finally, here's an image from Salt Creek, which is an interesting little hike all by itself. 

Happy 4th!