Another beautiful day in the neighborhood! You know in Alabama, when Mother Nature gets it right, she really gets it right. Shuttle Atlantis comes home on Wednesday leaving two flights left in a very storied history of space flight.

Last week I had to make a quick trip driving up to North Carolina and what a beautiful (very long) drive it is on I-40 and then on to NC Hwy 64. There are too many beautiful sites along the trip but one caught my eye as we were passing by on the country road. An abandoned farmstead that has most likely seen a few generations run through the doors of the old home. I have always wondered how does one just up and move out of their home and leave it to the elements until it is laid to rest by deterioration or by “progress”.

When I first moved to Alabama many years ago, I found myself doing allot of in-state road trips and finding these type of dwellings all over. Farmhouses and barns left mostly intact with furniture waiting for it’s final destiny. Today they are few and far between, replaced by multiple dwelling pack so close to each other that you could not imagine how one could stand alone on such a vast piece of property. I always wonder who might had lived there and what stories could be told if the walls could talk.

I found my self once again, for that very brief moment in time, hearing the laughter of the children and the family enjoying another day of life in their, as I tried to capture the essence of what I could only imagine once was. How wonderful might it have been to have lived an unencumbered way of life? It is hard to imagine that anything other than radio may have affected their day.

Great things are in store on the horizon. Stay tuned!!!!!

Looking for stock images, corporate art or a photographer for an upcoming assignment, I am just a phone call or email away. Stock image galleries are on-line for your viewing in the “comfort” of your own dwelling.

Best regards
~dK~

Back in Huntsville and I am looking forward to another week in the neighborhood jammed pack with client shoots. Congratulations to NASA for yet another successful shuttle launch on Friday, the potential last flight for the shuttle Atlantis.

Could there be anything more gratifying than surprising your mother with an unannounced visit on Mothers Day? On that weekend, I flew home to Tampa to do just that. I took a cab from the airport and rolled up “under the radar” to the old house that I grew up in. I knocked on the door and as the door opened you could see it in my mothers’ eyes! It was as if she thought she was dreaming except this time when she woke, I was still standing there. What an extra special moment it was. I do not get home as often as I would like but I really felt the need to make this weekend special for my mom.

With all of the many wonderful reasons to come home, it is the special memories that are awakened by seeing the house where I grew up that I look forward to the most. What never ceases to amaze me are the tress that my Dad planted when we moved in and to see how they have grown. As a kid I thought they were big but how those old oaks dwarf the house now.

But what caught my eye this visit was a swing in the back yard that my dad built when I was a child. I sat in that old swing with my mother during those wonderful early years, catching up on what I did in school each day. She never failed to ask me every detail about my day. What fond memories that old swing holds and how wonderful to still have my mother to share those memories with. The old oak tree stands tall over the swing these days as if to say, “I will always be here as a guardian of those memories.”

If you find yourself in need of stock images, corporate art or a photographer for an upcoming assignment, I am just a phone call or email away. Each and every image you have viewed in past blog posts are available for private or corporate collection.

 Best regards
~dK~

I hope this email finds you doing well and I am so glad to see Nashville is getting back to some normalcy after such a traumatic weekend. I can only wish the city and its resident a speedy recovery.

While battling the rains and floods in Nashville I received a call from my  girlfriend with the unfortunate news that her father had finally lost his long-term battle with cancer. I found myself scrambling to book any flight that would get me to Norfolk in time. My originally scheduled flight from Nashville, where I was teaching a weekend workshop, had been cancelled mid day on Sunday. Luckily for me … one last flight out of Huntsville that had me racing the two hours home in time to catch it and have the opportunity to be present during the “celebration of life” of a very extraordinary man. His contribution as a father, husband, grandfather, and civic and community leader will be forever missed but not soon forgotten.

Like warriors returning to battle, the charter boats in all of their majestic color are returning to the Outer Banks for another season of charter fishing. The marinas are slowly filling up their boat slips with these huge fishing vessels. Fishing and tourism is the lifeblood of these fishing communities.

It is a sight to behold as the charters go out to do battle and then return at the end of the day with their bounty. The beauty is when they conjure together side by side to reflect on the day’s activities. One of the many splendid sights at twilight is the charter fishing vessels at Hatteras Harbor Marina in the Outer Banks of North Carolina after a day of battling the elements and Mother Nature.

If you find yourself in need of stock images, corporate art or a photographer for an upcoming assignment, know that  I am just a phone call away.

Best regards
~dK~

It must be a curse! Every time I attempt to fly out of Nashville Mother Nature throws me a curve ball. This weekend Nashville was under a deluge of rains with major flooding in and around the city and surrounding areas. Cars and streets were totally underwater and even a portion of a building was seen floating down I-24. The only thing missing were animals pairing up two by two.

While the weekend had it’s major stumbling blocks, I was presented with the opportunity of a couple of days to spare last week. So I  accepted an offer to take a road trip from Raleigh, NC home to Huntsville, AL with one of me “road tripping photo buddies”. On the way south we stopped in Flat Rock, NC to spend our first night and part of the next day with a good friend of mine who is the corporate sales director for Highland Lake Inn (http://www.hlinn.com). It is a beautiful rustic resort nestled in the woods south of Asheville, NC. Not only is it rich with history and stunning scenic locations but they are also blessed with an exceptional culinary staff. After the breakfast and lunch we had, I can speak from experience.

After touring the property, shooting images for their website and promotional use, we were taken to see one of the many sites within close driving distance to the resort, Triple Falls. The view of the canyon with the three large cascading waterfalls atop one another literally took my breath away. Well, actually if the truth be known, it was the walk up the trail to our photographic vantage point that took my breath away.

With all that has gone on this past week, the visit to Highland Lake Inn was a welcomed escape. I leave you with an infrared view of Triple Falls.

I can only wish you the best for the upcoming week. If you find yourself in need of stock images, corporate art or a photographer for an upcoming assignment I am just a phone call away.

 Best regards
~dK~