Mount Hebron East Baptist Church

On April 27, 2011, a little country church-house in rural central Alabama was completely destroyed in the midst of the worst "single-system tornado outbreak ever recorded." Ever since then, contractors and volunteers from both inside and outside of the church have been rebuilding a physical home for the people of Mount Hebron East Baptist Church.

On July 13 and 14, the Carpenters for Christ from Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, AL came out to install the trusses, roof decking, and roofing felt so that another group could come right behind to install the metal roof. When I heard that people from my old church were helping rebuild for people in my current Baptist association, I knew that I had to go offer some time and sweat to the project. It just wouldn't have been Christian not to.

If you are wondering, "What's this got to do with photography?" then accept the following pictures as an explanation.

In case you are wondering, yes, I did actually put in some labor on this project. No, not as much as some. I never made it onto the roof, which is where I've traditionally ended up. This time it was mostly step-and-fetch-it tasks though I did do a lot of cutting on day 2.

(Additional photos can be viewed on my facebook page.)

Tallassee Sunset and After

A couple weeks ago, I grabbed my camera and took to the streets to get some pictures around Tallassee of a sunset. Here are the best of that outing:

 A few nights ago featured a so-called "super moon," the moon being at its closest point to Earth in its orbit and full. I was leaving Montgomery after shooting the Huntingdon College graduation, and the whole way back to Tallassee I was contemplating pulling over on the side of the interstate to catch the moon close to the horizon (the moon is magnified by the curvature of our atmosphere when near the horizon). I held back until I got to the where Hwy-229 crosses the Tallapoosa River on the way into Tallassee. Here's the best of my attempts to shoot the moon, plus a bonus pic looking down the road.

(The one above was actually taken after I got home to my 170-500mm lens and better tripod. Thank you again, Diane Koart.)

These images were made possible, in large part, due to the fact that my wife allowed me to purchase Adobe Lightroom 4 as a reward for getting our taxes done. I've really enjoyed it.