Bourbon barrel warehouse

Did I mention that I have been working on a follow up to the successful, "Kentucky Wide"? For the last three years I have been shooting intently and just shipped it off to the printer. I had already done two different bourbon barrel scenes but had the opportunity to shoot at the Wild Turkey Distillery. Missy and I went over there one recent morning and had a great time. Jimmy, the master distiller, accompanied us and he is quite the character! He has been there for over 50 years and come to find out, he and my Dad probably played against each other in a tournament of fast-pitch softball at my hometown of Corinth about 50+ years ago. As you walk in these warehouses the aroma of the "angel's share" is quite evident.

A "wider" view of this scene is in the upcoming book, "Kentucky Wide II", and is due this October.

Waterfalls in the Smokey Mtn National Park

Fortunately, I married someone (pretty wonderful I might add) who likes to travel. She works in the health care industry, so the work schedule and twelve hour shifts are challenging for both of us. So, whenever she gets a block of days off, we try to get away together. We searched online and found a chalet with a beautiful view just outside of Gatlinburg for two nights. It was a very relaxing trip and we did get out twice to photograph some waterfalls. Both of these were accessible and right beside the road. It was such an incredible contrast being in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge beside all the airbrush T-shirt shops and funnel cakes, then driving ten minutes out of town to view such incredible scenery. Meigs Falls is shown at the top while Place of a Thousand Drips is on the bottom. The key to successful waterfall photography is to shoot them when there is no direct sun on them. We lucked out at both of these. Although the bottom photo was created after the sun had set and it was kind of hard to see because it was dark. The exposure was for about 20 seconds. Naturally, a sturdy trip and cable release is required. And, yes, we did eat at least one pancake house while cruising through town!

Locks and Narrowboats

The only thing more nerve-wracking on our Narrowboat trip than passing oncoming boats, going through small tunnels, and of course, aquaducts hundreds of feet above the ground, was going through the locks. These canals were constructed in the 1800s and they put locks in place that you had to navigate through. You have to get out of the boat, use a ratchet kind of tool that every boat has on board and hand crank them. Sounds easy but it is a little tense as you approach them. Fortunately, I got to handle the boat and Missy became a pro at how these things work, getting out and putting some muscle to it. Yeah for women's rights! The photo above shows a boat entering an 8' (deep) lock. Once you pull in, you pull the paddles to enclose you in. Then crank the mechanism to either raise you up or lower you to the level of the direction you are heading. The whole thing works pretty fast but it is a little tricky. You have to keep the nose of the boat almost up against the gate so the boat does not go back and get caught on the cill. So you keep the boat in gear at idle speed part of the time. On the other hand, you don't want to push too hard so as to damage the lock. We were there before school was out so there were not that many boats, but in the summer you could wait quite a while for your turn to get in a lock. All in a day's work, I mean fun!

Wales and England on a narrowboat

We just returned from our official honeymoon and it was an awesome experience. The photo above is in the front cabin of our "narrowboat", which measured 6'10" wide by 62' long. I don't even remember exactly how and where, but I saw something about these boats and how you can rent and take one on "holiday". Since Missy has always wanted a houseboat I knew it would not take much to convince her to go for it. We found out what little info we could and booked our holiday through a travel agency in England. We flew to Liverpool, England (home of the Beatles), caught a train to Chester, and then on to a town called Ruabon. A taxi then delivered us to the marina in Trevor, England.

Well, they took us out to our iron maiden and spent about one hour going over the all the nuances of the diesel powered boat, the heating, cooling electrical systems, kitchen appliances, etc. The engineer rode upstream about 100 yards with us, wished us the best and then hopped off on the tow path. (Kind of reminds me the time I went out to rent a plane (prior to 9/11) at the airport for some aerial photography. They welcomed me, tossed me a clipboard with some keys and said good luck!) Anyway, taking a narrowboat on holiday over in England and France is a very common and very affordable vacation. We drove/piloted, ate and slept on the boat for 4 nights and 5 days. 

It is not for the weak of heart or anyone looking for a lazy vacation. Even though the diesel motor propels you at 4-5 mph, the canals are only about 20-3o feet wide and even at that slow rate of speed, if you take your eyes off the front of the boat for more than a moment, you can get off course easily. Sometimes, the canal narrows down to less than 8' wide as you go under a bridge, over an aquaduct or through a tunnel! Or let me put it like this....it is kind of like trying to drive a telephone pole down a creek. It really makes you nervous to encounter another boat coming at you or moored on the side, especially with wind present. There was a pretty good number of boats on the canal, but we understand nothing like it is during the summer season. We spent about half of the time in Wales and the other half in England.

Have I mentioned yet about bridges that you need to raise up by a hand-crank or locks you must go through? Missy became an expert on the locks, though the first one we encountered was quite nerve wracking. Come to think of it, the mechanics of this deserve another topic and blog.

I probably spent more time working on a video rather than stills, but here are some photos that I just posted. Just copy and paste this into your internet browser http://gallery.me.com/jeffreydrogers#100049  

I will post a link to the video after I get it completed.

Everyone we encountered was so nice and friendly. One lady even asked if it was our ship as we passed by, after being impressed that we slid between other boats go gently.

Anyway, it was a trip we will never forget. I thank God that we got to go and that I got to spend it with such an incredible woman. We had a blast in spite of the rainy weather each day. The whole experience was priceless.

Just a coincidence?

One year ago (plus a couple of days), I went to Crossroads Christian Church to videotape a friend who was giving a "green" message there. Matthew Sleeth, MD has traveled throughout the US since his hit book, "Serve God Save the Planet" hit the stands. He and his wife Nancy had become dear friends of mine so it was not a job to meet them there and shoot some "B" roll footage. By the way, in the last couple of years, he has spoken to over 400 universities and churches.

After an entertaining and thought provoking message, I was introduced to Melissa Cheeseman, who also happened to be an MD. We were talking in the lobby and somehow the topic of suffering came up and I shared that I had been enrolled in the school of suffering since I had lost, Sally, my wife of 20 years. "Missy" mentioned they had done a series recently on Heaven and I told her I would like to hear it since most people want to go there but we don't know much about it. The idea of floating on a cloud playing a harp is not that appealing to many, myself included. She disappeared and then returned after raiding the bookstore giving me an album of CDs.

The next morning, I popped the CD in as I was getting on I-75 to go to work. Yes, even as a photographer, there are some days that qualify as work. Much to my surprise, it was the voice of Missy speaking. She failed to tell me that she was unpaid staff at the church and that she is part of the teaching team in addition to the outward focus which is missions and any kind of service activities beyond the walls.

So, I found her on the web site and popped off an email. We exchanged a few notes and then saw each other most every day. Got married 6 months later. Talk about eating your words! Before meeting her, I had been telling the Lord that I was not interested in dating or being with anybody and that I would be content just to work myself to death, thank you very much. Fortunately, He is God and knows much better about what I need than I do. We celebrated this weekend our one year dating anniversary, after Missy spoke at all three services and treated the Sleeths to dinner at Giuseppe's. Just a little Thank You for bringing us together. It was the least we could do on behalf of our "coincidental" meeting. We are so happy we don't quite know what to do with ourselves! God is faithful.

This image was shot in the Spring of 2007 one morning while heading out Bryan Station Road in Lexington. I still remember the moment. What a delight.

Spring blossoms

The Lexington Cemetery has to be one of the prettiest places anywhere, in the spring. After attending worship on Easter 2008, I went to the cemetery to shoot these pink weeping cherries at their peak. Many times, I will visit a place and make a note when would be the best or most optimum time to create a beautiful photograph. Since the cemetery is near my studio, I checked on it a few times to gauge the perfect day to shoot a photograph for my upcoming book, "Kentucky Wide II". 

I have always been a big fan of cemeteries and spent many, many hours mowing the cemetery at my family's cemetery that was owned by the funeral home. A long time ago, I did an exhibit of cemetery art and created Polaroid transfers on 100% silk.

Take a break and stop by Lexington Cemetery most any day for a little respite and retreat.

The empty tomb

A few years ago, a friend and I were discussing the resurrection and he brought up something that he thought would surprise or upset me. Actually, I laughed. A few years earlier I had read a great book by Josh McDowell called, "The Resurrection Factor". It explains the attempts of skeptics to discount or explain away the bodily resurrection of Jesus with the Swoon (or resuscitation) Theory, the Hallucination Theory, the Conspiracy Theory, etc. What makes each of these theories so silly is that the Roman executioners were very efficient killers. 

Not even Jack Bauer of my beloved 24 TV show, could escape the reality of consequences from the horrendous act of crucifixion. As I told my friend, these theories require much, much more faith than does the Scriptural teaching of the bodily resurrection of our Lord. The apostle Paul (a former persecutor of Christians who wrote much of the New Testament) records that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."    I Corinthians 15:2-8. 

So, an empty tomb? I'd bet my life on it.

The image above was shot in Orlando at the Holy Land Experience, processed in Photoshop and de-saturating most of the colors except red.