This past weekend I took a quick trip over to Chewacla State Park just outside Auburn. Springtime is just about gone since this week has reached into the high 90′s and everything now looks bleached out and crisp (no rain tends to do that too). I have been trying to test out some new photo gear for sharpness and contrast etc, so why not choose scenes that are impossible to capture correctly. High sun with fast water (bleach white) on black rocks doesn’t make for easy metering, but it was still nice to get out and shoot something different. The waterfall is at the very end of the park, and is a nice short but hefty hike. The dam from Lake Chewacla feeds into this small-ish waterfall which sends a good bit of water downstream. There is always something different to shoot out at Chewacla, this day it was the waterfall. The EXIF data can be found over on my Flickr site if interested.
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This was an extremely busy week again but today is finally Friday and time for Friday Feet. Today we drove out to Chewacla State Park to ride our bikes on the trails (paved that is). Is you live near Auburn this is a great gem right out of town, has a nice river, waterfall, and fishing lake. Along with a very nice route around the river, there is a bike trail just at the entrance of the park which is a popular running and biking spot. It was nice to get some exercise outside now that we are deep into winter, but it ended up being about 70* today and made for a nice bike ride.
We stopped at the lake to sit on the swing, which made for my Friday feet post today. I was able to work a little panning technique into the shoot today with Deb on the swing. I love the effect of motion but it isn’t all that easy to pull off and make it look half way decent. You can do this in a number of different situations, I just forget to give it a try sometimes.
No body else has jumped on the Friday Feet bandwagon yet, but I have found that it has forced me to look at different ways to do this weekly (short) shoot. It isn’t that each Friday has to be something spectacular, it just keeps me thinking about how to keep creating original ideas. It helps to have a nice mild day in winter.
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This week the Auburn opened the SEC play with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, MS. This was the first away game of the 2008 season, and as expected, the Auburn Tigers played well. We did not actually make it to Starkville for the game today, but rather watched it on ESPN2 with half of the rest of the country, which made for a real short walk to my bed after the game instead of a very long drive.
Wow, what a game. This was not a pretty game at all. Pounding defense all game long and more resembled a baseball game score. A win is a win, and at least they came away with a win, but it probably won’t do to well in the NCAA polls on Sunday. Another story from the game was the injury to Brad Lester who was taken off the field on a cart and the update said he had a sprained neck. Haven’t seen a game like this in a long time, Auburn tried everything they could do to loose but so did MSU, and in the end, the game clock is what won the game.
Although I really do like the idea of the spread offense that Tommy Tuberville (whom I think is probably one of the best coaches ever at Auburn) has brought in, that was probably the weakest display of an offense (on both sides of the ball) that any SEC conference game has seen in a long time. It is a transition year for the offense, and it looked it, I just hope the Auburn Tiger faithful has the patience to wait it out because in the SEC, a loss is pretty much the season, and next week we have LSU coming to Auburn. Never a fun game at Jordan-Hare Stadium under any circumstances, but without an offense that can score a touchdown? Yikes.
The photo above is one I took of Samford Hall in front of the historic sign saying Auburn University, Established 1856. Probably one of the most photographed buildings in the Auburn area, Samford Hall was built in 1888 after a fire destroyed “Old Main” building in 1887, which sat on the same site, using bricks salvaged by the ruins of Old Main building.
Toomer’s Drugs (located on Toomer’s Corner of course) is another historic landmark of Auburn and a big part of Auburn University. This photo above was obviously not taken tonight after the game, so why are either photos significant to the Auburn vs Mississippi State football game, well right in between these two buildings is the rolling of Toomer’s Corner (of the Live Oaks). An Auburn tradition that goes back to the 1970′s (see the live web cam of Toomers Corner here) when Auburn would win away games, students would come down to Toomer’s Corner and toilet paper roll the corner (see Auburn Tigers Football Season at a Glance // 2006).
Now it is done with just about any win for anything, but it generally looks like this:
I admit I could not make the effort to drive down there tonight and take a current shot of Toomer’s corner at 10pm at night when I have to get up early the next day, but I am sure this is exactly what it looks like right now, only the faces are different. Next week when Auburn plays LSU (and wins) we will be down at Toomer’s corner with the camera to record for history the rolling of Toomer’s corner.
