Ocean Views
Sunrise over the water, well we have left the deep south. We are on the road again. But, I still have some photo that I will be sharing from the past winter and from our travels as we head north.
Thank you for coming along with me, warmer days are ahead of us all. Spring is in the air.
Have a great weekend.
Ocean Views
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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The Spirit of Creation – “In the dawn of all things, the Creator pressed spirit into flesh. Strength was shaped into form. The horse was set to run with the winds. It became a living echo of heaven’s first breath.”
“Not all masterpieces hang in galleries. Some run free beneath the endless sky.”
The Spirit of Creation
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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When Indigo Jack Found Sora
There are moments when the wind stills, and the world leans in.
High in the pines, where the sky folds softly into needles and light, I met a pair of great blue herons who seemed untouched by time.
I had seen them before from afar—graceful silhouettes skimming the water’s edge, sentinels of the marsh.
But that day, they flew right beside me. Not away. Not afraid. Just there, like I was part of the story. And in that moment, I was.
He came first, bold and brushed in indigo, his wings cutting wide through the blue. I call him Indigo Jack, a name that feels just wild enough to belong to a creature of wind and water. He carried a stick in his beak, not for himself, but for her. The one who waited.
Her name is Sora, meaning “sky,” and she wears it like a crown. There is a hush about her, a quiet knowing. She is moonlight in feathers. Not soft, but sacred.
Together, they built a nest—twig by twig, moment by moment. And I watched, breath held, as Jack passed a branch to Sora, their bills touching not in hunger, but in offering. A ritual older than memory.
Link Two Herons Building Nest Video
I often feel that nature lets us in only when we’re still enough. Quiet enough. Respectful enough to be trusted.
This was creation unfolding, and I was invited to witness it.
Have a Wonderful Weekend.
And the wings kept beating.
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Small Rookery – I found a small rookery by accident actually. My first time getting to see herons up close as they build their nest.
They were so busy finding sticks that they did not seem to even notice me. Most of the time herons fly off the minute one moves.
I took lots of photos and I will share my video on Friday, I decided to name two of them. Because the male looks like he has a crooked leg and the majority of my photos contained this bird flying back and forth to the nest with sticks.
It is not easy to tell the difference between the males and females. Except that research states the males usually brings the nesting material as the female builds it. So that is what I am going on.
Small Rookery
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Bird Art
The Great Blue Heron
Bird Art
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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King of the Sky – I photographed this eagle in Kentucky. We have some friends who knew about a place where we can park off the edge of the road. It’s not far from an eagle’s nest along a riverbank.
The nest is in a dead tree, in the middle of some farm land. But there is a nice size lake not to far away. These eagles come back to this nest every year. They had one eaglet this year as you can see it looking at the parent.
Coming in for a landing.
Have a great weekend.
King of the Sky
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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In the Country – I love going for drives in the country. One never knows what one might see, from old tractors to old silos.
I do like photographing things like this. Now this tractor might not be that old, it just looks old from sitting outside.
But this silo is quite different. I am always on the look out for old barns as well.
Below is the before picture of this silo. I took it from inside the jeep, it needed a little editing.
In the Country
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Who Knew Illinois has so many waterfalls. Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois.
Have a great weekend.
Who Knew
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Nice to Have Sunshine Again and get to go on some hikes. We found some small waterfalls in the area we had to evacuate to. Would have never found these if that had not happened. A blessing in disguise.
Nice to Have Sunshine Again
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Reflections of the Past
Well, after looking into the shut down of this blog. I was on line with WordPress discussing what happened with my decision to shut this site down.
They automatically changed my site to the Premium plus group. This change put a snag in my travels. They tried to charge my card without my approval. As a result, it went to a fraud alert. So intern, I had to cancel my site so as I could use my card again, by the way, I was at a gas station when this all happened.
We also have been driving and trying to escape this huge rain storm that has been going throughout the Midwest. We have been right in the middle of it for 5 days now.
I have talked to WordPress. They did see that the auto renewal was not checked and did not know how this happened. But, would put my site back on my original plan, if I wanted to. So I chose to reopen it again. I have actually missed posting over the last few days. I have been doing this for 6 years now. I love sharing my photos with all of you.
Thank you for all the encouraging comments. A few of which stated that other folks are thinking of leaving WordPress blogging because of the price.
My suggestion is to call them first and ask what other options are there. They were actually very helpful. Definitely check your subscription yearly. To make sure they don’t automatically charge you for something you are not signed up for.
We are currently on the northern edge of this storm, the rain is easing off today. There is massive flooding all around us. We are thankful to this campground we are at now that let us arrive yesterday at the last moment as we had to evacuate another campground that was down by the Ohio river.
Thank you all, I do appreciate all your comments over the years and I hope to keep blogging and sharing photos for as long as I can.
Reflections of the Past
Sandra J’s Photography
New Growth after the fire. We are camped next to an area that had a controlled burn in a bird sanctuary, they do this about every 8 years.
So on today’s walk, I had to photograph the new growth popping up out of the ashes.
New Growth
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Building the Nest, that is a big stick for the nest.
Have a great weekend.
Building the Nest
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Fly Over by a Blue Heron, I finally got the shot. I have always wanted to get a shot of a heron flying directly above me, but normally they keep their distance from people.
Truly an amazing wingspan.
I have gotten the white pelican fly over. So I have two on my list. 🙂
Fly Over
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Nesting Herons – We have found a location where a few Blue Herons are in the process of building nest. It is such a treat to get to see these beautiful birds so close. They swoop down right by me as they are looking for sticks to pick up and take to the tops of the trees as they build their nest.
Fun to watch, one takes the stick up to their mate, hands it to the one in the nest as he or she places where it needs to go.
Nesting Herons
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Campground Cat – This cat has grown up here at this particular campground that we are at. People take care of it all year. She lives outdoors and the campground has boxes made for the cats to sleep in and get out of the bad weather.
All the cats here have been fixed and they get flee and tick medicine. They also catch rats and snakes. This cat caught a huge rat and left it by our camper. Good Kitty. 🙂
Campground Cat
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Patience – Herons are known for their incredible patience when hunting for fish. While standing on the dock, I watched one intently, camera in hand, waiting for the perfect moment to capture its strike.
I missed several shots before finally catching this one — a moment that felt almost like looking into a mirror during the editing process.
Patience
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Low Angle Shots – Sometimes you just have to get to ground level to take the shot. I know it is hard to do especially as we get older. Getting back up is the hard part. 🙂
Low Angle Shots
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Dog Agility Event February – I have completed my editing for the 2nd dog agility event that we photographed. The folks will have plenty of photos to look through. I had to take a crash course on using Lightroom batch editing, that really helped.
I had used it years ago and never really looked into it again until this month. Now I have time to do some other things again. I look ahead to photographing next years event as well.
Dog Agility Event February
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Sunrises & Sea Shells
Have a Great Weekend
Sunrises & Sea Shells
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Moss Covered Trees and beautiful sand covered trails to walk on.
Moss Covered Trees
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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New Campground, well not new but being remodeled since the last hurricane. We had a great time here, I do recommend this park. They were under construction when we were there.
They are doing a great job at rebuilding the area and keeping the natural habitats available as well as building new construction.
Lots of beaches to walk, new campground spots with full hookups.
New sidewalks, roads and utility buildings.
But also keeping a lot of the natural landscapes for wildlife and trails for people to walk on.
New Campground
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Panama City Beach – We stayed at St Andrews State Park right down the beach from Panama City. There is a nice long pier that we stood on to take the photo of the beach. Most all of those buildings on the beach are rentals, condos and a couple of hotels.
We were there during the off season, so it was pretty quiet.
Panama City Beach
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Snow Birds
Snow Birds
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Snow shoe rabbit
Snow white egret
Snow covered deer
Just snow
Snow white sand
Snow
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Winter Isn’t Over Yet – Some of my favorites shots
Winter Isn’t Over Yet
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Older Snow Photos – my niece wanted some snow photo to print for herself. I had to dig into the archives to find some for her.
This first one is Lake Superior a few years ago, I think 5 years ago. Almost completely froze over. That doesn’t happen to often.
Road trip we took 3 years ago heading to Montana to visit my brother. I like this shot because the road looks like a dead end at the base of the mountain.
Older Snow Photos
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Challenging Obstacles – not challenging for the dogs but for the photographer yes. 🙂
This series was a little more difficult to make because the jumps were so close together. A lot of layers and brushing in the dogs on each layer.
The dogs seem to love the tunnels, they come out of there so quick. I had a few blurry shots because I tried to time the click of the shutter button just as they come out of the tunnel.
I could start the burst earlier, but that is more photos I have to go through and throw away. Mainly because I am photographing every dog that I can. I am talking about a couple thousand photos during a 3 day event.
Have a great weekend.
Challenging Obstacles
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Not Going to Make It – you never want to see a dog trip at a contest. But it is inevitable, they run so fast.
Sometimes they get messed up and have to jump over the jump twice, going the other way.
Not Going to Make It
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Combine Multiple Photos in what I call series photography. I have never made a print like this and thought it would be a good way to showcase their dogs jumping all in one photo.
It has to be at the right angle and dogs that start the jump farther back from the poles.
Combine Multiple Photos
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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