The Tombigbee River- The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is a 234-mile system of canals, locks, and dams that connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers. It links commercial navigation from the nation’s midsection to the Gulf of Mexico and is administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

This river is commonly known as the Tenn-Tom, it was controversial from its inception, and optimistic predictions of its economic benefits by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers never materialized. Originally estimated to cost $323 million in 1970, the total cost at completion in 1984 was almost $2 billion.

They were not sure if creating a waterway consisting of 65 dams and lift locks was feasible. But, eventually the funding was approved.

The waterway was completed two years ahead of schedule on December 12, 1984, and on January 10, 1985, the towboat Eddie Wexler was the first commercial boat to sail upon it. 

I did not know this history of the river when we were camping right next to it. But one morning I woke up to the sound of a loud motor coming towards us. I went outside and here coming down the river was a tug boat.

Well, I lived near the Mississippi river for years, and I loved watching the tug boats and barges cruising up and down the river. But the Mississippi river is so large, one can’t really get a close up look at the barges because they are so far away.

Not these. We pulled up our chairs and watched the boat traffic go by on and off everyday. Love this campground.

And beautiful sunrises as well.

The Tombigbee River

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds – As we left the south a few weeks ago, we decided to start exploring some new areas again on our travels. Sometimes one gets comfortable staying in a routine, the familiarity of it makes things simple and faster.

Especially when it comes to traveling. Finding new campgrounds can be a challenge, but if I plan far enough ahead, it usually results in finding new beautiful places that we have driven by so many times but never stopped because of the routine.

So Columbus Mississippi is our first stop off the beaten path. When you turn 62, you can get the Federal recreation pass that gives discounts on campgrounds, getting in free and discounts on overnight camping.

The Corp of Engineer campground are included with this pass. They have great recreational parks, with lots of room, similar to state parks.

While we often hear about the COE campgrounds, the Corps of Engineers has a much broader mission other than just providing beautiful camping spaces. The Corp’s true mission is “to deliver vital public and military engineering services; partnering in peace and war to strengthen our nation’s security, energize the economy and reduce risks from disasters.”

So, how did the Corps get into the business of building campgrounds? The Corps manages land along a number of lakes and rivers, as part of the mission to operate dams. This land is protected from private development. Luckily, the Corps opted to make it possible for our nation to use these prime landscapes for recreation.

Columbus MS is a very historic area, we love to explore places like this. The history of the people who have gone before us, living during times that are so different than today. These small towns have some wonderful folks who love to share this history, many museums with volunteers who take the time to teach anyone who wants to hear about the past.

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds

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Lighting and Pet Portraits – both of these photos are of the same mule. Lighting can make such a difference for your subject. Soft warm colors, or shinny bright colors.

Photography has a world of opportunities to create different looks. That is what I love about it. Everyday is a new challenge and new opportunities to create art with just one click.

Have a great weekend.

Lighting and Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

All About the Ears when it comes to Mule Portraits. Well, and the eyes, they have the most beautiful expressions from the eyes.

All About the Ears

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

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By Sandra J

Bokeh Lights Photography – Bokeh, also known as “Boke” is one of the most popular subjects in photography. The reason why it is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. 

Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography that separates a subject from the background is the result of shallow “depth of field” and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh. Confused yet? Take a look at the following image:

This flower stem covered with dew is in focus, (which means that it is inside the depth of field), while the background is out of focus (which means that the background is outside the depth of field). The small or “shallow” depth of field is the result of standing relatively close to the subject, while using a large aperture.

What is Aperture?

Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is an easy concept to understand if you just think about how your eyes work. As you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eyes either expands or shrinks, controlling the size of your pupil.

In photography, the “pupil” of your lens is called aperture. You can shrink or enlarge the size of the aperture to allow more or less light to reach your camera sensor. The image below shows an aperture in a lens:

Just remember to put your subject between you and the light source and shoot away to get bright bokeh lights in the background.

Bokeh Lights Photography

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Spring Rains and the beauty that is left behind. Water Droplets

Have a great weekend.

Spring Rains

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Spring Art Wildflowers – in the spring you can find wild flowers growing in the strangest places. The earth is waking up and the plants rise to meet the sunshine.

This small flower below is growing right through a fire pit grate at a campground. It made for an interesting photo.

Dandelions are quite amazing when you look at them really close. Designed to fly in the wind, the seeds are like tiny fireworks busting with silk feathers.

Spring Art Wildflowers

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

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Day to Night

Day to Night

Dancing Ribbons of Light

Northern Lights, the northern lights are an atmospheric phenomenon that is regarded as the Holy Grail of skywatching.  are beautiful dancing ribbons of light that have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather violent event.

The northern lights are created when energized particles from the sun slam into Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), but our planet’s magnetic field protects us from the onslaught.

Dancing Ribbons of Light

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

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Northern Lights in Iowa – Is this Heaven? No, this is Iowa.

That phrase is from the movie Field of Dreams. I have been very busy lately visiting family in Iowa on our way back north. The one thing I was not expecting this trip was to see Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights in Iowa. People all over the country witnessed this sighting all the way down to Alabama.

I almost missed seeing them entirely. Just so happened my little dog had to go outside at 3 am. I took her out and looked up and saw that the northern lights were still visible, as I had gone to sleep early and missed them when everyone else was out looking at them.

Actually at 3 am, they were not very colorful at all, but I went back in and decided to get my camera out and set it up outside. It is mesmerizing to say the least, to witness this event.

About an hour later, all of a sudden, the colors started to show up and they were lighting up the night sky. Shooting stars along with dancing lights.

I stood in the middle of this country road, no traffic and only the sound of coyotes howling in the distance.

These photos are straight out of the camera, I could see the pinks and greens with the naked eye. But a camera set with a long shutter speed will pick up even more of the colors. I was using 3 to 5 second shutter speed. ISO 4000, f2.8, and a wide angle lens.

Northern Lights in Iowa

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

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By Sandra

Pet Portraits – I took a lot of pet portraits for folks this past winter. Lots of dogs, a few cats and one bird. We are traveling now, so when I want to take pet photos, my pets are the models. I never get tired of adding photos of my own pets to my collection.

The one thing we all know is that our pets just don’t live long enough. So I love taking their photos and enjoying every minute with them.

Chloee is a great model for still shots. She loves to just sit and look around when we are outside. She has such a beautiful face and expression in her eyes. She is 11 years old this year.

This is my little dog named, D-0-G, let me review what her name is. Her name is d o g, not the word dog, the letters d o g. Say it like, d oooo g, a little longer sound on the 0. Or if this spelling helps. Deohgee, I use that spelling at the vets because they don’t understand, d o g. 🙂

They ask me, ” is her name dog?”, I say, ” no, d o g“. They say, ” I know how to spell it”, I say, ” There you go”,

They say, ” Ohhhh, now I get it”,

We got her from a shelter when she was 4 years old. She is 17 years old this year. She is still doing really well for that age. She does sleep a lot more, but she still eats great and loves going for walks.

Then there is our cat, her name is Kit Cat, 🙂

What can I say, she is a great cat, gets along great with the dogs and she loves to travel. She does like to punch the dogs now and then when they walk by her. She gives them a wack on the head and hisses at them and takes off running.

Typical cat, 🙂

Pet Portraits

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Chloee Having Fun – Last month my dog Chloee had some dental work done. She had a broken tooth in the back, one of those big teeth in the back. It needed to come out, it was loose. I called a made an appointment for her and the day before she was to go in, the tooth fell out.

But only part of it did, so she went in anyway and had a couple teeth pulled and all her teeth cleaned. She is like a new pup again, playing fetch and running around.

Dogs can get tooth aches as well as we do, never any fun with a tooth ache.

Chloee Having Fun

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April Showers – Flowers are blooming and the smell of fresh cut lawns is in the air. May is a time of new birth in nature. The world is waking up after a long winters nap.

Below is the before photo, then I softened it up a little bit and blurred the background to make the photo print above.

April Showers

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Well Cared For and well fed these dolphins at the Mississippi Aquarium. They get lots of attention from the trainers and lots of activities to keep them in great shape.

People are always excited to see dolphins. I am thinking because they look like they are smiling all the time and having fun in the water.

Here the only photo I took from inside the aquarium. Sometimes one has to put the camera down and just enjoy what it is front of us. Plus shooting through thick glass doesn’t make the best photos. 🙂

Well Cared For

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Dolphins in the Wild – I see dolphins a lot when I am on the gulf coast. But, never jumping out of the water when I am just walking on the beach. I mostly see their fin and part of the body is all.

Below is a quick video I took of a couple of dolphins rounding up fish next to the beach as a Blue Heron paced back and forth watching them, as if it was trying to tell the dolphins to move the fish just a little closer so he could have one also.

Link to Dolphins on the Gulf Coast

Dolphins in the Wild

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

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Mississippi Aquarium – Last week I ended with a post telling you about some very colorful birds coming up next. First I must show you where I saw these birds, because most of them are from other country’s.

I am talking about a fairly new Aquarium in Gulfport Mississippi, right next to the coast. A fellow camper told us about this place so we headed on over. It is a wonderful drive along the coast line to get to this aquarium.

Mississippi Aquarium is a nonprofit public aquarium located in Gulfport, Mississippi; it opened August 29, 2020. The 5.8-acre, complex incorporates both indoor and outdoor habitats with more than 200 species of animals and 50 species of native plants.

First the star of the aquarium is the dolphins for sure. They have lots of fish inside and these two beautiful guys outside.

I will get to the birds in a couple more days.

Mississippi Aquarium

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Yesterday is gone forever; Tomorrow will always be unknown; Live in the Now

Spring has sprung and it is following us as we move north.

Yesterday

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Panorama Photos – sometimes I forget I have the panorama setting on my phone and cameras. They make for very interesting photos. The first photo was taken with that setting at sunset on the Gulf Coast.

I always want to try new things with photography. So much out there to see in so many different ways when it comes to the artist perspective.

Panorama Photos

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Waves Crashing Painting – digital paintings by Sandra J.

Gulf Coast Sunset

Waves Crashing Painting

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A Story Line from these photos. Photos can speak so many different languages to the viewer.

This is what I see here; One pelican says to the other.

“George, what do you want to do today?”

George says; ” Not sure, lets see how the morning plays out.”

“What in the world is that George?”

“I don’t know, but it appears to be glowing.”

“Bah ha ha, it is going to be an interesting day”

A Story Line

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Golden Sunrise

Have a great weekend.

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Group Art Project – at a campground we stayed at this winter, one of the local artist ask me if I would help her with a project she wanted to do. Which would involve having a dozen people help with the project. I said sure, sounds like fun.

So, step one. She drew on a piece of paper her idea of a painting she wanted to do. The photo below shows her rough draft of a bridge in the background, some of the local birds, water, sand, sea grass. She asked me if I could put all these items onto a photos that can be printed.

I made the print below. It is just what she was thinking about. I used photos that I had taken and made a composite of all the images into one.

I then applied grid lines to the image and printed a 20×30 copy. She cut the image into the 6×6 squares I made and had the volunteers pick a square, they in turn painted that square onto a 6×6 piece of canvas.

They wanted me to paint one, and I am not a painter at all. So I chose the top left square that only had some clouds in it.

The top left square in this picture below is my attempt to paint the piece I chose. This was actually a very fun project. The idea is that the final art piece will look more like a mosaic piece of art. The teacher of the project said she did not want the painted pieces to be perfect. It was just for fun.

Below is the final piece of art. 24 different people painted the squares. This project is now hanging in the club house at the campground. I am glad I was able to make the template for the project to bring this idea to life.

Group Art Project

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

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By Sandra J

Heat Distortion – this light house is about 5 miles out into the gulf, I took this photo from the beach, it almost looks like the light house is floating out there. That is what heat distortion does to a photo.

The further away from the subject of your photograph, the more heat distortion will be present. The further distance means the light travels through more air before reaching you. Therefore, it gets refracted more in areas where heat distortion is present.

A long zoom lens usually means photographing subjects at a greater distance. That greater distance increases the chance that heat distortion can ruin your images. Heat distortion is most prevalent at ground level.

We have a friend that has a smaller boat and has offered to give us a ride out to the light house. But, not for me. He would have to have a much bigger boat. The waves and the tide can change dramatically 5 miles out into the gulf of Mexico. I really don’t need a good picture of this light house that badly.

Besides, there are plenty of photos of this light house on the world wide web, here are a few below so you can see what it looks like.

Heat Distortion

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Ships Passing in the Night on the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin — only a narrow connection to the Atlantic exists as the gulf is surrounded by North America and Cuba.

 It is the ninth largest body of water in the world, covering about 600,000 square miles, and is bordered by five US states in the north, five Mexican states in the west, and Cuba in the southeast.

Almost half of the gulf basin is shallow waters over continental shelves, though it contains a trough that measures as deep as 14,383 feet.

Ship Traffic Density Map of GULF OF MEXICO

They estimate that over 4,000 shipwrecks rest on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico from its nearshore shallows to its deepest abyss.

Ships Passing in the Night

Easter – they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Nehemiah 8:6

Have a wonderful weekend.

Easter

Sheepshead Fish – One glance at the picture of a sheepshead fish might make you assume this fish has stolen a sailor’s lost pair of dentures from the seafloor! Yes, there is a fish whose teeth are eerily similar to humans.

The teeth are composed of highly mineralized enamel and dentin, two components that also make up human teeth.

There are two rows of molars on the lower jaw and three rows on the upper jaw. This heavy dentition allows sheepshead fish to crush and grind the shelled creatures that these fish prefer to feed on.

The Sheepshead fish are finally coming inland, so the fishermen are out. There is a limit of 10 of these fish per person.

Sheepshead Fish

Sand Dunes or Snow Piles, well the trees in the background might give it away. But, these are sand dunes, but when I am missing snow, just a little bit. I sure can picture that these are snow piles by a lake.

Today it is 45 degrees down here on the gulf coast. So I can easily picture snow.

Have a great weekend.

Sand Dunes

Sea Glass – I have only found a couple pieces of sea glass. I have added them to my collection and am always looking for more.

Sea glass are naturally weathered pieces of glass, which often have the appearance of tumbled stones. Sea glass is physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass.

Sea Glass

Pet Portraits

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