Tag Archives: Black & White

Art, Digital Image, Gulf of Mexico, Landscape, Nature, ocean, Outdoors, people, photography, Seasons, Weather

Gulf Coast Beach in September

Family enjoying the Gulf of Mexico beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama, USA.

(Click on Photo to see a Larger Image)

We were here first. There’s plenty of room; do you have to sit so close? Or maybe the story is: Come! Join us we’ll all have a good time. But more likely it’s, “How’s the water, Mabel? What does George have in his hands?

I’ve often read that “great photos always tell a story.” But I don’t think a single photo can ever tell a complete story. Stories have a beginning, middle and end. A single photo can only capture a small fraction of the story. Without context, this is simply a photo of a group of people at a beach with a vast ocean of water in the background. Are they family? Friends? Recent acquaintances? Are they stranded on a desert island? What is the story?

 

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Architecture, Art, Landscape, National Parks, nostalgia, Outdoors, photography, Travel

Fort Pickens

Port Pickens, Pensacola, Florida

A tremendous explosion, result of a fire, in 1899 completely obliterated Bastion D at Fort Pickens. Fort Pickens is located on the Gulf Islands National Seashore just below Pensacola, Florida.

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Art, Comment, Digital Image, Everyday, Journalism, Landscape, Nature, Outdoors, photography, rivers, Travel, Weather, Work, Writing

Abandoned

Photo of derelict boats tied up along the Bon Secour River in southern Alabama, USA.

Abandoned cabin cruiser sits in front of a derelict shrimp boat. Both have been abandoned for several years.

Along the Bon Secour River, which flows into Mobile Bay in southern Alabama, there is a large fleet of deserted shrimp boats. Some are huge, some rather small, but they all have been abandoned. Hurricanes or tropical storms have severly damaged most of them. Speculation is that they are too damaged to repair (repairs will cost more than the boat is worth). Other possible reasons are that the shrimp fishery is too depleted and competition too intense, the boats have paid for themselves and owners are no longer interested in the grueling work of shrimping, but then who knows.

Regardless, The Alabama Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Fund, established June 2018 and managed by the Secretary of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency, is for payment of the seizure, removal, transportation, preservation, storage, advertisement, appraisal, and disposal of a derelict vessel. Effective June 1, 2018 Act 2018-179 relating to derelict and abandoned vessels, authorizes the removal of a vessel from the waters of Alabama under certain conditions by a law enforcement officer or a private property owner.  Previously, a property owner was responsible for legal fees, and litigation required to remove a derelict vessel from his dock. The costs were prohibitive.

Cracked and peeling paint, mold, and slime shows the typical condition of the abandoned fleet.

Beyond repair, a small, abandoned shrimp boat sits moored to a crumbling dock on the Bon Secour River.

A smaller derelict craft lists to one side, tied to a crumbling dock.

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Abstract, Art, Comment, Digital Image, Dreams, isolation, Nature, Nightmares, ocean, philosophy, photography, Photoshop, Poetry, Writing

A Timeline

Abstract photo of ocean waves with night clouds.

Primordial Ooze
Life Forms Evolve
Opposable Thumbs
Competition
Greed, Power, Money
Godot Defined for one species
Knowledge Quest
War Machines
Silicon Chips
Artificial Intelligence
Knowledge Shared Among Machines
Opposable Thumbs Irrelevant
Artificial Intelligence Evolves
Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication
Godot Redefined
Higher Knowledge Unnecessary
Life Forms Irrelevant
Silicon Chips Disintegrate
Primordial Ooze

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