Pictures from Altama Plantation, Southeast Georgia

This past week I had the opportunity to visit the Altama Plantation, formerly called Hopeton, near St Simons Island, Georgia.  It is such a beautiful property with a rich history with records dating back as far as 1763.  It was most recently owned by the Jones family that also owned Sea Island.  One of the original owners studied water control in Holland and put that knowledge to work in a diking and drainage system that supported the rice fields of Hopeton. It was also home to sugar mills, and ruins still remain, two of the chimneys pictured below with the year 1899 engraved with cut bricks.  The ancient oak and pine trees are just stunning with drooping Spanish moss, and Gardenia’s like you have never seen before left over from prior owners gardens.  Wildlife is abundant, while only there for 24 hours we saw an alligator, wild hog, tons of deer, a water moccasin, a turkey, several hawks and a massive owl.  Coming from Atlanta it was simply amazing to be in a place like that.

I spent some time looking for information on Altama, and this is one of the best records I could find: Georgia’s Land of the Golden Isles

Below are pictures I captured while there.  All of these images are available on www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com/Travel/GoldenIsles

Thanks for reading,

Carson Matthews
www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

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The Bellwood Quarry – Atlanta Georgia

A couple of weeks ago I was given the opportunity through the Trust for Public Land to go and photograph the Bellwood Quarry on the west side of Atlanta. The Bellwood Quarry is part of Westside Park, a new City of Atlanta park that will be 351 acres along with a 45 acre lake once the Quarry is filled up.  This will be the biggest park in the city of Atlanta.  The Quarry will also serve a drinking water reservoir for the city of Atlanta.  Westside Park is part of the Atlanta Beltline Project.

The image below is available for purchase at www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com.  50% of the profits from sales of this photograph will be donated to the Trust for Public Land.

PRUMC Soccer at the Atlanta International School

This past weekend our son’s PRUMC soccer team the Ninjas played their game at the Atlanta International School fields in Buckhead.  What an amazing venue for a soccer game!  The fields are all turf, the historic buildings hover over the fields, and on this day the sky was just perfect.  Here is a shot of the back of the school and some action shots.

Washed up Seaweed on Sea Island Georgia

We went for a walk on the beach after a storm on Monday and found all sorts of creatures washed up on the shore.  I don’t have any idea what kinds of seaweed these are, so chime in below in the comments if you can identify any of these seaweed species.  Both of these are 5-image HDR shots taken with the lens resting on the beach sand (very carefully).

Print available for purchase at www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

Print available for purchase at www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

Chattahoochee River Sunset

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River last night.

Beautiful Atlanta Sky From Phipps Plaza

I have tried to capture this shot before and was stopped by security.  This time I stayed in my car and was able to get the image I was looking for.  The clouds and sky were pretty amazing for about 3 minutes, then it was gone…  This is a 3 exposure HDR processed in SNS-HDR Pro and Lightroom.  The Church on the left is Wieuca Baptist Church and the building on the right is the Ritz Carlton Residences.

ISO 320 @ 24mm, f16

City of Atlanta Skyline Fogged Over

This morning the fog was thick in Atlanta, and even at 9:30 am it was still hanging low.  I was on my way to Decatur on Freedom Parkway and saw the City was still engulfed so I jumped over to the Jackson Street Bridge and caught this shot.  You can view what it typically looks like here http://picturesofatlanta.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/hdr-atlanta-skyline/

Prints of this image are available for purchase at www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

City of Atlanta Skyline SNS HDR

The picture above was processed using SNS-HDR.  I also use Photomatix a lot to process HDR shots, and here is what it came out looking like.  I’d be interested to hear which one you prefer.  I like the one out of SNS better, it just feels cleaner to me.  Let me know what you think.

City of Atlanta Skyline HDR Photomatix

Capital City Country Club

Yesterday I was out shooting different neighborhoods for my new website and found this great shot of the back of Capital City Country Club.  This picture is looking over the golf course and lake at the back of the country club and you can see the tennis courts in the distance.  It was processed in Photomatix using 3 images, then cleaned up in Lightroom.

Prints of this image are available for purchase at www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

Little St Simons Island at Sunset

The view just before sunset looking away from Little St Simons Island GA.

Mountain Lake in Highlands North Carolina

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Thanksgiving Turkey Preparation Timelapse Video

Here is a iPhone 6 timelapse video of our Thanksgiving turkey preparation on Thanksgiving morning. After this it went into the Big Green Egg for several hours and came out perfect!

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River

Here is a picture of the sun tonight as it began setting over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. This shot was taken from the East Palisades Trail of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area looking west to Cobb Parkway as it crossed the Hooch.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

70mm f/8.0 5 frames processed in Photomatix and Lightroom

Saturday Down South

Saturday Down South