words are not enough » Travel

[Project 365: The First Six Months]

Joe Kennedy — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:00:49 +0000

I started Project 365 on January 8 of this year knowing I would eventually run out of random household objects to photograph. I did. Thursday I hit my six month mark. Luckily, over that time I’ve been able to take shots in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. My parents’ back yard has been filled with flowers and fruits of many colors, shapes, and sizes. And most recently, I got the new iPhone, which allows me to take decent photos even if I don’t have my trusty Canon 40D around. I haven’t always made the daily deadline (thanks to working awkward hours, including a stint on the graveyard shift for the Census), but I’ve always had a shot per day, if I pretend I’m in Pacific Time. It’s been a pretty tough time getting decent photos every day, but I think the overall work has been successful. It’s caused me to look harder at everything. So here’s to the next six months.

Exponential 2010…

Joe Kennedy — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:12:13 +0000

I’ll be at the Exponential Conference in Orlando, Florida this week. I’ll be hanging with a few old seminary buddies and learning from some of the more prominent voices in American church planting. I’ve never heard some of these guys speak, so that’ll be good. I do wish I could hear more from the international crowd, and I’m disappointed Bob Roberts, Jr. won’t be there this year.

Still, this is going to be a great conference with a huge lineup. And it’ll be a sweet break. The furthest I’ve been from Mobile in the last 10 months is Baton Rouge, and that was only for a couple hours. I miss being on the road- the most therapeutic place I know. Once I leave Orlando on Friday I’ll be driving south through the everglades and then over to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Every mile south of Tampa I drive will be the furthest south I’ve ever been, so that’s going to be a nice new record. I plan to visit Lake Okeechobee, drive along Alligator Alley, and hopefully I’ll see a lot of pelicans along the gulf coast. Maybe even a manatee on the way home. I’ve driven through swampland in Louisiana, and I hope Florida is different. Even if it’s not- that’s a drive worth taking. Of course my camera will be on me at all times.

So I might post here during the week, or maybe I won’t. But at least you’ll know where I am and why.

[Project 365 Week 8]

Joe Kennedy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:00:54 +0000

This week I really tried to take some decent photos. I started with tiny fake flowers- they’re really about two inches tall. I think that shot turned out pretty cool, and I love the colors. Saturday I took a photo of my Chucks, Sunday brought Pepper and Salt, and Monday I drove to Pensacola for a meeting with church planters. As I walked around the campus of Pensacola Christian College, I saw a great palm tree with moss on it. On Tuesday I grabbed a shot of my parents’ soon-to-be sentient coffee maker. Wednesday I took a photo of a sand-globe. Thursday, my mom and I made baked penne with tiny meatballs. So there you go. If you want to see the daily feed with larger images, check out my Posterous account.

[A Bellingrath Christmas Night]

Joe Kennedy — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:45:53 +0000

A couple nights before Christmas, my brother, his wife, and I went out to Bellingrath Gardens to take pictures of their Christmas lights. It was a busy, wet, and warm night, which made for interesting photos.

Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama at Christmas | December 23, 2009

[Bandelier National Monument]

Joe Kennedy — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:25:14 +0000

Bandelier National Monument is known for the Native American cliff dwellings built in the porous volcanic rock. Like Yellowstone and the northwest corner of Wyoming, north central New Mexico sits on the caldera of a supervolcano. Much of the rock near Bandelier is soft and easy to carve out into homes, which the Native Americans did. Bandelier is a big park, but the main loop is only about a mile and offers a great glimpse of both the dwellings and the natural environment.

Entry into Bandelier is $12, and you’ll find it is likely the busiest national monument/park in the area, even in November. However, it’s nothing compared to Glacier or Yellowstone in the summer, so don’t let it scare you away.

I traveled the majority of the main loop with a friendly Canadian couple, then took the back end of the main loop’s nature trail by myself. It was on the back end that I encountered these deer. I was no more than 30 feet from them at one point, and I’m sure they’re used to people. Still, it was a genuinely beautiful moment for me.

Photos from Bandelier National Monument outside of Los Alamos, New Mexico in November 2008

[On the Road Again]

Joe Kennedy — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:30:22 +0000

Left: And Then I Went Up on That Hill Over Yonder, taken on Gold Creek Road south of Drummond, Montana.
Right: Driving Wyoming, taken between Cody and Sheridan in the Bighorn National Forest.

[Cityscape]

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:30:11 +0000

The Arsenal of Defense: Detroit, Michigan (left) in November 2005, from Windsor, Ontario
The Derby City: Louisville, Kentucky (right) in December 2008 from cross-river Clarksville, Indiana.

[In Siberia]

Joe Kennedy — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:00:11 +0000

It’s been over five years since I went to Russia with the University of Mobile. I wrote about that experience a little more in depth here, here, and here. It was a great trip and I made a few good friends along the way. Anyway, I was rooting through my old photos while reworking my Flickr account (go there, enjoy!) the other day. I came across these two pictures; I spent the entire trip snapping shots with a handful of Kodak disposable cameras. Yes, these were the days before I had my Canon DSLRs. And would you believe some of them still came out alright? Above is a photo of my friend Chesley. Maybe it was the setting, or maybe the grainy-ness. It could have been the look on his face, or maybe it was the old antique feel I gave the photo. But when I look at it, I feel like I’m being transported back to the 1800s. And I love it. Below is a shot of a village horseman. It’s pretty cool how he gave us a salute as he trotted by. The entire village knew Americans were in town, and we spent the entire week running a kids camp for the locals (and some from a village down the road). We were a novelty to them; and they were a novelty for us. I’m glad I got these shots, even if they weren’t with a great camera.

[The Dauphin Island Excursion]

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:30:50 +0000

A couple weeks ago my friends Britt and Kayla and I drove down to Dauphin Island to see the GIANT clam shells (that are as big as your hand) on the southwest shore. It should be understood that every time I mentioned these clam shells, they got bigger and bigger- to the point that Britt and I described them as at least a foot in diameter and easily large enough to eat small children playing in the water.

Never you mind the hype, and by all means ignore that I don’t have photos of the shells themselves. Consider it an addition to the mystery and mystique of this unnatural island occurrence. And in the meantime, while ignoring the lack of shell-based evidence, take a gander at the photos of this windsurfer catching the waves.

Perhaps, in the end, they will satisfy.

[Virginia Burning]

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:00:29 +0000

Spring 2008 I took a trip up to Annapolis to scout the city for a potential church plant. On my way back to New Orleans I drove the scenic route, running down the Blue Ridge Parkway through Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee’s Smokey Mountains before heading to Knoxville and I-40 West. I spent nights in Roanoke, Virginia and Columbia, Tennessee. Before I got to Roanoke, though, I came across forest fires in the Shenandoah Valley off of I-81 near Steeles Tavern. Being curious (and probably a little stupid), I got off the main roads and drove up into the hills to get better photos.

Fires in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia | April 2008

The morning I left Roanoke led me to the Blue Ridge Parkway on a dreary, foggy morning. The road was slow driving, but the scenery made me feel like I was in the thick Scottish Highlands. I’ve never been there, so I have no idea if it’s an accurate description. In the same way I pretend that I’m on an African safari, moments away from seeing herds of wild exotic animals when I’m driving the back roads of Texas, I figured I’d make an adventure of it. I know I sound crazy (I probably am), but sometimes it pays to have an imagination when you’re driving long distances day after day.

Fog on the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Roanoke, Virginia | April 2008