I visited the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum for the first time, and I must say, I was absolutely blown away. Even if you are not a motorcycle or car buff, you will be able to appreciate this amazing collection that is like none other in the world. Here are some more details about it from their website.

“Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is home to the world’s best motorcycle collection. We are dedicated to the presentation, interpretation, exhibition and history of motorcycles, vintage vehicles and motorsports.

The collection now has over 1,200 vintage and modern motorcycles as well as a substantial collection of Lotus and other racecars. The collection is the largest of its kind in the world.

There are approximately 600 of the 1,200 motorcycles on display at any given time. These bikes range from 1902 to current-year production. The common street bike is represented, as well as rare one-off Gran Prix race machinery.”

Here are some of my favorite photos that I took during my visit. Enjoy!

I cannot believe I am going to admit this, but until last weekend I had never been to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. As a Birmingham, Alabama native that seems pretty hard to believe, but it’s true. Now that I have been, I definitely plan on going back. I can appreciate their description of the Gardens as, “Alabama’s largest living museum”. It is truly a sublime destination. You cannot beat the price (free), and they have more than just 10,000 different plants in its living collections. They also have a cafe, library and a gift shop.

Since I knew this trip to the Gardens would be an excellent photo opportunity I brought my camera along. I hope my photos from the day give you an idea of what kind of experience the Birmingham Botanical Gardens provides. Enjoy!

Michael Zhang (@petapixel) runs a wonderful photography blog geared towards digital photographers called PetaPixel. A few days ago, he tweeted a link to a post on COLOURlovers entitled, “Color In Nature: Surprisingly Colorful Jellyfish” which showcased some absolutely stunning photographs of jellyfish. After viewing all of the jellyfish photos featured in the post, I was reminded of some of the photos I took of these beautiful (and dangerous) subjects at the Ripley Aquarium of the Smokies in downtown Gatlinburg. I must compliment the aquarium because they did a great job of showing off the natural beauty of these not-so-friendly creatures. The lighting and color of the tank they lived in made the jellyfish downright photogenic. Here are my photos from the Aquarium of the Smokies. Enjoy!

I had heard and read a little bit about camera tossing and kinetic photography, but have never tried it before until a couple of weeks ago. In case you have not heard of such things, according to the Wikipedia, “Kinetic photography is an experimental photographic technique in which the photographer uses movement resulting from physics to create an image. This typically involves the artist not directly holding the camera, but allowing the camera to react to forces applied to it in order to make a photograph.”

Camera tossing is a version of the kinetic photography technique where the photographer literally puts their camera in motion by throwing it in the air with the idea of producing abstract and artistic looking photos. The effect is produced by using a timer or slow shutter speed, pressing the shutter button and tossing the camera (hence the name) before, during or after the photograph is exposed. It seems that this technique works best at night, or in low-lighting conditions where the camera is able to capture light sources against the darkness. Perhaps one of the biggest keys to the success of this technique is that you catch your camera after the throwing, dropping or launching. Why is that the key? Well, you might not be able to recover images from a broken camera, right?

I decided to have a go at camera tossing from the top of the Space Needle in Gatlinburg, Tennessee which is 407 feet up in the air. (As my grandmother used to say, “If you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly.”) At 407 feet up, I decided to toss my camera, with the wrist strap attached. A fall from up there would surely result in the disintegration of my beloved little Cannon SD 790. I have included some photos without the tossing effect just to give you a point of reference, and to show just how high up in the air were were… standing on a thin steel platform… that swayed… a lot. No, I am not a huge fan of heights, but my curiosity to see the city from up there got the best of me.

I think these turned out OK for my first attempt, and I plan on giving it a go again sometime soon. Hope you enjoy!

If you want to see more examples of camera tossing, check out the Flickr Camera Toss Group. Currently, the group has posted over 6,500 beautiful examples of the technique.

WIRED magazine is holding a contest on Wired.com for the best holiday-themed Camera Toss photo. You can upload your pics direct to Wired.com, or just tag old or new photos on Flickr with “wiredcameratoss” and use a CC license. You can vote on your favorites (and find a handy step by step how-to) here.

Also, Smashing Magazine recently put together a post full of beautiful examples of the technique. Have a look!

Not only is camera tossing fun to say, it’s fun to do and the results can range from the bizarre to breathtaking. Now get out there and throw you camera in the air!