Birds of Magnolia Cemetery

Last Sunday, on a gorgeous fall afternoon, I visited Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston where the bird activity was abundant! Check out the Kizoa slideshow I prepared. The Kizoa program is very fun and easy to learn.

Magnolia Birds - Video Maker

I have written two books about Magnolia Cemetery: "The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston's Secret Bird Sanctuary" (I guess the secret's out now!) and more recently "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry." Details on the books and more of my bird and nature photography can be found at my BirdsEyeViews website. 

Kizoa Slideshow: Aruba Vacation

Having some fun learning a free new program called Kizoa.

Here's a slideshow I put together from photos taken in Aruba in May during a wonderful vacation with my wife Alesia. As they say on the island, Bon Dia!

Kizoa slideshows may not appear in the icon form below on some smart phones but you can click still click here to see the show.

To see more of my Aruba photography, click here. Thanks for watching!

Charleston's Latest National TV Exposure: Murder-for-Hire Case

Better times: Christopher Latham and wife Nancy in 2010

  

This year has been bountiful for Charleston's TV facetime. While the hospitality, tourism and restaurant accolades continue, 2014 has seen an added dimension with the Holy City a backdrop for the Bravo "reality" series "Southern Charm" and the CBS drama "Reckless."

On Sept. 19 Charleston was again on national television, this time for a two-hour NBC "Dateline" program about the sordid Latham murder-for-hire saga.

My Two New Nature Videos!

I recently added two new videos to my YouTube channel. Both were shot late this summer on separate dates at the Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge. The vast 7,200 acre refuge is located off Highway 17 about 30 minutes south of Charleston's Citadel Mall. So what if it was 90-plus degrees out there, when nature calls...nature calls!

Shuttle Trolley Once Quaint Now Crowded

Tight fit on the Harbor Walk bus

As a long time CofC employee, I have for years parked in the city garage near the South Carolina Aquarium. I have always walked the several blocks to campus or have ridden the free CARTA shuttle bus to and from campus.

But with the recent start of the new school year what had been a quaint and quiet bus ride has become, at times, crowded and uncomfortable. The reason: the College of Charleston at Harbor Walk.

CofC is leasing 45,000 square feet of space at the Aquarium Wharf facility situated next to the aquarium. The college needed this "swing space" while renovations are being made to the Rita Hollings Science Center and soon to the Simons Center for the Arts. The computer science department is also now based at Harbor Walk.

Once home to an IMax theater and a military museum, Harbor Walk more recently has served as a set for the CBS drama "Reckless." Viewers of the Sunday night show might recognize the location as the Charleston Police Department headquarters in "Reckless."

Harbor Walk is part of  the "Reckless" TV show

Harbor Walk is about a mile from CofC's campus. Walking takes between 10 and 15 minutes. The CARTA ride from campus takes half the time, depending on traffic.

Harbor Walk features modern architecture and great views of the harbor, the port, the Ravenel Bridge and the Yorktown aircraft carrier at Patriots Point.

The college inked a seven year lease for the waterfront property with an option to renew for seven more years.

New signage at CofC's Harbor Walk 

A College of Charleston Harbor Walk FAQ site can answer most basic questions students and others may have.

If crowded CARTA buses aren't your thing, the walk up and down Calhoun Street is good exercise and can be pleasant so long as the heat index isn't in triple digits- as we've had a lot of since school resumed.

The seven year lease seems a clue that doing the "Harbor Walk Hustle" won't be a short-term deal.

Magnolia Cemetery Book Signing Set for Saturday, April 12

BirdsEyeViews Publications announces that Patrick Harwood, a communication professor at the College of Charleston, will sign copies of his new book on Saturday, April 12, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Magnolia Cemetery, located at 70 Cunnington Ave. (See author's interview on WCIV-TV "Lowcountry Live").

The 231-page hardcover book is titled, "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry." 

Cover of Harwood's new book

In Harwood's book Magnolia Cemetery, founded in 1850, receives a comprehensive tribute as one of America’s premier Victorian Era cemeteries. 

Chapters address, among other topics, Magnolia’s rich history; artistic, magnificent monuments; symbolism; spirituality; and landscape design. 

The pages are filled with stories about cemetery "residents" (a who’s who of Charleston and Lowcountry history) and color photographs that capture the 19th century Victorian necropolis' unique style and look. 

A book signing is also scheduled for  Thursday, April 17 on Cougar Mall at the College of Charleston campus from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

This is Harwood's second book about Magnolia Cemetery.

“Since publishing in 2011 ‘The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston's Secret Bird Sanctuary,’” I knew I wanted to write a second book about this interesting, historic place, which continues to be somewhat of a hidden treasure among Charleston's many better known and publicized attractions," Harwood said. 

Harwood said he spent nearly two years on the book, researching, writing, photographing, and even designing and laying out the work himself, in Adobe InDesign. “In the Arms of Angels” is published under Harwood’s own enterprise, BirdsEyeViews Publications. Printing (in America) was handled by 360 Digital Books located in the Detroit area. 

In 2010, Harwood, a former television anchor and news reporter, produced this video about Magnolia Cemetery: 

“In the Arms of Angels” has been endorsed by several local historians. Richard W. Hatcher III of the Fort Sumter National Monument calls it “a well-balanced work combining history and beautiful photography of one of the South’s most historic cities of the dead.”

College of Charleston history professor Robert P. Stockton praises the book as “the first work to deal with the art, architecture and landscape design of Magnolia Cemetery in a comprehensive manner.”

S.C. Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell (recently selected to be the College of Charleston’s next president), who is a Civil War expert, describes “In the Arms of Angels” as “a landmark book on one of Charleston’s landmarks.” 

More information on the book can be found at mybirdseyeviews.blogspot.com, by calling 843.224.3112, or emailing birdseyeviewspublications@gmail.com.

Harwood, who holds mass communications and  journalism degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and Northwestern University, has worked and taught at the College of Charleston since 1992.

The College of Charleston’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences provided funding support for his research project.

Big Day! My New Book Arrives!

Nearly two years of work came to fruition today when UPS delivered the first shipment of my new book about Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston. What a relief! And I'm so pleased with how good it looks-- and I feel like it reads great too. The books arrived just in time for my presentation to the Carolina Nature Photographers Association (CNPA), a group I've part of since 2012.

"In the Arms of Angels" is finally in my arms. Now all I have to do is sell them...

I'm not planning to let these boxes gather much dust at my house!

More information (including ordering details) on "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry" is on my BirdsEyeViews blog. My first book signing is scheduled for Saturday, April 12, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Magnolia Cemetery. Come on out to see my book and to visit one of America's most historic and beautiful cemeteries! 

Last week for an assignment in my Multimedia Reporting class one of my students, Lindsey Maloney, did a  nice feature piece about the new book. She titled it, "Patrick Harwood: Getting to Know the Man Behind the Camera." Very mysterious, right? I really like how Lindsey wrote and laid out the article on her blog. Check it out!