Evenfall of Christmas Eve 2019 came with a flourish over southern Ocean County, New Jersey. Deep blues shot through with red, yellow, and orange, glowed elegant over the Cedar Run Dock Road salt marsh. A welcome sight to many in anticipation of the joy and love that overfills holiday hearts. I wish continued blessings to those whose cups are full, yet I will not miss the chance to recognize, love, and honor those whom struggle with loss and loneliness during this time. I see you.
Cedar Run Dock Road Photographs
Here's my complete archive of Cedar Run Dock Road photography. Jutting southeastward the meandering Dock Road features 360 degrees of salt marsh views. Serene and expansive it has for decades been a favorite diversion only minutes from my house. In recent years it's become my most frequented spot for making sunset photographs. Some of my favorite Dock Rod shots include A Marsh Life, Still the Sirens Call, and The path before me.
Our Light Fades
The shortest day of the year is here. December 21, 2019, marks the winter solstice. Eager to chase light and document this celestial event, it is not lost on me how nature and the broader world mirror my own darkness. Yet as it it will forever be, light will rise in the east come to chase away darkness.
Wait for It
One common mistake I observe when making sunset photographers is other people leaving the scene too early. More often than not the best color, intense drama and sunset magic happens after the sun goes down. So when you are out there shooting sunset make sure you wait for it!
Short Days
Winter is disruptive to time, or at least our perception to it. Short days and long nights wreak havoc on our internal clocks sending us reeling to adjust. At times late afternoon feels like the middle of the night and the middle of the night feels like prime time. Despite the disruption, long nights give us much to enjoy—superlative sunsets not least among them.
Bank Shot
Find yourself an oxbow lake feature set inside a salt marsh. Set your sights and your gear upon its bank. Pair this with a pastel powered sunset and watch the magic glow, casting light upon the light and reflecting all in its water.
Red Sky Alight
When the sky fire comes where will you be? Home, work, or set affront the TV? Always look to the sky at sunset should nature bestow its gift of fire, alighting the sunset sky in smoldering tones. Here the photographer earns her keep, and the nature lover observes perfection. We should all be so lucky.
Marsh Brush
Sometimes it is best to step back from tack sharp landscape photography. Have some fun and dabble with the form and movement that renders color and form as if at the painted ends of a brush stroke. A little intentional motion blur from time-to-time will set your creative mind free.
Slow Way Round
Pastels revisited. Here’s another look at the cotton candy sky show photographed on September 27, 2019. In this image we look east at sunset and see the kind of color over the marsh we would expect to see at sunrise from this vantage. Sunsets, long may you reign.
Late September
There is something in a late September sky. Rainbow colors paint the sunset with pastel clouds spun across the sky. The cotton candy gossamer is backlit by a deep royal blue. Underneath it all the salt marsh, once proud and green, begins its annual retreat toward its browned suspension of life and vigor.
Tranquility Tones
The evening approaches and cotton candy clouds thread across the sky. Pastels dance upon the strings. Stoic marsh grasses stand tall while glass calm waters reflect back the sunset tableau as would a mirror.
