Time Marches On — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/4 sec
2024 coming in hot! At this point years flip about as fast as single pages on a tear away calendar. It’s a gift to grow old. An opportunity to experience the relativity of time mounting years speed ever swifter.
Continuing my quest to rip through my 2023 backlog. I made this photograph at Dock Road on 30 November 2023. Happy to have another motion blur shot. I’m developing quite a gallery in this style, and it is a trend I will continue.
All my years making photographs in southern Ocean County, and I never before tread at Cloverdale Farm County Park. All this time a wonderful bit of landscape has sat in wooded hiding mere miles from my home. I had no idea. The park itself is an old cranberry bog, and it features wooded trails, duck blinds, and numerous shallow pools full of bramble and sedge. I wish I had this in my spot rotation years ago.
Here we have another blurry pan shot photograph. Only this time the camera motion is top to bottom vertical, instead of left to right horizontal. While we have an out of focus image, we know where we are, what we are doing; walking along a golden sun lit wooded trail at golden hour.
We are but a few days away from 2024 and I still I try to work through my 2023 photography backlog. With luck I will get a few more pictures posted before year end. Right in time for the best of 2023 year in photos retrospective. For reference, I made this shot on 2 December 2023.
The Morning Look — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/30
In my last post I talked fishing. Fishing and photos. Here I offer another sunrise photograph made on 12 November 2023. A simple left to right pan shot to pull the colors across the frame. And what wonderful dawn colors were pulled that day.
For a few years now I have been near all in on panning my landscape frames. And if anything, its personal appeal only grows with time. I often think of ways to articulate my fondness but stumble with awkward, poorly expressed thoughts. An art critic I am not. That said, I’ll stick to basics.
First is color. By moving the camera during shutter depress lines blur, details merge, and color is most of what remains. It breaks down form into little more than moving color. And this color shines best at sunrise and sunset.
Second is movement. The blurred streaks come from panning the camera left to right, level to the horizon. Motion blur. Simple as that. Through this technique the movement of your hand during the exposure works as the hand of the painter brushed upon their oils. Moving the eye, moving the heart.
Third is line work. Sharp line work. At first blush this statement may read contradictory and absurd, but hear me out. By keeping a level camera plane throughout your pan, flat horizons become a razor’s edge. Sharp and defined. This grounds the viewer, placing visual queues of where and how to look. Amid the blur and soft focus it reveals the scene, which brings me to. . .
Abstraction. Fourth is abstraction. Through color, movement, and sharp line work our blurry puzzle is near completion. Even though the often crucial presence of sharpness and detail is missing, the photographer yet conveys the scene with a full, albeit distilled effect. You know this photograph, despite its blur and motion, you know this a beach glowing in the splendor of dawn.
The mid-Atlantic fall run has brought big smiles and tight lines to striped bass enthusiasts up and down the New Jersey coast. Whether by boat or by surf, the 2023 fall bite has been certifiable. So far this season I have made it out thrice—once by boat, and twice by Ship Bottom surf. Naturally I have zero fish to show for it. My cousin, however, photographed here, had himself a banner day by center console. Too bad I was not there with my camera.
One thing we did catch, however, cold hands aside, was a fantastic 12 November sunrise. During a brief pause in pre-dawn plugging I made this exposure with my 35mm. Given the excitement of fishing, a fiery sunrise, and frozen fingers, I missed precise execution on this frame. Given the sluggish shutter speed the focus is softer than I planned. The good news is that I rather enjoy the effect it’s laid over the final image. It lends a painter’s touch and the 1/15 second exposure gives the foreground sea wash a sense of motion, grounding the sense of place. This is fall run surf fishing at its finest. If only there was fish on.
On the Fringe — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Socked in on a Saturday. 23 September 2023 at 3:30 p.m. EDT, Tropical Storm Ophelia dumps heavy rains across the mid-Atlantic buffeting southern Ocean County, NJ, with steady winds. I’m hoping my LBI friends are managing the storm surge. As for me, I sit comfortably at my large oaken desk watching this week’s Nintendo Voice Chat on YouTube while typing to you, Internet friends.
This here sunset photo looks back to Thursday when the outer fringes of Ophelia first spun up high level cirrus clouds over the region. This high cloud deck brought a fine end of day light show over Cedar Run Dock Road’ssalt marsh. A fiery of sign of the weather to come. Of course, Friday’s burn managed to one up this but I wasn’t out to capture it. I was busy scarfing down hibachi for those looking for the but why no picture, Greg? rationale.
I hope you’re all weathering out the storm in the safety of home, surrounded by friends and family. It’s the perfect kind of day to kick back under covers to watch The Lord of the Rings. I also recommend having some soup, stew, or braise going. Tis the season, y’all. Be safe, and be well.
I have a photography problem. A mix of neglect, half measures and procrastination type problem. The neglect is simple: not shooting enough. The half measures and procrastination bit happens after the times I do shoot but do not process or post. Which brings me to today, sitting at The Union Market working at my backlog. And so we throw it back to mid-May and my backyard clematis. Thought it looked cute, probably won’t delete later.
Thoughts and happenings
It’s been a big year for me and live music, brought to you by Asbury Park. I’ve managed to see Rebelution, The Hip Abduction, Too Many Zoos, and Stick Figure in the span of about five months. I even scarfed a bunch of excellent Korean fusion street tacos along the way—looking at you, Mogo.
2023 will go down as an all time banger year for video games. Tears of the Kingdom chief among them. I have 200 hours socked into this masterclass in game design, and it’s been superior summertime comfort food. A much needed palate cleanser considering the abomination that are the 2023 New York Yankees.
Speaking of abomination: I cannot wait for Dune: Part 2. Which reminds me, I still need to see Barbie and Oppenheimer.
The Witcher season 3 was a disappointment. I can’t decide if it was actively bad, or if I’m already missing Henry’s Geralt?
Stoked for Ahsoka but not without concern. She’s my number one in the Star Wars universe, and I hope that don’t do her dirty like they did with Obi-Wan Kenobi which was decidedly mid. Andor, however, is LEGIT.
Found out Andy Serkis has an audible voiceover for the Silmarillion. I’m souped to hear his version. Also, if you’re a LOTR fan with interest in podcasts and the entire legendarium, the Nerd of the Rings is an absolute must podcast.
Buzzed my hair for the summer. So why is summer almost over?
The Green Zone — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Not much beats the salt marsh in June. It’s about as good as a flat, horizontal landscape can look. For me it’s the way the newborn emerald green sedge grass complements a royal blue sky at golden hour. This power trio realizes its highest level in early summer; running about mid-June through the fourth of July. Pair this with dramatic clouds fed by a tropical airmass and you have yourself a proper summertime treat. Real glad I took a moment out of my day to make it to the Dock Road marsh last night.
Out of Sight — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Chasing sunsets was not on my big card yesterday. Between the Yankees/Rays game, a four mile jog, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and the promise of pizza at mom’s house, my docket was full. Plenty of clouds were driving a daylong overcast sky, much needed rain threatened though it never delivered much more than a few fat drops here and there. It didn’t seem an option.
It wasn’t until I was backing out of my driveway and making my way up the street that I noticed a piercing orange crack in the western horizon. Little shimmers of colors powering their way through the trees and houses of my neighborhood. The clouds had real texture, too. I checked the clock. 19 minutes to sunset. Time to pivot. I circled back to my house, grabbed my camera gear and made for Dock Road. I am sure glad I did.
