I sourced this one to the people by way of Instagram story poll. A choice between black and white and color. For insight into my own proclivity, I immediately began hammering away a post built around the black and white theme. I did this despite suspecting color would would carry the day. As a humble yet unelected representative of the people I must render unto them that which their votes beseech. So hyacinth in color it is.
Followers of my work may notice my macro photography always features targeted areas of focus. What is a targeted area of focus? Areas of the photo that have sharper focus juxtaposed to the soft blurry areas—referred to as bokeh. By shooting close in on your subject at a large aperture your lens produces a shallow depth of field. Thanks, physics! What is an aperture? Well that’s the diameter of the lens diaphragm that allows light to pass through into your camera and onto your sensor or film. Larger apertures have a bigger opening allowing more light to pass through. The result: a faster speed, shallower depth of field, and softer focus. Great for producing dreamy flower photos. Smaller apertures feature the opposite: slower speed, deeper depth of field, and sharper images. Ideal for producing detailed landscapes with sharpness throughout the image.
Either your camera body or the lens itself features f/stop numbers. The lower the f/stop, f/2 for example, the larger aperture. Whereas f/22 is a very small aperture, something like a pinhole. Understanding this scale and building your feel for aperture and f/stops is essential to effective execution of your creativity. Now get out there and start experimenting with different f/stops. Even the latest smartphones allow you to do this. So next time you go for that banging selfie, lower the f/stop and achieve some of the algorithmically staged blur!
I don’t write much about that how-to of photography, but if you found this helpful let me know and I can work more tutorial type posts into the rotation.
There was much and more I did not know about yoga before standing on a mat at my first class in November 2017. Outside of its ancient roots blossoming out of India, its possession of spiritual essence, and lots of bending and stretching, I was wholly ignorant. Turns out I was wrong about what it was I thought I knew. Such is the joy in actually diving into a thing. The ebb and flow of learning and growth coupled with failure—necessary failure—the kind that leads you down a path of humility while bringing you back on the road of learning and growth. Yoga is an excellent roadmap for life. It has had millennia to perfect itself.
In any asana class, the kind where you work the body through physical poses in time with your breath, you know heart openers are A Thing. I did not know this of course, but learned quick. Heart openers are everywhere inside a yoga studio near you. Whether through back bends, twists, or folds, constant coaching and callouts to open the heart—your heart. Such a concept dovetails beautifully with dharma talks choosing to keep the heart at the center of everything: The center of your life, your purpose, your power, and your love. Heart open. Heart center. Lift your heart. Open your heart. Let your light shine on your heart. Feel your life toward the sky. Steady coaching and reinforcement connected to movement and breath work communicates the criticality of an open heart. Loud and clear it lifts a veil on both your physical and emotional being. It’s powerful stuff.
Soon you take this lesson with you off the mat. Focusing on your heart becomes A Thing. Cultivating it. Protecting it. Honoring it. You come to understand the importance of keeping your heart open for others and for yourself. This is the love that will save the world.
Spring Hyacinth — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/125
The hyacinth. Flower of great name and striking beauty. A moniker worthy of bronze age stories first told millennia ago in far off lands. This spring flower is always well met.
Going back to childhood and my earliest memories the hyacinth stands out. Second only to the ubiquitous rose—a flower we seem to learn in utero—the hyacinth came to my consciousness early. Easter flowers is how my grandparents described them. Some of our first perennial flowers to blossom. Harbingers of springtime and warmer days, I thought. Beyond the history it was their color and form which always resonated deepest, well tuned with my small person soul. It’s a flower of imagination, fantasy, and hope. The kind of flower a concept artist would create when designing an idyllic alien world. I love them.
Of course when my one hyacinth bloomed up proper this year I found justification in my excitement. This was my first opportunity to photograph this flower since 2014. Quite a long time. And so it was, today was the day I made some time for my macro lens, my hyacinth, and me to capture its beauty.
Used in ancient Greece of a blue gem, perhaps sapphire, and of a purple or deep red flower, but exactly which one is unknown (gladiolus, iris, and larkspur have been suggested). It is fabled to have sprung from the blood of Hyakinthos, Laconian youth beloved by Apollo and accidentally slain by him. The flower is said to have the letters “AI” or “AIAI” (Greek cry of grief) on its petals. The modern use in reference to a particular flowering plant genus is from 1570s. Related: Hyacinthine.
Awesome. Love me some etymology, you guys. History and words. The best.
Whispers in the Dark — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/50
2020. LOL, what?!?
Yeah so this post could go a lot of ways. Each a varying degree of sideways. First off, this is my first photo and blog post of 2020. What? To be precise, first photograph made with my Canon rig, uploaded onto my Mac, and published anywhere on the internet since ::checks notes:: December—of last year. It’s April and this is finally a thing. Yeah, I was slumping something fierce.
Oh yeah, there’s a pandemic on and we’re sheltering in place. I’m into my fourth consecutive week cloistered at home—sans people. An insidious infectious disease made itself malignant and turned fast moving infecting all populations. In 2020. What?
Families, friends, and people riding solo are pulling together and reprioritizing. It took a unique crisis yet we have a singular opportunity to reassess life, purpose, consumption, government, health and health care,—a comprehensive reimagining of society. It is time to challenge conventional wisdom. What is the future we want?
The exceptional thing about living through history is having, if only in a small way, the rare chance to shape it. By staying home, observing social distancing protocols, calling a friend, keeping a journal, checking on a neighbor, telling someone you love them, taking a walk, or making a photograph. Small acts when executed across communities and continents affect real change in response to an entirely new environment. Rough times may indeed be ahead, but we can pull together if we choose it. What will history say about us other than what?
Last Light of Eve — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Made back on Christmas Eve, I have been sitting on this photograph for a week now. No real reason other than way too much life happening right now, and far too little of it the good kind. Nevertheless the capstone holiday for many children the world over met well with a fine burn over southern Ocean County. Doubtless the North Pole swarmed and pulsed with its final pre-flight check as the sun kissed its goodbyes.
Tonight begins another round of goodbyes. Goodbye to both a year and a decade. It is time for the ’20s whether ready or not. No choice but to embrace what is and what is about to be. My wish for the new year is more love, hope, patience, and tolerance for us all. Less reacting and more understanding. Less judgement and more forgiveness. Less emptiness and more fulfillment. Appreciate all you have—for having that which matters most is always a temporary condition. So love full and love complete, and know yours is a life well lived.
Thanks again, everyone. Happy New Year to you and yours. 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.
A Window to Winter — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
A Window to Winter | Captured: January 13, 2019 | Location: Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area, West Creek, New Jersey
2019 kicked off with an early- to- mid January snowfall, and that is always enough to set my heart alight. I made no photographs at Stafford Forge across all 2018, and with fresh fallen snow I had an opportunity to set a wrong to rights. Despite the cold and the snow, the golden glow beset by pink pastels is warm and inviting. The snow-capped pines flanking the frame call us to the window of a sublime winter wonderland. Stafford Forge continues its reign as a go-to location for outstanding snow shots.
Gradient — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 0.5 sec
Gradient | Captured: January 15, 2019 | Location: Stafford Municipal Boat Ramp, Cedar Run Dock Road, West Creek, New Jersey
Simple is best, and this photograph cuts to the heart of simplicity. Minimalist in all things, Gradient, relies on basic forms and color to convey juxtaposition. It articulates contrast between the deep blues to the top and bottom surrounding the fiery orange and red glow at the center. Bisecting the image across the horizon is a razor sharp margin to hinge this photograph. Consume this image in all directions, for there is no true top or bottom.
Ice World Ignition — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Ice World Ignition | Captured: February 2, 2019 | Location: Rand’s Marina, Great Bay Boulevard, New Jersey
The derelict Rand’s Marina off Great Bay Boulevard is home to a handful of my all time favorite shots. It’s as photogenic as it is strewn with dock remnants and the latter is a primary contributor to the former. Foreground, middle ground, and background never betray the photographer at Rand’s. In snow and ice, however, the drama jumps up a notch. Locked in ice demonstrates the damage rent through years of weather and disuse. It deepens the narrative, and when this profound tableau is cast in glowing rich pink hues the story rings truer inside our soul.
Magnolia Season — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/400
Magnolia Season | Captured: April 13, 2019 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford, New Jersey
From the moment I made this photograph back in April it has served as my iPhone background wallpaper. This photograph connected with me straight away. One peep in my viewfinder and I knew this one was going in the “best of” list. The colors, bokeh, and contoured line work traveling in and out of a shallow depth of field take this next level. Looking at the magnolia buds unfurling into beautiful flower blossoms, I had a plan, and I am beyond pleased I was able to execute.
Cast Adrift — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/640
Cast Adrift | Captured: May 3, 2019 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford, New Jersey
Now things take a turn. The style I am best known, wide sweeping sunsets, is with certainty not this. Here we keep things weird. I am thrall to the whimsy and form of wisteria blossoms. The small, delicate flower buds ooze with personality. Strung together like a bunch of grapes they make their brief appearance in spring. Captured up close with macro equipment, wisteria moves photography into the abstract. Under magnification at this range, you are hard pressed to know said wisteria blossom is no bigger than the quarter that used to set about your pocket. It is the tiny writ large, backed by bokeh casting strange shadows and tones. There is an eeriness and mood driving the scene, and the focus is soft enough to lend a painted effect. Someday I am going to have this printed large on canvas and it will be glorious.
Hit the Pavement — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Hit the Pavement | Captured: May 23, 2019 | Location: Cedar Run Dock Road, West Creek, New Jersey
Get low! Now get lower. To make this photo I splayed out belly down right on Cedar Run Dock Road’s asphalt surface. The township could have painted double yellow lines transverse down my spine. The orientation of the sunset dictated where I went with this shot. All the best action was to the northwest and so I decided to make the road itself the center of attention. It’s fine to bring a different perspective to the table considering I shoot Dock Road more than any other location by far. Of course the salt marsh sunset shots are great, but here I present the human side of the locale. Roads and guardrails, and power lines leading the eye to the homes marking the horizon. Dock Road is such a wonderful space with limitless potential.
Top Down — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/200
Top Down | Captured: June 17, 2019 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford, New Jersey
Coming in hot with more abstract macro goodness. Here we look down upon a nascent honeysuckle blossom. Early in its development it gives little clue as to its identity let alone what it is to become. The pollinators dream is the macro photographers dream, and this may be my personal favorite image in this list. The contrast between the green and purple backdropped by shallow depth of field demands the viewer’s attention. The tiny yellow hairs introduce a component of texture begging for touch. I get lost in this photograph, and for my money that is when I know I did my job.
Placid | Captured: June 27, 2019 | Location: Cedar Run Dock Road, West Creek, New Jersey
Take a slow, steady breath in through your nose. Now exhale even and powerful out of the mouth. It should be audible. Repeat two more times. Ahhhhhhhh. Let the parasympathetic nervous system take over, relax a while, and unload some stress. Placid is this breathing and relaxation exercise made visual. It is a stress shedder. The mirror glass reflection of the water balanced against gentle green marsh grasses, topped off with a sunset sky cast in pink and purple intend to unwind the careworn traveler. Sublime and soothing, let your woes find comfort and placid tranquility. A salve for your hurts. Inhale. Exhale.
The Collector — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/125
The Collector | Captured: July 15, 2019 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford, New Jersey
Here we have my “mom, maybe someday I can be in National Geographic?” entry into the annual retrospective. Making handheld macros of a small moving subject, such as a bumblebee, is hard work. You are battling camera shake, an indefatigable subject, lens focus, wind, and a whole host of other factors, internal and external. It’s a challenge. But when it all comes together and you get it right, it’s an immediate fist pump kind of moment. (Hey, I am from New Jersey.) I am blessed I nailed this pollinator doing its thing, adding value to the hive. I am honored to have the opportunity to document this essential lynchpin to a vibrant and product ecosystem bettering our planet. Now, about that magazine…
Until Next Season — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/800
Until Next Season | Captured: August 18, 2019 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford, New Jersey
Mood makes the photo, and the mood here is indomitable. A lone black-eyed susan blossom transitioning on toward end of life. Reluctant with unwanted acceptance of its fate. Told through the weight of the photo, the narrative unfolds with the blossom, placed to the right of the frame, pulling away from the light on the left. Turned away from the sun our lone hero moves onward into darkness and unknown. As the sun sets in the western sky so, too, does our blossom prepare its journey below its own horizon in search for new life.
Coda
2019 was a year of transition, change, growth, and setback. Through ups and downs and heart-wrenching disruption, photography has remained a constant. A well worn sturdy crutch to lean on through the dark times. It’s the friend who is always there free of judgement, forever willing to accept you for who you are, wherever you are. I was steadier in my practice in 2019, making more high quality photos compared to my low output in 2018. As I close out my eighth year (!) behind the lens and pivot toward 2020, I look forward to putting my dear old crutch to further use. I will again lean on you, old friend.
Thank you all for your time and support for both me and my photography over the years. While I endeavor in this exercise for personal growth and creative expression, I do not have words to express the gratitude knowing there are good folks out there touched by my work. I see you, and I appreciate you all. Thank you with my fullest sincerity. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Cheers, my friends.
It’s been a week. Life is a series of give and take, and right now it is hellbent on dealing blows and stripping away happiness. It is a dark time. In light of my struggles I wish you well in your escape from the shadows.
Light kneeling before dark, while cold and uncertain, is the appropriate segue today, December, 21, 2019. Yes, it is to the winter solstice I refer. Documented above, photographed in 35mm, we meet with its final light of day. Captured at 4:35 p.m., at the Cedar Run Dock Road boat ramp staring west across Little Egg Harbor, the sun embarks on its longest journey through darkness. Long will it labor until its shadowed path brings us first light. A rebirth to our celestial cycle will illuminate dreams cast upon a distant horizon.
This photograph was simple in its execution. Shot handheld at a focal length of 35mm. This casual approach fit well with the stillness of the bay water. Calm and sublime. It was only my second frame of my total shoot—I made many more exposures at 14mm—yet its minimalism and stillness speaks to me. Wanting to key in on forms and color, I substantially reduced clarity and texture in post processing. This introduces softness and comfort to the scene. I suspect this is my own feelings crying out for softness and comfort. As it is life informs art as art informs life.
Wait for It — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Yesterday afternoon was a treat. A late stage pulsing sunset served a tonic for the soul. An overcast deck held sway even as the sun dropped below the horizon leaving grays and blues dominating. Yet I waited. There was enough breaks to the cloud and enough experience chasing sunsets to know I ought lend time to the sky. Five minutes passed and sure enough a touch of pink begin building to my south-southwest. Over the next five minutes a panoply of pastel color flourished. The game was afoot.
Unfortunately, a fellow sunset reveler about a quarter mile away threw in the towel too early. They packed up early and missed the show, reminding me too often people bail on the sunset too soon. So one quick tip I’m more than happy to share: Wait at least 10 minutes after the sunsets before punching out. (20 minutes if you have time to spare.) This simple change will take your sunset photo making to the next level. Far more often the best color comes 5-10 minutes after sundown. Remember this and please apply accordingly. Now get out there and wait for it.
Short Days — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
The sun sets early this time of year. Snuffing out daylight early and often. Long nights leave us vexed, corrupting our internal sense of time. How is it only 6:00 p.m.? It feels more like midnight. Premature exhaustion settles in by 8:00 p.m. and the call to hibernate is real. So is the struggle. When midnight hits so does the second wind and the time destroying whims of winter come full circle. Morning alarm goes off and we rejoin the dark waltz again.
Yet winter and its stunted days are not without benefit. Here’s a quick hit list of its boon:
Holidays! Halloween through New Year’s marks a run of festivities to cover all manner of secular and religious celebration. Hell, we’re even afforded our chance at the annual airing of grievances.
Time off! Dating back to our childhood we associate this season with winter break and snow days. Even into adulthood we appreciate the breaks we earn.
Snow! Many hate it, I love it. For my money it’s the only weather that makes living in cold climes worthwhile. Let’s all agree to slow down a bit more and stay safe when we have to drive upon it.
Video games! In honor of capitalism, entertainment companies drop all manner of first rate AAA titles upon button starved consumers. This pairs nicely with long nights and time off. As a lifelong Nintendo fanboy there’s nothing like questing through Hyrule on a long cold night.
Movies! Whether it was the early 2000s dropping The Lord of the Rings in three successive Decembers or the Star Wars drops of the late 2010s, winter blockbusters are a cozy way to spend an evening.
Sunsets! Sure they happen early, but nothing compares to cold fuel winter sunsets. It’s when the vivid pastels paint the sky, and the ever elusive purple comes to play.
Fresh starts! New Year’s gives us a chance to begin again. Wipe the slate clean and make new things happen.
What are some ways you make the most of long nights delivered at the hands of short days?
