Once Forgotten — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Last month revisiting all my photographs for my 2017 best of list I came across this image in Lightroom. Made on the same February 2017 afternoon as “The Observer” I remembered, oh, I meant to post this picture, too. It was post-processed and everything—fully baked and ready to post. For whatever reason it didn’t happen. The back-burner of forgetfulness won the day. It’s a shame, too, as this is a fine shot. Showcasing sparkling sunset colors and an ensnaring reflection. Better still, it’s composed in a portrait orientation. Which is a fancy way of saying vertical. A composition I little utilize and struggle to execute.
Of course this has me wondering what other forgotten gems have I buried away in my backlog cache? A trove of photographs that now measures in the tens of thousands. It’s been my wont no to do much looking back on my work—annual retrospectives aside. So maybe it’s time for something new?
Coda
The irony is not lost on me that on an evening I made a photograph entitled “The Observer” I made the mistake of overlooking another shot.
A Pearl in Winter — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Antoinetta’s Waterfront Restaurant. My old stomping grounds. Undoubtedly one of my favorite locations to photograph. It holds sway as an idyllic bayside vista. She’s a fine structure worked in a modern Victorian motif. This joy of design stands tall at the east end of Cedar Run Dock Road. A seaside beauty for sure. Oh, and the food is pretty good, too.
Over the years I have made several photographs of this near exact composition. You can take a look at my Antoinetta’s tag if you are so inclined. In recent years, however, my time spent photographing this spot has lessened. Increased year round hours has this fine eatery packed to the gills on the regular. It would be poor form to prowl around while paying customers sit down to a delicious meal, set to take in delectable sunset views. Besides, all those cars in my frame would prove problematic to good photo making.
Tonight I had my way. A closed restaurant and the whole area locked in ice. The latter being far more important to my opportunistic photographic sensibilities. I am enthralled with winter weather. Always have been. This is doubly true along my local bayside and marshes. The counterintuitive juxtaposition of ice where sun and warmth should be drives my fascination. The result? I cannot get enough of making this kind of photograph. I like it so much in fact, this shot marks my third take at this composition. Take a look at Winter has its ways and the Never quite the same. The former made in 2014 and the latter in 2015. The choice is yours as far your preference.
Until next time. Cheers and keep warm.
Coda
I did something rather unusual with this post. A last minute change to the photo title. I was all set with The Choice Is Yours but as I was typing out the post description A Pearl in Winter shot through my brain. It struck with a resonance. You know the kind where you whole body syncs to melodious vibrato. Or the feeling you get when you listen to Crosby, Still, Nash & Young. There’s a rhythm and tone that works down your whole spine setting your life in tune. And so the change—a rare change where I most always stick with my gut.
Harvey Cedars locked in ice. A beach paradise locked and bound in frozen bonds of wind driven snow, ice and unstoppable cold. The arctic has found its way south and wrought with it a landscape better tuned to penguins.
Trudging through Harvey Cedars Sunset Park I felt myself alternating discomfort and awe. Foremost was the wonderment. I strode incredulous among magnificent shapes carved by the master hand of wind driven snow. Three to six foot mounds of stratified snow dunes in all directions. Features that would look more at home marking the desert sands. The juxtaposition made more striking contrasted against wide swaths of grass and stone blown free of any trace of snow. This is mind-boggling considering the foot plus that dropped up and down the New Jersey coast less than 24 hours ago. As the snow was busying itself building mesmerizing drifts it was leaving whole swathes of park untouched. Never before have my eyes seen its equal.
Enhancing the displaced winter landscape was the transformation of Barnegat Bay. This familiar waterway left frozen solid and topped with reticulated patterns stretching to the horizon. Any vestige of the summer paradise fell away as it bent the knee before the reign of ice.
Through my wonder a crippling west wind carrying biting cold air tested my limits. Setting up to shoot headfirst into 20 mph sustained winds posed a threat to exposed skin. Despite my layers and heavy dress I struggled for comfort. In a battle of diminishing returns against a relentless enemy I made a few dozen exposures over span of 45 minutes. I will share one or two more photographs in the coming days. In the meantime I am off to thaw a replay the magic frozen before me.
Another Year Sets — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Hours away from 2018. Time surges. The accelerant of our lives. Time. The hidden force running faster and more elusive than each year to come before. Our grammar school time but a distant memory. A patina etch from the halcyon days where the conquest of the calendar year stood more daunting than Odysseus’ long voyage home. The annual primary school quest that needed parceling into such small chunks that still made weeks feel a feat of strength. A month felt an accomplishment worthy of new construction paper cutouts to mark out each day on the classroom calendar. The marking period quarter pole left us grizzled vets of the mathematics wars. But by year’s end, learned and wizened, came the triumphant return of vacation. The final march off the bus sounding the horn of endless summer. It was over two magical months the youthful burden of time paid off. Endless weeks spanned on forever to our heart’s content. But now when years pass as eye blinks is is our deepening wrinkles and our tired bodies signal the passage of time. Replacing construction paper cutouts with stress, fear and anxiety. W look no farther than our own aging as the clear marker in the unstoppable acceleration of time.
The Observer — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
The Observer | Captured: February 2, 2017 | Location: Cedar Run Dock Road, West Creek NJ
This checks all the boxes in the Big List of Striking Winter Sunsets on the Marsh™. Intense pastels illuminating a cloud filled sky? Check. Glassy water reflecting back the image of said cloud filled sky? Check. And of course dormant browns of of half frozen marsh grass now void of life? Check. This is winter on Dock Road. Winter in all its stark glory. The pause between breaths as we await life’s return. It is to the winter sky alone we look to light the fire in the otherwise dark and cold reaches lurking in the depths of winter.
Overrun — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/4000
Overrun | Captured: February 4, 2017 | Location: East Coast Avenue, Loveladies NJ
I am best known for the high detail color photographs I produce on the regular. But it is minimalist black and white composition that is my preferred medium of expression. Simple lines and strong contrast, set against a proper light and form interplay to creates a product worthy of careful attention. It is easy to see intense color and a dramatic sky and connect to the pop in an instance. It is a whole other animal to sit with an image. To drink it in and consider the mood and the tone; not only of the scene but of that creator as well. What is the message? What is the metaphor? What is driving the simplicity weighed against a study in contrast and line? Is the subject large or small? More important does it matter? There are but a few of the questions you can sit with gazing upon a piece that offers room to breathe.
Golden Glow Before the Snow — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/160
Golden Glow Before the Snow | Captured: February 8, 2017 | Location: Stafford Municipal Boat Ramp, Cedar Run Dock Road, West Creek NJ
More simplicity. More February photographs. Patterns are forming that will hold true for the rest of this gallery. Here we move from vivid pastels and contrasty black and white to the warming glow wrought by the strong yellow tones of golden hour. Cast out over a lolling bay the light infuses the world with tranquility and summons you to relax. Breathe. Pause. Breathe again. Drink in the paradox that is warm winter light shone through the damning reality of cold winter temperatures. A look into this photograph tells us nothing of the cold outside and the snow on the way. Looks can be deceiving. Cherish them, but do not wholly place your trust—for it may be but a glamour coloring a whole other truth.
From Stone to Sand — 14mm | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/60
From Stone to Sand | Captured: March 23, 2017 | Location: Surf City Sunset Park, Surf City NJ
Work with what you know. Work different when you can. Here I set to work here with my 14mm lens—my most used lens. With intent I abandoned my usual manual focus process. Ditching rigid adherence to sharp focus throughout the composition, I flexed to a selective focus strategy. A strategy I often deploy when shooting my 35mm and 100mm lenses. The result is a wide angle photograph that falls away from the four small pebbles set atop a damp sand stage. Waves roll back to a blurred out sunset bringing a depth and illusiveness to the composition. Cool blue tones bookend a thin strip of fired horizon. A horizon as if painted by an easy brushstroke made with a loose hand bent on coy imperfection.
Clear View — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/10
Clear View | Captured: March 23, 2017 | Location: Surf City Sunset Park, Surf City NJ
Here we strip down landscape photography to its basic form. An uncomplicated study in line, movement and color theory. Laid bare have nothing more than a mirrored gradient of color. Our mirror halved by a thin line cutting the center with dark contrast. The photograph hinged to its bottom world darkened and brooding. The bottom world features gentle undulations furthering the difference to its elevated counterpart. Here we have a waved surface to counteract the staid air above. There is subtle movement in these undulations. Movement drawing us over the water as we travel from the left’s strong glow to the darkened shadow of the right. Our eyes move top to bottom, left to right in this simple study of color and line. Embrace the minimalist and remember less is more.
Nothing on the Top — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/1600
Nothing on the Top | Captured: June 11, 2017 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford NJ
It is late spring now. What has been a journey in landscape photography now takes a turn to nature and flowers. A turn back to my photographic roots. I cut my teeth in 2012 with flowers. It’s how I learned how to shoot. In subsequent years wide angle landscapes cannibalized my attention but 2017 called my back to my origin story. In this photograph I use my backyard honeysuckle to play out many of my favorite tropes. First is the selective focus, keeping only two pods of honeysuckle together in focus. Your eye starts in the bottom left third and leaps up to the upper right third creating movement. From there it all falls back to bokeh in a kaleidoscope of pink, purple and green. This is a small scale fantasy writ large. Balanced only in what you can see weighed against what only your mind can make known.
Let us continue our flowery bokeh dream. Here we get moody and elusive. The blossoming heads of rudbeckia flowers drift in and out of focus. Cast as an array splayed out in a stunning bouquet of form and color. Have we been shrunk down to join this world? Or do we find ourselves pawns at the whim of giant flowers? Questions arise as we search to find our place. Where do we fit? One of the peculiar elements that attaches me to this photograph is its painted affect. This seems more a fit at the business end of a skilled oil brush than the product of glass and machine. Here lies the hidden jewel of photography—the serendipitous unknown of the journey. Unplanned surprises that render whole worlds in a way that elevate us beyond mere reproduction. Photography is more than a single moment captured as though frozen. We endeavor to convey movement and life both before and after we press the shutter. There is a story flowing by and our page most give clue to what was and what still may be.
See Me — 100mm | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/1000
See Me | Captured: June 25, 2017 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford NJ
Is it joy you seek or darkness and foreboding? This photograph manifests whatever you take with you. Each journey is a personal and only your soul will choose. Your gaze starts atop the hosta flower bloom, hailing from the highest point. Now begin your spiral descent carrying a pack weighed with thoughts and projections. And down farther still you search the darkest reaches touched here and there by a lightened edge of leaf. Is it a lifeboat to keep you afloat? Or will you sink below to the depths beyond? Will you confront the self that lies beneath? Your weapons, you will not need them.
In the Flower of My Youth — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/320
In full disclosure this may be my favorite photograph of the year. My growing affinity sits in the drama playing out between the two rudbeckia flowers. There is an interplay and sense of conflict between the two subjects. Our foreground flower is moving on and leaving its companion left behind. There is an obvious parting but what is the meaning of their goodbye? Are they leaving on good terms? Is there strife? I read a sense of both ennui and quiet resolve through it all. Furthering the enigmatic mystery is the yellow hue dominating the image. Yellow often conveys happiness through warmth and yet it is still not clear that is the case here. Much like the previous photograph may haps this photograph must play out on the stage of our own mind directed by our own bias.
A Marsh Life — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
A Marsh Life | Captured: June 27, 2017 | Location: Cedar Run Dock Road, West Creek NJ
We have come to the final landscape in this 12 photo set. It is not without a small bit of controversy, either. I’ve been back and forth between this and its counterpart, yet have finally settled upon this for my set. My reason is simple. More than showing off a stellar summer sunset bathing a stunning pink glow upon the salt marsh, I wanted to show the human element at work. People make this place their home. There is a real and beautiful world right outside our doorstop. Some folks set atop the razor’s edge of nature’s wrath and its grace. The salt marsh fits this category. Weather and storms rain hell, yet in its benevolence it bestows gifts of wonder, peace and light.
The Small Blue — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500
The Small Blue | Captured: July 24, 2017 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford NJ
Take the stage your time is now. An eastern tailed blue stepped into the spotlight and I was lucky enough to serve paparazzo for a moment. The entirety of this photograph is set up by the sharp beam of light dropping vertical through the photograph a bit left of center. This strong light source further serves to illuminate the master crafted wing tips of our butterfly friend. There she feeds full of grace atop a fresh purple coneflower wholly unconcerned with our presence. May we all feel so empowered when the light fixes and it is our time to shine.
Little Lion — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/640
Little Lion | Captured: December 10, 2017 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford NJ
I end this set in a fitting place. My cat Daisy became part of my household in late July and my world has been richer for it. She has been both a source of comfort and a driver for change. With Daisy I have a partner and a friend. A pet to care for and an ally to support. Through that I have a new muse, a trusted friend to photograph. A source for comfort as I dabble into portraiture. So here it is with my last photograph, a portrait photograph, that I declare my pivot in 2018. I have a goal to expand my photographic reach into portraits. And not only pets, but human friends too. This will not be set to replace my landscape and nature work, more so it will augment my skill and range behind the lens.
Coda
2017 marks my fourth best of retrospective. (I invite you to check out 2014, 2015 and 2016 to assess my growth through the years.) It is the highlight of my photographic year. It puts into perspective my body of work over a set period of time. Instead of working one discrete photograph at a time as I do all year long, here I see my once singular photo as a piece of a larger whole. Each year I work through this process I learn new lessons and see my photographs in a different light. Time works for and against me in this regard. Some photos I was certain I loved fade over the year, while other photographs command my attention and affection in stronger ways.
With that in mind 2017 was different from 2014–2016 in three key ways. First, I made far fewer photographs in 2017—more than a 50% reduction in total exposures. Second, my volume of landscape work declined proportional to my overall shot reduction . A the same time my flower and macro work increased relative to my total body of shots. Third, I did not have any full stop stand out mega hits—see Ruinous Splendor for an example. However, my total body of work is more cohesive and consistent, and thereby stronger. It is in this same vein I am proud of my 2017 set. There is a core theme of simplicity, color theory and minimalism carried across my work here. A cohesiveness that has not always been there before. Better still is balance: a strong sampling across landscape, nature and flower photographs. There is even a portrait worked in. Presented together there is more breadth and focus to my work. I am confident I am finally cultivating a style to call my own.
The twin forces of time and water erode a once proud place of recreation and enterprise. Torn asunder in Sandy’s rage, the derelict of Rand’s continues to degrade. The months pass and the irresistible force of nature reclaims as it is wont. In the absence of human intervention the twin forces return the natural order. The skeletal remains that once brought safe harbor to ships fade in a slow, inexorable exodus to the sea. With the outpost unmanned nature will have what is hers. Nature will always have what is hers. The twin forces do not sleep.
As it is with most felines, my cat loves to bask in the warm sun. She waits patient at my sliding backdoor for my daily opening of the shades. This morning the sky broke clear and blue, and the sun’s power was further fueled by a fresh snowpack. The light was strong.
Aware of the opportunity I grabbed my camera, affixed my 100mm lens and not so smoothly laid belly down on the floor aside my cat. For whatever reason my cat Daisy is not overfond of a camera pointed in her face. (But hey, neither am I.) At most I’ll have 20 seconds before she makes her escape, put out by my camera’s presence.
During our brief stay I managed to make off with two photographs. Each playing up her majestic main and deep, probing stare. She is as a lion set firm in the fullness of life, content in her wisdom and station. As for me, I am lucky for her countenance and company.
Set Down — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
It was easy living at sunset yesterday afternoon. A soothing burn caught fire over the calm water and quiet sky at Stafford Forge. Alone in the stand I stood, taking in the slow smolder and making my brackets. So easy was the pace I was able to step back from my camera equipment to breathe in the scene. A steady moment of respite to quiet the cacophony of life.
In my head I like to letter grade sunsets. The familiar range from A+ to F- that would either make or break your parents’ hearts. Without hesitation I slotted last night a B+ effort. Not Mother Nature’s most profound work, but worthy of recognition and praise regardless. I laughed to myself as B+ manifest unsolicited in my head, noting how my letter grade habit sort of just happens. I’m still a slave to the report card it would seem.
Better than an assignment of grade, however, was the value of being there, present in the moment. Quiet and alone taking in the master work of the natural world even when it’s not A+. It was there I stood taking in the cool fall air and eyeing the fire as the light of day set down.
