Wisteria in Black and White — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500
Those who have been following along for a while may note I don’t go in for straightforward photo titles. A literal labeler I am not. Yet here I am breaking my own rules with a boring name. Sometimes it is what it is; I beg you allow me this exception.
This photograph has several notable attributes that excite my artistic sensibility. It’s black and white. It presents a strong visual contrast between light and dark. Wisteria blossoms are its primary feature. There is a strong allotment of negative space gives all the elements room to breathe. And finally an abstraction blurs enough of the frame to call the mind to parse out what it thinks it sees.
I recognize this is a far departure from my colorful landscapes. Sometimes we need to put away the calling cards and dial up our passions even if they are less mainstream. It’s the cryptic and weird that makes me feel more creative. So scratch that artistic itch sometimes and be not concerned with Instagram likes. Portraying less concrete subjects in a presentation falling outside perceived norms is art. Art as an end in and of itself free of any other expectation. So get out there and get weird.
Jane Says — 10mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/5003.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500
I bought my home from my parents in October 2009. Built in 1993, my parents put in much work to cultivate a lovely yard through the years. Cue up yard work montage footage full of old clothes and dated hairstyle. And yes, I bought the house I grew up in. Under my ownership I have made great work undoing their great work. A once proud yard has fallen into disrepair under my watch. Where once there was lush grass there is the lingering remains of fescue. Where plants and flowers once thrived there is the unkempt overgrowth of perennials. All flanked by an uncontrolled spread of weeds. A groundskeeper I am not.
For whatever reason a shrub that had been for years on the brink, has returned to its former glory. A least in part. A Jane magnolia, photo above, has undergone something of a renaissance in my side yard. It has flowered up better than at any point in the last four years or so. With it injecting a most welcome infusion of purple to the yard. It’s a pleasing contrast to the yellow explosion of otherwise out of control forsythia marking the property’s edge. While the wheels have come off my lawn it’s nice to have some picturesque reminders of better days.
Daffodil Will — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/8000
The pivot to spring you ask? More like the rusted cog seized in refusal to spin up spring. Mother Nature, have you no oil can? Have you no mercy? Despite a brief touch of warmth we have been summarily dismissed to low 40s, gloom, and biting winds. Winter in the Mid-Atlantic battles on. Another year, another backloaded winter. It’s a back door cold front the did us in this time. Further freezing seasonal gears in their ruddy place.
But never doubt the will daffodils. They are rocking in full shine. Sure they made headway two to three weeks later than usual, but in yesterday’s 70s they splayed in full glory. Crocus, hyacinth, and daffodils serve as standard bearers of spring. The first to push through and remind us warmer climes lay in wait.
It’s with fair certainty I’ve made an iteration of this daffodil photograph since 2012. It’s an exciting reminder that flowers are back and it never gets old. I talk often about revisiting photographs. I maintain it is good practice. No matter how similar, no two photographs are ever the same. So make them over and over again. The world is fluid and the arrow of time forever points forward. We’re always changing, aging, moving. The same is never the same—so capture those moments and lock away the moment. Now if you don’t mind I am off to don my winter coat and gripe more about things I cannot control.
New Jersey is welcoming spring with a fresh coating of snow, sleet, and ice. The weather is suboptimal for anyone other than the most ardent of winter lovers. This simple photograph sums up the disjointed situation best. Winter, spring, summer, and fall in one head scratching tableau. We’ve got tiger lilies pushing up the greenery calling us to spring and summer. An old, spotted oak life carries us back to fall. This all set upon a fresh blanket of snow and ice anchoring us to a wintry fate refusing to ebb. It’s all here, an entire year in a single 35mm camera frame.
Winter rains descend unceasing. Blanketing the land in fog and gray. Dampness seeps into every corner. An unquenched avarice tasked to steal warmth wherever it may lay. There is no quarter. The wheel of time erodes the land upon its grindstone. Unconcerned with the changes wrought churning out universal meal. Always turning. Destroying. Creating. Transforming. Always turning.
We grow. We flourish. We wither. We die. We renew. The great circle of all things coiling back upon itself. The world snake consuming its own tail. We are come. We are gone. We are return. And so the long night of winter with slow and ever present speed withers to the brighter light of spring. The rebirth is coming. The resurrection of that which sets withering upon the tree of all life ready to bud.
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.
A Farewell to Flowers — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/160
Some pink to delight. A touch of green to soothe. An easy beige to calm. A spread of brown to hasten. Fall is upon us as much as this colorful bouquet would show otherwise. If looks could deceive this quick fire hydrangea would take a bow in the starring role.
Come spring this bush blooms plain enough. Simple white flowers open up, as unassuming as they are unremarkable. Over the next few months playing host to a litany of eager pollinators. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks turn to months, a most curious transition occurs. Once simple white flowers transition into a colorful panoply of pastel beauty. A shield device painted by the unseen hands of the master power. By late fall the color sets in a striking kaleidoscopic array. One last reserve serried up in full regalia ready to wage one last battle of life before winter takes the war. And winter always takes the war.
A solar eclipse is coming. You know this. On August 21, 2017, cutting a 70 mile wide swath that will stretch from Oregon to South Carolina our Sun will bow before the Moon. For those along its path totality will last less than three minutes. In less than a blink in the cosmic eye observers will see existence as never before; eyes wide, forever changed. The universe and their sense of place therein forever altered, perspective transcended.
Reflecting on this heavenly vision wonders sketch upon the corners of my mind. What a remarkable coincidence we humans care to observe. That in a moment our lone satellite orbits at perfect proportion. Passing through a gravitational sweet spot. An exacting position poised to blot our mother star with mathematical precision. A coincidence made more profound considering the Moon’s drift from Earth since its violent inception. Through the eons the Moon has been on a path outwards; as though adding length to the spinning lasso the mechanics of gravity are at work. We stand at right place at the right time to observe a perfect distance to size ratio rendering Sun and Moon as though identical in size. The incomprehensible unlikely hood that we are in the here and now, sentient and able to process is astounding.
I carry this reflection further by drifting back deeper into the past. My thought experiment settles on the effect this must have had on our species sans scientific enlightenment. This supernatural feat could only have been the work of the heavens. Powerful gods. Deities exerting their will to bring night where there was once day. Like the arrival of a comet observers must have cowered before ominous portents. As best they could the wise would convey esoteric messages upon their people to explain away the signs. Yet in our darkest periods there may not have been systems for any such explanation. At some point before oral histories passed this would pass as unique and terrifying event. What a time to be alive that we can observe this event and appreciate its machinations as they are. With humble understanding we are but a spec standing on a precipice of unbelievable timing and circumstance. Yet as it was in our more primitive past there remains so much we do not know. And so the eternal journey of waking continues.
The Small Blue — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500
Editor’s note: [July 29, 2017] This is not a small blue butterfly. It is an eastern tailed blue butterfly. It’s the small thin tail that earns this distinction. Shout-out to Dave Blinder who coincidentally posted a shot of an eastern tailed blue on his Instagram today thus unveiling my error. It’s always good to learn something new. I’m keeping the title as is—it’s still a blue butterfly small in size.
A favorite bug friend came to feast upon a favorite flower. Macro serendipity multiplied. It’s been years since I’ve photographed a small blue butterfly. (Note: This is not a small blue) So you can imagine my happiness when I spied it doing its nectar thing atop a purple coneflower.
Outside with my gear I got to work making photos. Pleased the dive bombing carpenter bee that was harassing the silver-spotted skipper earlier had left its post, the little small blue eastern tailed blue was able to feast unmolested. While small this little fella packed plenty of courage. He paid me no mind as it drank about the coneflower, dexterously darting its tongue amid the orange spires. With notable discipline the small blue eastern tailed blue worked clockwise about the coneflower stamen at a steady pace. The predictable clockwork fashion aided my shooting. I was able to get close and anticipate its maneuvering with ease.
From here I worked the full midday sun into advantage. It afforded fast shutter speeds to aid handheld sharpness. More beneficial, it infused the exposure with strong contrast. This creates the deep blue-black behind the small blue and amplifies the dramatic streak of highlight running atop the edge of its wings. Lending a theater quality that might shine upon the actor during her soliloquy. The small blue eastern tailed blue muse was not lost on me.
