Aug 9
School officially started today in my neck of the woods, and that first day of school always plays havoc with my emotions. I am excited to see my children embark on a new beginning, another year of growing into the adults they’ll soon be, but I have to be honest and say I hate to see those magical days of summer slip away. This image was taken earlier this year, when summer was a fresh raw, experience, and you felt like it would last and last and last… Hope you enjoy.
May 31
The light was fading… I was intent on watching this beautiful Caribbean sunset loftily sink beneath the horizon when this perfect little vessel sailed into view, its white sails reflecting the last vestiges of light that bounced off the darkening seas. I love the play of light and dark in this image–the dusky clouds and brilliant sun, and the way the sails almost glow with a life of their own in a comparatively vast landscape. Hope you enjoy…
May 20
I’ve often written here about the joys of discovery in your own backyard and neighborhood–and while I completely believe that artistic and visual creativity can be found under your nose, I’ll admit there is nothing so invigorating as exploring new and far away territory. Travel photographers have the ultimate luxury of making their living doing something they are passionate about–and the best of them certainly infuse their work with that passion. Many of us, however, only get to experience this sense of adventure a few times–maybe if we are lucky, a couple of times a year, when we leave our day jobs behind, pack up our gear, and go out to explore the world.
I recently did just that, on a seven-day excursion through the Western Caribbean, where had the pure joy of exploring three new countries with my family. The image above was taken at Tabyana Beach on Roatan Island, the largest of the Honduran Bay Islands. The dramatic black rock, coral, and dense small palms, even a black iguana, certainly seemed exotic and were incredibly enticing to photograph. While it’s true there is no place like home–the yen to travel, and to find new inspiration through a lens… is pretty compelling as well. Hope you enjoy…
Postscript: I wanted to say I very much appreciate all the new followers and to all of you who like, share, and stop by with a comment. It’s gratifying to know that I am touching others with my work and my thoughts, and the continual addition of followers certainly helps keep me motivated and inspired to improve. Many thanks for your kind words and support!
May 4
You never really get a sense of how vast the earth is until you are in the middle of a body of water that has no visible bounds. No landmarks, no sights, not even a distinct horizon. My family and I recently took our first cruise, so it was the first time I had experienced the phenomenon of feeling like I was a tiny dot in the middle of an enormous, boundless sea. The first couple of days we set sail in pea soup–gray, misty, and damp; hour after hour of nothingness. Initially, I was disappointed at not experiencing the beautiful tropics touted in the travel brochures, but slowly, this gave way to a feeling that was just as strangely exhilarating–the feeling of being utterly alone in the middle of “nowhere.” Of course, it wasn’t actually “nowhere”… we were sailing across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on our way to Honduras, but emotionally, it felt like nowhere. It was existential and spiritual at the same time–looking out over a sea such as this certainly makes you reflect on the courage of the world’s early explorers or of anyone who was ever lost at sea, and even more so, how your own, singular life fits into this huge, vast world. Eventually, I began to use this time to relax, let down, and simply breathe in the moment, which is one of the best rewards of any vacation. Hope you enjoy…
Jan 31
“Wish you were here…”
Doesn’t just about every postcard you ever got start or end with this sentiment? I am not sure how many people actually send postcards these days, and I suppose our camera phones and wireless smart devices have replaced them almost entirely. I think of my travel photographs as “postcards”… they are a way to mentally transport me, and those I share them with, to another place entirely. In this case, it’s the edge of the western U.S.–at the beach at Santa Monica in California. With gray skies and freezing temps over most of the country, and in many other places in the globe, I thought this warm, picturesque scene might ward off winter’s chill–if not in body, at least in spirit. Hope you enjoy…
Aug 10
My family’s summer is drawing to a close, as school resumes today in our neck of the woods. So today I thought I’d post an homage to the peacefulness and serenity of summer. Hope you enjoy…
Jun 24
I’ve been away for a while and partly because I was traveling, on vacation, and creating images instead of sitting inside and editing them (a balance which far too often gets skewed toward the latter instead of the former). So after a madcap week of catching up on 9-5 duties, I have a little time to leisurely look back and play with some of my latest efforts. We took a family vacation to the beach–to the pristine beaches at South Walton–and I spent the normal amount of time just drinking in the coastal landscape and taking fun memory shots of my family. It’s always a battery re-charging experience down there, to be sure.
But I also try each year to challenge myself to a fresh assignment. One year I captured lightening over the Gulf; another year we had a magnificent orange moon that was too good to be true. This year, we were there during the New Moon phase, so no orbs in the night sky, but instead, on a couple of clear nights, I attempted something I had only flirted with before: capturing the feeling of those millions of stars overhead, and the mysterious moody shore at night.
Equipped with my 17-55 mm and tripod, I set up and experimented for about 30 mins before I settled on exposures that were a range of 15-20 seconds. Any longer, and the sky became overexposed and create extra noise, plus the stars begin to trail ever so slightly. Any less, and those beautiful twinklers became pinpricks, too tiny to discern.
One of my best results is posted today. I really love the way the waves lushly roll over in the long exposure, with just enough light from Panama City, some 20 miles away, to offer a glow on the horizon. While nothing can truly compare to standing on the shore at night, drinking in the sound of the waves, the salty sea breeze, and the overpowering vastness of the cosmos above, I know this shot for me helps to bring it home in my memory, once again. Hope you enjoy…
Mar 7
The title of this post holds a couple of meanings for me. The primary one is purely emotional; the sea and the beautiful windwashed tree create an inner pull that makes me yearn to be standing at this spot once again, on the outermost edge where California meets the vast Pacific–a stepping off point from land to sea. There are few places that hold such beauty as the wild Pacific coast. The second meaning of the title relates more to me as a photographer. This image, no matter how pleasing, doesn’t begin to truly capture the scene as I recall it–it’s a mere snippet of the view I experienced. Perhaps the ocean will always be a challenge… its vastness, its smell, the roar, the feeling of moist, blustery sea spray… How can one photograph capture all that? Perhaps it can’t, and yet, as any photographer can attest, we continue to push the limits of our technology to bring a little piece of such landscapes home with us. And so, the Pacific Coast beckons me as a photographer to return, to try again, to stay longer and to try harder to illustrate this immense beauty in my own art.
Summer’s speeding by oh so quickly…. trying to hang on to that laid-back, gulf air, sand-in-your-toes state of mind, as long as I can, I guess…
This, I have to say, turned out just as I envisioned. Long, long exposure, giving me smooth flowing waves, plenty of sea mist with the perfectly placed, lone surfer. Ahh, wish I were still there… Hope you enjoy.
f/32, 0.6 sec, ISO 100, 50 mm
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