Green Tree at Nature Trail Park

Somerdale, NJ

We found this small park in Somerdale, NJ. It had a nice set of trails and we walked most of them. We had looked at a house nearby and it would have been fun to have the park to visit every day. But we didn't care for the house and settled where we live now. We still visit the park.

The Old Barn

Hammonton, NJ

This is an old barn that I took while we went walking around Hammonton, NJ. I had originally used Kodachrome and after scanning it into the computer I changed it to a more sepia like picture.

Barn

Lancaster, PA

Here's the other image of a barn we found while walking down the country roads in Lancaster, PA. Bill liked the light the crops in front of the barn.

Country Road

Lancaster, PA

There are times when I want to be away from the hustle and bustle of my everyday world. I remember how lovely it was when we went to Lancaster, PA, to stay for several days. It was hot during the day but in late afternoon or after one of our early dinners we would park the car at our motel and walk down the country roads taking photos of images that caught our fancy. Bill has a lot of farm pictures. This is one. Tomorrow we will put another one of his on the blog. It is our chance to relive in our memories those marvelous walks in Lancaster.

The Capture of Our Young

Gloucester Township, NJ

I used this image this past winter. It was of a birch tree in the snow (see image 2/12/07). Today I wondered how it would look as one of my abstract bark series. I began to rework it from one of the original images I had saved on the computer. I cropped to a more square shape. Brightened it, darkened it, took all color out until I began to see black lines and white swatches. You can still see the birch, but now I began to think of three tall cigarettes. The one on the right keeps staring toward the viewer. Way below the dark ring at the top I see an eye with a dark slash of a brow. A side profile. The cigarette standing tall, challenging me. To the left is a second one here the eye is not as prominent as the one on the right but its still there. In the middle is a third one and if you look real careful a bunny trapped in its grasp. This is our young trapped and caught by cigarettes.

Thirty-four years ago I quit smoking. It was the best thing I ever did. A few days ago I watched as two teenage girls walked down the street. One had a cigarette in her hand and wondered why? It came to me that whether it was thirty years ago or yesterday, somehow society has made it seen cool to smoke.

Outhouse

Atsion, NJ

Bill and I spent a lot of time in the early 80's hiking New Jersey's Pine Barrens. On day we decided to walk around Atsion on some of the dirt roads. Bill found this scene of an old outhouse with the toilet still inside minus the door. We both like the colors and shapes of the image.

Purple Martin House

at Cape May Lighthouse

Cape May, NJ

The park has changed since Bill and I spent the 80's and 90's going down to Cape May, NJ. Three years ago we came down and spent some time at the park. I was watching the purple martins fly in and out of the nestbox and enjoying the time with Bill.

Father and Son, Over the Bridge

Longport, NJ

Bill loves the "Kodak Moment". We were at this bridge in Longport, NJ. When a man and his son walked passed us with their bikes. Bill had to catch the image.

Poodle

Pine Hill, NJ

This image is the bark and lichen at the base of an oak tree found on our property. As I played with it a lovely little poodle took shape.

East Point Lighthouse

East Point, NJ

A wonderful summer day and a good day for a ride.

Darmstadt Road

Mullica Township, NJ

Unlike Bill, I like to sometimes get in the car and just drive. I like stopping along the way and taking photographs. Today it is getting harder to do that. I work as a police dispatcher and I'm amazed at the number of people who get upset of someone taking photos in the neighborhood. I've had calls of older couples walking down the road taking photos, a woman with long blond hair shooting a picture of the local expressway or a man in a car shooting a photo of a house (that happened to us right after we bought our current home). You can't shoot photos of bridges in one town and we were once asked not to photograph the inside of a railroad station. We weren't but the police officer was taking no chances. It is a shame that we have become so afraid of one another. That's why I treasure the images I have now. They are moments in our lives.

This image of two mailboxes is so country. I was out in the car about 10 years ago and came on this scene. New Jersey is one of the most densely populated states. So when I can find a scene that screams rural country I want to save it forever on film.

Moon Over Wonderland

Ocean City, NJ

In the early 90's Bill and I found ourselves in Ocean City, NJ for a photographic shoot to add more stock images to the slides we already had. We sell the rights to these images to magazines, books and calendars. We will even sell our images to any consumer that wants a picture to hang from their walls. As we walked around taking night shots of Ocean City, Bill found this shot of Wonderland. The moon had just risen over the old ferris wheel (which has since been replaced). I told Bill it reminded me of the Ansel Adams image where the moon hung over this town in the southwest. Bill named it "Moon Over Wonderland".

Rock Star

Pine Hill, NJ

I have been so busy this week that my Thursday blog is being finished today Saturday. In July my mother fell again and broke her leg, the same one as last year and she is in the hospital unable to put weight on it for 2 more months. My days off are spent visiting her and trying to catch down time. The rest of the week finds me working a 40 hr a week job. This hasn't left much room for Bill and I to get out and enjoy the summer. So I'm a little behind on blog entries. This image came about by looking at the bark of a tree and as I worked with it I began seeing a man and a guitar with his leg out in front. I liked the name "Rock Star" and like a real rock star the red spot light captures the star as he prances and dances and sings.

High Rise and Red Umbrella

Philadelphia, PA

We were walking along a street in Philadelphia, PA, when I spotted a lone red umbrella. I pointed it out to Bill and since I didn't have a telephoto with me and Bill did, he grabbed this shot.

Three Blue Umbrellas

Atlantic City, NJ

Outside of the Hilton Bill and I were enjoying a morning walk. I spotted these three umbrellas. They are like sentinels standing guard duty on the beach. Not long after the picture was taken people began to arrive to bath in the South Jersey sunlight.

Pitcher Plant

Pine Barrens, NJ

If you walk along the many trails of the New Jersey Pine Barrens it is inevitable that you will come across a pitcher plant. Bill took this photo in the early 1980's while it still had one blosson still open. It blossoms May-June.

Bird Walk

Edwin B. Forsythe NWR

New Jersey

We stopped at the Brigantine division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to take bird photos. While I was trying to fill the frame of my camera with a gorgeous portrait (which I never really got), Bill was further along and captured this bird walking along the boardwalk.

Man as Both Good and Evil

Philadelphia, PA

This bark is that of the Ginko tree. I found one on 2nd Street in Philadelphia, PA. I cropped the image until I had what I wanted and then I did something else. I deleted all of the image around the main picture making it black. As the picture evolved, I imagined that the center face with the open mouth and a bit of a sky nose as a politician. Then in the lower right I had this masked figure. At the top of the head is a man with an emblem on his shirt. I was reminded of a crusader during the holy wars. I now had my final image and I simply call it "Man as Both Good and Evil".

Coming Home

Atlantic City, NJ

Watching the clammer returning to home. The sun glistening in the east and the clammer heads into Absecon Inlet.

Odd Stone

Atlantic City, NJ

I found this odd stone on the beach in Atlantic City. It's weight was different then most stones and I wondered at the time if it was man-made. But were the holes also man-made or the work of a sea worm?

Hobie Cats

Atlantic City, NJ

A regatta where there are lots of sails both on the beach and at sea. We were walking along and the colorful sails caught Bill's attention. Mt shots were horrible and I only kept a few. Bill was able to capture lots of color of the boats on land before the race.

Blue Beach Umbrella

Ocean City, NJ

Oh! To be at the beach today.

Monarch and Milkweed

New Brooklyn Park

Winslow Township, NJ

There are plenty of places to walk at New Brooklyn. One day when the water was easy to cross we made our way onto this spot where milkweed and wildflower and butterflies lived. It was wonderful.

Rock Dove

Philadelphia, PA

There are pigeons all over the world. They invite you to feed them. Cities are always trying to control the population so, it wasn't surprising to find them (the pigeons) hanging around us while we ate our lunch outdoors. We were surpirsed when the police officer from several hundred yards away looks at us and yells "You better not be feeding them". Bill and I plead the 5th.

The Kiss

Pine Hill, NJ

As I watched the shapes take effect. The contrast, brightness, removing all color, inserting new colors I began to see the couple that emerged into a kiss.