Sand

Pine Barrens, NJ

New Year and I am starting the blog with a picture of the sand and lots of it in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. We will sometimes walk for hours trying to find just the right image to take. This was taken near the Batona Trail.

Oswego Lake

Pine Barrens, NJ

The lakes of southern New Jersey are all man-made. Near Lake Oswego is the Oswego River which flows east meeting with the Wading River. They both eventually flow into the Great Bay. Canoeist enjoy the trip. In the fall it is the starting point of many trips.

Three Mushrooms

Pine Barrens, NJ

Walking the trails throught the Pine Barrens here in New Jersey can bring many small surprises. Bill found three mushrooms growing among the weeds and after scanning them in the computer, removed all the grass around them.

Fern Leaves

Pine Hill, NJ

Bill and I each have our themes. Mine are images of shells and seaweed that I've photographed over the years. Bill's are fern leaves. In going over our inventory of slides, I've noticed how many of his slides have fern leaves in them. He just finished work on this images and simply calls it "Fern Leaves".

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.

Pine Barrens Water

Pine Barrens, NJ

Watching the water flow through the Pine Barrens is relaxing. The streams seem to move slowly in some areas and faster in others. This image of the slow moving water made an interesting abstract after I scanned the slide onto the computer. I lightened and darkened bringing out the green of the reflected pine trees and that made the water darker. The blue was a hint of the sky above. I like the color and texture I can get when I work an image on the computer.

Pine Trees

Pine Barrens, NJ

As I go over more then 30,000 slides, as I search our database, as I locate and look at those images that I have taken, I realized that over the years I have made a habit of photographing trees. There is something strong in trees. They reach up to the sky for the sun. There are grays and browns. Earth colors. When I get to the computer I feel a freedom come over me, creating a new image out of the photograph. I add more earth tones, darken the contrast, brighten highlights until I find the image my mind is seeing. That's what I did with "Pine Trees".

Water Lily

Pine Barrens, NJ

This water lily was taken in the pine barrens of south jersey 24 years ago. I scanned it in from the original slide today. I think the color has held up well from all those years ago. It's why I like slides. I don't paint well but I tried my hand a painting of this picture using acrylics. It's so-so. I like photography better.

Sundew and Water Droplets

Pine Barrens, NJ

In the swampy area of the pine barrens we found several different types of sundews. They were covered with water droplets and Bill took a photograph of this spatulated sundew. The tiny hair-like fibers on the leaves capture water of early morning dew.

Spatterdock

Pine Barrens, NJ

Today is the first day of June and the spatterdocks are beginning to bloom. These aquatic flowers are also called yellow pond-lilies. This image was taken by Bill when we were walking in the pines near the Mullica River. I don't know where the name spatterdock comes from and none of my guidebooks mentions where the name comes from. Howard P. Boyd's guidebook, "The Field Guide to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey" lists it as yellow pond-lily, spatterdock or bullhead-lily. It will bloom from now through early September.

Virginia Meadow Beauty

Pine Barrens, NJ

This time of the year is beautiful. A walk in the Pine Barrens in New Jersey can show some of the most beautiful flowers in the state. While walking one of the many trails we came across this beautiful meadow beauty.

Golden Club and Log

Pine Barrens, NJ

Bill and I can see an a scene and each shoot that scene differently. Earlier in our blog there is another image of a golden club. That was my photograph and I shot it looking straight down on top. I had liked the way the flowers were laid out on the ground. Bill saw this one, "Golden Club and Log".

Rose Pogonia
Pine Barrens, NJ

Bill and I were walking along the Batona Trail when we paralleled a swamp near the Batsto River. I'd never seen a swamp and we took a quick look at it. Bill spotted this orchid like flower and shot it using a hand-held camera. When we got the film back we began to try and identify it. Using Howard Boyd's "A Field Guide to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey", we were able to identify this as a rose pogonia. Most of our guides say that rose pogonias are pink or rose colored. Boyd states that they are also known to be white. The one we photographed is a very pale pink.

Batsto River

Pine Barrens, NJ

The Batsto River flows east past Lower Forge campground, Quaker Bridge and through Batsto Village. Route 542 passes over it as the river continues to its meeting of the Mullica River where they both merge and enter the Great Bay and the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey. This image of the river was taken at Batsto Village not far from the worker cottages and sawmill. It can sometimes be a very quiet place or the river can be difficult to paddle as you wind your way around overhanging trees, shallow water and underwater obstacles. The Batona Trail follows much of the river from Batsto Village to Lower Forge Campground. It is one of our special places to visit.

Golden Club

Pine Barrens, NJ

Walking along the trails in New Jersey's famous pine barrens, following the Batsto or Mullica Rivers, turn down the nature trail and exit the Batona Trail finding wildflowers. The golden club, an aquatic plant begins to blossom in April and May. The plant has long club-like blossoms with bright yellow tips reminding me of tiny golf clubs.

The Scream

Pine Barrens, NJ

Playing with the scanned slide I took a simple image of a dead branch and turned it into some woodland creature with feathers and a knife. It's mouth open in a scream that only the woods can hear.

The Court Jester

Pine Barrens, NJ

This image may be harder to see. On the left is a figure of what I see of a court jester. On the right is an miniature man with his hands in the air that reminds me of the jester's little puppet. Not everyone that has seen our work can see the abstracts as I do. This image was the bark of a shortleaf pine in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. If you are checking out this blog, here's another question for you. Can you see the little man staring out at the photographer.

Man Worshiping

Pine Barrens, NJ

This is a photograph of pignut hickory bark from the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The original slide had a blue tint to it and some of that was removed with the hue and saturation section of the Ulead program. Even with the blue tint removed enough remained to produce an image of a man worshiping.

Blue Fungus

Pine Barrens, NJ

I like the pattern and color of this tree growth even if I don't know its name.

Pine Trees and Fern

Pine Barrens, NJ

If I take a look at any of our photos, a real careful and close look, I can see the many different colors. Bill's photo taken in the fall while hiking one of the many trails in the Pine Barrens, is a great example. Until he darkened the image and saturated the colors there was barely a hint of red. Now the fall colors just pop out. The reds and yellows scream at you. A question though, is this a photograph or a computerized image? Or is it both?