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Category: Beautiful Places Close By

The Beaches of Gateway National Recreation Area
Gunnison Beach & Great Kills Beach

Oh how I love Gateway National Recreation Area! After some tasks at both the Sandy Hook and Staten Island units, it was a must to stand next to the sea and let calm my innards. First at the Sandy Hook unit–Gunnison Beach, we discovered, is a nude beach. I saw Read more…


Sweet, Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Sunflowers

What says summer more than a field of bright shining suns smiling your way?! For a teacher, the summer is a means to undo the damage of a dysfunctional school year. And this year was the absolute worst of all I have experienced. So I would seize summer with hearty Read more…


๐ŸŒนBy Any Other Name…
Narrows Botanical Garden

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet Shakespeare, of course Roses got me thinking things. Their yonic layers evoke all kinds of rumination. Like why are younger generations so desperate to allow a word to embody them?… to enthusiastically Read more…


Some Vegan Eats in the Rockaways

With some mermaid shoots on the beach, I supplemented a visit to the Rockaways with a few vegan options. But first, the subway… …then the ferry. Hello, Verrazzano Blue skies were perfect Passing another happy place, the ferry is supposed to begin stopping at Coney Island soon… from Bay Ridge. Read more…


Shelling at Great Kills Park ๐Ÿš
Gateway Recreation Area

After seeing the seashelled shores of Staten Island’s Great Kills Park during my mermaid shoot I knew I’d have to get back soon. With my supplies running low and the weather perfect, I spent the afternoon picking up a great selection of goodies. Some seclusion was just what I wanted.. Read more…


Summer On My Mind

Summer is excursions… …with views along the way. The sailors in town for Fleet Week. Road food (Dunkin Donuts LOL) The road before me… Bearing cookie gifts. The irises. Water in any form. In this case, fresh. Chimney Bluffs State Park from Lake Ontario Sand castles. View from the deck. Read more…


๐Ÿงœ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ๐ŸŒŠmermaid season ’22
The First Mermaid Shoot
Great Kills Beach, Staten Island

It’s that time of year again! Time to recruit models for my new tops. To start, a reliable mermaid who has sat for several shoots last year. She scouted this location–Great Kills Beach on Staten Island, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and we set a sunset date. The Read more…


๐ŸŒธ Cherry Blossom Time in
Green-wood Cemetery

Every year I look forward to the cherry blossoms in Green-wood Cemetery. It is a mark of Spring and, in turn, a sign of Summer on its way. Though I was only able to visit early in the cherry blossom bloom, the trees were plush with plenty of pink.


Magnolias
Spring in Green-Wood Cemetery

The Saucer Magnolia trees bloom first of the local flowering trees… or at least the first of the trees in my favorite spot to photograph them, Green-Wood Cemetery. Just a short work from work, lugging my teacher stuff, I captured a piece of spring–though the cold air is heading back. Read more…


Welcoming Spring {Pictorial}

It’s that time of the year again. Spring fever. What beauty have you discovered leaving your den? Art Deco break in Bay Ridge At the Skyline Drive-in, Greenpoint Flowering trees ๐Ÿ’“ On the ferry Ready for star shoots


Summit at One Vanderbilt

With a very special guest in town, a trip to Summit, an elevated observation deck with some stunning visuals. Highly recommended for a special afternoon! You’re required to wear these booties the whole time. Spectacular views. Reminded me of the Montparnasse Tower Panoramic Observation Deck in Paris I checked out. Read more…


Winter Came

Rochester Harbor Lighthouse is on the end of a long pier. In the whipping negative temperature windchills, we ventured to it as if on another more brutal planet, one that would help prepare me for the deep freeze of Fairbanks. There it is waiting… Along the way, the mouth of Read more…


Rochester Outtakes

Rando Abando. The Finger Lakes from the sky A city covered in white. The tremendous Kodak campus. A creepy mess of old utilitarian buildings of bygone era. Baby Yoda vegan waffles, because I couldn’t resist. She slaved away on her plastic oven for this meal. More rando abando. This is Read more…


Long Island Night & Day

You have to cherish a friend with the same child-like sense of adventure, one who can–like you–make almost any situation an opportunity for fun. When a night shoot had us both pulled over by a Park Ranger and spoken to by a concerned man tapping on our car window outside Read more…


Ice and Sand

In the middle of Long Island’s forks is the Peconic River, whose shores freeze beautifully about many locals-only beaches. In a new winter activity entered into my love list, a frolic on these shores and a hope to return again soon for shelling. To follow some shots that seem like Read more…


Winter In Effect

A healthy start, the artistic cross-section of the cabbage. Greens. My salad with tons of detoxifying veggies with a yummy avocado dressing. There’s your booster right there. I think I would seriously hire someone to peel my pomegranates seeds. It’s so labor-intensive! Christmas is all boxed up. Walking to my Read more…


Holiday Outtakes 2021

School festivities were subdued than my usual. Just trying to get through this year… My awesome colleagues help! Best holiday movie: A Christmas Carol, the Alastair Sim version It comes but once a year! So I used curlers. Awesome gift from my brother Awesome gift I made for my brother Read more…


Quincy Quarries Reservation
Painted Rocks in Massachusetts

The birthplace of the granite quarrying industry, the Quincy Quarries have had an interesting past. Last active in its quarrying capacity in 1963, the site was transformed into a swimming and cliff diving destination after the steep granite rocks allowed for water to gather and pool. Unfortunately this new recreational Read more…


V.V. Holidaze:
Catching Winter Feelings
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Winter has a feel. It’s a feel that creeps into autumn early and shakes your hand before it returns to stay for awhile. It paints a grey filter on the land and imparts the blue of the sky with a coldness that distinguishes it from the summer blue somehow–in feeling. Read more…


Montauk Lighthouse ๐ŸŽ„

I’m just going to put this here, because it was such a delight to exit Camp Hero to see the Montauk lighthouse all dressed up for the holidays. I had no idea that this happened and exclaimed to a nice man who was shutting the gate up from the holiday Read more…


I Put A Spell On You {Pictorial}


Work Sweetness

Determined to survive this school year, I have to cherish what aids my survival… area sweet treats, my new team and work time shenanigans. To start, a huge vegan chocolate chip scone and oat milk scone from Roots Cafe before I discovered it had two ants crawling on it. Doh! Read more…


Birthdaze 2021 ๐Ÿฅณ:
Pretty Rochester, NY {Pictorial}

Turning Point Park Durand Eastman Park & Beach


Birthdaze 2021 ๐Ÿฅณ:
Sunflower Field Slash Pumpkin Patch
in Riverhead, Long Island

Right around my birthday you can sometimes find a farm with a pumpkin patch that is still got blooming sunflowers. These are the center of a Venn diagram of my love of summer and my love of fall. They are a festive find that I associate with my birthday… and Read more…


The Adorable Lambertville, NJ &
Some Killer Vegan Pancakes ๐Ÿฅž

On a mission to photograph Lambertville New Jersey’s abandoned train car, I stopped in the sweet small town for a fantastic vegan breakfast and a stroll through a heck load of charm. Lambertville is right across the bridge from New Hope, Pennsylvania, home of Sprig & Vine. Both cities are Read more…


The Return of the San Gennaro Feast ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น
And Some Vegan Options

For me, Manhattan’s San Gennaro Feast marks the change of seasons… the goodbye to summer and the welcome of autumn. It’s also one of my favorite things to photograph in New York City. I strolled through, regretting I had eaten such a big breakfast as I could do nothing but Read more…