November 19, 2020
And Boom! The winter coat is out. This year has passed with record speed… but its timestamps are upside down, half off the page and mostly indiscernible. My old trusty (this blog) will file away the months neatly for reference when the dust clears. So here are some things that Read more…
October 21, 2020
Autumn is my favorite season for so many reasons. A short stop before holiday hoopla, the glorious seasonal transition brings the goods–by way of my favorite tones in the trees and rustling at my feet, tights weather, sweater weather, pumpkins, my birthday, Libra sun, Halloween, giving thanks to all the Read more…
As I am wont to do, I spent my birthday far away–far from obligations to others and doing exactly what brings me joy. This joy will be the subject matter of the next posts as I packed my itinerary so full of wonder–battling the year’s chaos, upheaval and misery. It’d Read more…
October 18, 2020
Camp Hero State Park. This might just be my favorite place for a star shoot. Abandoned / Dark sky / Conspiracy theory / By the Ocean. I mean, c’mon. Though the horizon is always filled with light, the site makes for some gorgeous shots. And because I wasn’t alone and, Read more…
Despite the light of the campsites, the stars were plentiful and bright. And the Milky Way and shooting stars also showed up for the party. Here are a few of my favorite shots before heading to Camp Hero to shoot next to the radar tower. I enjoyed the campsite much Read more…
🎉 I guess my birthday celebration starts… now… on the day that my friend mistakenly thought was my birthday. Though we’ve been friends for like 15 years. 😐 But I shouldn’t complain as The Greek got me a tent for my birthday and facilitated a great camping experience on the Read more…
September 29, 2020
More New Jersey, because I really needed the diversions this past weekend. I wanted to check out Double Trouble State Park for a couple of reasons. For one, it has that lovely dark, damp and piney ecology being part of the Pine Barrens watershed. It’s the kind of place where Read more…
September 28, 2020
Hidden at the end of Southern New Jersey is the mostly abandoned resort town of Seabreeze. Though easily accessible, the gorgeous coast facing Delaware was desolate save for some fisherman. An interesting stop with haunting views, it is a great place to explore for that isolated post-apocalypse feel.
As the seasons change the Earth presents us with different flowers… such the romantic. So where I gaped upon tulips in the Spring I’d bask within sunflowers at Summer’s end, patting my behind into Autumn. And let’s just thank goodness Autumn is so beautiful, making the heartache of Summer’s end Read more…
September 6, 2020
An astroshoot in New York City? Sure, let’s do it. There were a few stars and a very bright Jupiter and Mars, though the billions of other celestial bodies were shy of the bright lights in the big city. Still very worth the while… The 9/11 Tribute lights were on. Read more…
September 3, 2020
Let’s take a moment to celebrate… water. It makes up many of my favorite things. It makes up most of you, most of me, most of the Earth. It makes up my favorite foods, my favorite drinks. Inside it, you float. Without it, you die. Why would I need to Read more…
August 22, 2020
I kind of dropped the ball with this night shoot. Though exhaustion and the heat during the day played a part in my not finding the right spot for my shoot, there was also construction, lots of traffic and nonstop visitor action… and my shooting with way too sensitive ISO Read more…
My final National Park on this trip is… The Big One. The Grand Canyon. One of the natural wonders of the world. On my knees at the glorious altar of geological worship, the Colorado Plateau’s exquisite beauty is the draw for the millions who visit Grand Canyon National Park annually. Read more…
August 19, 2020
As thee first IDA-certified park ever, I was really looking forward to visiting Natural Bridges National Monument. One of the darkest skies of the National Park system, my daytime exploration would provide me with an evening plan. I wanted to talk with a Ranger and I wanted to secure a Read more…
August 18, 2020
With more than 2,000 arches within its 76,000 acres, Arches National Park is a huge tourist draw. And given the accessibility and relatively short hikes about their most iconic arches, I knew I couldn’t pass it up during the daytime hours… and during the night time hours. Which meant two Read more…
These folks know something I was about to learn: That watching the sunrise through Canyonlands National Park‘s Mesa Arch is a magical show. So rather than deconstruct sunshine, I’ll just show you how beautiful it was to see. You want to watch that orange glow and what it does to Read more…
August 17, 2020
There are several legends surrounding the origin of Dead Horse Point State Park’s name and each is upsetting and unfortunately quite literal, having to do with dead horses. The most popular version begins in the 1800’s when the area used to have herds of wild mustangs about, living their lives Read more…
I have this thing that happens at sunrise. I bolt up and grab my camera, often leaving within the same minute of the bolting up! Since these sunrise pictures of the hoodoos at Goblin Valley State Park are in my view better than the sun-drenched ones mid-day, here they are Read more…
August 16, 2020
In yet another fascinating display of what time and the elements can do to the land, it would be a hunt for whimsical Jurassic-era sandstone creatures of all shapes and sizes within Goblin Valley State Park. Used in the film Galaxy Quest, the otherworldly landforms span three free-roamable square miles Read more…
August 15, 2020
Every once and a while you need to splurge on yourself. You are, after all, your most important supporter. So on this night, watching the pink landforms catch the last rays of the day’s light on their outdoor deck, I showed myself how good I can treat myself–at Stone Hearth Read more…
After my strenuous dip into Utah’s national parks, starting at Zion, Bryce Canyon National Park was very “user friendly.” You can drive and park to all of the gorgeous viewpoints–offering the best perspective in which to view its prominent features: 14 amphitheaters of hoodoo action, layers of time-worn rock–some gracing Read more…
August 14, 2020
Like all of this land, indigenous peoples got to know it prior to European-American settlers’ arrival and established names based on its distinguishing features. The Southern Paiute called Cedar Breaks National Monument “u-map-wich”, which translated to “the place where the rocks are sliding down all the time..” The Southern Paiute’s Read more…
August 13, 2020
Before Zion National Park was declared a national park, it was a national monument–Mukuntuweap National Monument, established in 1909. The words of Mormon bigwig Isaac Behunin appealed to decision makers when it received national park designation. He said, “A man can worship God among these great cathedrals as well as Read more…
Look at a topographical map of the United States and find the big mass of crinkled brown. That will be my home for the next 14 days. The extreme landforms of this part of the country are otherworldly, beautifully impractical. Lack of easy access to water and its canyons, cliffs, Read more…
August 11, 2020
After a long day of exploring Long Island’s largest decaying state asylum, we headed to the Island’s end with hopes to catch some kind of meteor shower activity. The night was an exploration of light–first from the beautiful Montauk Lighthouse. But a haze of cloud cover thwarted our plans initially… Read more…
August 4, 2020
Ten years ago (!) I was in Moab, Utah, visiting Arches National Park just a few months after getting my first DLSR. Checking my archive I found a slew of pictures from the area, getting me very excited to be finally returning in the coming weeks. As my days are Read more…