This is another images made driving the back roads of Vermont near Stowe. Typically I really dislike blue skies. But, sometime you have to work with them. This image is a tough call because I made a choice to put the tree in the center of the image. I balanced it with two barns. I had a polarizer on my 35mm lens on the Sony A7R II to depend the color of the sky.
Part of the fun of shooting landscapes is doing your best not to shoot what everyone else shoots. So, I tend to wander off the neaten path and drive back roads. I use the GPS on my iPad to help me navigate. This is an image from a pond on one of the backroads of Vermont.
Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park draws hundreds of people each morning. They all watch the horizon for the sunrise. I looked at what the sun was lighting as it rose and this is one of those images.
The next few weeks will have a photo a day from my recent fall colors trip to New England. This image of ferns with birth trees was made during a shoot in Acadia National Park. We were walking back to the car and I walked past this and after a few steps I turned around and composed and shot this image. It would have been so easy to walk by, but I saw the image of just the ferns and not the whole scene.
Just about two weeks ago I was working with Phase One doing a workshop in Bar Harbor, ME. Bar Harbor is a beautiful location and sit just outside Acadia National Park. The workshop group did an early morning shoot. The shoot took place on a pond and the group seemed to be glued to one spot. I decided to take a walk and in doing so I found this old tree on the shore of the pond. I messed around with the angles and finally lying down on the rock I got the angle as seen in this image. Once I looked at it on the computer I worked it a bit balancing out exposures of foreground and background to achieve the image shown here.
I wrote an article on the Luminous-Landscape site and I though I would also share it here.
Today is the anniversary of a day I will never forget. For many reasons 9/11 is a day that will be permanently etched in my mind. I’ll never forget where I was when the first news came in of a plane hitting the World Trade Center buildings. I thought it must have been a small plane that lost control. I as well as the rest of the world learned very quickly that was not the case. As the day unfolded I remember it was hard to comprehend what was happening and more so of what it meant for our country and our future.
What was hard for me was as it began to sink in I worried about my boys. My oldest son was scheduled to report to the San Diego Marine Corp boot camp that Saturday. He obviously enlisted well before this terrible day. But it was quite obvious as the hours passed that he was most likely going to be seeing action as our country prepared to retaliate for this terrible tragedy.
It was only two months before that I enjoyed a dinner at Windows On The World restaurant on top of the North Tower. What a great place and evening filled with good memories. I lived on Long Island at the time as I was working for Phase One. I am not going to go into details but let’s say before the end of the day I was very involved in being part of rescue efforts at Ground Zero as were hundreds of other people. I was a member of a Fire Dept. where I lived. Volunteers from all over the country came to Ground Zero over the coming weeks and months to help in the search and recovery. Our country came together and became strong and united.
I could go on about all the things that happened. The things I saw and such but what I remember is how great it was to see New York City as well as the rest of the country unite and focus on not only rebuilding but recovering. I saw people doing the kindest things and everyone was helping each other. Man, I was proud to be an American.
A lot of things have changed since then. I am not going to elaborate or opinionize on the years since 9/11. I just want to remember that day, reflect on the day and remember all those that died that day. And, more so, those that have served our country and our cities and communities since then.
A few weeks ago I was in New York for an Epson event. After a morning of meetings I found myself with a free afternoon. I called my wife Debra and told her I had decided to visit the 9/11 Memorial. This is something I have avoided for years. For myself and others we have had to deal with what we saw that day. For me I put it all in a mental box, put a string around it to secure it and put it on a high shelf in my mind. I couldn’t bear to take the box down or even open it. I attended numerous funerals after that day. I lost friends. I become an emotional mess when I hear bagpipes play Amazing Grace as it immediately draws out the memories I so conveniently tucked away. The tears come out of my eyes and there is nothing I can do to control it. So, I deal with it, For a short time at least I remember the day and standing at the graves of friends and some very brave firefighters in the days and weeks that followed.
Today is a day I will take some special time. I’ll go somewhere quiet. I’ll sit and I will take that box off the shelf and hold it in my mental lap. I may not open it but I will remind myself what is in the box and I will remember and I will never forget.
I will also say a prayer for my family. My oldest son who began his military career a few days after 9/11 still serves our country but now is in the Army. My youngest son is in the Navy. My daughter in law serves in the Army as a doctor and my wife’s son is in the the Navy. To say we are proud of our children is an understatement. They serve our country because they want to. We have seen all our kids go through numerous deployments and have worried each day for their safety. We celebrate when they return to us safe. Today we will say a prayer for them but more than anything We will say thank you for doing what they do. We are proud parents.
Please take a moment today, remember where you were on 9/11 and make a promise to Never Forget
Thanks for allowing me to Rant.
The images with this Rant were made through very misty eyes on my visit to the 9/11 Memorial. If you have never visited this amazing place, make sure you do. There is something about the memorial that will move you.
My iPhone is always with me and so is the great iPhone camera. I visited a salvage store not too long ago and had a field day taking photos there. Using the Hipstamatic app I created this one of a bunch of old radiators. I love the colors and abstract feel.
As you saw in a previous entry I visited the 9/11 memorial recently. For me it was very moving and I have my reasons. As we prepare to remember 9/11 tomorrow I will share my latest image made at the Memorial. Please take a moment on 9/11 and remember where you were when that awful day began. Let’s not ever forget.
September is here and on the 11th of each September I am reminded of a day that changed all our lives. I have my own reasons to be emotional about 9/11. let’s just say I was little too close that day. So, for years I avoided returning to Ground Zero. However, on a recent trip to NYC I took a deep breath and visited the location on a sunny warm day. All I can say is it was very emotional for me. I did a number of photographs during the visit. I’ll publish a selection here this month. This is the first one which is a double exposure and I feel says something. Hope you like it.
As you know as a follower of my blog I am a photographer that loves to photograph rusty and abandoned places. Recently I visited Gary, IN where there hundreds on abandoned buildings. One of the building I spent a lot of time join was the Gary Post Office. This si an image through an office window onto the main floor. What I like it that nature is reclaiming the location as you can see by a tree growing in the middle of the floor.