Record June Rain?

The jury is still out on that one.  Unfortunately many communities have had far too much rain while others need it desperately.  Where's the balance?  
 
In my backyard the Nikko Blue Hydrangeas (Macrophylla, sometimes called Mopheads) are quite happy.  The combination of torrential precipitation and highly acidic soil have produced a prodigious parade of blossoms.
 

For you photo nerds the photo was exposed at 2 seconds with a tiny aperture (f57) using a telephoto lens and 2x extender (520 mm) for magnification, resulting in both widening and narrowing the depth of field.  And then the image was passed mildly through one of my magical post capture filters to produce the  slight "painterly" effect.
 
Hope the rest of your summer provides your kind of weather preferences.
 

Your Favorite Place of Beauty

Let me ask you this: what is your most favorite site on this earth for natural beauty?

Somewhere you stood in awe, felt a shiver down your back, wondered silently about its power or complexity, fragility or simplicity, something that literally assaulted all your senses? A place that implanted an incredible sense of peace and connection, clearing a cluttered, busy mind?

I’d really like to know.  Tell me and hopefully I’ll get there with my camera some day.

In return I’ll show you my favorite place – Acadia National Park in Maine.  The picture below (Hadlock Falls) is one of several dozen from my gallery, Acadia's Light.  (Btw this pic was selected to be part of a joint juried exhibition next month at the Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden.  More details about the opening reception, to come.)

Acadia doesn't have the grandeur of the West, nor the foreign drama of many international spots.  But it has value, a huge bang for the geographical buck, 73 square miles of spectacular sights everywhere you turn, just 8 hours from Westchester County.  Come visit my collection of favorite shots and let me know what you think by clicking the link below:

Acadia's Light

Photographs of the timeless beauty of the Maine coast, the lakes and mountains define Acadia, this jewel of the East coast.

Spring is Way Overdue

Spring is way overdue.  These Irises are from the Presby Gardens in Montclair, NJ.  Actually my home town.  They've been adjusted a little to make them pop and crisp out but the pic does portray their floral arrogance.  

Leave me a comment if you wish below.

Arrogant Irises

February Fog

Well, actually, it was January fog.  Remember in the middle of that month several days with heavy fog in the morning?

Island in the Mist

 
Those conditions are a photographer's delight, at least they are for me.  So I set off early in the morning to explore some of the local roads around the Cross River Reservoir.
 
A few facts: this reservoir is one of NYC's water supplies, runs about 3 miles long on the south side of Rt 35, has been in operation for over 100 years and holds some 10 billion gallons when full, according to wikipedia.  I wonder who figures things out like this? And HOW?
 
Anyway, from previous ramblings I know there is a small island on the South side of the reservoir.  With the mist removing distracting details, the resulting image strikes me as kind of mysterious, isolating, may be even foreboding?  Or just an interesting abstract shape floating in space. A Rorschach?  Let me know what you think below.

Tired of the Cold and Ice?

Well you'd think the January pic would be of some snow scene.  But some of us are a little tired of the cold and ice.
 
So here's an American White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) whose portrait I took last May in the Pinckney Island Wildlife Preserve in SC.  Temps were in the low 100's, high humidity.  Warm your bones a little?
 

He's a handsome dude I think, once you get over his wrinkly reddish orange forehead.  Apparently gender is hard to identify in these birds but I say "he" from a certain callous countenance this bird bares.  It seems that while Ibises are mostly monogamous and raise their young together, males have been known to wander from their nest at times, even stealing food from juveniles and unmated females.  Anyway, this fellow was moving about quite rapidly and since the camera was handheld with my longest lens (400mm) I had to shoot him at 1/1600th second to get the facial and feather detail.  Widest aperture produced the softly focused background for contrast.

You can post a word about this bird below if you wish.
  
BTW I'd like to wish you all a healthy, creative and prosperous 2013.

Different View of Cadillac Mountain

Sometimes the most realistic capture in a landscape photo, the exact landscape, doesn't do justice to the range of color, the texture, and the composition that creates a feeling beyond itself.  So here's an "interpretation" of a view of Bar Harbor and the Porcupine Islands from Cadillac Mountain that seems, at least for me, to quell the need to explain the experience of looking down from there after a climb.  

Wishing you the best of the holiday season for you and yours.