Friday, December 14, 2007

A few weeks ago our family set out on an afternoon trip to a nearby town. We stopped at a lovely little park on the way. While there, my 11 yr old step-son had just hopped across this little fall to what is the very large rock to the right. He was larking about when he slipped and fell into the stream. Startled as all get out, he scrambled up on the rock again and hopped back to 'shore'. Soaked nearly to his waist, we had to come home for him to change. The upside to all this is that he managed to spare the Nintendo game that he was carrying from going in the drink. It finally all ended well when he went to a friend's house, and Susan and I headed out for our original destination.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

This past Monday, December 10th, we had a small scale ice storm. The ice melted from the roads and driveway, but the persistent fog froze on every tree limb and twig. This is, again, taken from our back deck. It's a crop from a 4x5 negative that seemed to retain the essentials while eliminating the busyness of what was there. I also like the dominant gray. (There is a bare minimum of PS here....just some sharpening, although the negative is tack sharp, and a very small levels adjustment.)



Friday, November 30, 2007

These are 'end of the roll' photographs I thought were worthy of making. The light in our front room (which is given over entirely to music and art) is gorgeous in the mid to late afternoon almost all year long, and the curtains and plants look wonderful in that light. So here, at the end of a roll from the P67, are a couple of what I think are real goodies.






Sunday, November 25, 2007

I've been thinking about what I'd like to include in a show that's coming up in March, so I've been rummaging around in my negative files and found this from 2004. There's another image from that day that I've printed and enjoyed during the intervening years, but this is one I think I'll look at some more, and maybe print as a companion piece (they were taken on the same day at the same place.) BTW, I was very new to large format, and this is one of the better photographs I made at the time. (210 Rodenstock Geronar on an OmegaView 4x5)


Monday, November 19, 2007

A snowy morning was all the excuse I needed to ditch work, and go to the wetland to see what was worth burning some film on. It was a good time to make the attempt as the snow had not stuck to the roads and thus the little, paved parking area was easily negotiable. I decided to use the P67 even though I'd rather have brought the 4x5, since it's much more weather resistant than the LF machine (no bellows to get wet for instance), and has excellent lenses. So here are two I made this morning (November 19th) with the 200mm lens.









Saturday, November 10, 2007

We woke up this Saturday morning (November 10th) to a light coating of snow. There are still a good many brilliant yellow, orange, and red leaves clinging to the last gasps of autumn, and they were heavy with the wet white stuff. These photographs were made on our deck. I used the Shen-Hao with a 250mm Fujinon lens and Kodak Tri-X 320 film.






Sunday, November 4, 2007

At the end of my visit to the wetland last week, a cold front came sweeping across the sky, the leading edge of which you see below. I had no time to change lenses, fuss with filters or do anything at all including re-metering the swiftly changing light. Happily, the film had enough latitude to work with the settings that were in place as this front blasted through. In just a few minutes the light had gone from golden and warm to gray and bleak, the wind picked up, and I was chilled to the core. Nonetheless, in about 10 minutes or so, it completely passed over, and the entire scene became bathed in pink and orange light that was actually thrilling to be enveloped by. It was a memorable afternoon.



Sunday, October 28, 2007

On Saturday, the 27th, the driving rain finally came to an end, the sun appeared, and the late afternoon became quite beautiful. I went to Goose Pond Mountain Wetland, put on waders, and slogged into the pond you see below. The sun was strong, and the light was golden in a way that black and white cannot, of course, convey. But, the 'values' were very pronounced and I enjoyed making these photographs. (I used the C220 with the 80mm lens.)



Monday, October 22, 2007

On Saturday, October 20th, our family enjoyed a ride to the top of Bear Mountain, and then an extended excursion below to the Iona island marshes which are very beautiful if you like marshes. These two photographs were made there and then, but I'll be back many more times for further explorations of the light and textures of this place.




Sunday, October 21, 2007

Our family excursion continued north to Beacon where I visited the Fishkill Creek falls and made this image. Every time I visit this place, the water level is different, the currents are different, and, of course the light is different. It's also a place to which I will return many times.



Sunday, October 7, 2007

Yesterday morning (Saturday, October 7th) was muggy and warm with pervasive fog and mist. I was again hoping for something terrific on the Hudson at the Bear Mountain Bridge, but it was so foggy there was nothing to see. Returning by Bear Mountain State Park, I was able to see that Hessian Lake looked interesting, so I parked and schlepped the Shen-Hao (a 4x5 field camera) and attendant gear there and found the images below. It has been a while since I've used this camera because it can be very cumbersome to carry, but I really enjoyed using it this time. I only have two lenses mounted for it at the moment which are a Schneider 150mm G Claron, and a 250 mm Fujinon. These were made with the 150mm. As usual, everyone who walks by stares at the thing and will typically ask if it's "one of those really old fashioned cameras", to which I reply that it is. They are a bit perplexed that anyone would use such a device. At least I don't tell them it's a Hassleblad.







Sunday, September 23, 2007

Early this morning (Sunday, 9/23) I took myself to the Bear Mountain Bridge area hoping for the wonderful mist and cloud that had typified the river view for the last 5 or 6 days that I witnessed on my way to work. But, the air was too dry for that. What's here is what there was, which still ain't too shabby.

While I was at mid span, a group of 10 or 12 runners approached me on the narrow pedestrian way. They were all West Point cadets (mostly men, but also two women). I said "Good Morning" as they jogged past me, and each of them replied with: "Good Morning, SIR!". What a classy group of kids they are. It's nice to see one's tax dollars spent so wisely for a change. They are every inch Gentlemen and Ladies, as well as, no doubt, excellent soldiers.






Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Here are two more photographs from Goose Pond Mountain State Park. I've photographed the trees several times before, but the foreground goldenrod was new, and I thought it worthy of an new and independent image. The other photograph includes a small portion of the often pictured pond below, but, again, the goldenrod added a new dimension I wanted to record.



Monday, September 17, 2007

This is from the wonderful Orange County Arboretum. Susan and I spent Sunday morning there...she painting, and I photographing. We both favored this little pond that has nothing to do with the marvelous formal gardens there, but seemed just right for the moment and our sensibilities.



Saturday, September 15, 2007

Back in May of this year I visited Round Lake on a foggy morning and posted two photographs from that session with the camera. Here's another that I've just gotten around to scanning.



Tuesday, September 11, 2007





This past Sunday (September 9th '07) was hot, humid and utterly unwelcoming for outdoor adventures. Nonetheless, I took the C220 for a walk at Goose Pond Mountain SP and found these photographs. The wildflowers were so intense and amazing I actually wished I were shooting color film, but I'm happy with what I have nonetheless. I met some nice people there as well, one of whom had actually been born in the house that the park ranger now resides in. It was fascinating to hear his account of the history of this place. He regrets with some bitterness the way New York State took over the land by imposing eminent domain, but glad developers didn't turn it into one more hideous mall had the landowners sold it off privately. I was happy that I could walk the many acres of parkland and not be trespassing on anyone's private property.









Monday, September 3, 2007







These two photographs were made the same early morning within a few yards of each other. It was a beautiful day with crisp air and warm sun. There was frost on the grass, and nascent flowers on the trees. They were taken at the 'Goose Pond' which is a shallow body of water bordered by a jog/walk/bike path of about a mile and a half in circumference in the village of Monroe near where I live.







Yesterday, September 2nd, I accompanied my wife to a new location where she wanted to paint. The place is an historic 1769 farm called Hill-Hold in Orange County (NY). I wandered around the out-buildings and found these three images as well as others I've not yet scanned. They were all taken with the Mamiya C220 and 135mm lens. Despite being sorely tempted to sell the cat to get a Hasselblad so I can really indulge my current square format obsession, on balance the cat is nice enough to keep, isn't worth that much ;-), and the TLR is really doing the job!




Tuesday, August 21, 2007




This past Sunday, August 19th I went to Phillies Bridge Farm and made these images which I like. It's a nice place to roam around in (it's a cooperative farm), and there are numerous picture possibilities.


Wednesday, August 15, 2007






On a foggy early morning at the end of July I returned to Round Lake hoping to make a worthwhile photograph. The air was still, and the fog was dense over the water. There was a distant boat (barely visible in the second 'graph in the upper left hand corner) cradling a couple of no doubt sleepy fishermen, but nothing else stirred even slightly. Making these two images was one of those pleasures that fisherman and photographers find the most gratifying. After patiently waiting, there's a 'bite' on the line.... and on the imagination.




Tuesday, July 17, 2007






This photograph is from the same roll as those immediately below, but it's set apart because it is has a distinct resonance for me. It represents an aspect of summer I cannot begin to define...something from my youth during which I distinctly remember experiencing certain moods when stimulated by certain visual environments. This one triggers those feelings. It's a very special place.
The three images below are of the Fishkill River in Beacon, New York. As rivers go this one is just too small for the word 'river' to make much sense, so I choose to call it a stream which may just be what 'kill' means in Dutch. They were made with my Mamiya C220 with a 135mm lens. That camera was the first medium format machine I acquired way back in the 1980's when they were still being made. I've not used it much since getting my Pentax 67 kit, and more recently a couple of 4x5 large format kits, but I really like the square format of the Mamiya and the the whole array is very light and compact...even with the prism finder which is a terrific improvement over the waist level finder. If I win the lottery, I'll get a Hassie, but that's as likely as my getting 20 years younger!


Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I see that I haven't posted here since March 13th. I think the reason is that I haven't been motivated to print the photographs I've been making and scan them, because I've been too ambivalent about their worthiness. Does this happen to most photographers or other folks making utterly impractical 'art' from time to time? I suspect it does, because I've discovered, to my great disappointment, that in the broadest of terms, I'm not unique.....;) So, in the manner of soooo many website owners, I'll just state that more wonderfulness is 'coming soon' and try to get a good night's sleep. (winking furiously.....ow!)

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Here are a few photographs of a local area I really enjoy visiting. I've made many images at this wetland, but I've been selective about the ones I think are 'keepers'. Though others have often used the phrase, I think of these as embodying "a sense of place". They were all made with a Shen-Hao 4x5 camera and 150mm Schneider G-Claron lens.










Friday, February 23, 2007

I've had mixed feelings about this as an 11x14 print thinking it might be better smaller (too strongly graphic perhaps), but I've now decided that I like it that large. It was made from a 4x5 negative in a Shen-Hao camera. I think the lens was a 250mm Fujinon, but I'm not certain.

I've finally gotten around to printing this. It was taken in November of last year with the P67 and 135mm lens. It's been printed on the last of my Ilford Warmtone 8x10 FB paper. As an 8x10 (though it may someday be printed larger) it's a little gem. That day was a very successful outing that resulted in several 'keepers'.



Thursday, February 22, 2007

Common visions....similar 'graphs.

I was looking through my new copy of John Sexton's excellent book Recollections, and noticed that Plate 32 looked a lot like a 'graph I made on Schunnemunk mountain a number of years ago. Well, of course, I'm not comparing my work to Mr. Sexton's in any other way than to have noticed there's a similar subject arranged similarly to his, but I thought that was pretty cool.


Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Starting out.

This is my first journal/blog/online gallery. I'll be curious about how conscientious I can be about keeping it current. Hmmmm.....we'll see!!

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