On Top of it all

This image, taken quite a few years ago while on a trip to Brazil, has always been a favorite on mine. I have seen many shots of this very famous statue, but few like this.

Before ever getting up to Corcovado to see this work up close, I photographed it from this high vantage point on the opposing Sugarloaf mountain. It's impressive stance on top of a 2,206 ft peak overshadowing the city of Rio de Janeiro is a wonder to see from anywhere in the city, but up close, is even more so. While occupying a tiny part of the landscape in the first, this second image taken from it's base after a super fun winding drive up the mountain will perhaps give you a more personal perspective of it's 130' height.

Another image I have of this ride up will perhaps find it's way into some future post (I am thinking about that now), but in thinking of this piece of concrete and soapstone, it's presence as a symbol of my creator and the open arms that He offers to all today, it makes me glad that He is truly 'on top of it all'




Here is a link to more information on the statue itself if you care to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_%28statue%29

Feast for the eyes

Once again fall has come and is slowly fading into the drab colors of winter, but there are still spots of extraordinary beauty around and this particular one I pass on a daily basis heading to and from work, with little notice.

One recent afternoon, I stopped because of the colors present on the opposite side of the street and en when getting back into the car, saw this scene confront me. The awesome mixture of greens, oranges, pinks and brown among many other colors was a visual tapestry laid out before me was inspiring and calming all a once.

I wonder how many people totally just miss this little gem of a spot on the side of the road, instead immersed in radio chatter, chats of their own or thinking of plans ahead. I was glad I pulled to the side that day and hope you also enjoyed my little roadside diversion as much as I did.

An Inside View

This image after a several month hiatus is an unusual one for me as it is not in focus for you. When thinking of this past difficult summer after my mom's passing and perhaps an unfocussed period in my life, this image makes total sense to me.

As I was having lunch the other day at a local park, I was looking up and trying to get an image through the sunroof of this large London Plane Tree that would capture the light that was streaming through it. After a while without visual success, I just about gave up with it all and took off my glasses to rest. Looking back up into the tree, the image I wanted was just before my eyes, not obscured by the lenses that are normally present between my eyes and the world.

Wearing glasses since I was young, they are a normal part of my everyday life, mostly annoying (especially as I am now getting to the bifocal stage) in that I don't have the freedom to wear sunglasses and such a regular folks, but once in a while, when I remove them, a scene is presented to me that makes me feel really blessed with poor eyesite. Sometimes the light just dances and sparkles and the unsharp spots of light and color are nothing short of dazzling and warm. In seeing this beautiful mix of greens, yellows, browns and blues above me, I knew I had to try and make a image that would be match for what I am seeing without the 'corrective lens' of the sharpened world. This is not some photoshop creative filter, but just me shooting and testing the image on the spot against what I could see with my naked eye. Sometimes when I see things in this 'blurry' state, I think of Claude Monet and his Impressionistic work and wonder whether he needed glasses and just didn't know it and actually painted what he saw in his world, I doubt it and am in no sense comparing myself with Monet, a true visionary and master of light and form, but I would like to think that perhaps he was also blessed with less than perfect eyesite as I am. It is a world and an image that perhaps you with perfect vision will not understand, but for those of us less perfect, we do. Perhaps my 'unfocussed' period is over, maybe not, but today I found perfect clarity in an unsharp world.

Soaking it up

Just a quick post today. I had another image in mind, but when I went to post it, it wasn't right and then as we are in the midst of a hot summer here, I thought this more appropriate. This image was taken down the shore at my folks place for a newsletter purpose, but I have always liked it. The cool things that I love about sunflowers is not only that they 'look' like the sun with the rays of petals flowing out from them, but that over the course of each day follow the sun to receive maximum energy and benefit from it's rays. Kind of how we are to also follow the Son.

Safe from above

.....and on the ground and below the deep. Our country's servicemen, on who's blood our freedom is built are once a year memorialized on this national holiday. As a former member of our armed forces, I wanted to make today's post a tribute to their courage, obedience and sacrifice for our freedom.

This photo was taken of the Navy Blue Angles team aerial performance during a Sea Fair celebration a number of years ago over Lake Union in Seattle, Washington.

All too often, we take this sacrifice and commitment for granted in our sheltered, comfortable lives and never think about the lives lost from times past or those who are currently serve, protecting us from those who want to take our freedoms away. I am glad for today and the prompt to our memory, lest we forget.

Turn back the clock

Today, it has been one week and a handful of hours since my mom, Joan Knott suddenly passed away. After a vibrant active life, she is just gone, along with her warm smile, encouraging words (she always left comments for me here...anonymously....but I could tell it was her) and loving care for my growing family and I.

I knew after it happened that honoring her life somehow would be my next post, but I really struggled with an image and what to say. I didn't want to use a photo I already had, (although she had her favorites of mine) and knew I had to create something new, but had no clue as to what. Then I thought about just posting a photo of her, but realized that after more than a quarter century of making photographs, I had never taken a personal 'portrait' of her. I guess it never occurred to me to do so as I never thought she wouldn't be here. Now it is too late..... lesson learned.

The image today is one I made yesterday from her funeral flowers. She liked yellow and the unique, bending form of the Calla Lily was attractive to me, so I set up a small arrangement out by our pond and you see the results.

I wanted this post to reflect on her life, but now realize that anything I could possibly say here is woefully in-sufficient to begin to adequately describe the person she was to many and what she meant to me. In spite of the evidence before me, I cannot in my mind really believe that the edges of her life have now been set. The heavy hole that at times takes over my chest now is all the description I need and for some moments it is as if a deep well of tears has sprung from within me, robbing me of my thoughts for a time.

This second small photo that I have included is one that a friend of hers took while they were in a bush plane flying over Mt.McKinley in Alaska. If an image can contain a thousand words as it is said, then this loudly witnesses to her adventurous spirit and the sense of joy she had in living every day complete.



In short, she was a wonderful, cherished and inspirational human being who was greatly admired. Many have testified over this past week to our family what a huge impact she had on their lives. In spite of this tremendous loss I am thankfully left with a lifetime of memories and a wonderful family to comfort me and I know the sadness will someday turn to joy in seeing her again, but as of today, I really, really miss her and just want to turn back the clock.

Hidden Treasure

Once again, it has been quite a while between posts and in the interim, I have my 'pre-post' images as a slide show on my computer desktop staring at me daily. Today, this one stood out at me and inspired a post. It was taken in the french Quarter of New Orleans. While walking down a street in search of a restaurant, we walked past this tiny alley that leads to one of the hidden courtyards that are tucked away in this charming part of town. This one however, made me stop, turn around and peek in a bit more. These large, awesome earthen jars and the light from the arched window presented an interesting composition that made me want to explore more in depth. In the interest of the owners privacy, I stopped at this spot and made this exposure, but was left with longing to know what was around the corner.

In thinking about it today, with the window illuminating this otherwise narrow and dark hallway containing these vessels, I was brought back to a Biblical passage, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 where it says: For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

As a Christian, I am also in essence a jar of clay, made from dust, simple and hollow of heart only to be filled with Him and His light. I hope you enjoy this image as I did.

Weeds like Flies

Much like the individual patterns of branches on trees, the natural architecture of grasses also has an appeal to me. This particular shot, even though I like it's random, gentle wispy-ness and the subtle colors of the background, the more I look at it, it unsettles me. The busyness of it reminds me of a swarm of flies and the more I think about it, I feel the connection between the fly and the weed....both too numerous and both largely unwanted. Maybe you will find a different interpretation than I did today.

Living in the 60's

This photo was taking last spring while on a trip to New Orleans with my wife. Early in the morning, hoping to get to the historic gardens district to see the stately mansions and gardens we set out aboard one of those charming old wooden trolleys that provide transportation service to various areas of the city and were on our way. Well into the trip, it became clear we seemed to headed in a different direction than intended and after a while we got off to re-board another one to correct ourselves. While sitting on the bench, a woman of color and her granddaughter heading to work and school sat down beside us and expressed the obvious that we must not be from from that particular area. We confirmed, had a nice conversation in the morning sun and in a little while we were back on track to our original destination. On the increasingly crowded ride back toward town, more and more we became the sole minorities in the car as it filled with folks heading to work and such. For some reason, when this young fellow sat down in front of me, I was mentally taken back to a time in my childhood when my daily racial experience was much more integrated than it is now, living in semi rural Pa. As a child, even though I was young and didn't fully understand the completeness of the civil rights issues as I do now, I remember hearing the speeches and the feeling of that movement during that uncertain time in our country. Suddenly in that moment, I sought to make a B&W image that would express that feeling for me. Leaning forward with a really wide angled lens, I was just inches from his back as I worked to frame the window, his shirt and the background as I waited for the right scene to pass by and for him to turn his eyes outside. In an instant as this classic building came into view, it all came together and as I pushed the shutter, I was for that moment back in the 1960's of my youth.

Bend your neck

Once again, it has been forever since I have been able to post something, so my apologies to those who like a more regular kind of thing, but that has just been my life recently.

This is a photo that has been parked on my 'desktop' for a while and I just thought I would steal a quick moment from life and get it onto the blog. To be honest, this is a rare photo for me, in that I although I remember taking it, I really do not remember where or when as it was during a time of lots of travel and not too many records. But I can narrow it to perhaps three locations. The most likely being maybe the Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Fla, the Principe Di Saola in Milano, Italy or maybe a hotel on the Costa del Sol, Spain. Anybody care to help my memory out?

If not, I hope at least you enjoy the vibrant colors and patterns that was between me and the sky that day.

Frozen Gold

These two little leaves stuck out at me this past week from a beautiful beech while walking in the woods near our home. I like that Beeches unlike most other deciduous trees, keep their dead leaves through the winter only to push them out in the spring with the new growth. In doing so, their now golden colored foliage adds so much to a normally much more drab wintertime woods. I am glad i found this one and these two little leaves to brighten my day.

eyes without color

On this winter day....I am once again reminded that in the shorter days, allot of our vision is reduced to monochromatic landscapes. This image (shot literally out of my car window while on the way in to work) is a good example. A cool scene, but warm in a sense in the quietness and serenity of a woodland stream.

As light as air itself

O.K. Back to winter! After a mini snowfall and a larger on the way, I am continuing with the winter pics. This one , shot a few weeks ago in the very last light of the day, I took at the edge of our pond as some ornamental grasses were letting go of their seedlings. The wind was blowing oh so slightly but enough to throw them in and out of my razor thin depth of field focus. It took several tries in trying to catch the right balance of sharp and blurry and I really liked the color contrasts of the cool winter sky and the last rays lighting these delicate branches and wispy, airy parachutes.

The fast colors of life

As a break for the sporadic mini winter series, here is something warm to think about.
These two images from the Bahamas taken while out on my brother-in-law Steven's boat bring back memories of a great day out on the water with he and my son. We were set up to troll for Dolphin fish (or Mahi Mahi as some might know them), which provides for a very tasty meal. As they are largely surface dwellers and swim in schools, when you get into them it is a fascinating event. Although not a shapely, sleek looking fish like a barracuda, the coloration that they exhibit is nothing short of stunning. The almost neon like glow of their bodies while they swim by the boat is incredible and because of this, we were able to see them underwater at a good distance and depth. Once they are caught, they almost seem to flash in changing color right before your eyes. The most curious part of it though is that within seconds of their death, the vibrant colors leaves their body immediately, revealing behind mostly mute yellows and browns.It is a very dramatic change.Although as you can see here, the skin is still fascinating in that there are hints of it's former boldness, it is nothing in comparison to what it was just moments before.The particular one here was heartily enjoyed over several meals with family during a special time away prepared simply as pan seared with wonderful Irish sweet butter.

Hint of Warmth

Another in my much delayed mini series (sometimes life just gets in the way of the creative process you know?) from this winter. An early morning shot, the sun was just rising, getting ready to once again warm our part of the earth and ultimately melt this wonderful beauty. I was glad I could see it while it was here.

Long in the Tooth

This winter photo (the next in my current mini series of them) was hanging and growing in front of our kitchen window for a while. The title comes from the idea of age and that in some animals the teeth grow longer with age, which was certainly the case here. It ultimately got much bigger than this, but have to say it is gone now, due to youthful enthusiasm of taking down such things and young ones desires to eat them. It's a shame it is bad for the roof, as it is cool to look at. A testimony to our recent cold snap for sure.

I have got to Stop!

When traveling from a few hours away down the Pa Turnpike (this is a limited access toll highway for our international friends..,think Autobahn, but slower) a few weeks ago at day break on a Sunday morning, there was a fresh overnight snow and the closer I got to home, the more beautiful the roadside was blanketed in white. The opportunities to stop were very limited by the mostly narrow shoulder and high speed traffic and as I passed view after view I was growing anxious about missing these wonderful shots. Shortly, after crossing a long bridge, there was a small offshoot service road and I quickly pulled in. Not wanting to get ticketed at an unauthorized stop, I quickly jumped out of the car with my loafers on (my destination was church) into the deep snow on the edge of the pavement to make a few quick shots. In spite of the traffic whizzing close by, looking down into the quiet woods for this fresh image was soothing and invigorating at the same time. The downside was that for the rest of the way, I had to keep the heater on full tilt to dry my shoes and socks, but it was worth it!

MInd Trekker

After another mini hiatus (inspiration is unpredictable type of thing), my wife said "why don't you get some of those winter photos you just took onto the blog", so here is a start. This is the first of a few I had taken a couple of weeks ago after a nice semi-deep east coast snow. It has been quite cold here in our part of Pa for a few weeks now and no let up is in view, so I perceive there will be more opportunities awaiting me. When I first ventured out into the 'deep' that day, this mini 'dune' really caught my eye and as I squatted into the snow to find a perspective, the lower I was the more it looked like one of those landscapes of the great dunes of the Sahara. Even though only a few inches high, I imagined in my mind trekking on this mini 'knifes edge' as the wind was re sculpting it like it would sand.