The Eastern Shore of Virginia: The Pleasures of the Marsh

 

“I find it some of the hardest photography and the most challenging photography I've ever done. It's a real challenge to work with the natural features and the natural light.” - Galen Rowell


    I love taking the long way on road trips, avoiding the highway and choosing the backroads when possible. And off those backroads are often the most amazing natural places to stop and visit. So many of these places can be reached quickly from the vehicle making them accessible to almost anyone. And some of my favorite places are the marshes common along the east coast of the United States. As I wrote in my post on May 7, 2022...

   What fondness for the marshy junction of sea and land I feel! Whether it be along the shores of the inland bays of southern Delaware, or the Lowcountry of South Carolina, or here, in the wonder of the eastern shore of Virginia, they all hold me enthralled in their great natural beauty. I feel the warmth of the setting sun on my skin as I revel in the glorious evening light, the sounds of the shore birds and crickets in my ears, and the smell of the briny water and green grasses in my nose. Lo, but how I truly love this exceptional place.

    Peace be with you, my friends. I hope you share some small bit of my regard for these jewels we are so blessed to enjoy.

Clicking on the image will open it in full screen

‘The Eastern Shore of Virginia,’ an intimate look at the treasured marsh at the southernmost tip of the Delmarva peninsula, on a lovely sunset evening.

www.johnjgiardinaphotography.com


Location: Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Charles, VA 23310, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interconnection: The Way Things Fit Together

Image
  “ If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff. ”  - Jim Richardson     Sometimes, the interesting stuff I'm looking for is an evening beach, a ship out at sea, an interesting cloud, and a glowing moon, all working in unison to inspire me to think about how everything works together. The moon influence the tides, affecting the ship, and also the weather, which influences the cloud, which all worked to produce this interesting composition for me to capture and share. I love the color and the light, but most especially, I love the way all the elements work together. What harmony we have when our connections are clear and valued. As I wrote in my post on March 19, 2022...      When I was much younger, there was a BBC television show called Connections starring the Sherlock Holmes of Science, Mr. James Burke, who had a way of making each episode exploring some aspect of science into a spellbinding detective story. It was fantastic how he traced th
Read more

Gatherer: A Perfect Partnership

Image
  “ I often wished I could capture and share the sudden moments of beauty that I would see around me."   - Caroline Mueller     It's been put many ways but we don't help our spouses as a nice-to-do, occasional thing. A marriage, or relationship, is best built as a complete partnership where both people, or birds in this case, work together selflessly for the good of the relationship or family. Nobody is doing a favor as both parties act without ego to help further the goals of the unit. As I wrote in my post on May 13, 2023...      Welcome back to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge where the graceful great white egrets roost and rule. Both male and female egrets help with nest building. This elegant bird posed perfectly for me with a small stick in their beak as they prepared to fly back towards the rookery. I watched the whole congregation for a long time work on their nests together and care for their hatchlings. What a magnificent display and a prime example of wh
Read more

Cow Branch Bend: Part 2 of 3 at Carolina Sandhills NWR

Image
“ Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. ”  - Matt Hardy     You probably know that President Theodore Roosevelt directed the creation of our amazing National Parks, but did you know he also founded the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1903? On March 14 of that year, he established Pelican Island NWR along Florida's Atlantic Ocean coast.      Since then,  more than 560 wildlife refuges are in place across this country, and they're all managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Each NWR unit can be a wildlife refuge, a conservation area, a marine national monument, or a waterfowl production area. The different units help with conserving native species that depend on that land or water to thrive by using scientific management  methods. And I think they're another of our many national treasures.     As I wrote in my post on April 29, 2023...      Back in Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife R
Read more