Photo:Engage

  “ No, you don't shoot things. You capture them. Photography means painting with light. And that's what you do. You paint a picture only by adding light to the things you see. ”  - Katja Michael     It's astonishing the number of massacres using firearms there have been since the despicable racist attack at a grocery store in my hometown of Buffalo. I can't include them all here since there's too many.      Everyone is aware and sickened by the attack at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, but there were also people shot in Philadelphia by a man on a mountain bike, six shot in Alabama at a graduation party, a mother and her three young children were shot and killed by the mother's step-father in Michigan, six people were shot near the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, four people were shot in Colorado Springs, Colorado, four people were shot and one of them killed in a shooting in Fresno, California, four people were shot at a house party in Mala...

  “ To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. ”  - Edward Weston      This image is the last of three making up my first triptych. In case you're still wondering what a triptych is, allow me to explain. Historically, it is a type of art composed of three related pieces, usually panel paintings, which were hinged together such that they could fold or be allowed to stand upright on their own, often for use at the altars of churches in the Middle Ages. The middle panel was generally the largest, although today that's not necessarily the case.      A modern triptych can mean anything composed of three parts, but in my case, it's three photographs that are related to each other and that together tell a story. The first part of this triptych is an image I called   Vertigo . The second is called Residuum . Here, then is photograph number three of my first t...

  “ Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation, and execution. ”  - Ansel Adams      So many passionate winds blow against us. One wind could be the stress caused by the underachievement of a colleague at work. Another might be the way our spouse is acting, or the way our kids are pushing our buttons. The buffeting wind from above could be how upset we are about the government, maybe having to do with the pandemic and vaccines. Whatever the winds you're personally dealing with may be, they can make you anxious and unhappy, if you let them.      I'm here to tell you that you do not. You cannot control most of those things. Truly, you probably don't even have much influence on them. You can only do your best at work, perhaps compensating for the weakness of a coworker in the same way that they may compensate for one of yours. Your spouse and kids are unique beings with...

Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument. ”  - Eve Arnold      My friend Brian died at home on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 surrounded by his family and his two dogs as his sister sang to him while she and their mother held his hands. Born on the same day as my father a year before I was, Brian and I served together in the Navy on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back in the early nineties. He was a fun-loving guy with a wicked sense of humor who enjoyed his work and I’ll remember him as a shipmate forever.     Only two years ago, Brian had a kidney removed and began treatment for the cancer at his liver that eventually took him, but not without a fight. He battled with the disease for two grueling years. Like so many cancer patients, his treatment plan had many ups and...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera. ”  - Dorothea Lange     I get so discouraged sometimes from the pervasive divisiveness in our society. People so often seem to look at other people as obstacles...      Other cars going too slowly, too many others on the sidewalk or in the stores, wearing masks to slow the spread of the pandemic virus (the virus is real) or not wearing masks because of personal freedom (it's a conspiracy), vaccinations or no vaccinations, too much traffic, not enough workers, impatience at the restaurant or in line at the gas station or when waiting for a government service. Not to mention how everything is political nowadays. The list of ways other people bother us is seemingly endless. And yet, as I wrote in my post on July 24, 2021...      Other people aren’t problems; they’re fellow people with their own t...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. ”  - Ansel Adams     The arrival of hot weather signals the start of the crowded tourist season at the Delaware beaches. For many, it's a Faustian bargain between the money the vacationers freely spend at the local restaurants and shops and the hard-to-find parking in-town and the traffic jams out on Coastal Highway. For the fish who spawn and live in the inland bays, streams, and canals, the high temperatures make any poor water quality issues worse by rapidly consuming dissolved oxygen levels. Fish kills of hundreds of thousands of mostly juvenile fish are often the the unfortunate consequence.     Another contributing problem is the algae blooms that feed on excess fertilizer in the water, consuming even more oxygen and blocking sunlight from reaching as deep as it should. Runoff from commercial and resi...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Quit trying to find beautiful objects to photograph. Find the ordinary objects so you can transform it by photographing it. ”  - Morley Baer     Clues. I'm always looking for clues, the little details that reveal the bigger picture. What can I find that shows me that something happened where I'm standing? Animal tracks, wind-bent tree trunks, matted grasses, and repeated patterns in the sand are all different clues to what an area is all about, what lives there, and what might happen next. I love this type of exploration and how it makes my photography such a personal, memorable experience. As I wrote in my post on May 8, 2021...           As our beautiful rotating Earth travels along it elliptical orbit, the sun and the moon exert their varying gravity on our planet. This celestial ballet raises and lowers the water level of our seas and oceans. In tur...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Only photograph what you love. ”  - Tim Walker      For whatever reason, this was my worst performing social media post so far. Perhaps the image was weak. Although I love this view of wild beach grasses glowing with golden hour sunlight, maybe it just didn't resonate with my audience. Personally, I am tired of seeing the same basic photograph of the beach at sunrise or sunset. They're beautiful, of course, and some photographers capture them better than others, but the look is repeated ad nauseum. I am trying to move my audience to something fresher... something unexpected. And perhaps by doing so, I am falling prey to my own pride.     Because maybe my images just aren't what my audience wants to see, good intentions and good writing be damned. Or maybe the photography I'm currently producing isn't that good, no matter what I think. The new editor of Sidetracked ma...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Taking a picture is like giving a piece of your soul away. You allow other people to see the world through your eyes. ”  - Katja Michael     A temporary cessation of activity is how the dictionary defines the word quiescence , and I think that's an apt description of the lower Delaware town of Dewey Beach in mid-winter. Frenetic with youthful energy in the summer with packed hotel rooms, entertainment for every taste, and an endless array of water sports on the bayside and sandy fun on the ocean, Dewey Beach transform into a very quiet, tranquil version of itself in winter. No less beautiful, but far more peaceful...      I was reminded that these empty piers "will start filling up soon" as springtime ushers in the promise of warmer weather. So I say we should enjoy the break while we can. The throngs of happy tourists and endless brake lights on Coastal Highway will...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Photography is a language more universal than words. ”  - Minor White      February is the month, too many years ago now, that my father passed away. And in March only a few years later, my mom suddenly left us. The sense of loss and agony of missing them is overwhelming sometimes but thankfully, those feelings are much rarer than they used to be. Still, even now I often find myself with a question about our family or an old recipe where my first instinct is to call my parents... it's hard, as anyone who has lost a close family member or friend knows all too well.      Many of us hope those gone before are in a better place and perhaps more at peace than they were while here, especially if the end of their lives involved failing health and pain. I hope everyone's final moments between here and there are peaceful and filled with embracing warmth and comfort. As I wrot...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ The camera has always been a guide, and it's allowed me to see things and focus on things that maybe an average person wouldn't even notice. ”  - Don Chadwick      What peculiar names we give to places! Who could imagine a head or a gut being terms for an area of water? How can so many rivers and creeks in the Northeast end with the malevolent sounding kill ? (Hint: There's nothing violent to worry about; it's from the Dutch colonists who originally explored there.) Did you know an inlet is also known as an arm of the sea ? Some of these terms are for similar types of water features but depend upon their size... for instance, “you can step over a brook , jump over a creek , wade across a stream and swim across a river " as an old saying goes.      Where I grew up, a creek was actually called a crick , at least by my mom. In Scotland, a large stream is a burn , thu...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Don't shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like. ”  - David Alan Harvey      My friend David Benton remarked, " This has your unique stamp of composition. No one else would have seen that." This post blew up compared to most of mine. I received more than 500 likes on one Facebook group (my first photograph ever to do so) and hundreds more in my other social media and what's even better are the many comments where people described how much they too enjoyed the blessings of the bays.      Lower Delaware is lucky to have Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay, as are the many animals and plants that live in these remarkable estuaries. People also commented how they worried that the bays may become ruined from overdevelopment and their concerns are valid; many new homes and condos are being built on the bay shore as people flock to the area seeking waterfront living....

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ In photography, there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality. ”  - Alfred Stieglitz      It's too easy to assume that we can do tomorrow what should be done today. Stephen Covey argued that we too often use our time on the urgent instead of the important, assuming we'll be able to deal with the important things later. A stoic would say to remember that we are going to die, or memento mori. Marcus Aurelius, in his Meditations, wrote, "You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."      Let us realize how precious our lives and relationships are and try to treat them with the respect they deserve on a daily basis, remembering we may not be able to make amends tomorrow for hurt and pain dispensed today. None of this is depressing if we remember the point: our time is a gift and we shouldn't waste it trivially. My...

Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Wherever there is light, one can photograph. ”  - Alfred  Stieglitz      It's wonderful to be photographing down at the shore again. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my recent studies of Raleigh and Cary and the neighboring areas near my North Carolina home. Documenting some of the history of a place, especially ones so vital and dynamic as the state capital and vicinity, is an honor and privilege. I am always grateful for the liberty to go where I wish and photograph what I like. And I'm glad to be able to share my work with you.      The Delaware shore, in my experience, is the equal or better of most any beach area on the planet. At once both commercially developed with many shops and homes and yet still abundantly wild and protected, the state has an extensive seashore in its state park system where developers will never build. The parks maintain not only s...