Photo:Engage

  “ 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 ...

  “ For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It's a natural state. You will abide in that state forever. ”  - Robert Adams     Forgive the long gap since my last blog post, dear readers. The topic involved in that June post was absolutely dreadful and required me to take some time to recommit to my purpose. But I'm back now, although in truth I never really left. I continued to photograph and write. And found happiness again. Here is work from my post on April 30, 2022... Happiness Is When by William Arthur Ward Happiness is our heritage when Faith becomes our constant companion; Self-discipline our tireless teacher; Integrity our competent coach; Truth our trusted tutor; Discernment our careful critic; Optimism our able advisor; Goodness our gifted guide; Beauty our infallible inspiration; And love our blissful benediction. Clicking on the image will open it ...

  “ The eye should learn to listen before it looks. ”  - Robert Frank     Mahatma Gandhi, best known for his contribution to the Indian Independence Movement through non-violent resistance, once taught us to,  “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”      Stunning as it seems, Gandhi speaks two Stoic truths here. The first is memento mori, to remember our deaths are inevitable and unpredictable, so we should live as though it's our last moments on earth, with our words and actions fitting how we desire to be remembered.     The second is that we need to keep learning all through our days. As soon as we either think we know it all or that we cease being intellectually curious, we are essentially done. We will progress no further. And sadly, I almost fell into that trap with this this week's photograph. Fortunately, I remembered my Epictetus, as I wrote about in my post from March 26, 2022... ...

  “ Without vision, the photographer perishes. ”  - David duChemin     How do you see the world? You probably think you see the world objectively, as basically the way it actually is. And in some ways, you might. But in other ways, the way you see things is determined by your paradigm at the moment.      For instance, imagine you're on a busy train headed home from work after a long day and, with several more stops to go, a father and two young kids board the train. You watch the father slump in his seat but the children are restless and begin to bother the other passengers by yelling back and forth, and even running up and down the aisle a little, bumping into people. It's hard to imagine how this father can just let his kids run wild this way! You can see the other riders are growing irritated with the kid's behavior and eventually, and with great restraint you might add, you finally get the father's attention and ask him if he might not be able to c...

  “ 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...

  “ The two most engaging powers of a photograph are to make new things familiar and familiar things new. ”  - William Thackeray      This image is part of a 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, traditionally 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 usually 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 . Here, then is photograph number two of my first triptych, as I shared in my post from January 22, 2022...      Many of us dream ...

  “ The camera is much more than a recording apparatus; it is a medium via which messages reach us from another world. ”  - Orson Welles     This image is part of a triptych. It's my first one. What's a triptych, you may ask? Well, historically, it denoted a type of art composed of three related pieces, usually wood panel paintings which were hinged together such that they could fold or be allowed to stand upright on their own. The middle panel was usually the largest, although today that's not necessarily the case. Nowadays, a triptych can mean anything composed of three parts, but in my case, it's three images that are related to each other and that together tell an interesting story. Here, then is image number one of my first triptych, as I shared in my post from January 15, 2022...      Have you ever felt like you were emotionally falling? That everything happening in your life was just too much? More often than we might admit, many of us have that...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ There will be times you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don't be bitter because you can't record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is! ”  - DeGriff     Season's Greetings! Please enjoy this Christmas post from December 25, 2021...      Many of us are familiar with the story in Matthew 2:11 of the Bible that tells us of the gifts brought to the infant Jesus by the three wise men. But did you know these expensive gifts may have had greater meaning than just adulatory tributes in the life of Christ?      Gold is the most straightforward of presents as the greatest precious metal and truly a gift worthy for a king, as Jesus is the King of all Christians. Frankincense, which comes from Boswellia sacra tree resin, was a wonderfully fr...

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 “ Photography can light up darkness and expose ignorance. ”  - Lewis Hine     Happy Birthday, America! Even if the actual date is debatable. From my post on July 3, 2021... So What Happened on July 3, 1776?      John Adams, the future second President, was serving as a member of the Massachusetts delegation to the Second Continental Congress. Meeting for over a year in the Pennsylvania State House, the delegates from the thirteen colonies had been working on reconciliation with the British crown. King George III ignored the petition and declared the colonies to be in revolt. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered a resolution for independence from England, asserting, "that these colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states..." It was at this point a committee of five members, including John Adams, was assigned to draft a formal doc...

  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 “ 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 “ To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. ”  - Elliott Erwitt      Written shortly before the new year began, the day after Christmas in fact, I tried to describe how the years pass connected to each other but also commemorated by themselves for their significant events. 2020 doesn't stand out as a particularly good year considering the pandemic, the continuing racial strife, the uneven policing, and the polarized political environment. I was hoping to see better things in 2021, but perhaps I was too naïve. The more things change, the more they stayed the same. One can only hope that we see things get better especially with the COVID vaccination program ramping up. As I wrote on December 26, 2021...    ...