After Sunset

Seagulls wading the surf shortly after sunset at Robert Moses Beach

The beauty about photography is that you never know what to expect and rule #1 is to always keep an open mind. I have come to learn that if I have any type of preconceived notion of what sort of picture I want to capture, I more often than not fail miserably. This might be especially true for landscape photography, where you can never 100% predict the weather, the clouds, the wind and the lighting conditions resulting from all of the above. I came to shoot what looked like a promising sunset, yet ended up being bland and boring and disappearing half way through behind a thick layer of haze. Yet the light reflected beautifully in the sand once the sun had set and those gulls just made for perfect models.

New Beginnings

First sunrise on the first morning of brand spanking new 2012

After a rather intense 2011, which also kept me quite busy with work, I decided to stop posting here and on Flickr for a while. But if you know me at least a little, you will also know that I will never stop taking pictures no matter how busy I get. Part of my New Year;s resolution is to revive this photo blog and what better picture to choose than the first sunrise of the year. Taken at Montauk Lighthouse, the easternmost point of NY State. Montauk has long been one of my favorite places to get away from it all and so I came here to spend a peaceful New Year's Eve away from the crowds and the madness,, give 2011 a little kick on it's way out the door and welcome 2012. Cheers to you all!

Silver Lining

A sliver of light and color at the end of a drab and stormy early December day

I know it's been a while since I've been posting one of those ocean shots, but once in a while I just have to sprinkle one in...Here, the storm clouds gave way to a small band of orange at the end of the day. I just loved the speck of otherworldly red in the sky, but oh boy was it cold! I specifically drove down with tripod and all my gear to take photographs, and this is the only (& handheld) picture I took before running back to my car shivering like crazy!

First Light

Fishermen walking into the first light of the day at Robert Moses Field 5

There are few things in life which I find as magical and enchanting as experiencing the sunrise at the ocean, no matter what time of the year. These days it feels quite fresh out here by the water, but the sun rises late enough that it is easy to catch. Photographers and Anglers are the only crazies you will find out here at this time of day.

Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing on the Great South Bay

After a crazy hot summer, we suddenly experienced some sort of "fall preview" during the second half of August. Low temps and cloudy skies prevailed for almost a whole week and the beaches remained pleasantly empty. Shot this on a calm and peaceful Wednesday afternoon :)

Hot Coals

Jones Beach BBQ Area in Field #6 after one too many weekend storms

I am always a sucker for the surreal and when I discovered this bright red overturned barrel against a flooded Jones Beach picnic area, I just had to click that shutter.

Dashing

Dancing with the waves

Yes it's true - after more than a six-month hiatus, I have decided to revive this blog. There are many reasons why I stopped tending to it - not having a car to get around, not being able to process .RAW files any longer, my husband's hospitalization, our sudden move and my sudden overkill freelance work schedule for three different jobs are just some of them. But, I am excited to be back and I hope that some of you will return and stay with me!

This shot was taken at my favorite Robert Moses Beach field 5 after tropical storm Danny made for high surf warnings and a lot of people came out to watch the waves. I shot a whole series of this kid and his friend running through and from the surf. But this crisp silhouette shot is my favortite!

Benched Again

Lonely benches bathed in beautiful evening light

Boy, I am lagging a bit behind here as I have recently been shooting a lot, despite the rather unfriendly temperatures. One of the things I most appreciate about Long Island is the often unique and beautiful light and here's one of my favorite photos from the past week. Two lonesome benches sitting somewhat forlorn in the middle of Short Beach on Long Island's north shore. They probably don't look familiar, but I have posted them here once before. Check out my entry from November 20, 2007 if you really want to see how much photography is all about the light!

Setting

Sun setting between dunes

It's been a while since I've posted here and it's been a while since I posted one of those ocean shots, so hopefully, I'll get away with it. I felt as if I was just on a roll, when some horrible injury befell my beloved Black Lab Boris. It's called "Fibrocartiligous Emboli" or FCE for short and basically paralyzed his hind legs. Thankfully, in his case the prognosis was good and 5+ weeks later, he's made an astonishing recovery. But for the longest time, I couldn't take him along on my photo excursions and it simply felt wrong to leave him behind, therefore I didn't really go anywhere at all. But now that he's much much better, our first outing was to our beloved beach, and although some stupid park rangers prevented me from taking him all the way down to the water, I managed to take some poster shots of the sinking sun. It really was a nice sunset, and that dune grass helped a lot to prevent the usual overblown glare. The clouds were pretty cool too!

Pre-Season

"The Beach Hut" at Venetian Shores Bay Beach in Lindenhurst

Boy I know - it's about time to post an update here already. How long can I use that "broken toe" excuse after all...;)!
Well, here's what our bay beaches look like at this time of the year. I am still greatly enjoying the solitude in combination with the gradually warming air. There's also no Parks Department activity as of yet, which means I can take the doggie out to play without repercussions (pssst - don't tell on me!).

No Lifeguard On Duty

Lifeguard Station at Robert Moses Beach

Closed for the winter, these beach buildings are looking peaceful and pretty in the evening glow

Blasted

Sun blasting through sky, wind blasting my face

And I thought yesterday was cold. You have no idea... The temperature was "only" 32 degrees, but the wind chill, at gusts (and steady blows) of 50 mph, I don't want to know. But it was worth it. Was out all day shooting pics and this one, just before sunset, is my favorite. Eyes were watering and ears were ringing, I am surprised it came out as well as it did!

Washed Up

Seashell fragment on foam-dotted sand

The sand was looking pretty in the tender evening light after the last wave receded and left this part of a broken shell behind

Benched

Two lonely benches at Short Beach on the North Shore

I thought I'd stay true to the theme of the past few days and post another "abandoned" shot, this time two empty benches on an empty North Shore beach.

Game Over

Deserted Game Table at West Point Beach

Abscence seems the essence of this shot yet again. I seem to gravitate toward these lately, although it's not too hard to find deserted places on Long Island's waterfront during this time of the year. I am surprised this shot came out - the air was quite frigid and the winds just brutal. I had the hardest time to keep myself from shivering and holding the camera steady. Ah yes, I finally picked my camera up from Nikon this afternoon!

Footsteps

Footsteps in the sand at Robert Moses Beach

Although the evidence of people present prevails, the beach was deserted during my sunset walk. You can tell that it has gotten colder by the sight of shoe prints as opposed to bare feet.

Deserted

Strange exercises at Robert Moses Beach

This is yesterday's picture and the beach is deserted after it suddenly got rather cold. I took my dog there to play and was baffled by this lone walker who kept flapping his arms while calmly walking towards the water...

Grey and Sand

Rainy skies at Robert Moses Beach

As I have said before, I won't ever get tired of taking pix at the beach. I love the beach when it is stormy but warm like today. If you look closely, you can still see the life guard towers lying in the sand - for the first time in history, the beaches were open on Columbus Day weekend, with temperatures reaching 87 degrees this past Monday! Now it has somewhat cooled off but it was still warm enough to walk along the beach in a T-shirt today.

Gloomy

A foggy day on the Great South Bay

The weather today was eerie - very warm but foggy and dark. I went for a drive along the bay and took this shot of metallic sky and water near Bellport, NY.

Triple Play

After 3 days of numerous restarts and unsuccessful attempts to get my computer to see my card reader, camera or scanner, I finally just turned the darn thing off for the afternoon. And voila, tonight it's working again. Since I couldn't post for the past two days, tonight will be a triple play. Enjoy!

A father and son watching the sunset after a day of fishing

This was taken at the Cedar Beach Marina on Ocean Parkway. I particularly liked the floppy fisherman's hats those two were wearing.

Land's End

After a long stretch of warm and sunny days, rain and fog are moving in during the evening hours, turning the sky a pale gray as in this shot from the Lindenhurst fishing pier

Sun and Shade

One thing I will never tire of is taking pictures on the beach. Each day looks different and Long Island has some of the most beautiful light I have ever seen. This one's strange because a huge cloud blocked the beach from the sun, but the sky was still full of light.