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.

Stark

Bare branches at dusk, starkly silhouetted against a cold yet beautifully colored winter sky

I ventured out on one of the coldest days of the season to date with entirely different intentions, namely to capture a picture of the Big Duck in it's Holiday dress. I passed my turn-off and ended up turning around at a this dead-end street overlooking Flanders Bay. I was enchanted by the evening sky and picked this tree to provide a focal point. Goes to show you that you never know what to expect. The Big Duck pictures didn't come out at all, but this one's fast become one of my favorite landscape pictures of all of 2011!

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!

Tethered

Lobster Skiff tethered to Northport Town Dock

Gosh, it's been a while although I have been taking a ton of pictures for both work and pleasure. But work got the upper hand and I haven't really gotten around to posting many pics of my new surroundings, as beautiful as they might be. Northport is one charming little town and it's become somewhat of a new custom to take a stroll down Main Street each Saturday morning, coffee in hand, down to the Northport Farmer's Market and the town docks, listening to live music and taking pics. The above Oyster Skiff is the result of one of those Saturday morning strolls. For more pictures of Northport, visit me on Flickr.

Ghostly

Seemingly abandoned "ghost ship" in thick early evening fog

Lagging a little behind in the season with my posting, but oh boy - I've been wanting to take a pic of this decaying wooden house boat ever since I first moved to the area almost 7 years ago. But somehow it just never seemed compelling enough,until one very foggy April evening three days before moving again, across the Island, to the very different environs of the North Shore. Taken with my little Lumix at that, but I love the shot, love the mood - love the blues :D !!

Spring Springing Soon

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay Cove

Fluffy clouds traveling along blue skies, a yellow sheen on the still-bare branchbes and grass turning green again all hint at the imminent arrival of spring. I cannot wait...!

Stark

Midday sun shadow sculpture

In sharp contrast to the delicate and subtle early morning light in the previous shot, here's a somewhat harsh and stark photograph of one of my favorite subjects - those dune fences. I love how different lighting conditions can generate such different moods...

Drab'n Dreary

Old, gray and lonesome vessel on a Brightwaters canal

I have decided that there's only one way to fight this horrible winter weather we've been having along with the unemployment blues and that is by "shooting back"! So I put on an extra warm pair of socks, grabbed my camera bag and headed out the door. I thought the sight of this gray boat on gray water under gray skies next to this bright red stop sign summed up the mood just perfectly. STOP with this weather already... This by the way is not done via "selective coloring" our world really looks this drab these days. Oh well - according to Phil the Groundhog, spring isn't too far away. Let's hope he's right!

All My Swans in a Row

Swans heading into the setting sun

Suffering from a bout of cabin fever after yet another snow storm moved through the area, I headed out for snow pictures in Gardiner County park as soon as the roads had been somewhat cleared. I arrived at the bay just around sunset and some remnants of dark storm clouds were still lingering in the western part of the sky. A lot of swans were hanging out along the eastern part of the beach, and as dusk started to fall, they suddenly began heading towards the shore. This group flew for a short stretch and my heart just stopped when they suddenly settled right on the darkest part of the water in a perfectly straight line. I had to run to catch up and wasn't looking where I was going, and ended up crashing through the frozen slush at the edge of the bay. But in my opinion, this shot was worth my cold wet feet ten times over :)

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!

Long Island Beginnings

The tip of Long Island, as seen from Gantry State Plaza in Queens

High Rises aren't exactly what you'd first associate with suburban Long Island and people are often confused why Long Island is so boldly written across old container lifts at Gantry State Plaza in Queens. But as a matter of fact, not only Queens but Brooklyn as well technically are part of Long Island indeed. Even though both boroughs are a far cry from suburban lawns and picket fences. Incidentally, this part of town - with it's spectacular Manhattan views - has been booming for a few years and it's a far cry from the Queens I moved to in 1998. None of these buildings existed back then, and the park had just opened!

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.

Pumpkin Season

Pumpkin Farm on Long Island's North Fork

Fall season has undeniably arrived on Long Island, even though the weather has been incredibly kind to us here in the Northeast. While fall is definitely my favorite season of the year, I have surprisingly few fall photographs. That's why I packed up my camera gear and went on a little road trip to the North Fork, Long Island's most rural environment. For more fall pics, check out my Flickr Gallery

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!

Goosed

Geese settling in for the night on the Nissaquogue River

As much as I often curse life in suburbia, sometimes I cannot help but feeling enchanted by the many beautiful spots which still remain and continue to defy the steadily progressing development of Long Island. This was a chance encounter with some geese and some magical evening light, and although I did not have my tripod handy, I simply had to stop and take a shot.

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!

Big Duck

The "Big Duck" just south of Flanders, NY

The Big Duck, as it is called, certainly is a "must-have" shot for every photographer based on Long Island, and I finally managed a drive out there yesterday. It's history is quite amusing: Duck ranches, nowadays almost extinct in the region, used to be a staple and a specialty out here. This duck was built in 1931 by a German duck farmer named Martin Maurer after a visit to California, where he discovered plenty of oddly shaped buildings geared towards advertising the product they sold. He made quite a buck with his unique gimmick, and the duck was moved in it's ducky entirety quite a few times. In 1987 Big Duck fans from all over joined Suffolk County in an effort to preserve the Big Duck, resulting in the then owners' donation of the Duck to Suffolk County. The Big Duck's most recent move in October of 2007 put it closer to it's original roosting place and it now sits on County Route 24 just a few miles south of the town of Flanders.

Nowadays it is a beloved landmark and inside you'll find a souvenir shop selling all kinds of duck memorabilia. Stop in on a Sunday afternoon and have a chat with the lovely and funny Barb who's been the resident "Duck Lady" for over 14 years! The Duck, by the way, stands 20 feet tall and gives you plenty of room to comfortably move around inside.

Cheeseburger Blues

Burger Joint with Blues Brothers in Wantagh, NY

Yes, as you can see I'm still here and alive :). I know it's been a really long time. I am working again, and it's been hard to make time for pics, but today I got into the spirit again.

This is certainly not one of my best, but I took it for a reason. I love looking at old photographs, pictures taken 40 or 50 years ago. So many things you see there don't exist any more today. And suddenly I thought about all the things we won't be seeing anymore in another 40 or 50 years, but more likely they'll be gone much sooner. Such as little snack joints like this. They will either surrender to zoning laws, or the ever prevailing chain stores and franchises like Burger King or Starbucks. Or they will simply be driven out by the ever rising rents. So I thought I'll start to try and capture what will look "old" and outdated in a not so far away future.

Planked

Walkway through dunes

Okay, after a short hiatus due to "that busy holiday season" I am hoping I can devote more time to this little project of mine again. Unfortunately, is suddenly has turned bitter cold and by that I mean temps with a windchill factor of -3° F . This can put a damper on the joy of outdoor photography real quick! Fortunately it was a comparatively balmy 43° F outside when I took this picture during a dune walk with my dog a couple of days ago. Nothing special but if you live here you cannot help but have a few of these walkway shots in your collection.

Lonely

Stony Brook Harbor at Sunset

I don't know exactly what this area is called but I love this shot. It was taken from a promenade at the historical district of Stony Brook Village right before sunset and the light was just right. Love the way the grass glows!