The 57th day of the year of the Camellia

LAKE WINNEPASAUKEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE

To set the scene, it is late April or possibly very early may. It is in fact, very early in the morning, probably 5:30 or 6:00 am in the New Hampshire wilderness. Well, as close to wilderness as one can get on a lake in a state so near to Boston, Ma. The sun has not completely risen over the Eastern tree line. A tree line comprised primarily of fir and pine, each competing for every square millimeter of sparse rocky soil.

The sun is still filtering through all the air pollution from the major metropolitan areas to the south such as Boston, Connecticut, and New York. The rising light is playing off the different chemicals deposited in the air, creating all the different colors one sees during the "Golden" hours.

Here the air is clear, clean, fresh and still. Likely cold at that time of morning. It smells of the pines where we spent the previous night, tightly rolled in sleeping bags, in a cabin built during the depression of the 30's.

There are five men who have spent forty years waking to this scene or a thousand variations thereof. For forty years these same five have endured each other's company for a week of landlocked salmon fishing on Lake Winnepasaukee. It is probably one of the only chances these men have to be together each year and the friendships can best be described as closer to that of brotherhood. Although there are times when the brotherhood is tested, but then that is more like sibling rivalry. Each is approaching or passing the seventy year mark, but when the card games heat up and adult beverages flow, one would think they were still in college. Or at least college age. Or at least think they are of college age. Or simply behave as if they were college age.

In the first years we would play cards till midnight and fish at five. The measure of the adult beverages consumed was in the gallons. Today, bedtime arrives around nine pm and an occasional bottle of wine or vodka is seen. Amazing what maturity can do, or undo!

Two boats, sometimes three, set forth into the image accompanying this piece. Each man full with anticipation of the first fish of the day (first winner in the daily pool) and even perhaps the largest of the day, taken early thus reducing the competition, and creating a good nature ragging.

Coffee cups rest on the gunnel's or seats of the boats, rods are held with anticipation, and another adventure begins. "Just look at that water", says one,"Today has to be a great day to fish". "There I saw a salmon rising to the surface". You can see such things on mornings like this.

Really a great day to be alive pursuing and the noble object of Sir Isaac Walton's prose.

Sorry, but we have two months to go before this scene is played out in real time. And you dear reader must endure my own anticipation and prose about that noble object.

The 25th day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

CROP~CIRCLES

Follow up to "You've got to be there". Once you get there you need to know what it is that you are seeing.

I think that last sentence also applies to just travelling, taking in the sites, and enjoying what it really is we are seeing. Whether we are photographing or not. Vision is funny....the picture is always in the mind's eye, but the mind might not always translate some details immediately.

This a green anole lizard found all over the south. The photo on the bottom is nice, but cluttered with some out of focus bits and pieces. Looking at it carefully, and later after the heat of the shooting moment, the image reveals something altogether different.

By tightly cropping the photo to reveal the "Circles" and the image is totally redefined. It is no longer just a green anole.

The 24th day of the second month

DRUM POINT LIGHTHOUSE IN MARYLAND

Often times when I am photographing, my eye wanders to bits and pieces of the overall image and the result can be something like this picture of the old light at Solomons Island, MD.

I suppose that the motivation for something like this is varied. Looking for the different. Looking for something that can be a conversation piece. Lord forbid something that is creative. But the key is seeing.

Way before I ever thought about picking up a camera, I attended one of those local fairs. This one was in New York state and had row upon row of tents of people selling their crafts, foods, and just plain junk in some instances.

One of the tents housed a photographer who was selling his wares in all the usual form.....matted and framed mostly. The point was, he had some of the most fantastic photographs of storms coming across the plains of the Midwest and far west. Entire storm cells in one image after another tearing across the prairie with great lightning, clouds, and rain. The images were simple but complex in their detail with beautiful lighting. To this day I could not tell you who the fellow was, but his work was unique, clean, presented neatly and just plain good! His work said something the rest of us did not.

Like an idiot I asked of him................"How did you get these shots? They are fantastic"

His answer was simple yet basic to what photography is. "You just gotta to be there" was his answer. This has stuck with me now for over 25 years as my basic tenet of my photography. "You just gotta be there".

Yes, his answer was simple. But when you think of all the details and costs associated with "You just gotta be there", the whole procedure becomes much more complex.

How many times have you picked up a National Geographic and seen a photograph that you just know you could have made with your little disposable camera? For a photographer to be published in Nat Geo is like making a personal deposit to a Swiss bank account. Just isn't done that often. The key though, is the photographer in that magazine with that photo......"Was there" and you and I were not. The skills were probably there as well but in that one photo "we could have done the same thing".............If only we were there. That is the complexity of the simple answer as to "How did you get that shot"

I saw the macro image of this lighthouse, but because I was there I had the time to also see the reflection and it struck me as what a great accent it would make hanging on a wall. More than just an accent.......there is the story. Hey, it's just the reflection. Not your standard post card picture of a lighthouse. That makes it different. Kinda neat when a simple photo like this can conjure up all the words I just typed.

The 23rd day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

SILVER RIVER, FLORIDA

I had the occasion a year ago to photograph a very interesting river in Florida. The water was crystal clear and so stunningly blue that it virtually shocked me at first glimpse.

The Silver River State Park is just East of Ocala in central Florida. The River is beautiful and abounds with wildlife, boats, canoes, and kayaks. Tour boats and small pleasure crafts are present, but there is a speed limit for the entire length of the river within the park. The river is spring fed and is crystal clear from top to bottom. We were on a small Boston Whaler and had a ball.

Check out their website for more information and a great google map.

http://www.wildlifesouth.com/Locations/Florida/SilverRiver.html

The place was teeming with wading birds such as blue herons, little blue herons, great and snowy egrets, and coots. We of course saw gators and snakes, thankfully at a distance. Amazingly enough there is a large contingent of Rhesus monkeys living in the woods. Evidently it is commonplace to see them there. They were introduced and kept on an island in 1936 but swam away to the forest and have propagated ever since. The ever present turtles seemed to be sun bathing on every exposed log. A deer and her fawn rounded out the wildlife count for the day.

There are ample parking facilities, boat ramps, docks, and facilities provided by the park. At the upstream source of this spring fed river is the restaurant and gift shop. Tourist trap type of thing but a good place to take a rest after being on the water. The whole place is well maintained and patrolled. A safe place to expose the kids to nature at her best.

The 22nd day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

GRAND OPENING

MY RETAIL STORE IS NOW OPEN AND IT'S CALLED "LOOKIN IN"

http://www.etsy.com/shop/skipw

It is here that you will find my photography packaged in either ready to frame or ready to hang format. The images I will be choosing to display will be those that have sold in the past. As you can see this link is always posted on my blog, so you're only a click away at all times.

I hope this to become your source for reasonably priced quality wall art. For pieces to hang in those small awkward spots that are crying out for attention to the larger pieces that dominate conversation and highlight a huge wall. I strive for pieces which have a story and can become a topic of interest, as well as focal point, in your space.

It is my design to present images that people will want to hang in their homes and offices. Furthermore, wholesale accounts are encouraged to call or email for prices and minimum order sizes.

I utilize Paypal as my online bank and your source to use a credit/debit card. I will accept checks as well, but cash is a little risky to send in the mail. In any event you will need to email me for my address. I will ship using the US post office (pony express) and do try to keep my shipping and handling costs in line.

If someone has a design project, is a designer, or is building a new room, house, office, or hotel, I can supply the wall art.

I have almost thirty thousand images ranging from A to Z and if I don't' have it I might know where to go to get it. As some of you may know I specialize in Lighthouses, Nature, Maritime, Urban and Rural topics. I have specialized in the Mid Atlantic region around the Chesapeake Bay. That having said, I also have images of two thirds of the east coast lighthouses, some 225 separate lighthouses from Maine to Florida. So if you are working on a project in Maine, I just might have something that will help even if it is not a lighthouse.

This venture in no way deletes, hinders, impedes or in any way negates my efforts to sell images to stock agencies and publishers. They are amongst some of my favorite friends. Furthermore, as you can see on my website I have a number of colleagues that could possibly supply images that I may not have.

Finally, I will work with you to solve your design problem and we will do just that to the best of my ability.

As my father used to say to me (yeah I know it's trite), "Just remember the customer may not always be right, but he has right to be" and I added (which drove him nuts)......"No Dad, He also has the right to be wrong, but if you want the sale.........you work with him"

Not a bad philosophy, cause I will work with you!

The 21st day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

SEVENTY DEGREES HERE IN SOUTH CAROLINA!

So naturally, in addition to cleaning the yard, my thoughts turn to Spring and Summer. Nope, not yet but who knows. An entirely delightful day and I say again.....we had snow a week ago.

This is a Gulf Fritillary butterfly taken on, of all things a butterfly bush. It brings to mind my visit to the land of the Florida Gators (University that is, in Gainsville) where they have a whole display of these critters in their Butterfly Rainforest. An amazing place

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies/

They have the largest collection of mounted butterflies in the world and the whole place is just amazing.

The 20th day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

WE WORK ON SHORT NOTICE FOR LITTLE MONEY

This has not much to do with photography, but I am very pleased to report here that our neighborhood association celebrated a day called "Drainagegate".

For lack of a better term.

That is, we went out and cleaned up around drains and culverts in our neighborhood. An effort to improve the ground water runoff. I have no idea weather it will work, but it was fun making the effort. The weather did cooperate and in fact the temperature reached sixty+ degrees and it was down right balmy.

If you remember my blog a week ago....we had 5-6 inches of snow and I made a spectacular time exposure image. (If you don't know by now...that's tongue in cheek)

This crew is not a bunch of local government workers...all pulled their weight and pitched in to collect some 30 garbage bags full of dirt, sand, leaves, and other discarded human neglect.

I have purposely left out names in an effort to protect the guilty, but they are all neighbors.

Noble job!

Good people all!

The 19th day of the second month in the year of the Camellia

SOME HOUSEKEEPING DETAILS

OR

REPLACED WITH A SWIFTER!

For those discriminating folks who have decided to follow me in the past year, you will notice a renovation of the blog. Thank you for your participation. For those who are new....Welcome! I hope you will all find some value in the sage comments I put forth here.

I am a professional photographer who does not do weddings, portraiture, or kids. So don't ask! I would much rather photograph a wild duck......they don't talk back. That having said, you can assume that I will not be offering a photography "How to" blog....there are enough of them which are far better than I. If that is your intent in being here, please google "photography how to" in the search engine I have ingeniously included at the top of the page.

You will probably note a tinge of sarcasm, hopefully some wit, some information about my images, and my own opinions (which are just that, my own). I am not an English professor, but write from the heart, so deal with my mistakes.

I also have some "Ads" included on the page and this is where you will find my crass capitalist advertisements to which you can click. I will then earn some pittance, the amount of which I am not yet sure. If you wish to show your appreciation for the time I spend imparting my wisdom and wit, please leave comments.........but far better go to one of the advertisements so I can actually make some money at this thing and forget the comments. I would only have to answer them anyway!

The main website has been redesigned and I think you will continue to find it interesting. The link to it and my New Retail Store are provided above. Remember, I am here to make some money. So it would be nice if you do your part. I think there are about a thousand images on there and I am putting more up regularly. So please enjoy. I do have a library of over 25,000 images so please, email me if you have a specific need and don't see what you want on the site.

Now lets have fun with this thing and tell your friends.

The 18th day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

Another back yard buddy

This mocking bird visits regularly and I finally caught the curious wing flash for which this bird is renowned. I have seen it before and it seems to occur when the bird is feeding, mating, or afraid/startled. They seem to be flashing the white underside of their wings, but not all of them have the white underside...........so who knows?

Suffice to say I think it's just nerves.

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v072n04/p0346-p0357.pdf

The above link may shed some light upon this behavior, but I think that is is just a nervous tick!

My father, bless him, developed a nervous tick following an automobile accident. Actually, it was an eye blink that plagued him for a number of years. Poor guy was a high level executive in New York City and here he had to deal with something like uncontrolled blinking.

Finally resolved the situation with acupuncture of all things. Physical or mental? Who knows, just hope it's not hereditary.

Point is we never did quite find out why he did it, but he just did. Same with the bird, maybe it's best we leave it alone and just enjoy the behavior.

Too many of these birds to go around sticking needles in each one!

The 17th day of the second month second installment

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II

As a follow-up to my other entry today, this is a shot of the Pride of Baltimore II at almost the exact same spot and time of day as my previous image of the Kalmar Nyckel.

The window of reflection is less troublesome here because of the direction in which the shot was taken. There is still some glare from the over exposed section of the hull, but it is less evident on the Pride image. The shadows are more subtle and the whole image has a softer visual impact.

Conclusion, the placement of the camera relative to whatever light source is available is critical to making a decent image.

I've got to remember that!

THE 17th DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

THE KALMAR NYCKEL

A DELAWARE TALL SHIP

This image was made on the Chester River in Maryland and consists of the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel.

http://www.kalmarnyckel.org/

It was late in the afternoon when the lighting is golden and the opportunity was right, as a number of tall ships made their way up the river. Unfortunately, you can see how the low sun reflected off the side of the ship. That's the lesson of the day. If I had printed the image taken from the bow or front of the boat, the reflection would not have been a problem. An example of how to mess up a good thing.

This is about 20 miles up from the Chesapeake Bay on Maryland's eastern shore where the "Livin is truly easy." The photo was taken from my own boat as the vessel past by with a hand held Nikon and Ektachrome slide film. For the digital folks amongst us..............can you say stone tablet, hammer, and chisel.

This boat is normally in Wilmington, Delaware and can be seen most times docked there. The Kalmar Nyckel, or Key of Kalmar, was a Dutch built armed merchant ship noted for carrying Swedish settlers in 1638 to establish the colony of New Sweden (Wilmington). A re-creation of the ship was launched in Wilmington, DE in 1997 and this is her.

The 16th day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

BACK YARD BUDDIES

I believe this to be a Myrtle Warbler who visits our feeders each day. It seem that he or she has an admirer because there are two of them chasing each other all over the place.

Kinda cold still for those types of cavorting, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do!

Small but pretty bird with really standout yellow markings under the wings, on top of the head, and at the base of the tail on the topside.

The fifteenth day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT WITH THAT?

This is a four month Boykin Spaniel at the retriever demonstrations at The South Carolina Wildlife Exhibition on Sunday.

This pup just wasn't all that sure that he wanted to pick that thing up in his mouth. He loved chasing it out when it was thrown but he clearly was deciding just what to do. He did finally pick it up and gleefully return it to his trainer.

A great number of hunting dogs were on display as well as the usual "Roadies" or wildlife artists, who were in attendance. I am usually one of those artists looking for victims, but the last two or three years have been "Slim Pickens". I am waiting either for senility or an upturn in the economy before I start on the show circuit again. Right now I am betting on senility!

It was actually fun visiting with friends and listening to them complain! I would have been right in there with them....complaining that is.....had I chosen to display. Too bad but that's all part of the business. They had snow on Friday night, the weather was still a mess on Saturday, and Sunday's are just generally slow selling days. And the economy ain't all that great or haven't you noticed? All part of the business which folks that attend don't recognize. They just want to know why prices are so high. Well if you figure in order to show, at nationally recognized show like that, a photographer has to do the following things before opening his/her door.

1--Buy the photographic equipment to start his/her career.

2--Go to wherever it is that the animal or subject he/she wants to photograph lives--photograph.

3--Pay for his/her transportation, lodging, and food.

4--Buy the computer, printer, inks, paper, and software to process the photo's he/she takes.

5--Spend the time and develop the computer skills to get a printable image.

6--Buy the mat cutter, mat boards, frames, and glass to create a framed image.

7--Spend the money to be accepted at major shows which only allows you to pay the entry fee.

8--Buy the setup for a booth and or tent (probably should include a prayer rug).

9--Pay the particular shows space rent (sometimes in addition to a percent of sales).

10-Pay for transportation, food and lodging to and at the show.

11-And finally don't count our hours or possible wages for such hours.

And then he/she can open the doors to the public and spend one, two or three days on his/her feet selling. And believe me you do have to sell.

The acid test, after spending all that time and money...... is does the stuff sell!

If not, why not?

And what is he/she going to do about it before the next show.

Please note the amount of time devoted to actually being a photographer. I think that is somewhere under number 2 above.

And this is only one aspect of the business. What am I nuts?

Very nice to be a visitor for a change!

The 13th day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

JUST SOME GENERAL SHOTS OF LAST NIGHT'S SNOWFALL

These were all taken on "N" or Naples Avenue in Cayce, SC, where we live. I will leave all the commentary to all the "Snow" pundits out there, except to say that the only image with people shows the "Snow Removal Management Team"-----------------"Discussing".

Result was "God put it there, let him remove it!"

The 12th day of the second month of the year or the Camellia

FINALLY A PHOTO OP!

The south finally gets to participate in the "Snowpolopous" of 2010!

This image was made with time exposure at 9:30 at night out my front door. Columbia, SC has gotten/is getting in excess of six inches. That's about an inch an hour because it started around twenty of four this afternoon. Maybe a little less. I am no mathematician either.

And there must be a full moon. Some jerk in a pickup truck just went by-----towing his kid on a toboggan! At about 25 mph.

Now I might have been born yesterday but not last night. Given a little snow where they are not used to it, and all the crazies come out.

Just look at me taking a photograph at 9:30 at night.

There will be more to follow!

The eleventh day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

A CURIOUS TUFTED TITMOUSE

I guess it's human nature to become more aware of our backyard friends during the winter and certainly during harsh weather. The feeders get filled more often and we watch the suet containers so that they can be refilled.


I also guess that the older we get the more attention we pay and the more enjoyment we derive from our visitors. Some of us even keep logs (or write blogs) about what we see or can draw to our feeders. For instance after living some fifty years in the vicinity of Baltimore Maryland, I saw only one Oriole of the feathered kind. I saw a lot of the baseball kind, but not the natural ones.


Now that I am in South Carolina, there is an oriole visitor to our Camellia bushes every February. It is really astonishing the brilliance of those birds, but go figure.



This little guy is brilliant too, but in a more muted way. The greys, blacks, whites and yellow are organized all in a compact and orderly fashion. Nothing garish, but small, simple, and stately. The bird is friendly but alert at all times.

So how in the world do you acquire a name like "Tufted Titmouse"? A bird in the genus Baeolophus is neither a mouse nor…the other thing. The word titmouse descends from the Old English terms, tit (any small animal or object) and mase (small bird), essentially meaning one small, small bird.

So there you are and you thought it would be something salacious! This fellow is just a bit larger than a Chickadee and hangs out with the little black, white, and grey birds fairly regularly. In fact, they both can be photographed in and on the same branch and feeder. The titmouse range runs from Maine to Texas and as far west as the middle of the country, so they are prevalent and not as hard to see as the Oriole. Thank goodness or I would have pulled the trigger on the camera only a few times in the last fifty years.

The ninth day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

"A FINE MESS YOU'VE GOTTEN US INTO, OLLIE!"

Well that's the Mid Atlantic! Here we go again.

Now you folks in the Midwest and Canada think nothing of this but when they tell Congress not to come in for a week or maybe two...............well that's the other side of the coin. A great deal of snow brings a whole lot less BS!

Seriously though those folks in Maryland, Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey just are not used to a two foot snow storm followed quickly by another foot and a half. My heart goes out to them and my common sense tells them to just hunker down...it'll all be gone by August.

The photo today was made in Maryland after a very nice "Manageable" snow storm, when the sun came out, on the second day, early in the morning and we humans had not messed it up.

But a critter did and to this day I am not sure what made the tracks. I have a hunch it was a neighborhood cat, a rabbit, or a very short man on a pogo stick. That's the fun of tracks in new snow-----you can be so imaginative about what transpired. And that's a great part of the fun of pristine snow.

It was a wet snow which clung and that makes it all the more beautiful.

The image is almost monochromatic.....for the folks in Rio Linda....that's one color. The pine tree provides the majority of the color, other wise it would have been black and white for the most part.

Just my friends who are not used to so much snow.....

Do yourself a favor.........

And hire a kid to shovel for ya...........

Less heart attacks that way!

By the way, Ollie was Olliver Hardy of "Laurel and Hardy" fame. Way back when the wagons were going across the country. For my grand kids.........google it and find a clip. Very funny stuff!

THE 7TH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH

FOR MY FRIENDS IN THE MID ATLANTIC

THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

The "Epic" sixth day of the second month of the year of the Camellia

Dedicated to all my friends in the Mid Atlantic!

I made this image somewhere in North Carolina, I think! I believe it was on a trip to the lower outer banks to see the lighthouse at Cape Lookout. The exact location is in question but I think it is north and east of Morehead City, NC. At any rate it was in the boonies and I really don't believe that there is such a town, locale, municipality, or city called "Misery". It does not google. Probably just a locals idea of his own circumstances.

It may be apropos of what is going on with the Epic Snow Storm currently delighting kids from Indiana to Atlantic City. But I am sure the parents of same are about fed up.

"Fixin to go out and shovel again Ma"!............"Take the kids with ya, get em out of my hair"

I remember those days as my father said................."Here Shovel"!

Then I got older and found that snow was a financial blessing, as were all the old people on the block who could afford ten bucks to have their driveway cleared. Lord what we did for $10 back then. I moved more snow than I care to think about. No child labor laws, we just thought it was fun for someone to pay us to play in the snow.

Now I are an old people, but ten bucks doesn't get the top step cleared. The neighborhood kids for the most part are not as entrepreneurial as we were. Shame, we did have fun on such days.

For those in the Mid Atlantic, I hope you got all your super bowl supplies on Friday cause you likely won't on Saturday, and the game is on Sunday. But by then the super markets will be sold out. And the kids didn't come around to shovel. You can't even get to stuff off the windshield of the car, and the plow has built another mound at the end of the drive anyway.

There's only one answer!

Boxed Wine!

And here's to someplace, somewhere called Misery!

FIFTH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

TRADE OFFS!

No matter how I try, I can't seem to get away from my wildlife roots. Well, not the kind I had in college where I flunked out after the second year..........but the natural kind like this mocking bird.

As an aside, I sold sewing machines door to door for a year until they would let me back into college. Bless you Penn State. All that is another story though!

By Monday, next week, I will have some announcements regarding a couple of online stores I am setting up. Maybe "Rush" is right (again) and the economy is not on a recovery, but you got to give it a shot just in case. I still think that the numbers from Washington will be manipulated as we approach the 2010 elections, but lets hope that the economy does honestly recover sooner rather than later regardless of who is right or wrong.

This bird was perched on a suet feeder just outside of our kitchen. Incidentally, that is now my new "Road Trip".....walking from the office to the kitchen.

So, I set up the camera just to take advantage of my going in there to get my morning and noon twigs and bark. That is what I am allowed to eat now that I am on a heart conscious diet. Every time I do that, I have to make the decision.....Is that roast beef sandwich worth a week or two of life? Or about 3000 points of cholesterol! Jeeeez, just don't get old and that will take care of such decisions. Settling for a bowl of oatmeal at 2:30 in the afternoon. Sushi is good, but that trade off is the cost of about twelve-teen bowls of oatmeal for one piece of raw fish.

Still nice picture of a bird that is trying to tell me something! Eat sunflower seeds you dummie, he's probably saying, as I eye a left over donut!