"the landscape is like being there with a powerful personality and i'm searching for just the right angles to make that portrait come across as meaningfully as possible."
       --galen rowell

there is a time of day when the sky reflects on the surface of the ocean in front of my eyes and glows with a kind of unreal cyan brilliance. angles of light from low on the horizon paint the landscape with both highlights and shadows. it is one of the mysteries that can bring a photographer back to a location time and again: what will the light of the day illuminate next?

this photograph was taken just a few steps into the evening's light search. a release of the shutter a time or two, a few steps forward, and then, looking back, that moment is gone.

the best stuff can be so fleeting. i suppose, rather than trying to cling, it is better to simply look forward to better stuff ahead.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 1/50, f/16

"the sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire. "
       --pamela hansford johnson

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 400mm, 1/15, f/16

"if what proust says is true, that happiness is the absence of fever, then I will never know happiness. for I am possessed by a fever for knowledge, experience, and creation."
       --anais nin

a trip to wiggins pass in the skiff for sunset. the outboard needed to stretch its legs, having been chained to the dock since february. a strong outgoing tide ripped through the pass, exposing sandbars on all sides.

i lifted the outboard and let the current drift the skiff down a narrow trench along the beach on the south side of the pass. i anchored in inches-deep water and waded ashore for a few shots before the noseeums and tide threatened to carry me away to the other side of the gulf of mexico. there was a moment of excitement when the outboard's fuel hose became disconnected in the middle of the channel, fighting the tide, and the engine died. the boat and i were being flushed away, wildly out of control, before i finally managed to figure out what had happened, reconnect and restart the engine.

always an adventure around any corner these days!

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 1/40, f/14

"i dream that someday the step between my mind and my finger will no longer be needed. and that simply by blinking my eyes, i shall make pictures. then, i think, i shall really have become a photographer.”
       --alfred eisenstaedt

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 14mm, 1/40, f/14

"life is an attitude.”
       --dr. wayne dyer

summer is firmly planted in my world, with her diverse weather patterns and over-saturated colors. mornings break with clear blue skies and deep contrast. afternoons bring storms and gray, washing rains.

a paddle to wiggins pass today on a strong incoming tide of green, green water. white clouds began to drift across the sky from the east, colliding with sea breezes at the edge of pale, soft sand. the water is warm and my midpoint rest stop always includes a swim. i catch a free ride home on the same rushing tide before the clouds steal the light and thunder booms outside the headphones.

it's a beautiful day.

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 1/50, f/16, circular polarizer

"the flower is the poetry of reproduction. it is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.”
       --jean giraudoux

given a rather unflattering nickname of "pigweed" and known both as purslane and portulaca, this beautiful and eager bloomer trails from one of my large pots at the edge of the patio. planted because of it's beauty as well as its ability to attract butterflies, pink purslane is one of my most cheerful companions on my morning garden walks.

widespread as both an annual and invasive perennial throughout much of the southern united states and mexico, pink purslane is known by yet another name, "kiss me quick."

in cool locations, purslane sends up erect stems which branch giving the plant a compact habit. where water is scarce, the plants are often densely covered with hairs. In warm locations, the stems branch and spread low. and where moisture is abundant, it has few hairs.

pink purslane is edible when cooked, and a common vegetable in home gardens in mexico. it is also considered a diuretic, analgesic and antipyretic (reduces fever), but these claims have not been proven.

surely, though, a proven balm for color-hungry eyes.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 400mm, 1/250, f/7.1

"there is nothing in which birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.”
       --robert lynd

a long day of paddling - some 23 miles - brought a few opportunities to exercise the camera and rest my muscles.

i saw this night heron and its mate as i headed north from my dock, following the auger hole into the south end of estero bay. the early morning light was very diffuse - almost muddy - from high overcast and my attempts to capture them together on the same mangrove branch failed.

as i headed into fishtrap bay many hours later - almost home - there they were, wading majestically in the last of the day's shallow water. everything glowed green from deep mangrove reflections, save for the distinctive red eyes that make this bird so lovely.

a great day with many adventures - floating above a dozen mating manatees as the water boiled, watching their long, abundant bodies swimming under and around the kayak was incredibly thrilling! - and these birds were the icing on the cake. reclusive and elegantly plumed, i never cease to be enchanted by them.

second chances are true gifts!

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 400mm, 1/320, f/7.1

"the mystery isn't in the technique, it's in each of us. ”
       --harry callahan

haze trailing in the wake of tropical storm alberto flowed along the coast as the sky cleared today. pelicans resumed their evening flights north up the beach under delicate apricot skies.

i captured this shot with my newly rebuilt 80-400 vr zoom lens, which was a casualty of a recent trip. it's working very well now - and was returned to me without circuitry hanging out of it's intestines. hundreds of dollars later, i'm thrilled to have it back, working better than ever.

it is good to get out once again and photograph the kind of light i'm familiar with after so many weeks trying to create light indoors.

this is pure happiness.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @ 400mm, 1/500, f/6.3

"there are no mistakes or failures, only lessons. ”
       --denis waitley

my days have taken an abrupt departure from the comfort zone of outside landscape, macro and wildlife photography. a long-awaited interior contract finally materialized, bringing with it both challenges and lessons.

i have often read that interior architectural photography is difficult to master. it is true. trying to balance more than one type of light source, such as natural (window) light and incandescent (lamp) light, is immensely challenging in both exposure and white balance.

i have always used natural light in my outdoor photography, learning its nuances and habits well over time. immersing myself in variable tungsten lighting is hugely challenging. outside, my light source typically comes from one direction. inside, it can come from any direction and more often than not, it's not the direction you desire.

which leads me to fill flash and diffusers and reflectors and all sorts of other adjuncts. i stopped at fill hotspots and umbrellas, knowing that if you delve into more than two completely foreign arenas, you'll likely drown in them. and drown i did.

still, if you're persistent enough, you learn a few tricks: swap out light bulbs to lower wattage bulbs (making me the self-appointed dim bulb queen), cut out cardboard "hats" to sit inside lamp shades so light is not funneled upward onto walls and ceilings, close shades and blinds to equalize light sources, leave extra space on the edges of your photographs for perspective angle corrections later on...and so it goes. lessons hard learned.

it's all smoke and mirrors and flying by the seat of your pants in the beginning when you wing it alone without a single mentor in sight. eventually and with the amazing patience of understanding clients, like all things, the lessons take hold and you begin to *see* with your interior lighting eyes.

"even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then."

nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx @ 12mm, 8 seconds, f/18

"i know i cannot paint a flower. i cannot paint the sun on the desert on a bright summer morning, but maybe in terms of paint color i can convey to you my experience of the flower or the experience that makes the flower of significance to me at that particular time.”
       --georgia o'keeffe

nikon d2x, nikkor 60 mm micro, 1/800, f/5

"to know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed ~ that can make life a garden.”
       --goethe

the sunset was somewhat average tonight at the point of impact. walking back up the beach watching the dull light fade, a friend called and we talked as i strolled along at the edge of the noisy surf. the breeze was soft and full of that in between temperature: a tinge of summer humidity but a lingering breath of mild spring.

a full 40 minutes after the sun disappeared, the light show began. i was shooting to the west, admiring the light rays that lifted up off the horizon. a bright 1/3 moon was high overhead. and behind me, waiting patiently, were clouds that glowed with the intensity that i had been waiting for all evening.

i nearly left them behind. the exposure was well beyond my 30-second camera setting. i didn't have a remote release. and worse, in the darkness, the camera refuses to auto-focus. i fretted that setting the iso high would make noise erupt like chicken pox in the sky.

a few steps further, i stopped and turned back. no risk, no reward, i reminded myself. i set the in-camera setting for long exposure noise reduction, flipped the lens to manual focus, unclipped my tiny squeeze flashlight that another friend gave me - as he gives everyone he meets...they're one of his few joys from his wheelchair - and set the focus ring to infinity. i could barely see to compose through the viewfinder.

the lights of vanderbilt beach glow in the distance, a twinkling caboose at the end of a long train of lovely orange sherbet clouds to the south. deep last-light rays at the western horizon. it has been a day filled with joy!

most often, the really good stuff is worth waiting for.  no risk, no reward.

top photo: nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx, 25 seconds, f/18, iso 200
bottom photo: nikon d2x, nikkor 12-24 dx, 30 seconds, 1/11, iso 640