Watkins Glen

A great hike to take is a walk up the gorge in Watkins Glen, N.Y.  It is amazing place with numerous waterfalls to explore.  It is a state park and a main attraction in the area and can be busy in the summer months.  When I lived in the area I would visit in the spring and fall time so I could have quiet times to hike and photograph, plus I never had to pay the entrance fee when using the upper access point at that time of year.  The water in this gorge is spring fed and is very cold even in the summer.  There are many other gorges with waterfalls in this region that are rarely explored that I preferred to spend most of my time, but Watkins Glen is a majestic place with beautiful waterfalls.


http://nyfalls.com/

Springtime in the Finger Lakes

It is springtime and I am feeling a longing for the days I spent photographing the numerous waterfalls in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.  I have spent many years of my life hiking and photographing in this region.  Each year as soon as the ice went out and the spring run off began I would spend countless days hiking up the various gorges in search of a new waterfalls to photograph.  It was always an exhilarating experience to feel the freshness of the springtime air and to hear the pounding of the water falling off the cliffs and rocks above.  After a long day of hiking and photographing I would come home with soggy feet and numb fingers, but always felt a great sense of satisfaction that I got to spend another day in one of my favorite places.



http://www.fingerlakes.com/parks/waterfalls

Floating among the trees

Each time I go out in my kayak I am amazed with the the cypress trees and how they live surrounded by water.  It is easy to glide in and around then without making any noise.  The osprey are nesting now and use these trees for their large nest.  They are well protected from most nest invader coming from the ground by being in these trees surround by water.  The summer heat has started and with it will come violent thunderstorms each afternoon.  I look forward to the dramatic skies that come with these storms and hope to explore some new regions in the coming months. 

Cypress Tree Series

As I process some images of my cypress trees I will post them here to show these majestic trees in their environment.  There is a surreal quality about these old giant trees standing alone out in the water.  Their trunks are split open and their top broken by lightning, but yet they stand there for hundreds of years.  Being in around them evokes a sense of peace and quiet in me. 

Kayaking

I finally got out today to do some kayaking on Blue Cypress Lake here in Florida.  It has been windy for several weeks and that makes for a hard time to be out on the water in a kayak.  I enjoy the big skies here in Florida.  Hardly a day goes by without a magnificent sky full of clouds.  The land may be flat but the skies make up for it.  The summer heat is starting and with it comes strong thunderstorms each day.  They usually strike in the mid afternoon after the days heat builds up.  They are a freighting to experience and to be caught out in one could be deadly.  Whenever I am out photographing in the summer I keep a sharp eye out for the changing weather conditions to be certain I can get to safety when the lighting starts.  The cypress tress intrigue me and I find I like them best without there leaves.  They are one of the few trees in Florida that loose their leaves for the winter months. 

Street photography in Mexico

While in Mexico I visited a moderate size city of San Juan Del Rio a number of times to do some street photography.  It is a city in central Mexico that is busy with street vendors and a lot of activity going on all the time.  It was a great place to just walk around around feel the rush of people going about their daily business.  The city has several beautiful catheralds in the old historic district with wonderful architecture.  I came across this lady while walking along a side street.  She saw I was photographing and came up and started talking to me in fairly good English.  She was a colorful lady full of energy with animated talk and gestures.  She was entertaining to watch as she spoke with great passion about herself.  I made a couple of images and thanked her for her time and continued my journey through the city.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_del_R%C3%ADo

Judy

There are many subject areas that I am drawn to with my photography.  One of them is to record the human condition that I come across in my travels.  It is rare that I go out photographing solely for that purpose.   It usually happens with an unplanned situation or event that happens while I am in an area  photographing.  Over the years I have produced a large portfolio of people images that I have come across in my travels.  For me they are very rewarding images, with most of them being made with the slow setup of a large format camera.  In my formative years with photography I came across the works of Dorothea Lang and the many other great and inspiring photographers of the Farm Security Administration.  These photographers captured the difficult lives of people caught in the depression and the time of the devastating dust bowl era.  Looking at their work I could see and feel the desperate lives of these people existence.  Although my time is very limited with the person that I am photographing, the successful images, have a timeless quality that is common with recording the human condition.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/dorothea-lange/watch-full-film-dorothea-lange-grab-a-hunk-of-lightning/3260/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Security_Administration