This park is located partly in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Besides the impressive Campbell Falls themselves, I find the rock formations—and the trees that manage to grow on them—to be quite impressive.
Endurance
Thriving Against All Odds
After the recent snowfalls in the Berkshires, I am ready for spring to announce itself, hopefully in the next few weeks. So, in looking for an image to post in this blog I wanted to choose one that symbolized spring for me.
When I came across this image of a tree growing in a rock in the middle of the cascades of Umpachene Falls, I realized that this meant so much more to me than just the end of winter.
Winter Tracks
I found these tracks last winter while walking in the woods one afternoon.
Photo Selected by National Park Service
Twenty Mule Team Canyon
Recently the National Park Service contacted me for permission to use my photograph of Twenty Mule Team Canyon in a presentation they are preparing called Photographing Death Valley. I readily granted them permission and so, beginning February 18, my photo will be included in the presentation at the Death Valley visitors center on a weekly basis through mid-April. After that, the presentation will continue to be available to park rangers to use in the future.
A Recent Snowfall
A snowstorm quietly changed the landscape in western Massachusetts this week. As the snowstorm was ending, I walked outside and found this scene.
Rescuing a Poor Scan
This photo was taken several years ago on color slide film. The scan I made of it was technically not good — it lacks sharpness and detail. I decided that I could make an interesting image by taking advantage of the soft feel of the scan, and this is the result.
Umpachene Falls at Sunset
Umpachene Falls, New Marlborough, MA, 2010
I don’t usually take sunset photos, but this is not another picture of the setting sun. I made this photo in the fall a few years ago, and with autumn now arriving I thought it would be a good time to post it.
Hanging Scroll Project
I am working on a project that is inspired by the hanging scrolls of Chinese and Japanese artists from past centuries. Although images of any proportion could be hung in a scroll-like fashion, my initial set will be tall and narrow. I am also limiting my first images to black and white.
My intent is to create scrolls that convey a quiet beauty, such as what might be found in the tokonoma of a Japanese home — an alcove where paintings, ceramics, flower arrangements, etc. are displayed.
May Snowfall 1
Big-leaf Maples Photo in Harper's Magazine
I am excited to announce that Harper's Magazine has chosen my image, Big-leaf Maples, Hoh Rain Forest, to appear in their August issue. The photo will be a full-page accompaniment to an article about Big-leaf maples and the development of a tree DNA database. The article is written by Lauren Markham, who is a journalist and essayist as well as an award-winning fiction writer.
Rock Wall Triptych
I arranged these three images as a triptych to accentuate the patterns and colors of this rock wall in Bartholomew’s Cobble, a designated National Natural Landmark in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
A Photo Haiku
Awaiting Spring
This photo was taken last fall, but when I converted it to black and white it looked like a springtime scene to me. I made this image near a section of the Appalachian Trail. I go back to this area whenever I wait for my car to be serviced after dropping it off at the nearby garage.
Death Valley's 20 Mule Team Canyon and Zabriskie Point
Recently, I was reviewing my images of Death Valley that I had made in 2013. They were taken at a photography workshop with three outstanding instructors: Bruce Barnbaum, Jay Dusard, and Jack Dykinga. One of our outings was to 20 Mule Team Canyon, an area of eroded hills made famous by its history of borax mining. As I stood on the road at the floor of the canyon, I noticed Jack standing on a hilltop with his camera set on a tripod. Curious, I climbed the hill to see what he was looking at.
Jack pointed out an interesting V-shaped notch in the foreground hills, and he said he was making a panorama image of the hills and notch. I was so taken by the beauty of the scene that I made my own panorama image of it while standing right next to Jack. (You can see it on my website in the color landscapes gallery.)
But the panorama shot I made was Jack’s vision; I was seeing with his eyes, not mine. On reviewing my images from that workshop again, I was struck by another photo I had taken of the same scene that was not part of the panorama. It was a closer view of the V notch, and when I converted it to black and white and adjusted the tones to my liking, I felt that this was an image I could really call my own.
On the same afternoon as our visit to 20 Mule Team Canyon, we also stopped at Zabriskie Point. There, I made this next photo. I have never published or exhibited either of these photos before, but now I enjoy looking at the two together.
Don't Forget to Look Behind You
A suggestion often made to photographers is that after you are done photographing whatever it is you came for, turn around and look at what is behind you. There is often another compelling scene in the opposite direction. That happened to me when I was photographing the waterfalls in Connecticut’s Kent Falls State Park several years ago. After I finished shooting the falls, I turned around to walk back down to the parking lot. I then looked across the valley and saw this autumn scene. It was far more interesting than what I came there for!
Another Look at Innisfree Garden
The design of Innisfree Garden was influenced by Asian art, including Chinese gardens. I can imagine this tree perched on a rock ledge as an ink drawing on a hanging scroll.