Saturday, October 25, 2008

North For The Fall

Mrs. Muse and I made our annual autumn pilgrimage to the Brandywine Valley region of north Delaware and Southeastern Pennsylvania this past week. I have the good fortune of commuting between  north Florida and north Delaware routinely, and get to live the best of both the southern and mid-Atlantic lives. At this time of year, that means leaving the relative warmth and humidity of Florida for the autumn chill and color of the north...

The photo above was shot at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvnia. I have shot some version of this scene every year for the past three at about this time. Tis is a two-exposure overlay, called an Orton process in which one image is overexposed and blurred, creating a "dreamy" effect by eliminating the sharp edges and bleeding the colors a bit.

This one was also shot at Longwood. I found the mix of new and mature blossoms with the bare seed pods after the blooms were done to be a great contrast and a statement of autumn's mixed blessings.


This last one is among my favorite photos from the week. The old (refurbished) colonial-era house-on-the-hill sitting beneath the amazing color and fullness of protective trees. So representative of the Brandywine Valley history and geography -- almost something out of an Andrew Wyeth painting.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Invasion of St. Augustine

To divert ourselves from the disappearance of our retirement funds, a veritable gang of Jacksonville area photographers set out to annoy the tourists of St. Augustine this past Sunday morning. I've photographed America's oldest city dozens of times, and was looking to capture something other than the typical snapshots of tourists, historical re-enactors, and Spanish-inspired architecture. Here is a small sample of my shots (an a link at the bottom to many more images by my comrades of the day....

Fall in Florida -- a flower gone to seed...
No, I have no idea who he was...


A wildflower growing out of the 400 year old coquina wall of the Castillo de San Marcos

And as promised -- click HERE for a fuller view of the day's creativity