Composition is a Form of Communication Composition is an elusive thing for many photographers. On the other hand, the technical aspects of photography are fairly straight forward and systematic. One camera setting affects another in a logical way. Once that is learned, the photographer understands how a camera processes light coming through the lens and can create a well exposed photograph. This [...]
Photography On A Time Budget Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, a dream trip for a landscape photographer right? Well, not this time. When we visited Colorado to attend a family wedding, time was limited to mostly enjoying the company of family and old friends. Although there was no time to hike into the Rocky Mountains and find some beautiful remote back country [...]
Gorging on the works of nature and humanity. The dramatic 215 foot Taughannock Falls you see at the top of this post isn't in some western national park, or an exotic wilderness location. It's in New York, the Finger Lakes region near the town of Ithaca to be exact. The Finger Lakes in Central New York is known for its gorges and [...]
Andrew Wyeth and a New Jersey Shack The Judge's Shack is a beach shack and one of our state's lesser icons. New Jersey is known for many things. but our beach shacks tend to get little attention. They were small vacation homes built in rural parts of the Jersey shore back when there were rural parts of the Jersey Shore. Their only real [...]
Creating a Photography Challenge My wife is a quilter which means I am often accompanying her to quilt shows. By the way, I'm a willing participant because seeing this beautiful fabric art is very inspiring for my photography. One of these quilt shows was held at the historic Kirby's Mill, a restored grist mill, in Medford New Jersey. At this show my inspiration turned out to be not just [...]
Abstraction and Architecture The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles California is an unusual piece of architecture. Its oddly exaggerated lines and curves look like a bizarre, animated city skyline. The bent metal shapes of the building are designed to reflect light and create a delightful changing play of light and shadow throughout the day and night. When photographing this building, I was drawn to [...]
Finding the Wonder in the Simple The Tucquan Glen Nature Preserve is located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I was surprised at how beautiful this little preserve is as it follows the cascading Tucquan Creek down to the Susquehanna River. The hiking trails look well traveled so I was happy to be there on a cold weekday that was free of the weekend and [...]
We all can use some serenity, right? When color landscape photography is posted on social media, it is the colorful, over-saturated and dramatically composed images that seem to rack up the likes. Here is an interesting fact. Scientific studies show that while images, photographic or otherwise, with intense color catch the attention immediately, they tend to not be remembered in the long term. I'm [...]
Mixing Hiking and Photography When it is time to clear one's head or just find a little peace and quiet, the woods are the best place to be. Around here, that woods is the New Jersey Pine Barrens. After spending weeks preparing for my first solo exhibition of photographs from the Franklin Parker Preserve in the Pine Barrens, I felt a [...]
A Morning In 17th Century It's amazing how a nice sunrise can provide an incredible sense of peace. That is what I found one morning in the Village of Sleepy Hollow, New York. There is an old historic site there called the Philipsburg Manor that dates back to 1693. Normally this place is full of people enjoying a pleasant spot on the Hudson River. However, at 6am on [...]
When Ordinary Becomes Beautiful Cold Winter Light by Richard Lewis 2017 It doesn't snow much in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, so when it does, it's time to head out to find something to photograph. This old bog in the Franklin Parker Preserve seemed like a nice place to look. Usually the stumps of these old cedar trees look like abstract designs, however [...]
My First Desert Storm For a guy from New Jersey, the the power of the desert is very impressive. It is a harsh environment that requires strength to survive, let alone thrive in. Yet it is also a place of amazing beauty and Joshua Tree National Park is a great example of that. This is why I keep being drawn back there. As many times as [...]
Morning in the California Desert I love the "tortured landscape" of Joshua Tree National Park. Under the right light it can range from dramatic to alien with just a touch of the surreal. On this particular morning the soft diffused morning light was pretty consistent, so it was not necessary to work quickly to catch that quickly vanishing moment of perfect light. I took advantage [...]
The remains of a South Jersey Farm Abandoned Farm House by Richard Lewis 2016 I noticed this old abandoned farm house by accident while driving. I just happened to glance at the side of the road and saw it at the end of a long and very overgrown driveway. The house is a typical early to mid 19th century South Jersey [...]
Missouri's Rugged, Beautiful Landscape Here are more photographs from my trip to the Ozark Mountains in Southern Missouri with photographer Craig McCord. In my previous post I showed the old mills we visited which were set in a beautiful and rugged landscape. The photographs below show more of that landscape. There were not a lot of opportunities to photograph the grand landscape of the Ozark [...]
The Old Mills and Landscape of Southern Missouri When I signed up for Craig McCord's photography workshop in the Ozark Mountains, he probably thought I made a mistake. Why would a guy from New Jersey go to southern Missouri to take pictures? Shouldn't I be going to the Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons or some other place with grand in its name for great photography? Well, I [...]