This is the first part of a two-part post about Atlantic White Cedar Swamps There is nothing more strangely beautiful in the New Jersey Pine Barrens than the Atlantic White Cedar swamps. These trees grow in dense swamps by the sides of waterways and play a vital role in filtering water and protecting the riverbanks from erosion. They are also the reason the [...]
Full Moon On the Bog by Richard Lewis 2013 This is another photograph made during the full moon rise in the NJ Pine Barrens. (See my previous post) The difference between this image and the one in my last post is a little slight of hand. Observing the landscape while waiting for the moon to rise I saw two images [...]
Moon Rise by Richard Lewis 2013 Recently in New Jersey the sun set in the west a few minutes before the full moon rose in the east. Thanks to some great tools I was able to be out in the Pine Barrens to experience it. Getting a photograph like this is not random, it is all about preparation. What is [...]
The old expression “What you see is what you get” when applied to art should really be “What you feel is what you get” I had this experience recently at the Franklin Parker Preserve near Chatsworth, New Jersey. Twilight in the New Jersey Pine Barrens is a very magical time where the woods settle down as night falls. This photograph was made [...]
I recently headed out to the Franklin Parker Preserve near Chatsworth, New Jersey very early on a foggy morning. While hiking there last year I saw three dead cedar trees in the middle of one of the lakes and wanted to photograph them in these conditions. What was waiting for me was an almost mystical world. Instead of the photograph I was [...]
Medford, New Jersey The Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado We New Jersey photographers have some stiff competition with our Western brothers and sisters who photograph the majestic Rocky Mountains. It's a tough act to follow. However, sometimes New Jersey shows its beauty in very dramatic ways. Compare and Enjoy! Like these photos? Feel free to visit my photography [...]
Goshen Pond This image of an iconic stand of dead cedar trees is in the middle of Goshen Pond. This pond, with stands of dead trees along its banks is a scene that plays out frequently along New Jersey Pine Barrens waterways . On a morning like this it almost looks other worldly. I'm a big fan of artist Andrew [...]
My inspirations in photography have always been from the great landscape painters. It is only recently that I've started to dissect my body of work and figure out just what specific influences ended up in what photographs. These particular images came from my love of the 19th century Hudson River School of landscape painters. Here is my disclaimer. I do not claim to be an art [...]
Along Deep Run Creek Atsion Forge Reclaiming History, Hamton Forge Fallen Cedar After the Fire I’ve have not been out with a group of photographers taking pictures since I was a freelance photojournalist years ago. Now, as a landscape photographer I find that the solitude of being alone in the woods gives [...]
Beaver Dam and Lodge In the New Jersey Pinelands, when the small creeks and tributaries start to widen into ponds it usually means beavers. Beaver’s, like humans, change the environment to meet their needs. They dam the streams, which create the pools that provide what they need to live. I found this dam on a hike and liked that the [...]
Edge of the Cedars Winter Light One of the many things in the New Jersey Pinelands that I find fascinating are the Cedars. They grow along the edges of the rivers and lakes in thick groves. Some of these groves are almost impenetrable and the ones you can enter are usually very dark, wet and swampy. They can be [...]
You can’t experience a place like the Pines fully unless you see it at all different times of the year at all different times of day and night. This photo came out of a hike that started at 4am. My buddy Karin and I stumbled through the dark in the late fall for several hours with the moonlight barely penetrating the dense [...]
The Franklin Parker Perserve near Chatsworth, New Jersey is an interesting place. It part natural Pinelands and part old Cranberry Bogs. Hiking through the old bogs you get to see the transformation back to a natural state. Some bogs have become little lakes and attract eagles and herons, others are becoming meadows. This once ordered and orderly arrangement of rectangular depressions is becoming [...]
By Rich Lewis First off my apologies to all of you who were so supportive when I started this blog for not keeping it up to date. Sometimes life gets in the way. I'm back and will try to post something every week. Not to long ago I had a conversation with some photographers at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the topic came up, [...]