Photographing the New Jersey Pine Barrens For the last few years I've ended the year with a blog post that looks back on what I've done photographically in order to share some things that I have learned. This year, one major accomplishment happened that doesn't have anything to do with specific photographs. It was the publication of my book called Photographing the [...]
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 [...]
New Jersey's Pinelands Preserve It is not that the New Jersey wilderness known as the Pinelands is forgotten. It is the photographs posted here that are. I've made enough images of this place to have overlooked a few, so here they are. Morning in the Cedars by Richard Lewis 2014 Along the Mullica River by Richard Lewis 2014 Intimate Cedar [...]
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 [...]
Windy Day on the Mullica River Photographers change reality. Although we essentially record what we see with a camera, we always add our two cents to an image. This is done with the choices we make. Some are done before we click the shutter, like the subject we choose, the camera angle and composition. Some are done afterwards, like converting [...]
Summer on Deep Run Creek by Richard Lewis 2013 I love this photograph. It shows the New Jersey Pine Barrens landscape in the late spring when the Pines are quiet, green, wet and lush. When a friend saw this image she wished she could be there because it looked so peaceful. Actually, my friend would not have gotten much peace in this [...]
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 [...]