Dog on bike, Savannah, Georgia

A little visual humor for the New Year. We definitely could use it.

12 W Oglethorpe, Savannah Georgia

I am drawn to photographing old buildings that are in disrepair. The peeling paint, the splintering, sagging wood, these houses show that they were lived in, that life went on in and around them. Too much of our society today is sterile, with little demonstrable life to be seen.

Still Life With Copper

A copper bird bath in the back yard
Some fallen petals taken from a neighbor's yard

Sea Grass, Dreissen Beach, Hilton Head, South Carolina

Some things of beauty are meant to last forever, some are transitory. Some dominate a landscape, some are hidden and needed to be sifted out from their surroundings. Some are readily apparent, others are hidden among similiar things.

Pelican Taking Off

I've tried for a long time to get a decent shot of a pelican in flight or taking off but they always were too far away. This time a pelican was close enough to get some detail.

Frost on Plant

The cold in the night
causes ice crystals to form
soon to dissappear

Luna Moth

Nature works wonders
A simple thing so beautiful
gone just as quickly

Fence, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Our eyes are drawn to patterns, and repetitions. This image is simple but the pattern of the fence drew my attention, and the colorful wall behind it reinforced my desire to photograph it.

Paris Street Scene

Sort of an ironic photograph. A man hurrying down a street in Paris past a billboard of a woman who almost seems to be staring at him.

Boat, Fog, Lake Joseph, Catskill Mts., New York

In the quiet early morning, as mist rises off the chilled water, a boat sits at a pier.

Flower Still Life

Flowers are one of the gifts given to humans by nature. Simple and intricate at the same time, a wild display of color that acts to calm us.

Blue Rowboat

The quiet of a lake, early in the morning or late at night, when all the boaters and fishers have gone home, A rowboat tied to a pier, waiting for the next day.

Building, Mykenos, Greece

A simple image, the clean white lines of the building contrasted against the deep blue of the sky. Mykenos, like all the Greek Islands, is a wonderful place for a photographer. Everywhere you turn there is another photograph to be taken.

Blue Window with Flowers, Oia, Santorini, Greece

The town of Oia on the island of Santorini is a town built into a hill and is famous for its sunsets. It is also an artist community with lots of small shops on winding streets. The town is a cacaphony of colors, as are all the Greek Islands, with bright painted doors and windows. This shot was made by putting the camera through a fence into a courtyard.

Dog in Street, Santorini, Greece

When I was in Santorini, argueably the most beautiful island in the world, at least in Greece, I asked a hotel owner about the dogs I saw in the streets, being a dog owner myself. I asked him who owned them as they just wandered around and seemed to sit anywhere they wanted. He said no one owned them but that the people of the town left out food for them and showed them affection, that they were more like village dogs than owned by any particular person. Imagine that, instead of some huge organization like the SPCA, whose main functions seems to be to euthanize stray dogs, on the island of Santorini the townspeople take care of them. Another reason to love being in the Greek Isles.

Red Leaf, San Francisco

As I was walking in an new, ornate outdoor mall in San Francisco, I came across this leaf lying on a walkway. The simple contrast of the bright red leaf and the gray pavement made a nice graphic juxtaposition. The Japanese do so much with so little, using a few items to create beautiful tableaus. The Zen way is simplicity.

In Rodin's Garden, Paris, France

In the garden behind Rodin's house (which is now a museum) in Paris, there was a small building with the window frosted and these flowers showing through the window. I found this more beatiful than any of the sculptures that were in the garden or in the house.

Old Truck, Fair Hill, Maryland

There is something about old things that attracts photographers. The peeling paint, the dents, the falling apart, for a number of reasons these are attractive to photographers. This truck was sitting behind an abandoned building on a back road in Fair Hill, Maryland. I walked around the building taking photographs and there it was sitting there, left many years ago and forgotten. The fading paint, the many colors, the rusted grill, the busted light.

A simple image of a door and a ladder. The grain of the wood, the juxtaposition of the ladder on the door are what attracts me to this photograph.

Sand Dollar

I don't know what a sand dollar is. Is it a fish, a piece of living coral, is it not an animal at all but some sea vegetable? I know that it is rare that one finds one, but walking on the beach on Daufuskie Island I spotted two.

It is the details and not the aggregate that I find interesting. The curve of a line, the shadow falling from a tree, the eave of a house, the peeling paint around a window, these are what attracts my attention.

Skiff Reflection, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

There wasn't much of an image to start with here, as the white hull of the boat was dominant and the whites were blown out by the sun's reflection, but a little cropping produced the image that I wanted in the first place, the relection of the colors i n the water.

Driftwood, Daufuskie Beach, South Carolina

No one on the beach
Nothing but my own footprints
Nothing but silence

Abandoned Church Bus, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

Walking a long way from the ferry, looking for the school that was featured in "Conrack" which I never found, I came across this abandoned church bus in a person's yard. I don't know whether the church itself still exists, whether the church went on to a bigger and better bus, or whether they decided they didn't need a bus at all. In yards all across the states, there are vehicles sitting there and decaying, paint rusting and fading, nature creating a pallette of colors for a photographer to enjoy.

Old Historic African Church, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

Went to Daufuskie Island yesterday, a barrier island in South Carolina that you can only reach by ferry. After much walking, some kindly souls pointed me in the direction of this church, built in 1881, and the school Pat Conroy taught at that the film "Conrack" was made about. I never found the school but the church itself was worth a hike, though maybe not as long as the one I made. It is obviously being well taken care of by its congregation. The sky was a nice color blue, augmented by a polarizing filter, and the white steeple stood out clearly against the sky. I took a couple of photographs of the church but this is the one I liked.