|
American Rivers announces their 2020 River of the Year and one of my favorite photographic subjects - the Lovely Delaware River - wins it! How amazing is that!??!  From their website: American Rivers is a national organization that was founded in 1973 and is dedicated the protection of rivers. Here is what the American Rivers CEO had to say: “The Delaware River is a national success story,” said Bob Irvin, President and CEO of American Rivers. “The River of the Year honor recognizes the hard work of many local advocates who understand that a healthy Delaware River is vital to the health of millions of people.” - https://www.americanrivers.org/2020/04/river-of-the-year-for-2020-the-delaware-river/ Some fun facts: The Delaware River is the East Coast’s longest free-flowing river and part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System which preserves certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. I'm glad for that designation and for the two national parks that I have in my area: Delaware Water Gap and Upper Delaware Scenic I've spent a lot of years exploring this river system and photographing both the landscapes around the river with the bridges that run over it. Check out some of panoramic photos here: https://www.ameliapearn.com/blog/category/panoramas More recently I've gotten interested in the underwater world of this river and started shooting more underwater photography. Check out my blog posts on that Underwater Photography here: https://www.ameliapearn.com/blog/category/underwater-photography I had intended on doing some SCUBA classes this spring to improve my underwater photography work but the classes were canceled due to COVID-19 so that will be delayed a bit. The summer of 2020 will likely still be more shallow underwater photography, however, I have quite a bit of new gear so it'll be new and creative work! One thing I've admired, but not photographed much, is the abundant wildlife that has been repopulating the river basin. The bald eagles have made a tremendous return and beavers - like the one in the image below - are making their homes along the banks again. I pulled this image out of my gift shop because it is a great example of the results of the work that has been done to restore this river. The image also speaks to the importance of the work and why we need to protect and conserve. I thought maybe someone might enjoy it as much as I do :)  - Enjoy this LIMITED TIME PROMOTION - Purchase a museum-quality 20.00" x 16.00" stretched canvas print of my Delaware River - River of the Year 2020 - Wildlife Photography Beaver for the promotional price of just: $75 (Regular Price: $150) If you’d like to shop my Gift shop, enjoy a little discount in honor of the beautiful Delaware River. Shop my Gift Shop and use discount code PCKUHY to get 10% OFF any order
between 04/17/2020 and 05/16/2020 Gift Shop
0 Comments
Check out my online gift shop for: birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, gift for mom, and graduation gifts.  I have a curated selection of my best: Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Macro Photography, Fine Art Photography, Wildlife Photography, and Underwater Photography on my Fine Art America portfolio. You will enjoy their selection of: Wall Art, Art Prints & Framed Prints, Posters, Tapestries, Home Decor, Lifestyle Products, iPhone Cases, Beach Apparel, and Gift Cards.                             The collection is continually changing so check the gift shop often for new images. Most of the photography is shot in the NY, NJ, PA tri-state area. I do currently have some travel photography from places like Maine, California, and North Carolina.
Happy shopping & stay well! Creating abstract photos is something I enjoy quite a bit. One method that I like to use is to use my macro lens and play with mixing oils with water.  The soft and subtle natural oil hues create very simple monotone images. More colorful abstract art is created using: colored lights, food coloring, or using patterns in a way that they get reflected on the oils. You never really know what is going to happen and the same thing never happens twice which is something I enjoy immensely about this technique. Natural and artificial lighting can really play some fun games bouncing off the oils. I find it helpful to not play by any rules when creating abstract designs so it is one of those elements of photography that I just enjoy. If you like these fun abstract images, shop my Abstract Art Collection at my Gift Shop!
I found these sunglasses while I was out on McDade Trail the other day. I was a bit torn. On one hand I don't like to leave litter if I can remove it. On the other hand we are all in the Covid-19 social distancing era and I kind of didn't want to touch them.  I stood there circling them and pondering things when I noticed my reflection. In the end, I shot the image above and left them there. I'll pick them up and throw them away another day when I'm more secure in the idea that some time has passed and if they have any virons on them they will no longer be infectious. The resulting image inspired me though. Found objects are a simple means to a creative photo. They are things that happened to be there when you happened to wander by and see them. How you photograph them depends on: what camera equipment you happen to have with you, and, how you happen to 'see' it in your head. It's all very random and I love that. Macro photography is a very easy way to get creative with your photos. Certainly you can do all sorts of setup shots, and that's wonderful, but even just walking around looking in the grasses will inspire you. It's a weird little world down there. Walk slowly and you'll see it. I have kind of a Do No Harm philosophy. I don't cause excess stress to animals and I never kill insects just to photograph them. My results then tend to be often less 'technical' but more unexpected, and I'm OK with that. Bees do what bees do. Not necessarily what humans think bees should be doing. I think it's more fun to photograph them that way. Where I roam, dead things are not uncommon. Fish, dogs, deer, muskrats - all sorts of things. My dead animal collection is a blog in itself. Mostly they are unpleasant to find, but, often they are certainly things that you do not see everyday and usually not things that most people time much to look at. Is it 'creative' to photograph dead animals? I don't know. I guess it depends on how your photograph it. Often you can extend the creative limits of your equipment with software. The image below was shot with a 24mm lens but to get wider I shot two images and stitched them together. Doing this is a great way to get more creative with your landscape photography without the need to buy or rent new lenses.  Let your imagination run wild. Don't be shy. Make mistakes. But most of all, create! 10 Tips To Get More Creative Photos 1. Slow down - look at things a little longer, find the odd things in the scene 2. Take a new angle - go high, go low, look for new ways to look at the subject 3. Get close - get REAL close if you can, and then get real far away 4. Use prime lenses - they make you move your body so it throws you out of your comfort zone 5. Don't use auto settings - learn your camera controls so it sees what you want it to see 6. Be the Bee - let animals/insects be themselves, they will do more interesting things that way 7. Try pinhole photography - it breaks all the rules 8. Use whatever equipment you have - it's not technically right or wrong, it's creative 9. Bokeh - make the blur count, play with the blur, be the blur 10. Use reflections - water and windows are great for this Be sure to follow me on social media (links are in the footer), share this blog with your photog friends (links also in the footer - please and thank you), and visit my Gift Shop for wall art, coffee mugs, reusable shopping bags, and much more! Be well my friends.
Acadia National Park is a 47,000-acre example of the raw, rugged beauty of coastal Maine. It's a beautifully wild example of life along the Atlantic Ocean and a place I have explored several times but still haven't seen all there is to see.  I have a tenancy to stick to the shore areas of Acadia, because I live in an inland state, the ocean is therefore quite fascinating to me. There is a clean contrast of flowing water and immovable granite here that I have not photographed to satisfaction just yet. There is also a quiet vastness in Acadia no matter when I go. I'm sure there are peak times but I generally find it to be a tranquil visit no matter the month or day. Humans are very small in this landscape. Seabirds are much smaller but yet very powerful predators in this environment. Small sea animals make a their livings in shallow tidal pools and in the crevices of the immense granite slabs. I look forward to returning to Acadia and exploring the coastal and inland areas more slowly and deliberately.
If you would like to see more of my Acadia National Park images - check out my Gift Shop Single use plastic bags are quickly becoming a thing of the past and our environment will quickly be thanking us for this trend towards reusable grocery bags. As a nature lover, and lover of nature photography, I am delighted to see so many people taking a more active roll in caring about our environment.  My gift shop is proud to provide a large selection of stylish shopping bags to support these positive environmental initiatives. This gallery contains some sample tote bags from my "Bridges" collection. This ever growing collection currently includes photography from the Pocono Mountain and Catskills. Featuring bridges such as: Milford Bridge, Roebling Aqueduct Bridge, Lackawaxen Train Bridge, Dingmans Ferry Bridge, and Tusten Stone Arch Bridge. Doing your part to maintain a clean environment has never been so stylish! These bags are all perfect for personal use, business use, and gift giving! All bags are made with a soft durable fabric and ship in 2-3 days. See more of the description on the product links. 13" x 13" bags start at just $19.50! Shop for tote bags now: https://amelia-pearn.pixels.com/shop/tote+bags Looking for larger bags? Check out the Weekender Bag Collection. These 24" x 16" bags are made of the same high quality materials but include heavier straps with optional colors all for just $39.50!  Shop Weekender Bags now: https://amelia-pearn.pixels.com/shop/weekender+tote+bags For wall art, coffee mugs, home decor, and other items:
I have a curated selection of my best
Fine Art America has a wonderful array of products that you will be proud to display in your home and office, or, share as gifts to your clients. General Gift Shop link: https://www.ameliapearn.com/gift-shop.html A collection of 10 videos, with descriptions, from some of the places that I like to go and photograph. Corwin Farm Historic Site is in Sullivan County New York and part of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. It is a canal era farmstead and National Park Service ranger station. The Zane Grey boat launch is in Pike County PA in an area known as Two River Junction. The Lackawaxen River runs into the Delaware River here and the Roebling Bridge (Delaware Aqueduct) is just down river. It is all part of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River and it's one of my favorite places for underwater photography and videography. Some wild little critters that make their living on the surface of the Delaware River. Shohola Falls is part of the Shohola Marsh Reservoir in the State Game Lands Number 180. I have to get around the back of the marsh more in the spring of 2020 to see the waterfowl. I photographed the Tiny Forests Blog in a parking lot here. The PA description says: State Game Land (SGL) 180 is made‐up of one single tract of land, 11,492.81 acres. Located in the Pennsylvania Game Commission's (PGC) Northeast Region. It comprises portions of Blooming Grove, Shohola, Dingman and Lackawaxen Townships in Pike County. SGL 180 is situated North and South of State Route 6 and Interstate 84, north of SR 739 and east of SR 434 north of SR 6. With the exception of steep slopes located near the Shohola gorge, topography mainly consists of rounded hills and broad to narrow valleys. Swamps and peat bogs are widespread throughout the game land. Elevations range from 960 to 1,470 feet. State Game Land 180 is very typical of the oak forest types within the Appalachian Plateau. This Game Land has a wide range of tree species including red oak, white oak, and chestnut oak being the most dominant. There are a wide range of other hardwoods and softwoods from black oak, scarlet oak, white pine, and eastern hemlock. Approximately 765 acres are comprised of wetlands, which fluctuate in size depending on the presence of beavers and their stage of activity. Shohola Lake waterfowl impoundment consists of approximately 909 acres. The incredibly beautiful and rather windy High Point State Park Per Wikipedia: The land for High Point State Park, donated by Colonel Anthony R. and Susie Dryden Kuser, was dedicated as a park in 1923. The monument was built to honor war veterans, through the generosity of the Kusers. Construction began in 1928 and completed in 1930. At the top of the 220 feet (67 m) structure (the base is 34 square feet (3.2 m2), observers have views of the ridges of the Pocono Mountains toward the west, the Catskill Mountains to the north and the Wallkill River Valley in the southeast. In the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is Ten Mile River and it's gloriously old Tusten Stone Arch Bridge. The bridge - According to Wikipedia: It was built in 1896 and has two round arches. It measures 51.1 feet in length and 15 feet wide. It crosses the Ten Mile River near that river's junction with the Delaware River.[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.[1] It is located within the Ten Mile River Boy Scout Reservation, which in turn is owned by the Boy Scout Councils of Greater New York I hope you enjoyed this collection of videos! Follow this blog or my YoutUbe page to see more of my Photography Adventure videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ZcnX_NRG1o5_fSD3n9ckA
Sometimes a scene just calls out to be shot W I D E and sometimes it's just the fun to create a new view of an old scene. I generally create panoramas for fun by simply using my iPhone. If the scene is especially well suited for wide angle photography then I use a Canon 24mm prime lens and stitch the images together in Lightroom.  I have also shot panoramas with a Canon 14mm prime lens and that is an outstanding lens for panoramic photography. This blog post will be panoramas from my walks around the area (shot with an iPhone) since I have a fun little folder of those that I'd like to share.  McDade Trail Pike County PA  Milford PA Bridge  Shohola Barryville Bridge  Dingmans Ferry Bridge  Lake Wallenpaupack  Ten Mile River  Delaware River in Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area I'll get together future blog posts for: the stitched together images and also a blog post for the 14mm images.
If you fancy panoramic photography - stay tuned! New Hanover County Arboretum is a gem of a day trip located in Wilmington North Carolina. These spectacular gardens host educational programs, publications, and events. My visit was in July of 2019. It was a touch warm that day (lol!) but I enjoyed photographing quite a bit of the gardens, sculptures, Japanese Tea House, water gardens, and Children's Garden.  Here is a small gallery of flower photography from the flower gardens there. The variety of pollinators, that are very fond of these gardens, are minimally represented here as well. I do not know the names of the flowers. If you know any of the names feel free to post them in the comments! The New Hanover County Arboretum Water Garden's Dragon Sculpture.  New Hanover County Arboretum Water Garden's koi fish. Tiny forest are essentially miniature landscapes that can be found almost anywhere if you have a lens that sees them. In this case I was exploring some old wooden fence post tops with a Canon 100mm Macro Lens  These little natural fungi and moss forest have quite an array of: colors (especially for February), shapes, and plant life. Here are some top down images of the tops of the posts. Some side view images. The narrow depth of field is helpful to highlight one particular plant in the forest. This subject is something I look forward to photographing more in the future. As the seasons change the variety of plant life must change with it so it will be interesting to go back to these same posts and see how they change. These images, and many more, are available for purchase through my Gift Shop.
For images like these visit my Macro Photography collection. If you don't see one you'd really like Contact Me. |
Amelia PearnExploring photography has been a life long passion. 
Photography BlogArchives
November 2020
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed