2021 in the Rear View Mirror
Goodbye 2021!
Well.... If I said that the last two (2) years have been challenging it would be like saying Stephen King has written a few good books. A bit of an understatement, at best. I can say that 2021 has been better and I see 2022 continuing the trend. I am speaking from a landscape photography perspective, of course, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still going strong. I have been able to get out more often and see that trend rising next year. While I was going thru images for this article I noticed something that wasn't much of a surprise - there are no images from July and August, the only images from June came from a trip to Hershey - you can read about that and see the images,
here. I typically hibernate during the summer.
The lead image is from April and my first visit to Brick Township Reservoir. There are two parking areas - one on the Wall Township side, the other in Brick Township. The panorama was made on the Brick side.
The Gallery @ Thompson Park Art Show
The Monmouth County Park System hosts an art gallery at Thompson Park in Lincroft where they hold shows throughout the year. I learned about these shows some time this past summer and entered the last one of the year - "Into the Woods". I had one of three images selected and sold the framed print. This was my first local art show, there is an upcoming show in January that I hope to exhibit in, as well as others. You can read about the exhibit, and my print, in my blog post
Into the Woods - Art Exhibit.
2021 by the Month
January
January found me heading to Manasquan Reservoir to scope out some new sunrise and sunset compositions; all of my compositions up to now have been over at the Chestnut Point area. You may be able to tell from the image here, it was quite cold and a dreary day but that only means you have to be a little more creative with your compositions.
This is a good example of "Know your rules but also know when to break them." Conventional wisdom says that you should never have the horizon going thru the middle of your frame or the extreme upper/lower portion. The fact that the sky was a featureless, gray mass means the less you see, the better.
I was drawn to the broken ice and determined to find a composition. I was similarly drawn to the "Restricted Area" sign so, with both in mind, I composed the image shown here. Getting down low allowed me to include the rocks along the trail and place the horizon closer to the top of the frame. The dead tree produced a wonderful frame for the sign - I found my composition. The sign in dark brown with bright red lettering making it stand out against all of the gray so color was my first inclination but when all was said and done I think it is best as black and white. If you are curious, check out the color version on Instagram -
here.
February
The first decent snow of 2021 arrived in February and I love to play in the snow. The abstract was made after the first storm had passed, looking out my back door I saw the shadows of our lilac bush interacting with the "waves" of drifting snow. I am not necessarily a fan of abstract art but when the opportunity arises I jump at the challenge. You can see this image, as well as another from the same day, in my blog post
Shadows and Snow - in abstract. I go into more detail about the image in that blog post so I won't repeat myself here.
That same storm brought the image to the right, "Baby Pine AFter the Storm." I noticed the small tree standing tall at the edge of the woods on the border of my front yard. I was drawn to the green and the contrast of the stark white background, if you look closely you can also see some faint shadows from a tree in the background. The last few years have found me dabbling in minimalism more than usual; snow is a perfect partner for this type of photography.
If we fast-forward two (2) days there is another storm dumping snow, this time is was very heavy and very wet. I didn't put the "raincoat" on my camera so I only went out for a short time but I had to capture the small pine tree laden with snow. I chose a lower angle for this image, including some of the woods in the background. I felt that the snow on the tree, as well as the falling snow, was enough to separate the subject from the background. What do you think? Was I successful? I had enough time that afternoon to walk around to the back yard for a few images before being driven back inside. The best of them can be found on Instagram -
here - as-well-as a small holly tree that was made the same day as the "after the storm" shot above -
here.
March
My first outing in March brought me to a new location, Twilight Lake in Bay Head. I am always on the lookout for new locations and will often use Google Maps to scope out a place. I get ideas for compositions which often pan out but this was an exception. I found a small deck with benches looking out over the lake, facing the setting sun. When I got there I did a few test shots but just couldn't get excited about what I saw. I liked the location so I got busy; the light was fading fast, the sun was quickly dropping behind a church and trees on the other side of the lake. I wanted to use the rocks as foreground, found it was a bit too busy until I moved back a bit and found this wood pointing right into the scene. The duck (or, more likely, goose) footprints sealed the deal for me. This was my composition! The deck I originally found can be seen in the background. Five minutes later, this entire scene was in shadow.
A week later found me at Maclearie Park in Belmar, a place I have become very familiar with. If you have been reading the blog for any period of time, you are probably rather familiar with it, too. My normal subject is a small tree at the far western end of the park - often referred to as "The Tree" - but there are times I want to do more. The bench shown in the image at left has always been there, as has the tree, but it wasn't until this year that I began considering it as a subject and not an afterthought. This is one of my favorite sunsets of the year and I have quite a few sunsets this year.
My next March image was one featured in an earlier blog post,
Long Exposure Photography, written at the end of March. It is another minimalist image inspired by some that I have seen on
Gary Gough's YouTube channel. This particular image was a 5 second exposure, an earlier image of a different section of beach was 260 seconds but the ethereal feel is very similar. That image, along with a couple others, can be found in the blog post referenced earlier.
Check out my Instagram feed for other March images, including
The Tree @ Maclearie Park,
a sunset self-portrait at Divine Lake, and
"Crown of Thorn" made at Deep Cut Gardens.
April
April was a good month for me. We were well into spring, my second favorite season (my favorite is autumn), and I discovered new locations and new compositions at some favorite spots. You've already seen an image from a new location, Brick Reservoir shown at the start of this article, and the image at left is another new spot. This small island and tree are at the western end of Silver Lake in Belmar. I had gone out earlier in the afternoon to check out a different lake but wasn't happy with what I found. Silver Lake was my backup which proved to be a blessing. I love the shape of the tree and, if you look closely, you can see a blue heron perched on top. A wider scene can be found on Instagram -
here - as well as a version of this image without the heron.
The sunset at Sandy Hook is another new one for me. I have been to Sandy Hook more times than I can count but don't get there very often anymore. This is actually the first and, so far, only sunset I have there. I had been out at the "Hook" looking for a sunset composition when I found this - the problem was it was a few hours before sunset and sitting on the rocks wasn't very comfortable. I drove around for a while, picking up some images along the way. I have a black & white image of one of the batteries
here and another version of the sunset
here.
It wouldn't be spring if I didn't have some flowers. A trip to
Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown is my "go-to" place when I am in the mood for flowers. There are flowers to be seen year-round, whether outside in one of there many flower beds, the roses in the Rose Parterre and in the greehnouse. These tulips can be found just off the parking lot, lining the sidewalk leading to the koi pond and Visitor Center.
May
I didn't do much in May, the weather was getting warmer and I was staying indoors. I did get out for a couple of quick scouting trips but don't have any images to show here.
June - July - August - September
The heat of the summer found me hibernating, watching a variety of YouTube photographers, writing, and reading. The camera is always ready to go but there is nothing to show you here. All of my photography thoughts turn to October.
In the open I mentioned that I did shoot at Hershey Gardens in June - I won't post the images here, you can see them in the original post -
here.
October
Finally, I get to October and spending time outside. I lead off with an image I have been wanting to make for a very long time and finally got my chance. If you are a fan of the 1980 movie
Friday the 13th you may recognize this spot. You can briefly see this sign when the trucker drops Annie off and she crosses the street to walk to Camp Crystal Lake. I thought black and white was the best treatment, you can check out both black and white and color on my Instagram feed -
here. Let me know which version you like better in the comment section below.
October also found me at a new place - Indian Tower in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. We spent a quiet few days in Pennsylvania with friends and stopped at Indian Tower on the way home. I had done a bit of research before we left and this place looked interesting. I was right. I think it would be a great spot for sunrise or sunset if the sun is in the right spot and would be stunning at peak foliage - it definitely has a spot on my "return to" list.
On the way home from Nazareth we stopped at "The Gap", Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on the New Jersey side. As I got to the beach I saw light on the side of Mount Tammany but it was moving quickly and I didn't want to lose it. I dropped my bag (carefully) to the ground, grabbed my camera and squeezed off a few "frames" before the light disappeared. I came away with the image to the right. I set up my tripod, composed my image and waited for the light to come back. I looked at the sky - almost no break in the clouds but I remained hopeful; I really wanted the sun to light up the exposed rocks. As I was looking up I noticed this bright red tree on Mount Minsi standing out against the surrounding greens and yellows. It turned out to be one of my two favorite images captured at the Gap - you can see this one, and the other, on Instagram -
here. It isn't often I can walk away with four (4) or five (5) "keepers" from three (3) different locations in one day. I was very tired but very happy when I got home that day.
November
November found me once again on a quest for foliage, this time I went south to Burlington County. I had been on a scouting trip earlier in the year, one stop took me to Pakim Pond in the Pinelands. You can read about that scouting trip and the two Pakim Pond images here, in my blog post,
Scouting New Locations. The first image that day at the pond is the wide shot with the bench, it was right after I made it that I noticed the red tree. I got in tight on the tree, waited for light that never came, and made the image shown here before I had to leave. This is one of my favorite images for the year.
If you remember my April images, you might recognize this next image. Once again I unexpectedly found myself at Silver Lake revisiting this tree and island. This time I was out shooting a sunset at Divine Lake and was heading home along the ocean when I noticed the full moon. I knew exactly where I had to be - Silver Lake! If I had planned to shoot the full moon I could have caught it closer to the tree - stay tuned for a future blog post about the full moon rising over this lake.
My last image from November comes from a place I had been to a few times before but never fully explored. Horicon Lake is a wonderful place to shoot and I had been there a couple of times for sunsets only to be stifled by heavy cover of low clouds. The last time I went I arrived with plenty of time before the sun set so I explored a bit. I followed the road past the boat launch and found that it dead ended with a view of the lake in either side. To my left was a small trail that lead to a lake with dead trees, very much like what is found at Manasquan Reservoir. I set up and waited for the show. The image here is the best of the bunch. This is another location I came across by accident but will return to in the future.
December
We finish off the year, surprisingly enough, with December. The black and white image here was a sunset that I did in Oceanport. As I stated earlier, I am always looking for new locations and Oceanport is one place I haven't shot in years. I grew up there and did a lot in the 80's but never seem to get back much anymore. I happened to be at a wedding reception across the river from this park earlier this year and noticed some really nice trees so I decided to spend some time there. This weeping willow is just one of the compositions I found that afternoon. I don't often convert sunsets (or sunrises) to monochrome but I like the way this one came out. You can see the color image, along with others from that afternoon, on Instagram -
here. What do you think - color or monochrome?
The next time I went out with a camera I found myself in Oceanport once again. This time it was a sunrise and my subject was a New York-bound commuter train. I came up with the idea for this a year or so ago but it was a sunset and a southbound train. One of the good things about a sunrise during the week is that commuter trains run quite frequently and so I got three (3) opportunities to capture something. The first time I was on the side of the tracks of the oncoming train but wasn't happy with what I saw. I then moved over to the southbound side with a long exposure - I wanted to capture the headlights and then lights from the windows streaking by. The problem was that there was no light coming thru the windows. The best of the bunch was the one shown here - 1/13
th second exposure at f/32 to make the headlights into stars.
I took one last photo trip in December which took me to four (4) different locations, three (3) of which I had not been to before. My first stop was Round Valley Recreation Area, part of the New Jersey State Park System. I had planned to shoot a sunrise at the boat launch there a couple months back but ended up not going. The day started out cloudy and gray so when I got to the lake I was looking for compositions that didn't include the sky. The upside was that there wasn't even a hint of a breeze so the lake was mirror-smooth. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the small birch tree to the right of the cat tails. I really like this image and would like to go back during peak foliage to see if I can improve upon it.
That brings me to my last image, Cooper Grist Mill in Chester. This was my second stop on my last trip and the only one of the four (4) that I had been to before. I was first at the mill in May 2017 and wrote a blog post when I got home,
Cooper Grist Mill. It was raining that day and the only good image I got was with my phone so I was looking to redeem myself. I am happy with this image. This is another place I will re-visit one day during peak foliage - not only because I think it will make a great image but also because I look for any excuse I can find to go to this area. I have a lot of fond childhood memories of Chester and nearby Flanders; I always feel good when I am there and also come away well fed. You can read about it in my post,
Ice Cream, Oh How I Love You!
So Goodbye 2021, Hello 2022!
So, that concludes a whirlwind tour of 2021 and some of my favorite images of the year. I suspect 2022 will bring much of the same - busy during winter, spring, and autumn while taking the summer off. I have bigger plans for the year and a few more scouting trips outlined - it is a big state and I have just scratched the surface. I am always looking for new places - if you have somewhere that you like to shoot or even somewhere that you drive past that you think would make a good subject, please feel free to let me know in the comment section below. I am always open to suggestions.
Best of wishes for the new year!
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