The sun is here in California (which had a completely dry January for the first time since records began). The snow is in Vermont, where one of my images in an exhibition later this month, and a storm is the subject of my featured image for February.

Following last month's warm tones, Surf Rider is another coastal landscape, but with a very different character and tone to January's image - despite being taken on the same trip to Oregon. It shows one daring soul emerging from the maelstrom having (apparently) tamed the waves. Unfortunately I didn't see him actually surfing. I arrived just in time to take this.

And that's the question behind the image of course ...did he really do it?
 

Storm RiderFeatured Image for February 2015 Surf Rider

View image in gallery.

Next up is a show at the Dark Room Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. The theme is "Lines" and the exhibition is curated by Rebecca Senf, from the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona and the Phoenix Art Museum. Selected images come from around the world including the UK, Canada, Italy, Germany and Greece, as well as the USA.

Heart of the Sun Heart of the Sun

See image in the gallery.

This is one of my many contrail images. The title, in case you didn't get it, is a reference to "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun", a song by British psychedelic band Pink Floyd. The viewers' perspective is from someone trapped in a dark remote place looking up the plane, far away and beyond reach - heading towards the sun.

The exhibit opens on February 26th, 2015, and runs through March 22nd, 2015.
An artists' Reception is scheduled for March 22nd, 2015 - See more HERE

12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
Hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt.
(802) 777-FOTO (3686)

Happy New Year everyone! As the sun sets on 2014, I hope you're as excited as I am about the prospects for 2015. This is my featured image for January...

 

Recording The Sky (IV)Featured Image for January 2015 Recording The Sky (IV)

Click here to see the image in the gallery.

I witnessed this amazing sunset on a quiet beach in Southern Oregon just a few short weeks ago. Although no-one could have guessed how it would turn out even a few minutes earlier, there happened to be several photographers and would-be photographers on the beach that day. I for one, was running around like a lunatic, trying to find different vantage points and compositions as the light changed from second to second.

This particular shot was taken quite early in the sequence of photos, when the sun was still just above the horizon and yes, I know sunsets are a bit of a cliche, and to be avoided as serious artistic subjects, but I feel this sunset is a little special and this shot is made "OK" by the presence of another photographer who provides a human focal point and helps give the picture a sense of scale.

Wishing you all a healthy and happy 2015.

It's been a while since I last did one of these, but I just completed another round of SPARK - the web-based project that pairs artists of various kinds with writers across the country and around the globe. This round was SPARK 23.

Each round of the SPARK project starts when the visual artist provides a piece of work as an inspiration for their partnered writer – who in turn provides an inspirational piece of writing – typically fiction or poetry. Each partner then has ten days to respond in their chosen medium, and the results are shared on the web.

This round my SPARK partner was poet Anthony Valade.

My inspiration piece for Anthony was this:

The Collector

You can read the poem Anthony created in response here.

Anthony shared a poem as an inspiration for me, and I created this photograph in response:

Promised Land

Anthony's inspiration poem From Nowhere (Comfort Zone) and my photo can be found together here.

This image shows a rainbow fragment that appeared over San Jose airport (those are the buildings you can see - the runway is hidden behind the earth bank). Photography is all about luck ...and being ready when that lucky moment happens!

As usual, ALL the work is amazing and fascinating: I highly recommend you to check it out and browse around.