On composition, part 33: Impressions


Recent tasks brought this one to mind, an aspect of composition that can have significant effect but often remains entirely subconscious, so let’s talk about the subtle and tricky topic of impressions.

First off, I’ll say that from my own perspective, I more often stumble upon an image that provokes a certain impression, more so than I’ll actively aim for it, much less create it read more

Visibly different, part 6


We open with a shot from 2005, of Looking Glass Falls in Brevard, in the top two of familiar waterfalls in North Carolina. But this one isn’t the ‘best’ that I got while there, because I certainly got a lot closer, and did longer exposures to make the water all blurred and cottony, and all that. Instead, this was to illustrate the public access areas, as well read more

The backstory (part 1 perhaps)

Let me paint the scene: It’s very early morning on Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania. I’d driven through downpours in the Philly area that were reputed to stretch for kilometers, but the roads were dry here. I’d been seeing the sky lighten steadily for over an hour, and knew it was about sunrise, but here in the foothills between the Appalachian and Adirondack ranges, read more

Tell me what you think

Among the other things that I’ve been up to, when I’m not posting as regularly as I should be, has been studying art in an effort to improve my photography. It’s led to some interesting speculation about how we interpret some particular pieces, and made me want to throw it out there to my myriad (3) readers to see if you had similar reactions. So here are a couple of images for read more

Where does the time go?

Do you realize it’s been sixteen days without a mantis picture? Lucky I came prepared.

The largest one is being found routinely now among the peonies, so from time to time I have to do a portrait session. This is at night.


It’s funny how subtle differences can change the ‘feel’ of an image. Above, the mantis seems like it’s looking directly at you, because read more